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Showing results for tags 'Blaberus'.
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Hello everyone I am new to this forum, I've been doing tons of research and am getting a starter colony of 10 nymphs of giant cave roaches here in April. I have looked on most websites and can't find anyoen specifing how long it takes them to reach adulthood, or how fast they grow. Can anyone with experiance with these roaches answer this question?
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I've had a small colony that started out around 12-14 Blaberus Fusca nymphs, who i've had for around 3 months. I started getting random die off of nymphs at around 2 months or beginning of the third month. First it was mostly the nymphs, all around their final instar. They did not display any sort of system of fungi or insecticide problems. Or any sort of lethal mites. (Besides general grain mites) If I find them 'knocking on deaths door' they were unresponsive, lethargic and limp with some twitching. Sometimes I could keep one going a little longer with some sugary food but the end result was still death. I've lost two adults (one male, one female) and i've lost count of the nymphs. They were originally kept around 83 degrees at a general 60-70% humidity. I added a lid and weekly misting thinking maybe they needed more humidity. Their diet had small amounts of fruit such as bananas and Beardie fruit bites. (I work at a lizard farm where that sort of food is abundant.) They had started on a mostly ground dog food diet, then switched to chicken mash. I ended up giving them a sort of platter that was dog food, chicken mash and a protein mix to see if there was any adjustment in the dying or food preference. I then relocated them to my office that stays at 73-74 degrees around 40-45% humidity with a open lid. They have a substrate of coco coir and a egg carton folded in half for height. Do they experience random die off as the Blaberus Gigantus do or am I missing a key husbandry item? I haven't had this sort of problem with any of my other Blaberus species. I would be okay if they weren't necessarily producing, but the die off rate is killing me. Just looking for general ideas that could be a problem or mistakes I made in their husbandry. I have a tall, bark lined tank with greenery I was going to relocate them to (At the same office temp.) But now with only three adults and 3-4 nymphs I'm not sure if I will even have them much longer then a few months.
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Hi all, For those of you who add rotting wood/leaves to your enclosures (like for B. giganteus), how do you prepare it? Do you collect a rotting branch/log and sterilize it somehow, or add it straight into the tank? Do you take a fresh piece of wood and innoculate it? Thanks for your input! -Eric
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