dubia roaches strangely died, extremely bad smell!

Jenniw13

Member
I was wondering if anyone might have experienced this before, I've never had this problem and I cant really find anything on it.
I went get some roaches for my chameleon today and there were 2 dead ones RIGHT next to eachother which I thought was really weird, they were right next to the food, and nowhere near the egg crates that I have on the opposite side.
I grabbed them to remove them, and when I was about to put them in the trash I got a huge whiff of absolutely the most disgusting smell I've ever smelled.
I've never smelled a dubia like that, dead or alive.
I guess I've had a few more die off than normal this batch of roaches but thought It was just because of the stress of shipping in the heat. Didnt see it as a problem until now.
I dont understand what would do this?

I clean out the bin SPOTLESS everyday
Replace the food
They get all organic food
No bugspray in or around house.
No chemicals used for cleaning
Humidity is fine, temp is fine.
Is this like a parasite thing or...?
Now I'm scared to feed them off.. and I just ordered them a few days ago.

Any suggestions?
 
What were the temperatures? Can you get any pictures of the set up/roaches/bin? How many died, just 2? What food did you feed?

Were there any flies around? Phorids will often get attracted to dead things and they can smell pretty damn bad.

On an unrelated note about your roach care, you really don't have to clean the bin everyday, infact it is good to leave frass in there. Roaches will burrow in it, nymphs will eat it. Sounds gross, but it's how it works.
 
I have die offs till i get a layer of frash. I wouldnt be cleaning out the bin etc. I treat mine like a compost heap. Keep them warm, keep them humid, have a little air flow. Have a dry gut load, have a wet gut load, dont mix them together. Avoid disturbing the nest as much as possible, the females will drop the egg sack if you man handle them too much.
 
I have die offs till i get a layer of frash. I wouldnt be cleaning out the bin etc. I treat mine like a compost heap. Keep them warm, keep them humid, have a little air flow. Have a dry gut load, have a wet gut load, dont mix them together. Avoid disturbing the nest as much as possible, the females will drop the egg sack if you man handle them too much.

Agree completely. Roaches should have substrate, whether it be a couple inches of frass, coco fiber, soil, etc.
 
Wow I thought nobody ever replied to this I dont know why it never popped up. And it is still continuing to happen!
Almost everyday there is atleast 1 or 2 dead, today there was like 5!
The temps are around the 80s and I feed them the same things I feed my animals at the time... collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens slices of squash or bell pepper etc.. all organic
For dry food they get cricket crack or repashy.
And I will definatly get some frass and stop cleaning it everyday, I swear I do so much research and still never get it right! Hahaha
I will upload a pic now only have the chameleon and a bearded dragon that I'm feeding so I only get about 150-200 at a time. Not trying to breed or anything.
 
I've also been noticing them getting weak, not being able to climb the screen or flip themselves over. I just keep taking them out because I know there just gonna die. I always have good quality bugs from the place I buy them from so I'm just not sure.
 

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I've also been noticing them getting weak, not being able to climb the screen or flip themselves over. I just keep taking them out because I know there just gonna die. I always have good quality bugs from the place I buy them from so I'm just not sure.

Honestly if thats the lid, there isnt enough air flow. I use a mesh cut out on the top. I also dont use clear bins because they like it dark. Id put in a couple more egg crates, but for 200 thats pronably fine. My guess, not enough air flow.
 
I've also been noticing them getting weak, not being able to climb the screen or flip themselves over. I just keep taking them out because I know there just gonna die. I always have good quality bugs from the place I buy them from so I'm just not sure.

This is what my dubia bin looks like on the top. Currently has about 1500, about a half inch of frass, with a reptile heating pad underneath, i use water crystals, a dry gutload and rotated veggies and fruits. Theyve been in there for over a year now and ive had two die offs because I got lazy on killing off males when there were too many.
VideoCapture_20190914-015658.jpg
 
Okay I'll just go tomorrow and try to find a darker tub and use screen on top and get some frass
I guess I thought it would be enough because I didnt want them to not have enough humidity and the holes are quite larger than they look in the pic, but I'll switch it up tomorrow forsure and see If it helps.
 
This is what my dubia bin looks like on the top. Currently has about 1500, about a half inch of frass, with a reptile heating pad underneath, i use water crystals, a dry gutload and rotated veggies and fruits. Theyve been in there for over a year now and ive had two die offs because I got lazy on killing off males when there were too many.View attachment 246058


Okay I was thinking a grey tub too because I know I've seen them. I'll upsize it a bit, add more crates and double check the temps and such.
Thank you for your help!!
 
And I know I'm dumb I just realized frass is poop so I'll just get one of the substrates mentioned above until some builds up I guess? Lol
 
This is an article by the the dubia roach depot about dubia die off:

https://dubiaroachdepot.com/guidance/dubia-roach-die-off

Yea I've read this article a few times before, infact I've done alot of research on the subject. It didnt really help me much because I pretty much do what it says in it already and I only use safe stuff. That's why I turned to here to hopefully get some advice and try to figure out what I'm doing wrong.
Thank you.
 
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