# To much humidity in dubia roach tub!



## jimmythetramp (Jul 6, 2009)

evening all!

i've just gone to feed my dubia roach collony and i've just found all my egg crates completely colapsed and smushed like a tower thats imploded upon itself, im currently using the set up and everything bought from the roach collony; for those not familiar with it here is the link: Roach Hotel - Standard Set-Up

and is set up like suggested on the site, now this has done me well for well over 9 months now and i now have a thriving collony that i am able to feed to my mini zoo, but the problem i've found is the humidity is waaaaay to high, literally so bad that i have condensation forming on the lid! so this is making my egg crates turn to mush and costing me a fortune to replace every couple of weeks,

im currently feeding then on butternut squash, apple, orange, dark leafy green veg, 

the heat mat use to be located under the tub which i orgionally thought was the problem, so i did a full clean a week ago and duct taped the matt to the side this time to see if that helped, but upon removing the lid tonight i was met with that unhappy surprise!

so does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop this happening?

do you think i need to get a bigger tub? if so what size is recomended? or more ventilation? but my house gets freezing and am just about getting the temps perfect with the heat mat atm? 

any help would be greatly apreciated as i really dont want them all to die off because of the stupidly moist living conditions and not having their usual space to climb around in.

thanks in advance :2thumb:


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## madavies65 (Jan 21, 2009)

ah you have one of my tubs! 

The area covered by the mesh ish roughly 1/4 of the total lid space... This is enough for all of my tubs, with no condensation forming - even with misting. You may have a humid house, or due to the squash etc your roaches are 'sweating' too much... could possibly increase room ventilation?

Lack of heat can affect a tub this way too, what are your temps?

I would suggest placing a set of dry silicone crystals in a bowl inside the tub affected. Failing that maybe cutting another lid - this would be a final option as in less humid conditions your roach tub would dry out too much.

Raising the temps may do it too!


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

When you feed them if you use a handful of dry chicken mash and less greens this will help lower humidity and as said a bigger hole in the lid would help.


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## Mr Grey (Aug 14, 2010)

I found that if I put too much food in the hunidty got real high aswell. Maybe put less in and put the food at the highest point possible in the hotel


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## jimmythetramp (Jul 6, 2009)

thanks for all the advice guys, it probably is because i feed them to much, there always seems to be lots left over, but i will cut down on the fresh and i'll get some layers mash tomorrow and see if that helps, :2thumb:


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## ZOO CENTRE (Apr 1, 2010)

Dubia roaches need humidity 30-40%.
100% area of the lid space is covered by mesh - and no problems!


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## Repidge (Jun 17, 2010)

I had the same problem when i 1st started breeding dubies. i solved it by putting 2 ventalation holes in my tub, 1 at the top and 1 in the side, this helps the air circulate much easier and prevented condensation forming and also prevented mould. if you do decide to put another vent in be careful not to make it too big because it will affect your humidity.i also place the food on top of my roach motel or towards the top of my tub so that it is futher away from the heat and closer to the vent hole so that when moisture evapourates from your food it rises straight up through the top vent. hope this helps, good luck : victory:


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