- Joined
- Oct 4, 2005
- Messages
- 264
Hey guys i was wondering if you could provide any solutions to a problem i have. Over the last few months i have noticed many dead giganteus nymphs in my colony. I purchased 75 nymphs of various sizes a few months ago and got my first adult to molt out last month. Prior to this i would find one or two nymphs dead at the bottom of the cage every day. At first i though that it was a heat issue as it was the closest roach bin to my radiator. I moved them to the other side of the room, However the room is heated and never gets above 86 F and is roughly 65-75% humidity which i thought was optimium conditions for breeding and growing. I also keep a number of other species of roaches, all of which are doing fine. I have noticed that the dead roaches are somewhat bloated and limp. I orginally gave them dog food as a protein source and supplemented it with fresh fruits and vegetables. I now have recently been using non-medicated chicken mash... which they absolutley love. Is it possible they may be getting two much protein? I heard once a week is when it should be offered and the majority of time their diet should consist of fruits and vegetables. I have been giving it to them on a more regular basis as they seem to swarm it more so than the other stuff i offer. Lately some of the adults have been dying off roughly a week after molting out, which caused me to switch them from a potting soil(no perlite) substrate to a no substate cage. I used to spray them quite a bit but stopped because I found it takes away from their ventilation. I also have 80% of the lid cut away which is replaced with screen and have had this from day one. There is also no mold or fungus growing in the tank.The guy i got them off of is having no problems what so ever and his colony is breeding out of control. So basically i have gone from 75-40 nymphs with about 7-10 of those being adults in the matter of two months. I suspect it could be the chicken mash...... should i switch to dog food. I also have ab. fusca colony which love the chick mash and have not had any problems. I used small amounts of chick mash in the beginning and than switched to it exclusively as protein source. How often should they be getting protein? Should i just stick with fruits/vegetables. Is their anything else i should be giving them.
Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.