Dubia Ootheca (eggs)

[Linziehonn]

So one of my female dubias did a very odd looking thing today. She pushed out her ootheca (cluster of eggs), ran around a circle kind of crazy like, and managed to scoot it off of her. Aren't they supposed to retract the ootheca into the brood chamber? She's now just hovering around it...they cannot hatch this way can they? Does it mean I am doing something wrong in their setup since she did not retract them? It's really quite gross btw, other roaches keep trying to eat it and I keep shooing them away because I wasn't sure if this was completely normal.

 

[ButterflyGirl89]

I'm such a newbie at roachies that it's kind of unreal, so take this with more than just a grain of salt.

BUT, what I believe I read somewhere, maybe, is that if the female gets stressed out, she'll abort the eggs instead of allowing them to hatch?
I'm almost positive that they can't hatch like that, though.
Also, another thing I'm pretty sure I read, is that when a female is old and going to die soon, she'll also drop her egg sack thingy.
:dontknow:

But again, I only just barely know anything about this. Those are my theories, though? Haha. Hopefully this bump will help someone else who actually knows what they're talking about reply.

 

[Linziehonn]

That they are stressed makes perfect sense to me. They were producing much more than my beardies could eat as they're growing tiresome of the dubias. So I moved all my breeders into the bin with my feeders about two weeks ago at the hopes of me disturbing them once a day would greatly slow their breeding, I also somewhat lowered their temps, so you could very well be right! Thank you for that! It's good to know that they're not getting some kind of ailment, but just 'disturbed'.

 

[ButterflyGirl89]

Haha, you're welcome! I guess that means you got what you wanted then! lol. Less babies for youuuu.
I'm so glad I was actually of help! I'm almost a little surprised at myself. :wink:

 

[Linziehonn]

Haha yeah I hate to not have babies in that way because that makes me a bit sad for her, even though she's just a roach, I was more hoping for less breeding than err egg abandonment lol but I guess you're right I kind of got what I asked for. It's surprising how much knowledge you can gain in a short time from this site so I'm not surprised for anyone to know this stuff lol

 

[Reef]

i recomend that you just sell the extras on ebay or craigslist or ksl