Discoid Roaches Not Breeding

[richard22]

I have been trying to breed discoid roaches since March 2019 and started off with 35 mixed from a vendor on Amazon. I have not noticed any new litters or roaches except for one single nymph, and it has been 5 months, so I am wondering why they aren’t breeding. Could it be from the vendor who sent the roaches?, or the conditions of the bin? Do they need high humidity to breed? Any other concerns?

My setup is a 25 quart sterilite bin with a substrate composed of the roach frass and wheat bran, to satiate the buffalo beetles, but I added ecoearth recently. One egg carton piece is in it and I change potato slices every other day and mist the two sponge pieces and water pillow. Since March, I have gone from 35 mixed roaches to 13-14 adult roaches, unless they all have wings as adult and therefor would leave me with 7 adults then. Buffalo beetles are around and have been particularly common in this enclosure. Temps are around 90F constantly and humidity is average for my whole attic with all my roaches; good ventilation in the lid limits the plausibility of higher humidity. The temps were in the early to mid 80s until June when I moved them to my hot attic. I switched from potatoes to celery one time in July and a more than normal died in a short period of time.

The cardboard is being teared apart into balls of puff gradually.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I keep my blaberids on moist coconut fiber (eco earth). I offer them whatever old fruits and vegetables I have laying around. Banana and oranges are both said to be particularly good for encouraging breeding for these species.

 

[pannaking22]

Apples are well accepted fruits that are supposed to encourage breeding/birth as well. I have a couple other blaberids that breed at low levels most of the time, but if I throw in an apple core they go nuts and there's a spike in nymphs being born shortly after.

 

[richard22]

I hear they probably need higher humidity, which is hard to accomplish without limiting ventilation or constantly misting the substrate. I might need to keep them in a humid room with a humidifier that also has a fan and is warm to raise humidity but not substrate moisture; my attic is warm but humidity has not been a focus of my attic. I will try feeding them some fruits since I never feed them produce like that. If my discoids never breed I’ll have to try orange heads or death heads, maybe I’ll have more luck with them.