dcfarms Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 We have had a healthy colony up until the last week when several adult hissers started molting. At first we thought that some sub-adults were going through bad final molts. Has anyone dealt with this before? Could this be an inbreeding issue? Is there anything that we can do to keep this from happening? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepy Lemur Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 What are your humidity levels? Diet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfarms Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 Diet is chicken feed with weekly feeding of veggies or fruits like bell pepper, carrots, tomato, apple, salad mix, occasionally some bread. Water is always available. The colony is kept in a ventilated see-through storage container so that we can keep an eye on food and water levels. Humidity is low to medium. When the issue started we increased the humidity by misting a couple times a week. There are normal molting as well as what appears to be adult hissers molting. We managed to get one completely out of it old exoskeleton but it did not harden up at all. We put it down as it was just suffering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 Hissers molting post-adulthood are really rare, and the cause seems to be unknown. Such molts are usually unsuccessful regardless of the humidity levels. Hopefully the issue will resolve itself, keep us updated on them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfarms Posted April 9, 2016 Author Share Posted April 9, 2016 We lost a minimum of 7 to a maximum 15 adults in a span of 2 weeks. My husband is super concerned of an inbreeding problem so he purchased 15 new breeding pairs to increase genetic variation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted April 9, 2016 Share Posted April 9, 2016 You absolutely sure they were adults? It seems really strange that so many of them are having that problem, however inbreeding is almost certainly not the cause. Inbreeding does not seem to affect roaches that much, if at all, and I don't see why it would cause adults to try to molt. If anything inbreeding would cause sickly, deformed nymphs, or a higher than usual nymph die off, any that survived to adulthood would probably be in the clear when it comes to the effects of inbreeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All About Arthropods Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 You absolutely sure they were adults? It seems really strange that so many of them are having that problem, however inbreeding is almost certainly not the cause. Inbreeding does not seem to affect roaches that much, if at all, and I don't see why it would cause adults to try to molt. If anything inbreeding would cause sickly, deformed nymphs, or a higher than usual nymph die off, any that survived to adulthood would probably be in the clear when it comes to the effects of inbreeding. It's possible for adult roaches to molt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 It's possible for adult roaches to molt? It sometimes happens in adult hissers, but they aren't supposed to, so when they do molt post adulthood they usually die, don't know if I've ever seen one that lived actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All About Arthropods Posted April 10, 2016 Share Posted April 10, 2016 It sometimes happens in adult hissers, but they aren't supposed to, so when they do molt post adulthood they usually die, don't know if I've ever seen one that lived actually. Interesting, never knew that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
548662 Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 One of mine did once, he died after a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonsaladsandwich Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 One of mine did once, he died after a few weeks. He lasted a few weeks? Any pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcfarms Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 We haven't had any others molt and have been watching diligently. My husband still thinks it is a genetic issues and that all the ones we lost may have come from the same litter. So far we have had successful molts of younger hissers and several successful births. 2 in the past weeks as well as 3 newly pregnant females. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Adults molting due to "genetic issues" sounds like science fiction, just because somebody says it doesn't make it true. I hope your animals do better but if we blame husbandry issues on science fiction it makes it hard to find the real answers. Your roaches' problems likely relate to moisture, ventilation, temperature, or food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 It sometimes happens in adult hissers, but they aren't supposed to, so when they do molt post adulthood they usually die, don't know if I've ever seen one that lived actually. Any scientific documentation on this or just internet rumors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 Any scientific documentation on this or just internet rumors? No, here's a thread with someone who had the same problem though, and they took pictures of the affected roaches: http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=6126&hl=%2Badult+%2Bhissing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 No, here's a thread with someone who had the same problem though, and they took pictures of the affected roaches: http://www.roachforu...+adult +hissing That looks like the common bloating bacterial infection. I don't see any sign of a new exoskeleton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 That looks like the common bloating bacterial infection. I don't see any sign of a new exoskeleton. Interesting, perhaps that is what they were all experiencing. Though the person in the link I posted said "Yeah looking at her today I saw a small crack in the shell and peeling it showed she had molted and it already hardened underneath". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matttoadman Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 I believe it has also been said here (perhaps by Allpet) that there is no such thing as breeding too close in insects. In vertebrates, inbreeding reduces fertility, fecundity and hardiness. Insects seem to not suffer from this. The University of Kentucky did a genetic study on a massive bedbug infection found in a 15 or 16 story apartment building in Louisville ky. The found that all of them (thousands) were the result of one female. The building was so bad they had to fumigate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonsaladsandwich Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 I believe it has also been said here (perhaps by Allpet) that there is no such thing as breeding too close in insects. In vertebrates, inbreeding reduces fertility, fecundity and hardiness. Insects seem to not suffer from this. The University of Kentucky did a genetic study on a massive bedbug infection found in a 15 or 16 story apartment building in Louisville ky. The found that all of them (thousands) were the result of one female. The building was so bad they had to fumigate it. Not true, at least for some insects: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2425089?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepy Lemur Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Not true, at least for some insects: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2425089?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Interesting.. I wonder what other insects suffer from inbreeding in a similar way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salmonsaladsandwich Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Interesting.. I wonder what other insects suffer from inbreeding in a similar way. Mealworms do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovebugfarm Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Moths and butterflys do to and I think mantis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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