Watering DUbias??Roaches keep dying off

[Bugmom]

I keep my roaches in a Rubbermaid container, no substrate, and feed them leftover veggies from when I cook (they go crazy over tomatoes, squash, and zucchini) and also give crushed dog food and oatmeal (that's what I was told to do by the guy I got them from). They eat the oatmeal well, but don't seem too fond of the dog food. I'm going to experiment with different brands. I've got some organic duck "milk bones" I'm going to see if they like better. The dogs wont eat them so something needs to lol

They seem to be happy roaches *shrug*

Blame Tapatalk + "smart" phone for the typos kthnx

 

[Insektzuchen]

Moisten bread slices

An easy way to keep them hydrated is to take the end slices from a loaf of bread, which most people don't eat anyway, mist the bread with water. Don't make a soggy mess. Then feed them the bread. They'll gobble it up before it has a chance to grow mold

 

[Bugmom]

An easy way to keep them hydrated is to take the ends from a loaf of bread, which most people don't eat anyway, mist the bread with water. Don't make a soggy mess. Then feed them the bread. They'll gobble it up before it has a chance to grow mold

I'll have to try that!

Blame Tapatalk + "smart" phone for the typos kthnx

 

[Leeway337]

When I first got my Dubia I kept the container a little moist. The Dubia where adults but would never breed. I now keep them in bone dry coir and feed them mixed organic lettuce and vegetable scraps (all raw). They are now breeding and will be too many very soon. I did the same thing with my hissers and now they are over populated. I am trying to feed as many as I can to my larger Tarantulas and other spiders with no progress. They even kept producing nymphs all winter with no added heat. I hoped the cold would stop them from breeding but it didn't. I do not add any water ever. Just raw lettuce mix and vegetable scraps 1 or 2 times a week. I always read that people add dog/cat food for protein but my roaches are over populated with only raw lettuce and vegetable scraps. The coir is so dry you can turn it into dust. Oh and Fruit peels/scraps too.

 

[Insektzuchen]

I cannot find out were to buy cheap water crystals can someone help me out:cry:
I think thats why roaches keep dying off

Still infested with weird black flys

The "weird black flys" your dubia colony is infested with may be Phorid Flies, an extremely destructive parasite that you need to eliminate ASAP or your entire invert collection might be wiped out. Phorid flies are a small, hump-back fly resembling a fruit fly that move in jerking motions. Their nickname is "coffin flies" because they're often found in buried human cadavers. They were introduced into the US to control fire ants but can kill most inverts also. They lay eggs in the sternites of centipedes and the book lungs of tarantulas. The larvae kills the host and the maggot eats the dead tissue. It's believed they are responsible for the collapse of the honey bee population. This is probably what's killing off your dubia colony as well. You really need to get on this and rid your house of these flies. Good luck.

 

[Galapoheros]

It's hard to imagine since ...we are humans, but these roaches need very little water, you don't need to moisten anything. At a minimum, all you have to do is cut an apple in half and put a half in there, depending on how many you have, maybe the whole thing. In a couple of weeks do the same with an orange. Just do that back and forth and they will be OK, along with the solid food; flakes dog/cat food. I also add bee pollen, just now and then.

 

[Bugmom]

It's hard to imagine since ...we are humans, but these roaches need very little water, you don't need to moisten anything. At a minimum, all you have to do is cut an apple in half and put a half in there, depending on how many you have, maybe the whole thing. In a couple of weeks do the same with an orange. Just do that back and forth and they will be OK, along with the solid food; flakes dog/cat food. I also add bee pollen, just now and then.

Hydrating feeders hydrates what we feed them too though. For species that treat water dishes like they are horrible interlopers in their tanks and must be buried and never seen again, hydrated feeders are rather important.

What's the purpose of the bee pollen?

Blame Tapatalk + "smart" phone for the typos kthnx

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

The "weird black flys" your dubia colony is infested with may be Phorid Flies, an extremely destructive parasite that you need to eliminate ASAP or your entire invert collection might be wiped out. Phorid flies are a small, hump-back fly resembling a fruit fly that move in jerking motions. Their nickname is "coffin flies" because they're often found in buried human cadavers. They were introduced into the US to control fire ants but can kill most inverts also. They lay eggs in the sternites of centipedes and the book lungs of tarantulas. The larvae kills the host and the maggot eats the dead tissue. It's believed they are responsible for the collapse of the honey bee population. This is probably what's killing off your dubia colony as well. You really need to get on this and rid your house of these flies. Good luck.

How do I get rid of these flys??

 

[Tobyn]

can i give a slice of lemon to red runner cockroaches or is it to acidic? thanks.

 

[Insektzuchen]

How do I get rid of these flys??

I found a website for you that has information on Phorid Flies -- www.pestproducts.com/phoridfly.htm -- and how to eliminate them without insecticides. Basically, phorid flies breed primarily in and feed on moist decaying plant and animal matter (fermenting fruit, rotten vegetables, and carcasses of feeder insects) but they are also parasitic insofar as the females often lay eggs in and on inverts, insects, amphibians and reptiles whereupon they pupate into maggots, then emerge as adult flies. The living host dies during this process.
In sum, you might want to clean up your dubia colony or just dispose of the entire lot and start a new one. I wouldn't use fruits and vegetables to hydrate my roaches, even though many people do. In addition, you should remove any dead, uneaten feeder insects from your invert enclosures.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

what ever they are , I almost got rid of them once.
High humidity attracted them again ,if the cage drys out they die off.
I also must throw away all of the roach poop. incase fly eggs are in it.

can a roach colony survive freezing weather?? that would kill fly's if froze for a day or two I think
perhaps ill keep heat pads off until I kill off fly's so population dosn't explode. feeding fly's.

 

[Osmo]

I keep my dubias in a 10 gallon glass aquarium with a mesh screen top. i dont give them water. I give them fruits and veggies with a grain mix mixed in every week. I dont think ive lost any to deaths. They just keep breeding i think because i keep finding smaller and smaller babies.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

The nicotinoid pesticides that do cause "Colony Collapse Disorder" were "exonerated" by plausible corporate shills whose invocations of so-called "stress," of "virus," and of "mite" infestations have apparently been varied by attempts to pretend that small and very stingable phorid flies could ever "massacre" healthy honeybees.

If the bees are either too feeble to fight or already dead phorid flies can move in.
And they probably have...
But...
They did not kill the bees.

---------- Post added 03-06-2013 at 10:19 PM ----------

Roaches can't sting.
Can phorids kill them?
Flies could surely "attack" roaches that are already dead.
Would they "attack" healthy adults...?
They might find that difficult to do: although molting nymphs might become unsafe around an infestation.
But the experience of several readers would appear to indicate that the reduction of moisture AND of uneaten organic detritus
can bring phorid infestations under control before the roaches die off.

 

[Insektzuchen]

A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly

The nicotinoid pesticides that do cause "Colony Collapse Disorder" were "exonerated" by plausible corporate shills whose invocations of so-called "stress," of "virus," and of "mite" infestations have apparently been varied by attempts to pretend that small and very stingable phorid flies could ever "massacre" healthy honeybees.

If the bees are either too feeble to fight or already dead phorid flies can move in.
And they probably have...
But...
They did not kill the bees.

---------- Post added 03-06-2013 at 10:19 PM ----------

Roaches can't sting.
Can phorids kill them?
Flies could surely "attack" roaches that are already dead.
Would they "attack" healthy adults...?
They might find that difficult to do: although molting nymphs might become unsafe around an infestation.
But the experience of several readers would appear to indicate that the reduction of moisture AND of uneaten organic detritus
can bring phorid infestations under control before the roaches die off.

This thread began as a question about where someone could purchase water crystals for their dubia roach colony, if the lack of water crystals was causing the unexplained deaths of his roaches and the identity of the "weird black flys [sic]" present in the colony.
I then gave my opinion that the roaches were being parasitized by Phorid Flies, then dying. Dehydration had nothing to do with it. I recommended that he clean up his colony by getting rid of the decaying organic animal and plant matter which initially attracts the flies.
In my post, I mentioned in passing that some scientists believe that Phorid Flies (of which there are over 4000 different species and hosts) may be responsible for the decline of the honey bee population. In response, someone went on a rant spewing disinformation that I believe needs to be clarified. I won't belabor the issue because its already completely off-topic. I'll just provide a link for the uninformed and interested to learn correct information on the issue.

A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029639

Cheers.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Hmm Ill try the bread watering technique sometime....

 

[Galapoheros]

I kept small isopods with the dubias. I had so many that a few weeks ago I donated 1000s to a local pet store. I kept about 100 though, sounds like a lot but it's not really. I don't try to sterilize everything so much, there is something like a micro bio environment going on over here. Pred mites, isopods,.. it's working, working too well. Dubias are extremely tolerant of dryness, I'd only use fruit and veggies for hydration, looking to see that it's gone the next day. It's good to use your own judgment through observation, over time, that is what really works when there is so many opinions out there imo.

 

[vukic]

I just feed mine oranges and my own mix of cereals and cat biscuits.. Works well for me... Too well for my turkistan roaches... Gone through my last mix I made in two weeks which is stupid fast since.it.used to last 1 or 2 months.... Now they're on pig nuggets till I get chance to make more.... Lol.

Tiger

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