What's Killing my B. cranifer Roaches!?!

[WYSIWYG]

Well, I don't seem to be having much luck with my B. cranifer.
A few weeks ago, I was over 90. Last week, I was down to 89, before
I fed one to my P. cancerides because it was obviously dying. (Looked like a
really old adult). Most of the ones that have died were adults, though a few
were just babies.

Last night, just for kicks, I decided to play "Count the Roaches" only to
discover that I'm down to 82. I lost 6 just over this last week!

I've got them in a big old huge open container with egg cartons. I keep their
food/blue gel water in a plastic egg crate. I feed them different things on
different days. Kale, carrots, and most popular of all so far --- apples.
I gave them some apple yesteday and today, all of it was gone.

Any other suggestions on what else to feed them? I had kept dried rabbit
rood in there as sort of a substrate, but decided to take it out after I cleaned
out their cage this last time.

Wysi

 

[Wade]

I don't have B. cranifer, but I have B. giganteus and B. discoidales and I don't think there's a huge difference in husbandry. Just a few ideas:

What's the temperature like? IME, they will live just fine at lower temps (low 70's) but won't reproduce much if at all. Maybe you're seeing a normal death rate, but without reproduction to make up the numbers. Your population should be getting biger regardless of adults dying!

I like to give my blabs a substrate of some sort. I know many people don't, but I do seem to get a lot more babies with it than without. I've used peat moss, aspen bedding, vermiculite, natural leaf litter, as well as some other things. The nymphs seem to appreciate it.

You might have humidity issues as well. Normally, they don't need raised humidity, but you are in Arizona. Perhaps limiting the ventilation a bit?

While I'm sure they enjoy the diet you're offering them, wet diets (meaning fresh fruit and veggies) result in more wet frass and less hygenic conditions. I feed mine dry, unmedicated chick mash and have more roaches than I would ever want.

Good luck!

Wade

 

[james]

The first question!!!

Are they actually true craniifer. True craniifer are average to poor breeders and not the best feeder roach. If they are the crosses then your in better shape. Regardless this species needs much more humidity than you are providing. Rabbit pellets are one of the worse things you can keep them on. Your best bet is just eggs crates with no substrate, or sphagnum moss. Mist them every day or two and keep feeding them the apples and oranges. Also, make sure you have a dry cat or dog food on the side of the container your not going to mist. If you have adults you need to remeber that some males will only live a few months. Live spans range from 3-24 months after final molt. If they are dying in molt or as nymphs this is a very good sign of not enough humidity. If you post some pictures I can tell you what they are.
James

 

[WYSIWYG]

Hi Wade and James,

You know, I saw some aspen bedding for sale in the store the other day,
but I wasn't sure what to think of it so I left it there. I know there are
certain kinds of wood (like cedar) that have to be avoided, especially when
the bug are going to be fed to arachnids like my tarantulas. Not knowing
much about aspen, I felt it was safer NOT to use it.

Up until I got the last 50 cranifers sent to me, I had kept them on dry cat
food and the rabbit food. (I had read somewhere that rabbit food makes good
substrate for lobster roaches). After I got them, I moved them to a larger
container so they'd have room to grow and expand. The very last time I
cleaned the container, I took all of that out and put in more egg crate and
the plastic egg container that I use to put their food and water in.

Temperaturewise, we keep it at 75 to 77 right now because it's winter and
that's with the heater on. When 77 feels too warm, I drop it to 75.

I've seen people talking about natural leaf litter. Where do you GET that?
Being as I live in the desert, there aren't lots of trees dropping leaves here.
Also, I'd be concerned about pesticides, so I wouldn't want to pick up
leaves from outside anyway. Is there some place that sells it?

And what is chick mash? I've never heard of it.

The reason I'm offering them a wet diet is because of the lack of
humidity here. When Darrin saw how many roaches I was losing earlier
on, he suggested I start feeding wet things like carrots and such because
my dead roaches were looking too much like "crispy critters" meaning they
were getting too dehydrated. Things have been going better overall since
I started doing that, though it doesn't seem to be helping with the cranifers.
Winters are especially dry here though, so that's probably part of it. I tend
to get electrocuted all the time whenever I touch anyone or anything so that
shows you just how DRY it is here.

With that in mind, I took James suggestion and upped the humidity. Then
I put the lid to the container on to help hold it in. I usually leave it wide
open because closing it starts to make the plastic really smell too
"plastic" if that makes any sense.

James, I think maybe half of them are the true cranifer, but the last 50
I bought are not as far as I know.

I think I covered both ya'll's questions. I'll have to re-read James' post to
see if I missed anything.

Thanks for your help.

Wysi

I don't have B. cranifer, but I have B. giganteus and B. discoidales and I don't think there's a huge difference in husbandry. Just a few ideas:

What's the temperature like? IME, they will live just fine at lower temps (low 70's) but won't reproduce much if at all. Maybe you're seeing a normal death rate, but without reproduction to make up the numbers. Your population should be getting biger regardless of adults dying!

I like to give my blabs a substrate of some sort. I know many people don't, but I do seem to get a lot more babies with it than without. I've used peat moss, aspen bedding, vermiculite, natural leaf litter, as well as some other things. The nymphs seem to appreciate it.

You might have humidity issues as well. Normally, they don't need raised humidity, but you are in Arizona. Perhaps limiting the ventilation a bit?

While I'm sure they enjoy the diet you're offering them, wet diets (meaning fresh fruit and veggies) result in more wet frass and less hygenic conditions. I feed mine dry, unmedicated chick mash and have more roaches than I would ever want.

Good luck!

Wade

 

[Mister Internet]

I would say Wade's right on with his temperature question. 73-75 like you say you're keeping them will probably prohibit breeding altogether. You want them to breed, you're going to have to make it 90+ in there. I have a space heater pointed directly at my roach bin, and it's like 110 on the hot side... haven't had a death yet, and they're VERY active.

 

[james]

Heat!!!

I keep all my stuff in the 90-100F range. This is the heat tape I use. http://www.bigappleherp.com/Reptile_Supplies/Product/Big_Apples_Flexible_Heat_Rope_119500.html
Go to a home depot/Lowe's/Yardbirds/Local Nursery and buy some sphagnum moss to use as your substrate. If you keep the rabbit pellet or bran you are asking for mites, plus those do not work well when they get wet. With roaches its an easy formula to success. Heat, high protien dry cat or dog food, oranges, apples or carrots every few days, water crystals(misting if larger winged special, or dump some water over hot part of container for humidity!!!),and more heat and you will produce plenty of feeder roaches.
James

 

[Wade]

Chick mash is chicken feed for baby chicks. You should be able to find it at feed stores cheap. Ask for the unmedicated type, as the medicated type may kill the gut fauna of the cockroaches that they need to digest their food. Dog food works well, but I like the chick feed because it's already in a granular form and easy for them to eat. It's fairly high in protein but maybe not quite as high as dog food.

Aspen is safe for invert use (I mix it with the substrates for millipedes and beetle larvae) and does not have the oils etc. that pine and cedar have. Peat is probably a better choice since it has better humidity holding capabilities, but I mentioned aspen since it's something you might have had around anyway, but since you don't, I wouldn't bother buying it.

Annother way to raise temps is to move the roach bin to a higher posoition in the room. The warmer the better, but I get good results if they're in the 80's. I would probably get more if I went into the 90's, but I've got more than I can feed off as it is!

Wade

 

[Israel2004]

James,

Thanks for that link. That's exactly what i'm looking for to heat my roach rack.

Israel

Update: Got the heat rope. Man has it made a difference in how active this guys are. They're eating alot more. Hopefully breeding now too.