Picky Dubias won’t eat?

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I know that issue as well. Keeping the substrate dry (ventilation!) and cleaning more often are the first steps to go, ime.

I wonder if there’s a quick way to trap flies should I try soap water ??? If I keep the enclosure dry they will die off right?
@HooahArmy

 

[HooahArmy]

I wonder if there’s a quick way to trap flies should I try soap water ??? If I keep the enclosure dry they will die off right?
@HooahArmy

Ugh, flies, dude. I feel ya. I usually go with commercially-bought fly traps which work like a dream. Making my own with baits, jars, and constant refilling is quite a hassle. Depending on how many flies you have and where you would like to place the trap, take a scope online on a site like Amazon. They have traps for everything from those big ol' bottle flies to fruit flies!
My mum is the one raising all the critters right now, and at the time I am buying these two for her to control her fruit flies.
1. This one has no smell but will trap flies that land on it. Great for high fly-traffic spots. https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Side-Ca...8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
2. This one comes with a natural attractant to draw in the oddballs that fly all over the house

Amazon.com

 

[DerGraf]

Yes, changing/drying out the substrate/frass layer serves the purpose to get rid of their larvae.

I usually also put cups with an apple vinegar/water/drop of dish soap mixture close to their breeding ground.
The vinegar attracts flies, dish soap breaks the water tension so they'll drown.

Can't put those into the Dubia enclosure of course (since Dubias are really dumb in that regard and will drown in anything as well), but at least it will help with any flies that escaped the enclosure.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yes, changing/drying out the substrate/frass layer serves the purpose to get rid of their larvae.

I usually also put cups with an apple vinegar/water/drop of dish soap mixture close to their breeding ground.
The vinegar attracts flies, dish soap breaks the water tension so they'll drown.

Can't put those into the Dubia enclosure of course (since Dubias are really dumb in that regard and will drown in anything as well), but at least it will help with any flies that escaped the enclosure.

I spotted just one fly after cleaning the frass and moving the roaches to my bedroom. One female had a white blob coming out of it very strange. Maybe failed oothicas??

 

[DerGraf]

One female had a white blob coming out of it very strange. Maybe failed oothicas??

Female dubias often "air out" their oothicas, to regulate temperature. The oothica usually is more stiff and straight in that case, but the picture is too blurry. Your suspicion could be correct, but I can't make a reasonable guess with that.

 

[SpookySpooder]

I would isolate that roach for observation. Not sure what that is but if it's a pathogen you don't want it spreading.

Ootheca are cylindrical and hardened cases, even when I see them sticking out of a roach butt they are often orangish red or brown and tapered. They aren't fluffy and white like that.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I would isolate that roach for observation. Not sure what that is but if it's a pathogen you don't want it spreading.

Ootheca are cylindrical and hardened cases, even when I see them sticking out of a roach butt they are often orangish red or brown and tapered. They aren't fluffy and white like that.

I Will search for this roach if I can find it, don’t want it spreading some type of disease.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I would isolate that roach for observation. Not sure what that is but if it's a pathogen you don't want it spreading.

Ootheca are cylindrical and hardened cases, even when I see them sticking out of a roach butt they are often orangish red or brown and tapered. They aren't fluffy and white like that.

Found it !

Female dubias often "air out" their oothicas, to regulate temperature. The oothica usually is more stiff and straight in that case, but the picture is too blurry. Your suspicion could be correct, but I can't make a reasonable guess with that.

the sick roach..

 

[SpookySpooder]

Gross.

I think I read about something like this years ago.

Are you feeding them too much protein? Generally you want around 20-25% protein for dubias.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Gross.

I think I read about something like this years ago.

Are you feeding them too much protein? Generally you want around 20-25% protein for dubias.

Maybe I do 1/2 cat food 1/2 oats and grind it up. I could just go completely oats For a while. Is this female pretty much useless should I feed it off? No way it can have a proper oothicA. Or can it molt another time?
Tons of fruit and veggies I feed them.

 

[SpookySpooder]

If you feed them too much protein they start forming fat and protein globs that they expel out their rear ends. I think those are brown though, not white. 20-25% is the max protein you want to feed dubias.

I read some threads in other forums about the white butt blob just now and none of the other dubias that had this survived for long. I would keep it isolated and see what happens as well as monitor your colony to make sure this isn't some kind of disease that's spreading.

I would not feed it off, in case it is an infection or something and it spreads to your T. It might also be nothing, so just keep it in quarantine and observe it.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

If you feed them too much protein they start forming fat and protein globs that they expel out their rear ends. I think those are brown though, not white. 20-25% is the max protein you want to feed dubias.

I read some threads in other forums about the white butt blob just now and none of the other dubias that had this survived for long. I would keep it isolated and see what happens as well as monitor your colony to make sure this isn't some kind of disease that's spreading.

I would not feed it off, in case it is an infection or something and it spreads to your T. It might also be nothing, so just keep it in quarantine and observe it.

Yeah I had no clue about that never seen it happen I figured I lowered the protein count % a lot by using half or 2/3 oats. Should I just feed them no protein? Or 1/5 oats to cat food ratio.
Zero other roaches are showing this problem.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Just be safe til it can be figured out. Better safe than sorry.

You cannot skip feeding protein. No protein = no babies or ootheca. Too much protein = health problems

So protein % is a bit hard to figure out. It's not the ratio at which you're mixing food. If you look at the protein % on the back of the bag it will let you know.

This is too much protein and fat, so I use fish food that has 28% protein and 4% fat and use a bit less than half in the roach chow.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Just be safe til it can be figured out. Better safe than sorry.

You cannot skip feeding protein. No protein = no babies or ootheca. Too much protein = health problems

So protein % is a bit hard to figure out. It's not the ratio at which you're mixing food. If you look at the protein % on the back of the bag it will let you know.
View attachment 455758
This is too much protein and fat, so I use fish food that has 28% protein and 4% fat and use a bit less than half in the roach chow.

I’ll check the bag of cat food. But I’m sure it’s not too much protein zero of my other female roaches have this problem. I can lower the dosage of protein. The orange roaches don’t seem to care for diy roach chow. Maybe I don’t have enough of them. You’re more used to making roach chow my old colony’s would just eat dog/cat food not ground up. Todays roaches I have are picky eaters.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Alright I got nothing. Doesn't seem like anybody in those other forums figured out what this was either.

I found this excerpt online:

"When cockroaches have a high-protein diet and not a lot of water available they defecate uric acid in their scats, which are then white.

If you step on a cockroach, the white stuff that comes out is fat body tissue which looks white because they store uric acid there as a form of storage excretion. They have microbes in their fat body that on demand can recover nitrogen from uric acid, which is normally thought of as an end point nitrogenous waste. That allows cockroaches to go through periods of low protein in their diet using the nitrogen stored in the uric acid of their fat body."

I recall reading that dubia don't have this ability though. So not sure if it's applicable here. They might still have the same organs and that could probably be it.

Anyway, don't take anything I said about the dubia as fact. I haven't been able to confirm any these ideas.

Just keep the roach isolated and observe the colony for others like this. If it doesn't die in a couple weeks then it's probably nothing.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Ugh, flies, dude. I feel ya. I usually go with commercially-bought fly traps which work like a dream. Making my own with baits, jars, and constant refilling is quite a hassle. Depending on how many flies you have and where you would like to place the trap, take a scope online on a site like Amazon. They have traps for everything from those big ol' bottle flies to fruit flies!
My mum is the one raising all the critters right now, and at the time I am buying these two for her to control her fruit flies.
1. This one has no smell but will trap flies that land on it. Great for high fly-traffic spots. https://www.amazon.com/Dual-Side-Catcher-Outdoor-Mosquito-YUEQINGLONG/dp/B09M323SVT/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=21NK27JQDVYB7&keywords=fruit+fly+trap&qid=1694150061&sprefix=fruit+fly+trap,aps,142&sr=8-3-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1
2. This one comes with a natural attractant to draw in the oddballs that fly all over the house

Amazon.com

Killed the flies bothering my Dubias but there still are some fungus gnats I’m trapping. Oddly enough the flies never touched my orange bead roaches.
in 4-7 months i should have way more dubia.
The good news the dubia seem to eat about anything I feed them took down a carrot in one day.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Yo, that colony I was testing on no water had a bunch of nymphs molt out as adults this last week (I cranked the heat up to 84°F) and nobody died off. I'm starting to think they don't need water crystals at all and you can get away with just giving them water through veggies and fruits.

This is just the experimental batch (no water source besides veggies and fruits)

I didn't mist them at all. No water sources at all (besides the food items)

I dumped them back into the main colony now, just thought you'd like to know the result and see it. Seems like all sizes (tiny 1/4" nymphs all the way to full grown adults) of dubias can survive on just roach chow and fresh veggies and fruit. No water gel crystals needed.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yo, that colony I was testing on no water had a bunch of nymphs molt out as adults this last week (I cranked the heat up to 84°F) and nobody died off. I'm starting to think they don't need water crystals at all and you can get away with just giving them water through veggies and fruits.

This is just the experimental batch (no water source besides veggies and fruits)

I didn't mist them at all. No water sources at all (besides the food items)
View attachment 456087
I dumped them back into the main colony now, just thought you'd like to know the result and see it. Seems like all sizes (tiny 1/4" nymphs all the way to full grown adults) of dubias can survive on just roach chow and fresh veggies and fruit. No water gel crystals needed.

Yeah I bought some water gel crystals and ended up abandoning them for a similar thing you did fruits/veggies. I may find a later usage for them.
I noticed they don’t like tomatoes , or onions. I tried misting them a few times but gave up it basically just got the egg crates slightly wet. Cleaning the frass out is a real pain with this many roaches I removed 120+ nymphs from frass last cleaning. Painstakingly ..
All that humidity from care sheets is garbage, I’m keeping both my types of roaches bone dry.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Mmm a whole cup of protein.

Those water crystals are really good for potted plants. I got mine from the home depot garden section and I think I'm just gonna use them in some house plants

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Mmm a whole cup of protein.

Those water crystals are really good for potted plants. I got mine from the home depot garden section and I think I'm just gonna use them in some house plants

I’m going to save the crystals for if I go on vacation next year. Although a week without water isn’t going to makes a huge deal. I really wish I could get a 3rd roach species but I’ll be swamped no thanks.
I can buy mealworms for my slings I need dubia mature males to feed my Ts .