my dubias not doing so good!

S

SteveB

Third Instar
hey all. just got 25 1in. dubias. put them in a terrarium. with a 60w. red heat lamp was 90 at warm end and 68 in the cold end w/ 59% humidity. when i put them in they were lively. this morning half were upside down and barely moving. is their cage too cold? i just put a small heat mat (4 by 6in.) under the terrarium at the warm end. you think it'll be ok? this is my 1st. colony and i thought i read enough about them to have their enclosure set up right. any info. appreciated.

 
They may have gotten too hot.

68 degrees Fahrenheit is not cold enough to kill them, but 90 degrees would not be very comfortable to substrate-dwelling nymphs such as those of dubia roaches where they'd normally be experiencing the cooler temperatures of living under substrate. Many thermometers are inaccurate from a few degrees to occasionally more than a dozen degrees. If that were the case, the terrarium may have gotten significantly warmer than you believed and cooked them.

If heat was not the culprit, I would be tempted to say that they may have come into contact with chemicals such as pesticides or aerosolized cleaning or deodorizing substances.

 
thanks for your response! i put bark caves and fluffy dead leaves in there so they should be able to get out of the direct heat. also the ones i found on their backs are in the cold end. i put them on the warm end and they slowly come back. but a few hrs. later i find a few more on their backs but still alive all on the cold end. the room they're in is fairly cold but its the only place i can keep them. a spare room in my trailer thats at a balmy 63-65f right now. never used any chemicals in there.

 
Yeah... 90 F is a bit too hot, I would keep the hot side at 80-85. The only roach I know of that does good at 90 F is the Turkestan roaches, Blatta lateralis.

 
I say pesticides. During an experiment I kept some dubia nymphs in small plastic cups on a heat mat that ranged from 85- 97 degrees and they were fine.

 
Yes, dubia can tolerate warmer temps than that. I used to keep them at about 95 on the warm end. So I don't think it was the heat. What have they been eating?

 
Wow, I thought that was much too high for most roaches, what the heck are people worried about when shipping in summer then?

 
It gets up to 110+ where I live. Add the packing, box, and container, and you could have dangerous shipping conditions.

 
I've been feeding ground oatmeal ,powdered milk w/ a little bit of fish food. and fresh peeled baby carrots. they seem to be bouncing back since i added the heat mat. the heat lamp warms the surface but the bottom was very cold under the leaves and bark. temps came up a little but are more stable 77f on the cold end 90f on the warm. i should have put a substrate too but i have a cleaner crew coming so i thought i wouldn't need it. gonna get a bigger heat mat and get rid of the lamp. what size heat mat would you guys suggest for a 6gal terrarium in a 65f room? thanks for the info and help guys!

 
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well i just put some leaves in their cage and discovered i lost the only 2 males that i had out of my 25 i got! any of you guys willing to send me 5-6 male dubias from your collection? i don't want to order another 25 just to get some males. id be willing to pay you through a paypal account. any help appreciated.

 
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60F is not cold enough to knock them down. They are not going to do well in low temperature but you need it to be pretty cold to actually kill them directly.

There should be something else wrong, post some pics will do more help

 
I'm terrible w/ computers and don't know how to post pics. i lost 3. 2 males and a female but the others are doing good. eating and drinking now. temps at 77f and 97f. with the pad. the 97f is from the sensor on the bottom of the tank below the sub. the colder one is on top. sucks to have lost my males. just reordered 20 adult males from dubia deli. shipping cost me double the cost of the roaches. ohh well. learned a tough lesson.

 
yeah those males looked a lot older than the females. maybe old breeders? thanks for the tips.

 
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