Dubia Roaches Questions Please Help

[HuberNS92]

I have my roaches in a rubbermaid container. With a heating pad unerneath and one/half an egg carton for 50 of them. They don't seem to eat much. I have dog food in a cup bottom about 1 inch from the ground. They can get to it right? I think they can climb the cup but i'm not sure. Or do they just not eat that often?

 

[MarleyMoe]

Mine seem to eat for england! Im using the lid off a food tub the locusts get delivered in with cat biscuits and tropical fish flakes in. An inch might be a bit big for them to climb up... maybe a jam jar lid or something low like that would be worth a try

Fingers crossed

 

[HuberNS92]

I have my roaches in a rubbermaid container. With a heating pad unerneath and one/half an egg carton for 50 of them. They don't seem to eat much. I have dog food in a cup bottom about 1 inch from the ground. They can get to it right? I think they can climb the cup but i'm not sure. Or do they just not eat that often?

Okay thank you! They also seem to not come out much, so how will they know about the food!? They just stay under the carton.

 

[Gail]

They can smell the food and will come out at night.

 

[HuberNS92]

They can smell the food and will come out at night.

Well first, is it okay to leave the dog food in there for a while? It cant go bad I think.

And also, how often do they eat? Because I left the dog food in overnight and they didnt touch it.

 

[Dementeddogz]

an inch may be to high depending on container surface. I use a rock textured bowl almost that large for water crystals and the do fine. As far as food goes i use a very shallow container or just pour in corner of tank and grind everything up. They are out through the day but more so at night and can always see them all over the food at night. They are in a glass aquarium with the sides black out (black contact paper) and a red heat light or heating pad. There food stays in there 24/7, well the dry food does 9ground up pdog food, oats, cereal, exc) veges/fruit do not.

 

[HuberNS92]

an inch may be to high depending on container surface. I use a rock textured bowl almost that large for water crystals and the do fine. As far as food goes i use a very shallow container or just pour in corner of tank and grind everything up. They are out through the day but more so at night and can always see them all over the food at night. They are in a glass aquarium with the sides black out (black contact paper) and a red heat light or heating pad. There food stays in there 24/7, well the dry food does 9ground up pdog food, oats, cereal, exc) veges/fruit do not.

Can I leave the food in there for a few days without any problem, if it is dog food? It doesnt spoil right? And how often do yours eat?

 

[Sapphire]

You can leave it in there for a while as long as it isn't in contact with their water gels. If it gets wet it could get moldy and/or start to stink.

I have a huge colony of roaches and they eat so much I can barely keep up with them. But when I only had a few dozen at first, it was hard to tell when they were eating. Do you have the dog food crushed/ground up? If you just have the full-sized pieces in there, they may not eat it at all, because it's too hard for them to get bites of it when it's in big solid form.

 

[HuberNS92]

You can leave it in there for a while as long as it isn't in contact with their water gels. If it gets wet it could get moldy and/or start to stink.

I have a huge colony of roaches and they eat so much I can barely keep up with them. But when I only had a few dozen at first, it was hard to tell when they were eating. Do you have the dog food crushed/ground up? If you just have the full-sized pieces in there, they may not eat it at all, because it's too hard for them to get bites of it when it's in big solid form.

Not completely ground but fairly crushed up. I havent even seen they try to eat it since the first day I got them.

 

[Dementeddogz]

Thats odd, you could try something else just to see or grind up a dry mixture roach chow? Do you keep it dark at night for them? are you able to look at them late at night to see when they come out? Do they go after the water crystals or food at all then? Mine are at each location spread out and wandering around tank. What are the cage temps? Make sure you check where to pad is as well as overall tank, that can get a little too how depending on your set up. If you balance their heat keep them free of moisture/mold, keep food and water crystals, you "should" be fine. Just need to determine what isnt fine. I do know increased heat, at the very least can some of your symptoms tried a rheostat and repti thermostat and wasnt happy with the way it was handled. I now use a simple rheostat for both of them, and much more satisfied with themp stability and we had our first visible eggsack

 

[SpazticMagic]

I will offer one warning about using dry processed foods that contain any grain ingredient--cycle them out at least weekly if you're leaving them in the habitats. Reason being, at least here in the US, almost all grain products are infested with grain mite eggs, even oatmeal. If they are left alone long enough in the right conditions (which aren't hard to meet) they will hatch and BOOM! You suddenly have white-gray specks all over your enclosure looking like motile dust. While they don't seem deadly to anything, they're certainly unsightly and they are inconsiderate about parameters--they'll go everywhere. I have heard of cases where they stress out a colony to the point of potential collapse. I'm not sure how to fully avoid this, honestly. I'm on the second bout of them with my meal worms at the moment. Theoretically you can try to sterilize the dry food before you introduce it, which is what i'm going to try from here on out. I would suggest the microwave, though, i'm not certain it will kill the eggs--i need to look into the science of it.

 

[Sherri]

I would suggest the microwave, though, i'm not certain it will kill the eggs--i need to look into the science of it.

If heat does kill them it might be a good idea to bake it in the oven...can't hurt it and maybe work better (drier heat) than the microwave? Then it can cool and be ground. Hmm, I think I will check on that as well, thanks for the thought

 

[SpazticMagic]

The oven could work, yes, if heat were the answer. But here's the thing--that's ambient heat. And many eggs have a very high ambient heat thresh hold. When you use a microwave you are using technology which excites water molecules. Water is found in just about everything that is living. So using microwaves you can, potentially, destroy the eggs quicker and with less energy use. This is all theory of course, as soon as i find some science to back it i'll be sure to let people know.

 

[HuberNS92]

The oven could work, yes, if heat were the answer. But here's the thing--that's ambient heat. And many eggs have a very high ambient heat thresh hold. When you use a microwave you are using technology which excites water molecules. Water is found in just about everything that is living. So using microwaves you can, potentially, destroy the eggs quicker and with less energy use. This is all theory of course, as soon as i find some science to back it i'll be sure to let people know.

Wow, thanks. Please do let me know. That is outrageous it's in our food.

 

[SpazticMagic]

So far i have found no research about using microwaves or ambient heat to sterilize grain products. Seems like experimentation time to me...
However, what i did find is that they are incapable of living in conditions where the humidity levels are lower than 55-60%. But that just seems to be the adults, while the eggs seem capable of surviving harsher conditions (up to and including chemical approaches to control). The pupae form also seem resistant to chemical control.