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G. Portentosa mysterious deaths...


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So I had 8 cockroaches. Four of them were adults and the rest nymphs. One day I looked in and noticed legs and horn plate on the enclosure ground and saw that there was one adult missing.  So, I am not sure how he died but they ate most of him. Nothing has changed.. Water and food the same.. I thought maybe since it was getting hotter.. but I added some small holes to the sides of the enclosure.

Anyways, thinking the problem was solved.. I checked in on them yesterday.. Another adult dead, half eaten.. I took him out. So, now my female adult is left and largest male left along with the four other male nymphs. Is it possible that the male could have killed the other males for breeding rights or something? This is bizarre to me and I'm really unsure why they died.. Any ideas would be nice.. Going to change out their entire substrate and clean the container out tonight. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Thanks ahead of time.

 

Charlie.

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As long as they have food and water available at all times and have good ventilation, they shouldn't be dying, really strange that two adults have died already... :(

How much protein do you feed them? A complete enclosure cleaning is a good idea, hopefully that'll help out. Really don't know why they'd be dying off like that...

 

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Lack of protein leads to cannibalism, seems like that's why they are turning on each other. The staple of their overall diet should be some sort of grain based, protein filled food like dog food or chick feed, oats, etc., with fruits and veggies on the side, or at least half and half, otherwise stuff like this happens... 

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1 hour ago, charzard said:

Yeah, same. Honestly kind of angry and beating myself up over this. Unfortunately it is what it is now... 

It's no problem, we all have similar moments, let enclosures get too dry, use an improper diet, use cleanup crews for the wrong species, etc., it's just part of the hobby. The important thing is that the majority of your roaches are still alive, and will likely stop cannibalizing once they get some more protein into their stomachs. :)

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30 minutes ago, lovebugfarm said:

I realized recently cheerios are 100% oats and have been using it with my roaches that are slow eaters since it doesn't mold as fast.

Ouch, well lesson learned, I have to change dog kibbles every day since it molds in 24 hours due to the humidity. But I only have one colony.

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13 hours ago, Tleilaxu said:

Ouch, well lesson learned, I have to change dog kibbles every day since it molds in 24 hours due to the humidity. But I only have one colony.

Yeah moldy dog food is the worst. I also will try to place it on a piece of corkbark turned flat like a plate or on top of leaves so it doesn't touch the soil. In really humid tanks it still doesn't make much difference.

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