Roach Food... how long to leave it in?

[Trogdorpheus]

So, I've got a small colony of discoids going ~90 adults ~40 nymphs and ~40-50 babies running around. I have some high protein dog food and some whole grain cereal in there with some water crystals isolated in a corner. My question is how long should I leave that food in there? It's starting to get kind of soft... I was just brushing it around a bit to get a count on babies (they like hiding in the food), and I just noticed that it is no longer hard. It basically feels like... well stale cereal... It's not wet or anything so I'm not really concerned about mold I guess... but I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered something like this, or maybe I should change out the food? My main concern is that I've noticed some wing biting, so I'm not sure if they're eating it anymore...

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[spyder79]

2 things

1. They will eat it faster is it is ground up into a fine powder (cheap blenders work great for this)

2. (Piggy backs off of one) if the food is in there long enough to go bad you are feeding too much (but like I said if you grind it up they will consume it faster)

 

[Trogdorpheus]

I didn't realize dog food could "go bad"... when it sits in a rubbermaid bin in my garage for weeks just fine, how can putting it into a different rubbermaid bin make it go bad in a few days? I mean I guess that's what happened... but I don't really see how... I live in Illinois, and we've been pretty warm and humid these past few weeks, so I dare say my garage is warmer and more humid than my roach bin...

 

[spyder79]

I didn't realize dog food could "go bad"... when it sits in a rubbermaid bin in my garage for weeks just fine, how can putting it into a different rubbermaid bin make it go bad in a few days? I mean I guess that's what happened... but I don't really see how... I live in Illinois, and we've been pretty warm and humid these past few weeks, so I dare say my garage is warmer and more humid than my roach bin...

But your bin the dog food is stored in is dry and sealed with a top correct?

The roach bin is very humid so the moisture is absorbed by the dry food.
Trust me if you grind it up things will work better for you. Just saying.

 

[Trogdorpheus]

The bin in the garage is dry yeah, but it isn't sealed. In fact, it's normally half open... but that's neither here nor there.

I still don't see why it would go bad so quickly, but for me it's like an extra 30 seconds of work, and if nothing else I suppose it will give me some peace of mind. I plan on taking out what's in it, and replacing it with some fresh ground food and seeing how that does.

Thanks for your help.

Side note... what do people usually use to keep the food / crystals in? As of now my water crystals are in a shallow lid with a piece of egg crate leading from the side of it up into them, to allow the little ones access... thinking about changing that though, maybe just taking some sandpaper to the sides of the lid to rough it up so they can climb it. As for the food it's just on the bin floor, but I have some extra egg crates I might just tear a piece out of to put the food into, and let it sit in the "egg slots".

 

[hammerhead]

Side note... what do people usually use to keep the food / crystals in?

I use various plastic lids from cream cheese, yogurt,etc. You can even cut the bottom off plastic containers leaving a small lip.
I alway give them a quick sanding so the small nymphs can climb into them easier.

 

[wes]

My daughter placed some dog food in the dog's water bowl and I ended up putting that mash in the roach bin. They really gobbled it up. I suggest leaving it in there, but you do have to watch out for mold because dog food can mold after absorbing moisture in the bin.

I agree with Brian that you are probably putting in too much food. And grinding definitely helps, especially if there is a small number of roaches.

I put water crystals and dry food on the floor of the bin. Wet food goes on a flat lid with no sides.

 

[Trogdorpheus]

So... I spent about half an hour sifting through roach crap to pick out all the pieces of dog food that my colony had so conveniently spread throughout the entire bin, practically picking it out 2 to 3 pieces at a time to make sure I didn't toss any babies... Then I go up to my garage to get fresh food when I notice the label on the dog food says "... with delicious CHEWY bits!"... lol

I would still like to thank you all for the help though!

So let's all take a moment to silently mock Matt for missing this in the first place (waits) Ah... wasn't that nice?

HOWEVER, now they have ground food (picked out the "chewy" chunks), and a much better setup for their food/water crystals... so not a complete loss.

P.S. - since I had basically removed everything but the frass for the babies to hide under, I decided to give it a quick count on babies and it looks like another of my females has given birth