Zephyr Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 A lot of my discoids are showing up like this lately: What is the cause of this? Too low humidity? Too high? Dehydration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Too low humidity. This killed 5/4ths of my hissers before I knew it. Regular spraying will stop it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Too low humidity. This killed 5/4ths of my hissers before I knew it. Regular spraying will stop it. When I DID have the extra humidity, the frass began to rot and this brought phorid flies. How did you find the "happy medium?" (Pardon the pun, lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt K Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 When I DID have the extra humidity, the frass began to rot and this brought phorid flies. How did you find the "happy medium?" (Pardon the pun, lol) Clean out the cage and use cypress mulch for substrate. Add roaches back in. I only have to change out the substrate about once a year, and the retained moisture in the mulch maintains humidity. You may also add a variety of bugs to feed on the frass (I have assorted beetles including dermestids). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Will do Matt! I don't have any more mealworms on hand; Will isopods work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt K Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Will do Matt! I don't have any more mealworms on hand; Will isopods work? No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 When I DID have the extra humidity, the frass began to rot and this brought phorid flies. How did you find the "happy medium?" (Pardon the pun, lol) I just use the phorids to feed my mantids! But springtails seem to work well at controlling frass. My isopods are more interested in the roaches' food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 I just use the phorids to feed my mantids! But springtails seem to work well at controlling frass. My isopods are more interested in the roaches' food. Alright, I bumped up the humidity. But now it seems like the nymphs aren't hardening completely after molting. Could this be a dietary issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Sometimes I have nymphs not darkening because they had been injured in a molt. One hisser's leg was crushed soon after he shed, and it never regained color. Do yours look healthy and everything, or are they wrinkled or sickly? If they are healthy, it's possible that they are just very light colored. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted May 6, 2009 Author Share Posted May 6, 2009 Sometimes I have nymphs not darkening because they had been injured in a molt. One hisser's leg was crushed soon after he shed, and it never regained color. Do yours look healthy and everything, or are they wrinkled or sickly? If they are healthy, it's possible that they are just very light colored. They look wrinkly. Which would explain the molting problems... However, would this be a dietary problem? From lack of protein? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 Are you feeding dog or cat food at all? I use it every week or so. Fish food can be good too, but some ingredients might be harmful. I don't know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Ralph, I've never had a problem feeding fish flakes to any of my roaches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 Lately I've been feeding more fruits and veggies. I'll be adding more dog food again this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Clausen Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Just a quick note to say you can balance the humidity with some microscreen that will keep the "pests" out, though I don't really have ventilation on a lot of my roach containers aside from the bit that gets in between the lid and container (and when I open them to feed every couple of days). I use isopods in my large dubia colony and I see fewer fungus gnats in that bin than any of the others that don't have isopods. I simply change substrate when a problem occurs and sometimes the bin. Mostly, I just kind of live with the traveling fungus gnat "culture". I rarely see phorid flies because I usually find the dead roaches before they get a chance to pupate and emerge. I haven't changed the substrate in that dubia tank in over a year, maybe closer to two. It was an isopod bin, then a giant cave cricket bin, then about a year ago it became a dubia bin that has housed thousands of dubia. The isopods and probably the roaches seem to do a pretty good job cleaning house together, though I probably don't feed them as often as I could. Sometimes, I just drop my youngest mantids in with the roaches to feed on the fungus gnats and keep the humidity down for awhile. Wouldn't hurt to hit up all the typically recommended foods and maintain higher humidity too! Maybe you're putting too much food in or not pulling it out fast enough (though I know it only takes 24 hours or less for mold to spread under some conditions). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Ralph, I've never had a problem feeding fish flakes to any of my roaches. Neither have I, but I thought I read somewhere on another forum that some brands could be harmful. Most are probably completely safe. Also Peter, I have small groups of cockroaches with no deaths for months, and still phorid flies. Can they also live on the roaches' food? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BugmanPrice Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 My thought is if it is good enough for fish which are pretty sensitive to their environment, it's good enough for a cockroach. I wouldn't use any medicated brands though...that is where you may run into a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt K Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 Zephyr- How about a post to update everyone as to how your roaches are doing these days /??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roachman26 Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 A lot of my discoids are showing up like this lately: What is the cause of this? Too low humidity? Too high? Dehydration? How did this one end up? Were you able to find the culprit and fix it? I kept my hissers in an open topped glass aquarium for years with chick waterers and never misted them. Humidity was single digits or low teens on a good day. No substrate. Paper towel rolls to hide in. Never saw any problems like that. Their main food source was an occasional handful of premium dog food. They got other stuff every once in a while. I just didn't know any better back then, but my colony was thriving anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share Posted December 17, 2009 I tried to outbreed this (in case it was genetic) but I had no success; toying with the humidity made it worse. It was either a virus or nutritional deficiency; I destroyed the colony and started over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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