Cleaning out roaches

[dolphinsilversea01]

I just recently received over 550 dubias to give me a total of about 600. They are seperated at the time though 50 original ones I started out with, and the new ones I got. I did recently transfer about 5 females and 3 males from the 550 to the 50 though.

Anyways... I am noticing alot of deaths within the new batch of dubias I received. People have stated here that this is pretty normal, especially with so many. First, how do I know when it goes from "normal" death to "huh oh George, we gotta prob?". Second, I am wonderng how often I should clean it out. I don't mean clean clean, just go through and remove the dead. I do not want maggots, etc. do to the death in their - should I do now since I see them and then scan over every now and then?

Thanks in advance for any advice =)

 

[Anglwngss]

I don't know if this is your issue or not, but when I first started breeding the roaches, I thought I was having a lot of deaths. However, it turned out I was seeing a lot of the empty shells as they were shedding and growing larger.. Might be what you have too.

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

Some are the old skins, but their has been an awful lot of deaths.. plan on cleaning it out tonight or tomorrow and then I will keep an eye out. Hopefully it won't continue.

 

[augsburg1530]

The more roaches you have the more deaths you will see. With a young colony you shouldn't have more than a few dead each month.

I clean my colony twice a year. As long as you don't leave rotting food and dead bodies in there, you don't have to clean their tote very often. In fact, imo, it is better to leave them alone and not disturb them very often.

Eric

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

What kind of set up are you using? How are you heating them, what are you gutloading them w/, how long ago did you recieve them etc.?

I breed a ton of dubia for local shops and breeders in and around my area. I have bins that hold anywhere between 500-1000 adults and some of my nymph bins hold even more. I usually have a couple deaths here and there. Most are small to medium nymphs. And of course the adult males after they run their course. But by a couple I mean like 2-5 every week or so.

The only time had a bunch of nymphs die (nearly an epidemic) was when I ordered the large lots to begin my colonies. They came from reputable breeders and were packaged right. However sometimes they don't take to shipping especially if the shippers are chucking the boxes around. For the most part they survived but I did probably lose about 100+ of them within 2 weeks.

-Ian

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

I have two sets. I originally bought about 30 about 2-3months ago. I wanted to see how they would do, what they were like to take care of, etc., before buying a large amount. Of course I love them so I went and bought a 50g rubermaid container and set it up for a second batch. I bought 550+ from a friend (for $60!! she even delivered them..) n-e-ways... she stated that she had alot to do the day she was bringing them to me at work, so they would be in about a 7g container for about 4-6 hours. I was expecting a few deaths with them all being squashed together.
I have a heating pad underneath a giant bowl for water crystals, their fruit, and then their grub. I am assuming that it was probably the transfer and the weather, stress, etc. I cleaned out the dead yesterday (about 27 of them!) and I am going to keep an eye out and hopefully the deaths don't continue.
Let me load the pics to the puter and I will post below so u can see the set up =)

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

Here are a few pics of my set up:

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

Hmm second pic didn't come out.. let me try again..

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

Lol.. well ok, the second pic didn't come in when I viewed it the first time, oh well.

The glass container holds the initial 30 I got. The Rubbermaid container holds the second, 550+. I did put a few females and males from the second batch into the first to hopefully give that bunch a boost - thought I would use that group as a back up. I received the second bunch last Friday, I believe.

 

[Samus]

I dont know if light kills them but I believe they get stressed out in the light so it is best to use a heat emitter that does not give off light they like it as dark as it can be. Using heat pads underneath is a good way to do that.

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

I don't use the light as a heat source. It is just a plain 75watt that I use for extra light when I am in their - the room is dark even when the light is on.

If you look on the glass container you will see two heating pads on the back and left side, plus their is one underneath. I only have one under the rubbermaid tub until I get another one.

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

People have stated here that this is pretty normal, especially with so many. First, how do I know when it goes from "normal" death to "huh oh George, we gotta prob?". Second, I am wonderng how often I should clean it out. I don't mean clean clean, just go through and remove the dead. I do not want maggots, etc. do to the death in their - should I do now since I see them and then scan over every now and then?

So I am wondering about my initial questions... anyone have answers?

 

[augsburg1530]

[/quote]So I am wondering about my initial questions... anyone have answers?[/quote]

I would clean out the dead bodies as soon as you see them, then make sure you remove any uneaten fresh food before it molds, mold is the enemy of roaches and will kill them.

If you continue to see lots of dead roaches after the initial kill off, you have a problem.

I would go to http://www.theroachguy.com and look at his egg crate set up. He does a cool thing with glueing two egg crates together to create a safe and secure home for your breeders. I think your set up would benefit from copying theroachguy's approach.

Hope that helps,

Eric

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

Thanks for your reply Eric. I have seen the roach guys pages - I go their often to keep my mind fresh about care, etc. I do plan on eventually doing that same thing when I am able to get more cartons. For now I did the closest I could with what I have.

When I went in their today to get Spike his meal, their were a couple dead, but like I said before I think maybe it was the initial move which was done last Saturday - with the cold and stress of them being moved. I am going to wait it out and see how they turn out. She gave me a mixture of ages, so it could even be that as well (the older ones).

I never leave the food in their for more than a day or so. I usually put fresh stuff in their every morning when I give Spike fresh veggies and greens. So far I don't think mold is the issue. I also don't know how she kept them. She said she had so many of them, "Thousands upon thousands", were her exact words so it could be that as well.... we will see =)

 

[gregorydragon]

I take out the dead ones whenever I see them. I am just getting to a point where I feel comfortable feeding out of my colony and I look in there a few times a week. I have actually noticed some really small adult females that are dying. I have females that are a good 2 inches, but there are some that look like they are barely 1 inch. I have noticed that several of them have died in the past week or two. I was planning on taking the really small adults out anyway. It rained here recently and the humidity went way up. It was like a molting explosion; like the large nymphs were just hanging on. I suddenly have hundreds of adults.