Anyone else allergic to Blaptica Dubia?

[armueller2001]

I posted this in the "feeding" section and got a couple of really good replies but thought it might get more exposure here.

Well, I've developed an allergy to blaptica dubia poop. Had one crawl across my hand the other day and had red itchy bumps pop up almost immediately, and I got all wheezy and was sneezing like crazy. It sucks, I've been selling these roaches for 3 years and this is just starting to happen now. I think it's triggering asthma-like symptoms in my breathing as well.

I'm thinking maybe if I keep them from crawling around in their poop it might be a lot better, and the cage would be easier to clean. I currently keep them in a 20L aquarium with a heat pad on the bottom... was thinking maybe if I worked up some type of screen on the bottom that the poop could fall through and they would stay out of it. It would be really cool to have a drawer that slides out (like an ash collector on an old wood stove) that I could dump the poop frequently without removing all the roaches from the cage.

Any suggestions?

 

[pepatt]

I don't know about what's causing your allergy (dubia poop or the dubia itself), but I know that allergies can develope over time. My dad raised honey bees and developed an allergic reaction to their sting after years of working with them. It became dangerous for him to work with them.

As for the aquarium, now I can help.
This will require moderate woodworking skills, but should be a fun project.

If your aquarium is built like mine, it has a plastic frame at the top and the bottom. Everything is siliconed together.
Be careful on this first step!
Take a razor blade and slice the silicone seal all the way around the bottom. You might have to run the blade under the tank too.
Remove the bottom glass and set it aside.
Now build a wood frame the same dimension as the bottom glass and staple the screen to it. Place this in the bottom of the tank.
Build another frame simulating the frame of the aquarium, only taller, and silicone the glass into it. This will act as a tray that you can use your heating pad with.
Set the aquarium on top of this and you're set.

Also, buy a box of latex gloves to handle the dubias. maybe that will help.

Now I don't raise dubias (yet) so I don't know the size of their poop. I assume it's similar to cricket's. That being said, choose your screen size accordingly