Weird Dubia Behavior

[Justus85]

My dubia males have been climbing to the top of their egg crates and fluttering off them to the bottom of the bin and wind up upside down. I thought they were dead at first but when I prodded they grabbed my finger, regained balance and shot off back into the egg crate pile. Then they climb up to the top and repeat. What in the world? Females are just chillin as usual.

 

[crypticdragons]

I have never watched mine enough to know if they do this or not. It could be a territorial thing (i know hisser males are territorial not sure about dubia). My suggestion would be to ask Janie or lance on here and see what their opinion is.

That PM you sent me where you said you had a exterminator in the house, even if he didnt spray directly in the "roach room" doesn't mean that the fumes couldnt have affected them in some way. also if could have been on your hands or clothing when feeding/cleaning them. Just keep an eye on them and hope for the best. I will PM this post to janie and lance and see if they can give you any insight.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Have the females been affected as the males yet ?

If not.. I'm going to suggest that it isn't pesticides...
I could be wrong, mind you.. I too, have not seen this behavior.. Nor do I use pesticides in the house.. Haven't for almost a year, when the lobsters were swarming.
That's why I don't keep lobsters, nor Turks any more either..
Sorry I wasn't more help.

 

[Justus85]

Everybody else is just fine. I'm baffled. Pesticides were not even used in that room so... It was around 4 or 5 males that did it. None of them have actually died yet but I keep finding them on their backs. It looks like they can't keep their balance.

 

[crypticdragons]

could just be older males.

 

[srabeardie]

Wow. That's weird. I did have one male climb to the top screen of container when I first got them, but outside of that they just crawl around on the bottom in the dark :

 

[Gail]

My males do this often, most commonly in the fall and spring. I was told once it is either from over population or the males desire to fly off and find new mates. I found that keeping the male numbers down, they don't flutter out near as much. Since I don't use a lid on my bin, the males can jump/flutter to the ground.

 

[Justus85]

Ok, yea I thought it was due to MF ratio. I made a joke about it to cryptic that is too vulgar to repeat here. But basically, there isn't enough roach tail to go around in my bin for the fellas. I just got an order in today that upped the female count but more males were there too. I guess some day I'll have to take the time to count em out to get a ratio.

 

[crypticdragons]

keeping the male population down is integral to aheathy colony. Many adult males in my colonies end up as treats for my adults

 

[srabeardie]

Thanks! That helps a lot, I had a question about that ;D

 

[Justus85]

I fed one of the flying roaches to rex but those are big meals for him. He has to be ready for a full meal to want to eat one. Wanna sell me some female dubia's? Hehe.

 

[Gail]

I occasionally go through my colony and pick out extra males, than I freeze them!

 

[Justus85]

what do you do with a frozen roach?

 

[pscaulkins]

I have seen that behavior before. Semi went off roaches for a while so when I decided to start him back up with them I ordered I think about 25 from MF. After a week I noticed they would jump off the tops of the cartons and lay on their backs. These were adults and after a month I had lost every one of them. I don't know why but I had equal females to males so it could have been age or disease. I never fed Semi any of these.

 

[crypticdragons]

Having an equal M to F ratio is unhealthy. A healthy colony should be 1 male to every 3-5 females if not more (some guys keep a 1 male to 8 female ratio). With 1-1 you end up with too many males, overbreeding, and mass die offs

 

[Justus85]

Here is an interesting story I forgot to add about my dubia. The same day I noticed this weird behavior, my shipment of 125 roaches came in. Fortunately there was a large number of adult females in it. So turns out this satisfied my males and only one of the flying males wound up dying while the rest went back into the egg crates and started "courting" the newly arrived females. It must be exhausting to count m/f ratio with these 1000 large colonies. Mine has maybe 150-175 tops not counting the infant nymphs. I am strongly considering getting one more batch. Seems for mixed I can actually get a better deal from theroachguy than MF when it comes to bulk orders.

 

[zebraflavencs]

I would.. That's how I got as many bins full as I do...
But then I am feeding...13 animals too...
I've always had great service and product when I used Jason..

 

[ladyknite]

My males do this often, most commonly in the fall and spring. I was told once it is either from over population or the males desire to fly off and find new mates. I found that keeping the male numbers down, they don't flutter out near as much. Since I don't use a lid on my bin, the males can jump/flutter to the ground.

hits the nail on the head. Brian gave you the correct ratio. Having an overpopulation of males will also decrease your nymph production. Males spend so much time trying to get the female attention for theirselves, they lose out on the "prize". Much like humans ya think? rofl

 

[zebraflavencs]

How very true...

 

[Justus85]

Do I smell a whiff of sexism.....