Dubia Roaches dying/burned

[MauDragon]

Hey,

I think I have a problem with my Dubia Roach Colony. Just the other day, I bought 77 females and over 400-500 juvies and added it to my existing colony. I bought them from two different breeders so, they most probably have unsimilar ways of taking care of the roaches. The second breeder I got the roaches from have bad-smelling roaches but I just thought that maybe it's because of what he's feeding them which is pure dog food and will just go away after a few days. I use Chick Starter Feed, oat meal and baby rice food mixed altogether. And give them apples or oranges for water. I left them to their business thinking that the smell would go away. I was shocked that after 3 days, I found dying roaches in my bin and the smell is still there! The smell is kind of like a mix of burnt paper, plastic and rotting food..
I don't know where the smell comes from and how to stop the roaches from dying.. Please help me!

Edit: I forgot, the second group of roaches I got are cannibalistic. I mean, when I got them, I found body parts of adult roaches everywhere. It was like they were mutilated.

Sacho~

 

[MauDragon]

Pictures: (Sorry, my bin's a mess, dry food is everywhere because my roaches are lazy to go and eat in a container. If you're wondering about what's the thing with the packaging tape, it's cardboard that I rolled like a toilet paper tube.

I encircled the dead roaches with the color red and roach shed with color blue.



This is a close-up of one of the dead roaches in the bin.

 

[kjinxx2]

I dont know how effective the food your using is, if they're not going into a container for it, chances are they aren't eating it off the floor. You might try getting a small container of fluker's cricket food from walmart and trying that. Also, what are your temps? On the floor? What's your humidity in the container at? What about ventilation? How big is the vent?

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Yup I would start with the temps and open the bin up more. Seems it may be to humid or hot or both. Make sure the egg creates are bot damp and add more of them in there. When you add more roaches the heat goes up. Hope this helps...

 

[MauDragon]

I dont know how effective the food your using is, if they're not going into a container for it, chances are they aren't eating it off the floor. You might try getting a small container of fluker's cricket food from walmart and trying that. Also, what are your temps? On the floor? What's your humidity in the container at? What about ventilation? How big is the vent?

Actually, they like the food I'm giving them. One cup of dry food only lasts a week or two. I got the idea because when I were providing it in a container at the middle of the bin, it lasts a whole month until only bits of oatmeals are left. I can't get ready-made cricket food because I'm from the Philippines and there's no Walmart here. And because my country has a tropical climate, we usually have constant temperature inside our houses. The average temp. inside and on the floor of the bin is 88 degrees. I don't have a humidity gauge but I'm pretty sure the problem's not about humidity. I immediately added two 3" x 12" vents on the lid of my bin after seeing dead roaches around the crates thinking that it's just because of airflow inside the bin.

Yup I would start with the temps and open the bin up more. Seems it may be to humid or hot or both. Make sure the egg creates are bot damp and add more of them in there. When you add more roaches the heat goes up. Hope this helps...

I don't think it's about the humidity and temperature inside my bin that's causing the problem. Before I got the 2nd batch of roaches, the 1st batch's pretty content, without any deaths and even breed without a problem. I've got about 6 egg trays placed vertically inside and in the middle is the water source water-source. Do you think the 2nd batch has some kind of virus?

Edit: Hey Twobeardieguy, do you think that because I added more roaches that the heat goes up so high it kind of burned them?

Thanks for the input! Any more suggestions are welcome!

Sacho~

 

[MauDragon]

Update:
I found 3 adults females dead inside the bin when I checked. When I touched them, they were like mushy and will break apart easily if put I a little pressure. And I noticed, they were something moving in the poo and inside some carcasses of roaches. I don't know what it is, but I read in someone's post who has similar problems by the way, in another forum that it might be carrion flies and larvae' doing. I did saw some flies flying around but I just thought that they're just fruit flies. Please help me! Last time I checked, only nymphs are dying in my colony, now adult females too.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Sacho, yes when you add more roaches the heat and humidity will go up. I would see where the temps and humidity are first. The fruit flies are a common problem when people use animal feed. If you are seeing the flies then it sounds like the humidity is way to high. You should get another bin setup with new egg creates and sort through the roaches. Also I am not sure what you mean about the water in the middle. That should not be anywhere near your egg creates. Hope this helps and if you need more help give me a shout.