To breed Dubia Roaches, or not to breed Dubia Roaches

[BeardieNewbie326]

Hey Guys,

I have been breeding Dubia Roaches for about 3 months at this point and they have been doing extremely well. They have been molting well, plenty of babies, and they eat about 3/4 of an orange in a day along side their dry feed that I keep plenty of.

I sorted them last night so that I can figure out how many females, males, and feeders I have since I just got my new beardie Nova and want to feed her solely out of it. (Minus the occasional treat of course). After sorting I did a 3-1 ratio of females to males, and my numbers came out to 144 Females and about 50 males. (Holy crap I have enough females lol)

Here's the issue, it's been about 16 hours since I finished the sorting and looking at them this morning there are several that are dead, they all seem extremely lethargic, and they did not eat much. This is scaring me as I don't want my colony to die!

My heat source is the same. A UTH under the tub which brings the temp against the very bottom to about 95 degrees or so. It's a little warm against the bottom but they have seemed to enjoy it since the ambient temp only gets to about 75 or so.

The only difference this time was instead of just setting the egg crates in there, I glued them together in twos so they would stand up easier, and that way I can handle them easier when need be.

Please help as I don't know if they are just stressed from everything, or if they are getting sick and dying. Any sort of information would be appreciated, and if you need pics I can post some of the setup. (18g plastic tote with 6 egg crates)

Thanks in Advance!

 

[KarenInCA]

Im also starting my own colony after my dragon let crickets walk all over him as if he is on a hunger strike, after feeding him any dubia. I have no idea why they are so freaking expensive at our local reptile shop, with as easy as it seems to breed them. What a rip off! Can't wait to start ours.
Anyway, someone said that they feed theirs chicken scratch, dog food, and fruits. Also, obviously water crystals. He also puts calcium in the dry food so that his dubia are calcium rich, and he does not have to dust them that way. Does anyone know about doing it that way? Have you tried mixing the calcium powder in to your roach food?

 

[Soulwind]

The only difference this time was instead of just setting the egg crates in there, I glued them together in twos so they would stand up easier, and that way I can handle them easier when need be.

It could be just the stress of being sorted. I find that I have a small die off (usually of the older/weaker breeders) for a day or two after a full cleaning/sorting.

However, if the rest of the colony seems to be also affected, there may be more going on.

What kind of glue did you use? Plain white Elmer's glue should be OK, but other glues can sometimes release vapors into the air as they dry.

Also, are the egg crates the same (source) as the old crates? Some egg crates contain formaldehyde and other bad stuff that you need to steer clear of.

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

KarenInCA,

Be careful when feeding calcium to the roaches, it is possible to feed roaches to much calcium and cause problems long term. It's good for doing with feeders who will be eaten within 72 hours, but not for the main colony.

At Soulwind,

I have taken out the glued together crates and put in basic crates this time without glue.

The dying has not stopped or slowed down yet. It seems to be mostly nymphs less than 1 inch, however there are some older ones that have died.

The glue was a wood glue that I had on hand, fully dried out before I used the crates. It makes sense that this may be causing an issue since it is the only change, however it doesn't make sense that they could have eaten THAT much loose glue that they could get have gotten ahold of. I'm looking at about 1500 total roaches.

I was thinking stress from being sorted but I've been told that's normally not an issue. I have seen several dying during molting, and even some that look extremely deformed (legs, wings), but I'm assuming its just damage from the sorting process. Humidity hasn't changed since the sorting. They are in a closet near the bathroom so I make sure they get bursts of humidity when showers are taken.

I have officially stopped feeding my 2 month old beardie from the colony as I don't want her to get sick. She has ate some from the colony but hasn't changed as far as attitude goes.

They act like they just lost the will to live. The light doesn't bother them, most only move when I touch them, and they keep turning up dead.

I got the egg crates from a dubia breeder at a local reptile show so I am assuming that they are okay.

Thanks for replying, I posted a different thread but have gotten no responses. Sometimes this forum is extremely helpful and sometimes people just view the posts! lol

 

[Soulwind]

Mostly if folks don't have any ideas, they don't respond.
Helps to keep the threads from being cluttered up with "IDKs"...

Well, if it's mostly the younger ones, then it does sound like something
other than sorting/manipulation stress.

Dying during molting would indicate normally humidity issues, but you say that the humidity is OK...

Are you 100% certain there's been no spraying for bugs (ants and such) anywhere
nearby? No adding of anything else into the local environment (cedar wood or other stuff (ie mothballs))?

It really does sound like they are suffering from some kind of neuro-toxin effect which is typical of pesticides.

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

It does honestly make me thing pesticides or something along those lines but there's no possible way that could have been exposed to anything. The sorting process took place in the same room, Same food source (Dry feed from the same bag, Oranges from the same bag, and water crystals from the same pre-made tub)

Dying during molting does point to Humidity issues, however the environment is exactly the same as it was for the previous couple months. The only thing I can think of is that the sorting process took them away from the heat and humid environment that they were used to (When bundled up together in the crates), and now its taking them some time to get their "bundled temp and humidity" to the proper levels. I know that even when a probe thermometer might say 80 in a cluster, the actual temp they feel can be higher due to them clustering together and basically feeding off of their own body heat. Nothing is sprayed in that area, no moth balls or anything, no cleaners or bleach like products.

The Bin is free of moisture, the fras looks "clean" and is easily sift-able with no clumps of any kind. The Glue has been taken out of the bin.

There was 1 pregnant female that I noticed during the sorting process that I made sure to put aside until the end. I didn't notice her dropped sack anywhere when I went through **** this morning so I think she ended up birthing them or is holding the sack within. I'll never know unfortunately.

 

[jarich]

I would guess it was still your glue. Dry or not, it can still off gas fumes when heated, which in such a small space can build up enough to become toxic to your roaches. That you took it out wont clear the toxicity right away.

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

It's been 48 hours since sorting, still have new deaths, only 2 adults so far but around 100 mixed size nymphs. I have no idea where to go from here

They are all still extremely lethargic and have not been eating.

I'm going to separate some of the roaches into a new container, add some food and glue, and see if they start to die off. It would point to glue being an issue.

Any ideas?

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

Add another 50-75 to the death pool this morning :/

 

[Taterbug]

Wow, that really sucks - I hope it stops and they recover.

I don't really have any ideas what it could be - some of the suggestions are basically what I would guess at too. Glue, food, something sprayed near by....

The only time I had a big sudden die off was when I fed custard apple not realizing it has natural pesticide qualities, and when I fed some greens I hadn't washed very well. In those cases the dead were only in the food area - not back in the crates.

It's strange really since they were doing so well - I'd look very critically at what has changed but sounds like not much. Did you wash the tub or any of the equipment? Is it possible your sorting equipment was contaminated with something? Do you peel the oranges?

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

The only thing I can think of is that I got the buckets that I used to sort them with from Home depot, Maybe something got spilled and dried on the buckets them selves and when I used them to sort the roaches it is harming them. Doesn't make sense that they would still be dying tho since they were only in the buckets for a limited time.

I did not wash the tub only because it was still very clean. There were no water spots, no spots where fras was stuck to the container. It was just a little dusty from the sorting process so I wiped it out with a clean towel. Maybe the detergent did it?

It sucks that it's not possible to figure out what it was. I'm hoping the deaths start slowing down soon

They were doing so good!!

I do want to mention that this morning when I was taking out the dead soldiers, I noticed some fresh babies! Like new new babies, so I think that's a good sign. I'll know more here when I get home from work in an hour.

 

[Taterbug]

I doubt it would be detergent from the towel. (Mine live in the laundry room)

Hope they perk back up, good luck.

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

Me too :/, I had another 30 or so Dead soldiers today. Had about 7 Adults included Male and Female.

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

**UPDATE**

My Colony has been turning around over the last several days. Their appetite is back, they are much more alert, and a drastic amount has changed in deaths.

I still have about 10 or so die per day, but the rest of them are doing much much better.

It no longer looks like a graveyard!

Now here's my question.. Should I just let them be, or should I do another mass cleaning.

Here's the thing. I'm sure there is a good amount of dead ones that are buried in the center where the crates sit. I was thinking about CAREFULLY removing all the roaches again but just long enough to clean out ALL the fras and dead bodies. I kept some because they seem to enjoy it but if there's poison then them eating their fras could cause long term issues.

Any Ideas?

 

[Sauzo]

You should be fine cleaning it. I had the same problem when I first started my colony and personally I think it was from the guy I got the colony from. I had massive die off and lost probably 3/4 of my colony. After I cleaned everything up, I bought a bunch of adult females off a guy in local Craigslist as well as ordered a few hundred nymphs from DubiDeli and Buydubiaroaches and my colony just took off....1 year later, I got about 400+ females and about 5000+ mixed roaches and that's after I sold off about 200+ females and about 3000+ nymphs. I would just clean it out and throw all the fras and everything out and wash out the bin with just hot water and put the roaches back in.