B. dubia "swarm"...

Zephyr

Zephyr

Roach Food
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IT was around 10:30 yesterday night, and I was just shutting of all my tank lights with the roach heat light still on. All of a sudden, I heard the frantic sound of scrambling roach feet and looked in the dubia tank to find a bunch of males running around and jumping around frantically! I watched for about 5 minutes and only saw one female join the fray and VERY QUICKLY leave. It was the oddest thing I'd ever seen! They were literally bouncing off the walls and scrambling around like, well, roaches! It calmed down in about 10 minutes. What the heck was going on!?

 
Sounds like a fight. In my colony the males(3 or 4 of them) are constantly fighting for dominance. When one gets its wings battered too much it is removed to become food for something.

 
Like I said, I did see a female join the fray at one point, but I'm not sure if she was newly molted or not.

 
Zephyr said:
Like I said, I did see a female join the fray at one point, but I'm not sure if she was newly molted or not.
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That activity is very common among roach colonies of many different species, and typically occurs when there is a new female around. Fresh molted females give off a pheromone that triggers breeding behaviour in the males. The males that detect her all scramble to find her and mate.

 
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