Dehydration of Roaches affecting Survival

(from 11/14/14 Bd injections of Ft LVS)

Water crystals to prevent dehydration

There was a sudden death in the PBS and non-injected controls after 6 days (12% survival PBS and 50% survival in non-injected). This be attributed to dehydration after a two week incubation at 37C with only dry dog food.

Therefore, I have updated the protocol for roach storage for future experiments. Water crystals will be used as a source of water and larger containers will be used that can hold all 8 roaches for each group and allow for gas exchange (figure shown).

New containers

One concern is the roaches will now be stored in the walk-in 37C incubator used by the department to accommodate for the larger sized containers. This incubator is high-traffic due to teaching labs and the building's exterior door not far down the hallway. There is also a light that is often left on within the incubator. With these precautions in mind, results will be analyzed closely.






//BEE