Do I have to dechlorinate my water source for my roaches?

Shelob

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
208
Hello, been raising dubia for a while now, but have been using aquarium dechlor to remove the chlorine & chloramine in my tap water. My question is if this is truely necessary, for I know my aquarium needs it (I work in the aquatics hobby) as well as my pacman frogs (I also dabble in the reptile/amphib hobby) but not sure about my B. dubia roaches.

Any ideas?

Remember I have chloramine in my tap water which does not evaporate like chlorine does and is more harmful to some aquatic and reptile life. Thanks!
 

Spaceman_Spiff

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Messages
222
Hi,

If you use them as feeders, i would consider it!
Even if it doesn't affect the roaches themselves, it might get enriched in their body and get harmful to whatever eats them.
Roaches are very tolerant to most toxins because they posses a special type of storage-cells in the organ called fat body.
In these cells toxic byproducts are stored, but not necessarily excreted.

But i don't think, that your roaches are dependend on an open water-source anyway, my B.dubia colony is fine with fresh fruits and vegetables.
Either declorinate your water or let them get the moisture from their food!

greets
Bernhard
 

Dom

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
665
I just feed mine apples, oranges, and carrots since my past experiences with water and crickets was not too good.
What kind of set up do you have to give them water?
 

siliconthoughts

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 27, 2004
Messages
44
No you absolutely do not need to, nor should you.

Chloramine is harmful for aquatic animals because it disassociates into ammonia and chlorine and both of those are toxic when exposed to large quantities i.e. immersed. They aren't harmful to drink at the concentration in tap water in the volumes necessary to replace normal water loss.

Normal tap water is safe for making baby formula. Babies are much more sensitive than your roaches, and drink a lot more as well. Neither chlorine nor ammonia nor the chloramine compound are fat soluble so they don't bioaccumulate. There is absolutley no reason to dechlorinate water for consumption. Since dechlorinated water is more prone to growing bacteria it may even be counterproductive.

I mostly use fruits to provide water for my roach colony, but supplement with water crystals on occasion. I do wash fruits and veggies before offering them, since they may have pesticide traces which may be harmful to insects and may bioaccumulate.
 

Shelob

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
208
siliconthoughts said:
No you absolutely do not need to, nor should you.

Chloramine is harmful for aquatic animals because it disassociates into ammonia and chlorine and both of those are toxic when exposed to large quantities i.e. immersed. They aren't harmful to drink at the concentration in tap water in the volumes necessary to replace normal water loss.

Normal tap water is safe for making baby formula. Babies are much more sensitive than your roaches, and drink a lot more as well. Neither chlorine nor ammonia nor the chloramine compound are fat soluble so they don't bioaccumulate. There is absolutley no reason to dechlorinate water for consumption. Since dechlorinated water is more prone to growing bacteria it may even be counterproductive.

I mostly use fruits to provide water for my roach colony, but supplement with water crystals on occasion. I do wash fruits and veggies before offering them, since they may have pesticide traces which may be harmful to insects and may bioaccumulate.
Good info to know!

Question though - reptiles are supposedly sensitive to the chloramine even though they simply consume it...is this a sort of common misconception or am I missing something here?
 
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