ABSTRACT
Once a good, working diet has been developed and adapted to the insectary, it is risky to make changes. In nearly three decades of experience with many insectaries, I have seen countless problems that came from unplanned or poorly designed changes. Often, such problems began after a considerable period of relative colony stability and successful rearing. Certainly, such problems sometimes came from sources other than diet deviations but stemmed from microbial contamination (Chapter 13); environmental changes (Chapters 1 and 8) (e.g., unnoticed temperature, humidity, or light changes); genetic problems from inbreeding (Chapter 1); accidental introduction of parasitoids or unwanted commensal species, such as mites and lice; inadvertent introduction of pesticides; and other hidden contaminants (fumes from newly painted rooms or from other stray sources).
