Roach colony problems

[kaimarion]

Well my roach colony is having some MAJOR mold problem after a humidity spike and 2 weeks of being left without me checking on them.
Anyway I'am very suprised they are still alive as all the substate is covered mold.Another problem is after having a look at the colony for about a 2 minutes it left me feeling light headed for about an hour after wards...wtf.
Can anyone give me some advice on getting the roaches out?

[Herp_boi]

what type are they?
ANd do you keep a lid on them?

[lilworm]

we had a similar problem with ours they produced so much condensation i replaced their lid with a fine mesh and solved it, i also do not use substrate reduces risk of damp and mould,

[kaimarion]

They are turkistan roaches and I keep a lid on them to stop any from jumping out as the males have wings.
I would use mesh but I have got no idea where I could get some that would be suitable to use on the enclosure.

What should I do about the roaches that are currently in the box?

[sharpstrain]

Originally Posted by kaimarion

They are turkistan roaches and I keep a lid on them to stop any from jumping out as the males have wings.
I would use mesh but I have got no idea where I could get some that would be suitable to use on the enclosure.

What should I do about the roaches that are currently in the box?

most big garden centre sell mesh both plastic and metal - or good old ebay

[kaimarion]

Originally Posted by sharpstrain

most big garden centre sell mesh both plastic and metal - or good old ebay

Thanx for the help there .


Should I just get rid of the roaches???

[Herp_boi]

just put them in a diff box until you have this one sorted. Not much point just getting rid of them. Or did i read it wrong?

[kaimarion]

The problem is I cant keep the box open for long (dust mask ?) and how would I transfer them from one box to the other as the cardboard is covered in alot of mold aswell !

[fantapants]

add carboard tubes, rolled up paper and egg flats on top of the colony after you have removed the old stuff. then as the roaches climb all over the new boxes/paper, slowly move it and shake it off into a new box. do it again and again until you have as many out as you can get. then let the old colony go cold. maybe put it outside at night time for an hour. then save as many egg cases as you canfind, aswell as any other roaches too.

this is the method i use to clean out all of my roaches. if you are worried about escapees, put the old and new box in the bath to doit and put a tiny smear of vseline around the halfway mark. they can only go down the plug then.

[zemanski]

you can often get fly screen mesh in pound shops - I have a lidless RUB with a piece of soft mesh over the top secured by a loop of elastic - works a treat