Welp, not to happy about this one, but atleast I caught it before It got out of hand.

Yesterday, almost exactly 24 hours ago, I cleaned out my B. Dubia bin. I took out all of the roaches, and cleaned out all the frass. Trying something new, because of some advice for a reputable B. Dubia breeder, I then separated all of the small and baby nymphs from the large/adults. I put the small/baby nymph's into another bin, small, 5gal rubbermaid, perfect size for about 400 to 500 small/baby nymphs..... for now. (babies have some of the adults frass, there own food and watercrystal)

Welp, had made up some fresh water crystal, banana, oranges and potatos where still good from the bin, so I put that in the "adult" bin, with the water crystal, same amount I always use. Then added the "roach chow". Got the egg crate in, this time 3 egg crates instead of 2, for a little bit more room for the adults, another tip from the B. Dubia breeder.

Here is where my issue starts. I had made enough watercrystal for the three bins. Adult B. Dubia, small/baby's, and my Lobster roach colony, but I had made a little extra then normal on accident, so I just tossed the last bit, about a handful, into the adult B. Dubia bin.

So the Adult B. Dubia bin had there normal water crystal, a extra handful, a almost whole banana, a mostly good orange, a semi-dried out potato, and the bin was probably slightly wet from being cleaned out.

Being around 5pm, and me having to work grave shifts, I went to bed shortly after getting everything situated. Worked the night, had some sleep this morning, and been working on my car most the afternoon. Get done, moving the roach bins around to take a shower. (I keep my roaches in the small bathroom of ours, and heat the entire room, I find it easiest for us at the moment.) When I notice a large number of dead B. Dubia. (thank you clear bin!)



Humidity gauge was NOT checked last night... it read 85-90% when I first opened the bin tonight.



*WARNING* GRAPHIC PICTURES AHEAD.................... (for roach lovers )





This is the result. 20 or so dead dubia, 6 of which seemed to have "exploded" or come apart from the inside out? limbs and heads popping off.

death count
11 medium nymphs
6-7 large/adult males
2 large/adult females

Didn't really count, just going off my pictures. (please don't mind my dirty sink, been cleaning out all my critters bin's for the last few days.)


Here is what I mean by exploded or come apart, this is what appears to be a female that died during molt.










Here is a picture of the others that came apart/exploded. they where all very soft to the touch, almost "watery".






here are a few dried out ones, and molted skins.






and the other's, Males on the left, nymphs in the middle, and a female on the right.










I'm pretty sure I got most of the shed skins, and I made a point to get all the dead dubia out when I cleaned them out yesterday. So I highly doubt any of these are old deaths, I'm almost positive there in the last 24 hours


My bin has VERY limited ventilation, reason is because the climate is so dry here, and I find it hard to hold humidity. All the fruit and potato's had mold on them, they where clean yesterday. So all that was thrown out, water crystal removed, and such. Will keep all of that out for the next 12-14 hours, will put water crystal and fresh fruit back in the morning, the roach chow is still in there.


Good news is I caught it when I did, and just on the bottom of the bin, under a few things, and in the fruit, was about 50 fresh baby nymphs, had to be have been "born" in the last 24 hours. Probably even more new babies in the egg crates. Just thought I would share, Be careful with your creepy crawlies my friends!


Rob