Horseshoe crab roach dying

Hisserdude

Hisserdude

Megaloblatta
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One of my horseshoe crab roach nymphs matured yesterday, which I was pretty excited about. Now it is very sluggish and looks very much like it was dying. What happened? Why is it dying? The cage was a little warm, but probably not much above 78/80 F. None of the nymphs are showing similar behavior. Anything I can do to help my adult? I moved the cage down to the floor in case the heat was the problem.

 
My Horseshoes don't seem to mind high temperatures so long as I don't keep them above 90 degrees constantly. Was the enclosure dry? They really need moisture in my experience. Is your roach able to upright itself when turned on its back? My adults are relaxed compared to their nymphs but they're still quick if they're pestered too much.

 
NRoach said:
My Horseshoes don't seem to mind high temperatures so long as I don't keep them above 90 degrees constantly. Was the enclosure dry? They really need moisture in my experience. Is your roach able to upright itself when turned on its back? My adults are relaxed compared to their nymphs but they're still quick if they're pestered too much.
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No, they enclosure was quite moist. The poor guy can't really move much at all, let alone upright himself when turned upside down. I'm pretty sure he'll be dead within a few hours, I just wish I knew why so I can prevent it next time.

MrCrackerpants said:
^^^^This and do you have moist hardwood leaves in with them?
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No leaves, I did not think they would need them. Could that be the problem? It seems weird that it would survive months without eating dead leaves, then turn into an adult and die the next day. I'm really kinda bummed out, this was my first adult horseshoe crab roach adult, and I somehow messed it up. :(

 
Another weird thing, I don't know if it has anything to do with what happened to my adult, but my nymphs (and the adult) are encrusted with coconut fiber, like it won't come off unless I rub it off with water, and then they get encrusted again later. It only happened with the larger individuals. It sounds like something that would happen in a drier cage, but their cage is moist. It's definitely coconut fiber, not mites BTW.

 
I'm really sorry to hear that. I've had some species where one or two adults just die right after molting for unknown reasons, only to have the rest live out long, healthy lives, breeding very prolifically. Maybe that's what's happening with yours? I rarely feed my H. tenebricosa leaves, although I do have aspen shavings in my enclosure.

 
Hisserdude said:
Another weird thing, I don't know if it has anything to do with what happened to my adult, but my nymphs (and the adult) are encrusted with coconut fiber, like it won't come off unless I rub it off with water, and then they get encrusted again later. It only happened with the larger individuals. It sounds like something that would happen in a drier cage, but their cage is moist. It's definitely coconut fiber, not mites BTW.
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I'm pretty sure that's normal. I would say most of mine are covered in substrate. Some of mine aren't, but I'm guessing they're just newly molted.

 
The temp and moisture is good. I am not sure about your adult. I only got reproduction out of this species when I added decaying hardwood leaves but that was just my experience. My colony chows down on the leaves...good luck.

 
Thanks guys, I guess it might have been a fluke. I'll add some leaves to their enclosure asap, just in case. On a higher note, I just found another adult in the enclosure, it does not appear to be dying like the other one did.

 
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I dunno, my other adult is doing just fine under the exact same conditions as the dead one. It must have been a fluke.

 
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