B. dubia LD50 P. larvae Pilot

Fed P. larvae spores to Blaptica dubia cockroaches to determine the effect. Mostly I wanted to see if it was possible to feed the dubia roaches the spore stocks diluted in the Bee Artificial Diet (BAD). 

Hand fed dubia roaches with 5 uL of P. larvae spores diluted in BAD from 7-10-14 P. larvae LC50 Pilot study. Juvenile dubia roaches were fed 5 uL of 10,000 CFU/mL and 200 CFU/mL of P. larvae spores in BAD using a P20 pipet in triplicate. Roaches were placed into petri plates and incubated at 37C. A control plate was also set up. Pictures below show me feeding the dubia roaches.

Younger roaches were attempted to be fed the spores, but did not ingest the BAD as readily as the juveniles did (or at all). I doubt I will see any death in this experiment due to the fact these were not new born roaches and P. larvae typically only affects insects with compromised immune systems such as those in the first instars. That is the case in honey bees however, who knows what will be observed in the next few days. Mostly, I wanted to see how practical or possible it is to feed the dubia roaches substances via pipet. 

It should be noted that the BAD was by no means forced down the roaches throat. In fact, the BAD disappeared from the end of my pipet tip almost as quickly as it was pushed out right next to the roach's mandibles. 

//EWW