Can't Seem to Keep Giant Cave and Colossal Roaches Alive

[njohns]

I have kept roaches for most of my life, and have never had any problems, except for these species, and I was wondering if any of you could try to help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. 
I keep them in 10-gallon aquariums with about 2-3" coco fiber, and vertical pieces of bark. The substrate is mostly dry, but I try to add water every once in a while. I keep the room at about 80 degrees with a space heater. I feed them what I feed my other roaches: fruit, vegetables, bread, and cereal. I feed my other roaches cat food occassionally, but they don't seem to like this.

A couple things I was thinking is maybe they aren't getting enough protein or maybe the humidity is too low? I live in Montana, and it's really dry here. I have a humidifier in the room, but even that only raises it to about 50%. The reason I don't keep the soil moist very often is because I keep getting mites...

[All About Arthropods]

Both colosseus and giganteus definitely like things moister as opposed to drier. I'd think that's definitely the main area where things are going wrong. The entire substrate should always be moderately moist and you might even consider covering a portion of the lid to maintain a bit more air humidity as well. For preventing mites, simply feeding less food (in turn, minimizing potential leftovers for the mites to munch on) should do the trick. 🙂

They would both benefit from some more protein as well. I'd recommend more offerings of the cat food for sure.

[njohns]

Thanks All About Arthropods, I will definitely do that!

[All About Arthropods]

13 minutes ago, njohns said:

Thanks All About Arthropods, I will definitely do that!

No problem, happy to help!