Dubias smell terrible?!

[Damieboo]

Wowza. Just got 150 medium/large dubias and 4 adult male breeders (though no plans to start a real colony...too much work and takes too long!) and have them in a 10 gallon tank with a small box, two toilet paper tubes, and 2 egg cartons to roam around in as well as roach food sprinkled around the tank and a small dish with water crystals. I've had them in the tank for about 3 days now and today as I leaned down to scoop a couple out for feeding time, I was hit with the most gut-wrenching smell of urine or ammonia. It was so concentrated, I still feel nauseous writing this. I thought everyone claimed dubias were odorless? The humidity can't be too high, I live in Yuma, Arizona and it's always dry here. The tank is in my closet where it's a little darker but I have no heating pad on them yet so I'm guessing it's regularly 75-80 inside. It's at least dry enough where the water crystals dry up after 1 day. I noticed a couple dead roaches and I'm not sure why they're dying, other than the lack of heat but it's not that cold...And I will be getting an under tank heater, no worries! Just haven't had the chance but I didn't think they'd start dying off after only 3 days.

 

[Taterbug]

Something sounds off about your setup. I don't have a problem with smell in my colony with the exception of if food goes rancid. They have a distinct insect smell but I wouldn't call it ammonia. Certainly clean it thoroughly and you may want to experiment with how he food is served. Dry chows can get nasty fat if allowed to get moist.

How is the ventilation in the bin?

 

[willige54]

Dubias will give off an ammonia odor if they are stressed. Sometimes happens when they are being handled too much for sorting. Put them in a dark, quiet area and leave them alone. Try this.