Weak and poorly E. floridana.

L

likebugs

Eighth Instar
I have noticed one of my E. floridanas hanging out on top of the hide for 4 days looking like she was going to molt. She was very lethargic and I thought she was stuck in her skin. This morning I looked and saw the skin sitting on top of the hide and was happy that she finally molted, until I noticed her white body upside down. :( I put down my finger so she could climb up to a better position. She is currently just sitting there really weak and still white after a couple of hours. I noticed that she also is not wide and flat like most of the others after a molt. I am afraid that she will die. :( Is there any thing I can do for her if she doesn't improve? Also, Does anyone have an idea as to why this happened?

I started with 10 of this species and all 9 of the others appear normal.
:unsure:
 
likebugs said:
I have noticed one of my E. floridanas hanging out on top of the hide for 4 days looking like she was going to molt. She was very lethargic and I thought she was stuck in her skin. This morning I looked and saw the skin sitting on top of the hide and was happy that she finally molted, until I noticed her white body upside down. :( I put down my finger so she could climb up to a better position. She is currently just sitting there really weak and still white after a couple of hours. I noticed that she also is not wide and flat like most of the others after a molt. I am afraid that she will die. :( Is there any thing I can do for her if she doesn't improve? Also, Does anyone have an idea as to why this happened?

I started with 10 of this species and all 9 of the others appear normal.
:unsure:
Click to expand...
What molt is it in? I've seen this with several species, and if left untreated, it is almost always fatal.

First get it in it's own container so he other ones don't bother it.

Put a large (2" by 2") chunk of food under a hide. on the food.

Put the roach under the hide.

You'll need to remove food fairly often and replace it. Note: with this, about 30-60% live.

Some other members might have a better way to do this, though.

 
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I put her in a container with some cocosoft that I slightly moistened. She is on a piece of cupholder that is in a plastic lid with some crushed cheerios and a small piece of apple. There is a hide over her that is a quarter of a cupholder. I don't have any wood at the moment that I can be sure is safe.

I am freaking out cause I can't stand it when I have a sick creature. I am getting ready to cry over this, and my husband will think I have lost my marbles.
:(
I guess I haven't kept roaches long enough to have any significant problems until now. Sorry , I am totally venting, but I can't really discuss the problem with anyone that I know, except my 5 year old daughter. :mellow:

 
likebugs said:
I put her in a container with some cocosoft that I slightly moistened. She is on a piece of cupholder that is in a plastic lid with some crushed cheerios and a small piece of apple. There is a hide over her that is a quarter of a cupholder. I don't have any wood at the moment that I can be sure is safe.

I am freaking out cause I can't stand it when I have a sick creature. I am getting ready to cry over this, and my husband will think I have lost my marbles.
:(
I guess I haven't kept roaches long enough to have any significant problems until now. Sorry , I am totally venting, but I can't really discuss the problem with anyone that I know, except my 5 year old daughter. :mellow:
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Sounds good.

It's okay... I remember freaking out when this happened to my first hisser (about 5 years back--I only had one) He was molting to one of his last stages, and I did this. He actually started to harden up within a week and molted again. He lived 2 1/2 more years B) .

You seem to really care about your critters, and I'm sure with all of your hard work and dedication things will pay off. Good luck.

 
She still looks terrible. :( She is starting to get some light orange color and some black spots on her legs, but she is so weak. I wish I knew why this happened, and why it could take so long for a particular roach to harden. :unsure: It would be nice if I could prevent this from ever happening again.

 
If there's a break in the exoskeleton, it'll take longer to harden if it ever does. If she's moving at least a little and doesn't have any visible serious wounds, I think she'll make it.

 
That stinks. I've had similar issues with my peppered roaches but mine never make it out of their exoskeleton all te way. My issue was humidity as far as I can tell, mine was too low. I did cut a few out of their failed molts but they never hardened and died a few days afterwards. I don't bother anymore and just feed them off if this happens.

It's a curious thing why their exoskeletons don't harden. I've not figured out an answer but I'm guessing it has something to do with the roaches inability to pump the blood/fluid up enough to stretch it to it's new size. Either that or the struggle to molt will leave them too weak to pump the blood into the recesses of its' new exoskeleton? Not sure. Kyle, Orin, Matt, got an answer for us? :P

 
She was also not flat like all the others after their molts. She was still round and not smooth looking at all. Perhaps she was bound up and couldn't frass all her waste out before she molted. I have noticed that before my mantids molt they spend alot of time frassing, not that I know what was wrong with the roach or anything. I sure wish I did. I have had a couple of mantids do the same thing, with the extreme weakness after a molt and then dying. :( With the mantids, it is hard to tell about the hardening or coloring because they don't always come out white. :unsure:

 
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I am sorry for your loss.

This has happened to me with discoids en mass,I lost 45% of my colony. Strange thing is I had them in a tub with no ventilation and humidity well over a 100.

 
I keep my Eurycotis floridana in an ice cream bucket with metal screened 3 inch hole in the middle of the top. I mist a 1 or 2 times a day and they have a shallow water dish filled with aquarium gravel. All of my roaches have the gravel water dish, and different levels of ventilation, depending on the species. My Discoids are really doing great and I have never seen any die yet, they have plenty of ventilation and get pretty dry sometimes but they do well that way for me and I haven't had any mismolts, just a female with her wings that are slightly spread for some reason.

 
Funny, I keep my nymphs of that species in an ice cream bucket too!

About the molted insect...I suggest if it happens in the future you might try offering it an upside-down lid with watered down brown sugar or honey. Hydration and an energy boost! I'd have picked her up and set her face down in it (insects breathe through the abdomens).

Of course, none of us can know what went wrong, but that would have been my approach.

 
Peter Clausen said:
Funny, I keep my nymphs of that species in an ice cream bucket too!

About the molted insect...I suggest if it happens in the future you might try offering it an upside-down lid with watered down brown sugar or honey. Hydration and an energy boost! I'd have picked her up and set her face down in it (insects breathe through the abdomens).

Of course, none of us can know what went wrong, but that would have been my approach.
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The soft sweets sound like a good idea. I don't think that her mandibles were hard enough to even put a dent in the normal food that I gave her. Hopefully there will be no next time, but if there is, I will try the softer food.

My parents like to get those buckets of ice cream, and they go through them pretty quick.
:lol: I have them save the buckets for me, and when I go to visit and help out on the weekends I usually have some pretty cool containers to bring home and modify.
:D The funny part for me is that when I bring home the containers, I always want to get more creatures, and end up with less room.
:rolleyes:
 
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The remaining 9 nymphs are doing well. :D

I just noticed this morning that one of my 2 largest nymphs(subadults I hope), the male was squeaking like a tiny mouse, when I had him walk on my hand.
I was actually trying to determine the sex of the 2 when I put him up to my ear and realised that the sound wasn't little roach feet squeaking against the side of a container. :o I am happy to know that they are 1 female and 1 male, of the largest 2. :) I can't wait to see what happens when they become adults.

 
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