Ammonia odor?

Matttoadman

Matttoadman

Blatta
I know in the world of mammalian pets that the smell of ammonia is from urine and it means it time to change the bedding. My eublaberus roach Ben has a slight ammonia scent( or something similar). Is this also the smell of roach waste or something else? The only change is I now have 6 or so freshly molted adults.

 
You might have had some die off or the frass is rotting a bit. Depending on the decor/hides, they might also be molding (especially if you use egg crates). Might be good to poke around some and maybe do a quick cleaning. I had that issue with my dubia a while back and after cleaning I haven't had any other issues.

 
Well they are pantanal And no odor from the adults when I pick them up but that could be it. I rummaged through it, no dead, no uneaten food but there were a few small buried pieces of bark that smelled strong of the odor. I added some fresh coco fiber and removed the funky chunks.

 
Cool, sounds like you've got it all figured out then! Sometimes you'll get funky odors when the roaches bury things, but better that than a bunch of dead roaches causing the smell!

 
No I picked one up last night....wow that thing smells. Like a combo of musty cucumbers soaked in ammonia! Let hope it doesn't start smelling outside of the bin.

 
Another thing to watch out for is anaerobic build-up. I've run into that with my colony--I was overfeeding and offering food that was too moist I think.

 
Yeah I noticed wet food leads to wet frass which is really apparent in my hissers. I keep e posticus and use just eggcrate with no substrate. I dont know if thats an option with pantanal but it might make a difference. The key is to use 1x1 pieces of wood so the eggcrate doesnt comein contact with moist frass and I keep 1/2" of frass for the little nymphs and it holds enough moisture without being to overbearing and is over all easier to clean.

 
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