Domino Roaches Missing Legs

[Habronattus8]

Hi all,

My domino roach colony is doing pretty well, but I keep finding legs missing on a lot of them, even adults. Are they munching on each other? How can I prevent this, I almost always have water and food in their cage.

[Hisserdude]

What are you feeding them? Is at least half of the enclosure moist? It does sound like cannibalism to me, sometimes they mich on each other when they don't have enough supplemental food, (dog food, fruits). 

[Habronattus8]

13 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

What are you feeding them? Is at least half of the enclosure moist? It does sound like cannibalism to me, sometimes they mich on each other when they don't have enough supplemental food, (dog food, fruits). 

Thanks for your reply! They have a sea sponge that’s soaking wet in their food bowl. They always have oak leaves and almost always have something else to eat like oats, berries, squash, grapes, tomatoes. I’ve seen even the smaller ones get into the food bowl, so I doubt they’re having trouble getting into it.

[Hisserdude]

On 12/23/2017 at 10:08 AM, Habronattus8 said:

Thanks for your reply! They have a sea sponge that’s soaking wet in their food bowl. They always have oak leaves and almost always have something else to eat like oats, berries, squash, grapes, tomatoes. I’ve seen even the smaller ones get into the food bowl, so I doubt they’re having trouble getting into it.

Hmm, well how old are the adults? Missing tarsi, and sometimes missing limbs can be an artifact of old age, and Domino roach adults typically only live up to 5 months, give or take.

[Habronattus8]

On 12/22/2017 at 10:37 PM, Hisserdude said:

What are you feeding them? Is at least half of the enclosure moist? It does sound like cannibalism to me, sometimes they mich on each other when they don't have enough supplemental food, (dog food, fruits). 

Thanks for your reply! They have a sea sponge that’s soaking wet in their food bowl. They always have oak leaves and almost always have something else to eat like oats, berries, squash, grapes, tomatoes. I’ve seen even the smaller ones get into the food bowl, so I doubt they’re having trouble getting into it.

 

My adult is a female who has laid about 5 ootheca, not sure of her age though. The younger ones have a bunch of limb segments missing too though.... 

[Hisserdude]

2 hours ago, Habronattus8 said:

My adult is a female who has laid about 5 ootheca, not sure of her age though. The younger ones have a bunch of limb segments missing too though.... 

Hmm, still sounds like a humidity issue to me. Is any part of their actual substrate moist? Just having a water bowl may not be enough for them, the lower half of the substrate should be kept pretty moist.

[Habronattus8]

On 12/25/2017 at 7:43 PM, Hisserdude said:

Hmm, still sounds like a humidity issue to me. Is any part of their actual substrate moist? Just having a water bowl may not be enough for them, the lower half of the substrate should be kept pretty moist.

Hi Hisserdude,

Sorry for the late reply, haven’t been on here in forever! There is usually condensation on the top of the container, so it’s fairly moist in there! I’ve just kind of accepted that a few tarsi will be missing.

[Hisserdude]

On 2/21/2018 at 6:16 AM, Habronattus8 said:

Hi Hisserdude,

Sorry for the late reply, haven’t been on here in forever! There is usually condensation on the top of the container, so it’s fairly moist in there! I’ve just kind of accepted that a few tarsi will be missing.

That's odd, wonder why they keep losing tarsi then...? 

[Habronattus8]

On 2/22/2018 at 11:37 PM, Hisserdude said:

That's odd, wonder why they keep losing tarsi then...? 

Must be just a little nibbling from their family lol!

[DominoNinja]

Yay! Nice to find a thread about the same thing that's happened to one of my dominos =) When I did my last cleaning I found a leg randomly lying among the leaves. I had a look at the 3 adults (should have 4, but suspecting the only female went into below-dirt hiding after having her firsth ooth..??) and one of them is limping around without his left back leg. I've felt really bad for him and don't know if he's suffering or not. 

Also, I mist every second-third day and keep them in normal room temperature (~21-23 Celsius). They get cat pellets, cucumber, banana, green leafy sallads and dry leaf litter. I used to have boiled pine bark as climbing-thingies, but heard they might not be good for the little ones due to not-good levels of tannin, got rid of them a month ago. 

My questions are many, so any input/insight would be much appreciated! Also, from having 10 nymphs to now, 3 visible adults, 1 that SHOULD exist that I haven't seen in a week or two and a last nymph that also is in hiding --> could this and the missing leg and that one of the roaches has deformed wings somehow be related? 

I feel I must be doing something wrong. Please advise, as I really don't want my little guys any harm! 

[Habronattus8]

9 minutes ago, DominoNinja said:

Yay! Nice to find a thread about the same thing that's happened to one of my dominos =) When I did my last cleaning I found a leg randomly lying among the leaves. I had a look at the 3 adults (should have 4, but suspecting the only female went into below-dirt hiding after having her firsth ooth..??) and one of them is limping around without his left back leg. I've felt really bad for him and don't know if he's suffering or not. 

Also, I mist every second-third day and keep them in normal room temperature (~21-23 Celsius). They get cat pellets, cucumber, banana, green leafy sallads and dry leaf litter. I used to have boiled pine bark as climbing-thingies, but heard they might not be good for the little ones due to not-good levels of tannin, got rid of them a month ago. 

My questions are many, so any input/insight would be much appreciated! Also, from having 10 nymphs to now, 3 visible adults, 1 that SHOULD exist that I haven't seen in a week or two and a last nymph that also is in hiding --> could this and the missing leg and that one of the roaches has deformed wings somehow be related? 

I feel I must be doing something wrong. Please advise, as I really don't want my little guys any harm! 

I think the nibbling legs may just be engrained in their behavior, especially when they see a freshly molted soft limb. The odd wings though, I suspect it’s inbreeding. This particular one died on me, so it may have had internal abnormalities as well. Best of luck with your Dominos!

[Hisserdude]

My dominos never has this problem when well fed, so I'm really not sure what's happing with both of yours...

[Amazing Nature]

just wanted to ad for the record my dominos are doing the same with;

more than enough food at all times/including fish pellets

I have to remove every 1-2 days and replace due to white mold/humidity etc

 

I just caught/saw 2 males attacking a molting nymph

I thought the 2 were fighting

and have found a nymph with lower leg segments all on right side chewed freshly off-

 

this is 12 nymphs (2 being adults) in a 5 gallon cube aquarium

substrate is coir/shredded leaves/soft white rotted hardwood chunks

moist thru to the bottom 1/2 side at all times

checked on all day they

as are by my bed and I'm on disability/home  so I watch for them/if /when they surface

[Yaroslaw]

A few weeks ago I received some Therea Bernhardti larvae. There was a misfortune - I found several individuals with missing legs. It seems to me that it’s still a matter of insufficient substrate layer or inbreeding, or they are too dry, or maybe for all the reasons

But there is one more factor - the seller sent them to a substrate with pine needles (most of our forests are coniferous) and oak leaves, in response to my question he said that the pine needles do not harm them and he keeps his colony in such a substrate.

In general, if anyone has thoughts or experience, I hope for an answer.

[Bhjjr]

22 hours ago, Yaroslaw said:

A few weeks ago I received some Therea Bernhardti larvae. There was a misfortune - I found several individuals with missing legs. It seems to me that it’s still a matter of insufficient substrate layer or inbreeding, or they are too dry, or maybe for all the reasons

But there is one more factor - the seller sent them to a substrate with pine needles (most of our forests are coniferous) and oak leaves, in response to my question he said that the pine needles do not harm them and he keeps his colony in such a substrate.

In general, if anyone has thoughts or experience, I hope for an answer.

Pine is explained here.