I got about a dozen ivory head roaches at the end of last year. Most were large nymphs that eventually became adults. Things have seemingly been going fine with them(including some new nymphs born) until a couple weeks ago. I found one of the roaches dead and partially eaten. I put it in a bottle to dispose of on trash day. The next day I happened to notice there were little skinny white worms on the side of the bottle that seemed to have come from the roach. I didn't get a close look but to me they seemed like maybe nematodes.
Today, I found another dead adult roach. Noticed another live one with damaged wings that I'm not sure if might have been from getting attacked by the others or not molting properly. I don't know if these two could've died from my less than perfect care recently or if it could just be normal to lose two considering I've had them for almost 6 months.
Just wanted to see if anyone thinks the nematodes might be causing their deaths. Also I had planned to buy more ivory heads from another seller to add some genetic diversity and then eventually sell some of their offspring. Does this mean I have to now abandon this idea? I assume since I've been careful with their food, that they must have had nematodes from the seller I bought them from.
Unless someone suggests a better course of action I'm thinking of cleaning their container and giving them new bedding. What would you recommend for disinfecting their container? There are young nymphs. Are these less likely to be infected? if so, I was thinking of separating them from the adults.