problem with roach colony

[Alice]

hi all,

i got over 100 blaptica dubia 10 days ago. all are sub- or adults, about 75 % are females. all of them were alive and active when i bought them.

my setup is:

i put them in a large rubbermaid container with a very lose lid so they can get fresh air. there is a heating mat under 1/3 of the container so they can chose between higher and lower temperatures. i use dry paper towels as a substrate and they have lots of cardboard tubes and egg cartons to hinde under.

they have 3 large dishes: one for watergel, one for dry food (mixture of high quality dog food, oat flakes and fish pellets) and one for vegetables/fruit. i look after them every second day and clean out dead animals and leftovers. they seem to eat and drink well.

now my problem: they are dying off at an alarming rate! after 10 days, i've lost about 25 % due to some unknown reason! :wall:
some of the dead roaches are untouched, others habe been eaten nearly completely by their brethren (only shell left).

so what do i do wrong (i've read through the roach keeping thread and stuff already and didn't find anything)? i keep them in the same room with my ts, i use no pesticide, they get only washed fruit/vegetables. what can be the problem? should i maybe leave the lid off for better ventilation? but they really get fresh air as it is now.

also, they may not stink quite like crickets, but i heard people tell they won't smell at all. well, mine do! not too badly, but there's a distinct smell in their container, and it's not pretty.

help plz if you can, i wouldn't like losing all of them. at least i fed only one of them to a t (a male, to see if my avi would eat them). can they have some illness?

thnx a lot.

 

[Texas Blonde]

I have had problems with non climbing species being able to get into the food dishes, though, it should take several weeks without food and water before they start to die. Can they get up high, and away from the warm temps? While roaches like it pretty warm, they need to be able to regulate their temps like anything else. Maybe they cant get far enough away from the warm areas. Also, some fish pellets contain phosphorous, which might not be the best thing for the roaches, I would suggest removing that. Give them some vegetables too, they love carrots, and dark greens are very good for them.

 

[Alice]

hm, i chose very shallow dishes and they don't seem to have any problems climbing into them. the fishfood doesn't contain phosphorus, so this shouldn't be a problem. i'll take it out anyway. they get frsh vegetables and/or fruit every two day.

the temps on one side of the container are about 30° c, on the other side about 25° c during the day. during the night, the heating mat is off, so they drop to about 22-23°. is any of that a problem?

 

[siliconthoughts]

now my problem: they are dying off at an alarming rate! after 10 days, i've lost about 25 % due to some unknown reason! :wall:
some of the dead roaches are untouched, others habe been eaten nearly completely by their brethren (only shell left).

Pardon the stupid question, but could the ones that look like they were eaten completely actually just be molts? Dubia generally don't eat their dead, as long as they have food and water. Maybe your losses aren't as bad as you think.

There isn't anything obviously wrong with your described setup. What temperature is it? Should be 75-95.

If they are dying on their backs you may have a pesticide problem (residue on rubbermaid or substrate or spraying nearby).

Colin

 

[IguanaMama]

Oh, good thinking Colin, I bet the "shell" is just the molt. When you pick it up, is it crunchy?

 

[Texas Blonde]

Dead rotting roaches have a horrible smell that is very distinctive. I can smell it a mile away and identify it from any other smell.

Definatly good thinking about the molts, when I first got roaches, I was unaware what their molts looked like, and had a similar problem. If they are indeed eating the dead, then it would signify a protien or calcium deficiency.

 

[dehaani]

also, they may not stink quite like crickets, but i heard people tell they won't smell at all. well, mine do! not too badly, but there's a distinct smell in their container, and it's not pretty.

My B dubia have a distinctive, sweet smell to them. It's not particularly pleasant but I certainly wouldn't say it's bad.

 

[Alice]

uh, i don't know, but they seem VERY massive for molts. and even if they were, the losses would be about 10-15 %.
does anyone have a pic of a dubia molt?

the temperatures are between 25-30°c by day and about 22-23°C by night.

 

[Alice]

and i think i remember they are crunchy, so maybe they are molts...
the smell might still be the dead ones, but why do they die?

 

[Takumaku]

If all else fails, count them by transferring them to another container.

Immature roaches will die for a lot of reason (lack of food/water, genetic deficiencies, bad molts, just their time, etc.).

 

[Pyst]

I had a sudden die off in mine which was caused by one of two things I believe. Over crowding and/or spoiled water crystals. I separated the colony into 2 tubs to solve the over crowding issue. I had tried something new with the water crystals. I made up a large batch and used it when needed. I kept it at room temp with a lid on it. I'm not sure that the container was clean or not. So some type of bacteria might've built up on it. Now I only make the water crystals when I need them. There have been no more die offs since this was done.

 

[Alice]

thnx all for answering. you were right, some were molts. but i just came home and three more had died - (that's 3 % in 24 hours!!!:wall two on their backs, one right side up. my water gel is absolutely fresh, and the container was rinsed well before putting them in. i put 100 of them in a container approx 60/30/40 cm - shouldn't that be enough?
oh well, we'll see. just in case i have also taken the lid off so they get maximum ventilation.

 

[Steven.WK]

Do you know how old the colony is? Maybe the old ones are dying off.

That's a big enough container for 100 roaches. I had 200 in a 10 gal. tank and they did great. I never fed mine fresh veggies or fruits. Make sure the food is pesticide free.

 

[GailC]

Cut out part of the lid and replace it with screen, I'm betting they need more ventalation. In fact I never use a lid on my dubia colony except in the winter when I need some thing to set their heat light on.
Their molt will be a thin shell, when they die it's a solid dried up body. I've never seen dubia eat their dead.

 

[Alice]

i took off the lid completely yesterday, but this morning, i found another one dead - not an adult, but one of the subs something is definitely wrong with them... i also checked them for exoparasites but found none - they seem clean and they feed. sigh.

 

[Stylopidae]

I'm having the same problem. I don't know what it is, either.

I'm using friut chunks for water, though. Changed daily.

 

[Dom]

I don't have any idea what it is but you may want to consider splitting your colony up into a few containers. That way you can try different stuff and you don't have all your eggs in one basket.

 

[gothra]

Could it be the fruits and vegetables that you're feeding them? There are several times when I offered green vegetables to my crickets, they all turned on their back and twitching the next day. And I soaked the vegetables for an hour, then washed them leaf by leaf before offering them to the crickets. I guess some farm chemicals are just very difficult to wash off. I only offer fruits and carrots to my roaches now.

 

[nissan480]

im under the impression that to much protien(dog food)is not good.maybe once or twice a month.depending on how often you feed them.also,i only leave water available at all the time,and leave enough food for that days feeding.


maybe its just stress from there journey,i had casualties in the beginning aswell.

 

[Stylopidae]

I checked up on some of the things I read in this thread. I brushed my hands against the edges of the colony and they came back wet.

Too little ventilation. I've corrected that particular problem and will see if that will help the situation any.