Adult Dubia Dying Off?

[daner923]

Hi all,

I have a fairly large (~5,000) strong dubia colony. This past weekend I cleaned the "feeder" bin, and moved them to a new, larger bin since there are now so many of them. Since that time, I have had a serious die-off problem, but only adults, and most of them seem to be recently turned adults (still somewhat white and soft). I cleaned the tanks on Friday, and on Sunday I pulled 35 dead adult roaches out! Monday, another 5 or 6!!! My breeder bin is still chock full of adults, but I'm worried that there is a problem in the other bin. The humidity was a bit too high in the smaller bin, but could it be too low in this bin? I have a large dish of water crystals and keep the tubs warm and dark at all times (feeder bin in the low 80s, breeder bin more in the 85-95F range). I clean them every couple months, and normally have a few die after a cleaning, but it is normal more of an even distribution (I would guess due to stress?). I have been feeding them on a diet of chicken feed for laying chickens, which they seem to love. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Soulwind]

Having an increased die-off of older adults isn't uncommon after a big
stressful event (like moving to another bin during cleaning and such).

Such large numbers though, and with younger ones, is unusual.

Since you say that most of them are recently molted, it does sound
like your humidity may be too low.