Bought deformed nymph

[jared]

Hey, so I posted some pics of the tigers and javanicas I got, but I always noticed that one of the javanicas had a short and curled abdomen. I was hoping it'd live to molt again but today I found the poor guy belly up,

I took some pictures of him post-mordem. Did this guy looked doomed from the start?

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EDIT: To note, I was given an extra one of each species so it's not at all an issue, just disappointed about the death.

 

[Allpet Roaches]

They can recover from deformities so it can be difficult to tell if one is or was doomed, especially from photographs where you cannot see much.

 

[Jondice]

Just wanted to post a similar issue. This tesselata was fine when I got it, but something seems to have gone wrong in one of its molts. I found it like this about 15 hours ago buried in substrate (coconut husk):

Link to image: https://goo.gl/photos/rkZCbPtSvN4vRNRD7

Even to someone new to roaches like myself it was obvious that the old exoskeleton was still partly attached in the posterior. I cleared it off a bit. What's more strange is that the anterior is extremely arched, but I don't think it has much of its old exoskeleton attached in that region. I'm hesitant to pry more away while it is still alive (as I might be prying off the current exoskeleton...), of course, I suspect it is doomed ... however, now that I've removed some of the old exoskeleton, it at least attempts locomotion a bit more than before but is clearly having problems.

Unfortunately I can't measure the humidity currently; maybe I should start to do that, even though I mist regularly. Or does this just happen from time to time?

 

[Hisserdude]

Definitely looks like a molt gone wrong, there is no saving that nymph, sorry. How moist is the substrate in your container? These guys like their substrate pretty moist, and if it was too dry that could have been the reason for such a terrible molt.

Of course, sometimes these things just happen, no matter how well you take care of them. So it could just be a fluke.

 

[Jondice]

Yeah, I suspect that as it is a moderately sized container with a lot of substrate, the humidity has been going down since I initially added the soaked substrate (it looked fairly dry this time). I just ordered a hygrometer, and in the mean time, poured a bit of water into the substrate.

Too little humidity can be a problem for molting - can too much humidity also be a problem?

 

[Hisserdude]

Yeah, I suspect that as it is a moderately sized container with a lot of substrate, the humidity has been going down since I initially added the soaked substrate (it looked fairly dry this time). I just ordered a hygrometer, and in the mean time, poured a bit of water into the substrate.

Too little humidity can be a problem for molting - can too much humidity also be a problem?

I mist my cages every few day, and that is usually all that is needed. I never have had to use a hygrometer, when the top layer of substrate starts to dry out, just give the cage a good mist.

I don't imagine too much humidity could hurt them, unless the substrate was sopping wet and they were drowning.

 

[Keith]

I've had hissers born that way, they were last out. Once they hardened I seperated them into a tiny cage with food easy to access, and fed them small amount of baby food on a toothpick daily (pure chicken and banana flavor). Out of 3 two died even though they gained weight, one shed and looked normal after and had no further issues. So yes sometimes there is hope.

I've also had Dubia nymphs like that they all shed and corrected themselves.