(Excessive) background information:
I had 11 male hissers I received as adults back in March this year. Their enclosure is a 10 gallon tank with a wire mesh lid, I try to keep their humidity in the 30-70% range and their temperature no lower than 65, no higher than 85F with a gradient (warmer and drier on one side, cooler and more moist on the other side). Heat is provided by a space heater on one side of their tank. They always had coco fiber substrate, fake plants, cork bark, and a couple 3D printed hides made with PETG plastic. In the past 3 months or so I also started to give them sphagnum moss, sea urchin shells, and maple leaves from springtails.us. Dried fruit & veggie mix for reptiles (rehydrated with dechlorinated water) and fish flakes. Sometimes I give them beetle jelly if I'm gone for a few days in a row, they get fresh banana or mango every so often as well. I have done a deep clean twice in the maybe 9 months I have had them and a couple of lighter cleans in between that. I only use Fluker's Super Scrub and make sure I can't smell it at all before I reintroduce my roaches to their cleaned toys/tank. For the tank itself I use dish soap, completely rinse it out, then Fluker's, then complete rinse.
Recorded deaths:
One of my hissers Semitruck died after having him for only about a month, and it seemed very quick. Almost looked like neurological degeneration as he had never lost any appendages, and his death was fairly quick. A few days before he was thirsty and drank water, but the next day he responded oddly to being picked up and puked on me - something he had never done before, he was normally very used to me. The 12 hours before his death he did not respond to food or water and walked aimlessly, antennae and mouthparts moved but not the way healthy hissers' bodies moved - if you turned him on his back he took a sprawled out position but didn't curl. Semitruck appeared to have a paralyzed, perhaps even slightly bloated abdomen and touching his abdomen or legs did not produce the same response in healthy roaches. About 12 hours after I had noticed his symptoms he was completely immobile and very obviously deceased. (Video shows about 12 hours before he was found dead.)
A different hisser, Freddy, seemed to have succumbed to age a few days ago. Since maybe July he slowed down, didn't hiss as much, would still fight for his territory but maybe back off a little quicker, lost most of his tarsii, and lost a significant amount of weight. He held on until the end of November, declining more obviously and having an episode where he drank a ton of water out of my hand and puked it back up. About a week ago he appeared like he does in the video, curled, unable to pick himself up if on his back, unmoving antennae/head/mouthparts but the rest of his body would react to touch. He stayed like that for about 3 days before I euthanized him. (Video is a day before his death.)
Yesterday I found a different roach, Bouba, acting a lot like Semitruck. No missing appendages, sprawled out if laid on his back, same sort of unusual movements, and what appears like some sort of paralysis of the abdomen. (Video is from today.)
All videos hosted here on imgur:
I haven't drastically changed much about their environment in the last few weeks or so. I'm fairly certain Freddy died due to old age, but I'm trying to understand if Semitruck and Kiki are suffering from something I can prevent. None of my other roaches have ever had issues at the times those three did, and again I haven't done anything very different to their enclosure than what I've done before. The only "new" thing I gave them recently was a small chunk of banana.
If anyone has any insight into possible issues or causes please let me know! This is my first time owning inverts and I'm really trying to take care of them in the best way I can.
I had 11 male hissers I received as adults back in March this year. Their enclosure is a 10 gallon tank with a wire mesh lid, I try to keep their humidity in the 30-70% range and their temperature no lower than 65, no higher than 85F with a gradient (warmer and drier on one side, cooler and more moist on the other side). Heat is provided by a space heater on one side of their tank. They always had coco fiber substrate, fake plants, cork bark, and a couple 3D printed hides made with PETG plastic. In the past 3 months or so I also started to give them sphagnum moss, sea urchin shells, and maple leaves from springtails.us. Dried fruit & veggie mix for reptiles (rehydrated with dechlorinated water) and fish flakes. Sometimes I give them beetle jelly if I'm gone for a few days in a row, they get fresh banana or mango every so often as well. I have done a deep clean twice in the maybe 9 months I have had them and a couple of lighter cleans in between that. I only use Fluker's Super Scrub and make sure I can't smell it at all before I reintroduce my roaches to their cleaned toys/tank. For the tank itself I use dish soap, completely rinse it out, then Fluker's, then complete rinse.
Recorded deaths:
One of my hissers Semitruck died after having him for only about a month, and it seemed very quick. Almost looked like neurological degeneration as he had never lost any appendages, and his death was fairly quick. A few days before he was thirsty and drank water, but the next day he responded oddly to being picked up and puked on me - something he had never done before, he was normally very used to me. The 12 hours before his death he did not respond to food or water and walked aimlessly, antennae and mouthparts moved but not the way healthy hissers' bodies moved - if you turned him on his back he took a sprawled out position but didn't curl. Semitruck appeared to have a paralyzed, perhaps even slightly bloated abdomen and touching his abdomen or legs did not produce the same response in healthy roaches. About 12 hours after I had noticed his symptoms he was completely immobile and very obviously deceased. (Video shows about 12 hours before he was found dead.)
A different hisser, Freddy, seemed to have succumbed to age a few days ago. Since maybe July he slowed down, didn't hiss as much, would still fight for his territory but maybe back off a little quicker, lost most of his tarsii, and lost a significant amount of weight. He held on until the end of November, declining more obviously and having an episode where he drank a ton of water out of my hand and puked it back up. About a week ago he appeared like he does in the video, curled, unable to pick himself up if on his back, unmoving antennae/head/mouthparts but the rest of his body would react to touch. He stayed like that for about 3 days before I euthanized him. (Video is a day before his death.)
Yesterday I found a different roach, Bouba, acting a lot like Semitruck. No missing appendages, sprawled out if laid on his back, same sort of unusual movements, and what appears like some sort of paralysis of the abdomen. (Video is from today.)
All videos hosted here on imgur:
I haven't drastically changed much about their environment in the last few weeks or so. I'm fairly certain Freddy died due to old age, but I'm trying to understand if Semitruck and Kiki are suffering from something I can prevent. None of my other roaches have ever had issues at the times those three did, and again I haven't done anything very different to their enclosure than what I've done before. The only "new" thing I gave them recently was a small chunk of banana.
If anyone has any insight into possible issues or causes please let me know! This is my first time owning inverts and I'm really trying to take care of them in the best way I can.
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