mass die off of roaches - New data 3/31/11

[infernalis]

I have had no luck researching this...

Last night I went to feed the lizards and found more than half of my roaches dead, they were consumed from the inside leaving an empty shell.

Some had the heads missing, like some parasite ate the flesh and left the exoskeleton sitting there empty.

I immediately removed all surviving roaches and set up a new colony box, then I discarded the old tote and everything in it.

does anyone know what sort of parasite would eat roaches from the inside?

would thrip larvae or fruit fly maggots do this?? I did find that thrips will consume other insects by puncturing the shell and sucking out the insides, and they are attracted to decomposing vegetable matter (fruit)

I will admit, sometimes I forget to take out the fruit (after a day) and it goes bad, bananas will turn into a black liquid in just a couple days time, I never thought of it as a threat, but something killed those roaches.

[bighog85]

I had the same problem a little while ago and while I was digging around in the bin to find live roaches, I found some little larvae crawling around in there. I also found some little moths that I have seen before so I think they are connected somehow. I don't know exactly what they are or where they came from but it is the only thing I can think of.

[Lankyrob]

Blimey!! Will definitely take old fruit out of my colony hearing this. I tend to leave it in there until they stop being interested them remove but will defo take out after 24 hours now.

[TeaNinja]

weird, i'm interested to see if you guys find the cause.

[presspirate]

I tend to leave fruit in for a couple days, but my roaches have only shown interest in apples. I've offered bananas, oranges, bell peppers, lettuce, cucumbers etc, but they only eat the apples.I know bananas are prone to carry fruit fly larvae I wonder if that could be the culprit.

[NennaMeerkat]

I had something similar happen to some caterpillars I got from the wild last summer was really sad. Whatever ate them made little brown cocoon things but never hatched so I don't know what they were. Wouldn't doubt it was some sort of wasp or fly. There are supposed to be plenty of species of flying insects that lay their eggs in adult insects and have their babies live inside them for a while for food before leaving and making a cocoon nearby.

[infernalis]

Hopefully it is over, I actually had to get some crickets today, first time in years.

I have to let the colony recover, It was no fun digging around in the feces looking for babies, but we got them out.

I gave them a fresh apple last night right after the move, and they were all over it eating within moments of putting it in there.

[NennaMeerkat]

Hopefully no one else is infected with the parasites. Its sad cause there is no way to tell. Just have to keep a watch I suppose and hope for the best.

Good luck!

[Sapphyr]

Wow, you've just been having all sorts of issues lately, eh Wayne? D: Certainly hope nothing else happens, and hope those baby roaches aren't infected as well.

You used gloves for the fece 'diving', right? :c

[infernalis]

Wow, you've just been having all sorts of issues lately, eh Wayne? D: Certainly hope nothing else happens, and hope those baby roaches aren't infected as well.

You used gloves for the fece 'diving', right? :c

I grew up out here in the boondocks, my hands have been in far grosser places than that before.

That's why we have soap and hot water.

Good news is, no dead roaches tonight, and they are happily tearing into some fresh apple slices.

There are new babies in there as well, and without that layer of brown silt at the bottom, I can finally see just how tiny the babies really are.

[Sapphyr]

Ewww... :c I'd personally gag if I went in there bare-handed. I have to wear gloves for the dishes, gloves for doggie duty, gloves for cleaning the snake and lizard tanks... I'm horrible with dog duty without gloves. The other stuff is more of it'd just gross me out to know I'm touching it bare-handed.

Glad everything seems good, though! :D

[Lankyrob]

I am with you there wayne, stick your hand in and deal with the problem then wash them after - much easier to wash skin than gloves. Dog duty just put your hand in a plastic bag and pick up then turn the bag inside out, job done.

Snake poo gets done by hand - its solid so no worries there!

[Sapphyr]

but it's still poo :c ... and I use latex gloves. Always have a giant box of 'em. Pick up poo, throw it in the trash, peel gloves inside out, throw away, hand sanitizer just to be safe.

[infernalis]

but it's still poo :c ... and I use latex gloves. Always have a giant box of 'em. Pick up poo, throw it in the trash, peel gloves inside out, throw away, hand sanitizer just to be safe.

Someday after you have children, you will understand.

Wait until the day you have to change diapers, and "junior makes more" while you are in the middle of changing:eek:

[Lankyrob]

My worst was when daughter had diarhoea through her nappy, trousers, socks, shoes and we were out in a cafe.

Before her i would have said i could never deal with anything like that but now its just another thing to do.

[NennaMeerkat]

Meh I worked at a zoo for nearly 5 years and I dealt with all kinds of poo. Then while in college in Biology (2 separate years) I did all my disections bare handed as well. And we aren't just talking toads or starfish. We also did fetal pigs, kittens, birds, all kinds of wonderful things to get your hands messy.

[infernalis]

I grew up farming, so I don't think that after cleaning pig stalls and preparing cattle for steaks and burgers that there is really anything much worse to handle.

No dead roaches today, and I think I'm sticking with apples, they don't decompose into mush as quickly as other fruits do. And the big females seem to park themselves right on top of the apple slices for what seems like forever.

[presspirate]

Roach poo is just like grains of dirt anyways. People sanitize way too much imo. A few germs are good for you. Builds your immunity.

[NennaMeerkat]

Roach poo is just like grains of dirt anyways. People sanitize way too much imo. A few germs are good for you. Builds your immunity.

It is true. People that live in very clean homes and such are far more susceptible to getting sick than those of us that take a bit more risk in general.

[Lankyrob]

Scientists seem t think that a lot of todays allergies and illnesses like asthma etc is down to too much sanitising by parents. When we were kids hands and face washed twice daily and a bath once a week was all we got!! No central heating either, in the winter our living room was heated by a coal/log fire and the rest of the house was pretty much as cold as the outside temperature. In winter you had to put a couple of jumpers on to go to the toilet as the difference in temp from living room to upstairs was phenomenal.

Within common sense parameters we let our daughter do wahtever she wants and play in the dirt in the garden, parks etc. Just as long as she washes hands before eating.

[presspirate]

You go to the market, and there is sanitizer by the shopping karts. I even saw some next to the pen at a checkout counter.!:crazy: When I buy school supplies for my kids, one of the items on the list is hand sanitizer. People look at you funny if you sneeze in public and wipe your hands on your pants. I don't know what this world is coming to. I grew up on a farm, I've had two kids, I've been crapped on by so many different species of animal, I couldn't begin to list them all. Usually I washed my hands under the garden hose or whatever was handy, and went back to it.

[Sapphyr]

Yeeeahhh... My bf's a farmer boy, which is funny, 'cause I always thought I'd never fall for a farmer guy, but here I am 1 1/2 years+ down the road by far with a guy that grew up, and still lives, on a farm. I'd imagine he's endured some things I'd find disgusting just as you all have.

Couldn't bare to think of an animal taking a crap on me. :l I'd either gag something awful or just vomit. Probably have to take a shower and get a change of clothes before I did anything else :l but that's me.

I guess I can kind of understand as far as parenting goes. I'm sure I'll have to deal with poopy diapers at some point... Though, I may still use gloves but, once again, that's just me.

I don't necessarily overly sanitize. It's just, I'd rather not touch crap with my bare hands and moldy plates. Touching fecal matter and well developed mold, bare handed, is just crossing my own personal line. I know, I can always wash my hands after that, but I'd still feel like my hands weren't clean enough just because I did touch one or the other.

Edit: Interestingly enough, blood and guts don't bother me. I did my middle school dissections bare handed. Didn't bother me. It just smelled funky, really. My only issue is feces and mold. Not afraid to dig in the mud or things like that, just don't like feces and mold.

[infernalis]

I stumbled into this quite by accident on a roach site...

Mold & Mold spores are lethal to roaches.


Sure enough, I found mold growing under one of the egg cartons.

Since Dubia eat fruit, I highly recommend keeping the fruit rotated frequently. a banana will begin to liquefy in 48 hours, I found that if I place the banana slices on a coffee filter that all I have to do is lift out the filter and discard the whole thing.

Apple slices last about a day longer, the key is to make sure no storm flies or mold co exist with your roaches. The only time I want them dead is in the bellies of my lizards.

Storm flies look very much like fruit flies, however a fruit fly has a very accurate flight, storm flies are clumsy and can't steer well in flight. If you watch close enough you can see them often flying in spiral patterns, like they have no sense of direction.

The term "storm fly" comes from this inability to fly well, strong air currents preceding storms will sweep swarms of them from one location to another.

[mistersprinkles]

I had something similar happen to some caterpillars I got from the wild last summer was really sad. Whatever ate them made little brown cocoon things but never hatched so I don't know what they were. Wouldn't doubt it was some sort of wasp or fly. There are supposed to be plenty of species of flying insects that lay their eggs in adult insects and have their babies live inside them for a while for food before leaving and making a cocoon nearby.

It's a kind of wasp. I was about to post this exact same story but you beat me to it. It's a small wasp. It lays eggs in the caterpillars when they are still pretty small- I've seen it, just lands on a tent and goes Poke poke poke poke poke and leaves and you'd never know anything was wrong I don't think the egg hatches until the caterpillar goes into pupa and then the caccoon doesn't open when it's supposed to- takes way longer and instead of a moth you get a wasp.

[stephanbakir]

Parasitic wasps? Crazy looking suckers, their "egg laying stinger" is like 2-3 inches long....