Flying Dubia

[yoshimi]

A few of my roaches discovered their wings yesterday. I wish I had recorded it cuz I'm not positive it was more than one. MUCH better at flying than I'd read. Not much height, but he was banging into side of tub at a good clip. Heard it before I saw it. He'd climb up an egg crate or the food dish and take off, once coming right at me. They're in a clear tub with paper on sides. Not what they're used to, but they took to it fine until yesterday. I actually thought he was sick, because in between flights he looked kinda shaky, and was cleaning his antennae/legs like a cat (didn't know they did that).
Maybe he was messing himself up neurologically flying into side of tub? No one's doing it today and no one's laying there dead, either. But I'm not as comfortable poking around in there as I was. It almost looked like what they do when courting the ladies, except that instead of just putting wings in the air, he used them.
If I see it again, I'll get it on video. Was unsettling, but fascinating.

[sajane]

my male roaches do this sometimes. they seem to swarm. i think its a breeding behavior. its horrifying , i kept 20 adults in a 10 gal terrarium in my room. it happens at night and is loud. they are in the basement now.lol

[poison]

I had a male fly across my room and kept flight for a good while.

[poison]

Also what time of day was it when you saw this? I hear my males flutter all the time at night.

[Psychotic]

My males have never tried to fly. However they will beat their wings really fast. It's very loud at night time. It's a breeding behavior.

[Heatheranne]

Lol! Mine have tried to fly but it only lasts a few seconds before they glide to the bottom. They dive off the tallest pieces off eggcrate. Mine do it at night also.

[MatthewM1]

I had one of male engage in the same behavior you saw he just kept flying into the lid and another occasion I was holding a male and it tried to fly off my hand and just flipped and spiraled his way to the ground. I've noticed the wing to body ratio varies quite a bit I'm guessing that has something to do with how able to achieve lift off they are

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[yoshimi]

it was actually during the day, but it was a rainy day.. i peeked behind paper and thought i saw a few with their wings up but when i got a good look, there was just the one. had a female nymph molt into adulthood recently so maybe they were showing off for her.

i thought i heard it again last night, but i've been kinda busy, found a newborn bat with umbilical cord still attached at bottom of stairway. unfortunately his brother or sister was dead when i found it a little later. momma bat's not coming back for him. we have bats in the vacant attic apartment, and i've caught and released two in the four years i've lived here. can't do that with this little guy, or put him in a bassinet outside attic door (tried something similar, but he remained unclaimed) so i'm waiting for wildlife people to get back to me. this is one critter i won't be keeping as a pet (tho i'd love to, bats are awesome). guess i have to go find Bat Forum. the goal is to keep him alive til they can come get him. so far, so good.

[yoshimi]

Just to clarify a bit, I thought it was a dead something, couldn't tell right away what it was. The umbilical cord looked like a trail of blood, so I thought it was squished and had to move it so people wouldn't walk on it. I don't go around picking up bats.