Just curious if my thinking is right.
I opened over the weekend the container to find something like 10 medium sized dubai roaches dead.
They have a heater under the tub but covering only 2/3 of the bottom. The dead ones were all lying on the 1/3 side. It has been very cold recently here in Bloemfontein. Is it possible that they died due to cold?
I have covered the vents in the lid with some extra egg trays I have to try and hold the heat inside better and gave 3 to 4 extra heaped spoons of pronutro on the side where the heater is for extra food and some water.

I assume you are talking about B.dubia roaches? I don't know very much about all the roaches available out there so please shoot me down if a Dubai roach is a real species.

I have B.dubia and recently have also regularly found a few of the adults dead and half eaten. You quickly know that there are dead roaches because it's not long before they start getting stinky. I have not been able to put a finger on why they are dying or being eaten. I stepped up my feeding regime so I now give them about a handful of cat food pellets once or twice a week and now I also give them a full apple or carrot on top of that to give them "Water" in their food. I don't give them water dishes because they just land up drowning all the time and I don't trust the use of gel balls.

Since I have done this the deaths have almost stopped completely. Can it be that they kill each other in search of food or moisture? Or due to the cold? Who knows.

He is talking about B. dubia roaches, Dubias.

No matter which colony of roaches you have or how you care for them you will find died roaches.
A couple of weeks ago I had a good couple of B. dubia roaches that died, that was before I put them right next to the heater and off the floor.

With regards to moisture, I have a couple of methods that I use.
Giving roaches leaves that has been soaked in water, the leaves serve two purposes, food and a water source that will dry up in a couple hours.
Or I mist my roaches every second day, normally spray on the sides of the container and on the egg trays.
Or fresh fruit and veg every 3rd day. I also soak the veggies in water and feed them out the container with the water.


Is the container on the floor? In what room of the house are they in?
Bearing this in mind, the heater you have on them might not be effective enough to heat them as the ambient temperature around the container is colder, which in turn will not allow the heating pad to get to it's maximum temps.

Container is in outbuilding or the afrikaans word "buitekamer".
My wife will kill me if I put them in the house. Underneath is a 15W foil heatpad. They all pack and group together right above the heater but the ones that are dead are on the side where the heater cannot reach. I am 99% convinced it is due to cold. I am also now feeding right above the heatpad on the containers floor instead of on the side where the heatpad doesn't reach. I wonder if they didn't go to feed and while feeding died due to cold.

I have also upped my feeding with 3 spoons instead of 1 spoon a day of pronutro. And I am going to put in some more fruit. I normally use apples, banana and oranges.