HELP! DUBIA ROACH COLONY NOT WORKING

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Hello all you amazing pet owners here at BeardedDragon.org!
Thank you for clicking on my topic to try and help out my Dubia roach colony problems :shock:

I have a bearded dragon that I am tired of spending money on for feed to gutload at the local pet shop here, so I took it upon myself to start my very own Dubia roach colony. This is the first colony I've ever started so please bare with me to briefly explain how my enclosure is setup...
I bought 15 females and 5 males from the pet store 2 days ago and they are decently big so they must be at least a few months old.

I bought a pretty big tub (I think it's 20-30 gallons or something, can't tell already ripped off the tags lol) with a light layer of organic coconut substrate on the bottom. Under the tank is a heating pad half the size of the bottom, and a heat lamp (which I used tinfoil to deter the light so it wasn't shining on them) so they can get enough heat to breed. I have the egg cartons stacked in there on one side and originally I had the food and water crystals in small styrofoam bowls on the other side (I cut a small part of it out so it should be easy for them to climb in and get into it).
Yesterday I tried feeding them Collard Greens, Oranges, and a little bit of dry cricket feeder. I can't even see a single roach in the whole enclosure, maybe like 1 or 2 for like a millisecond but they are all completely hidden! They didn't touch their food PERIOD yesterday. Today I gave them Butternut Squash, Bok Choy, and the dry cricket mix and decided to move the water and the styrofoam bowls to ontop of their egg cartons and today I haven't seen a single one PERIOD. No head, no attennaes, absolutely no sign of them even being in there.... and again Ive waited about 3 hours now with no luck of seeing them get attracted to their food. This is really concerning me because I spent quite a bit of money to setup this enclosure and to prepare their food... it's been 2 days and these are COCKROACHES how in the hell do they ignore their food? I don't have a temp gun right now because Im short on cash but Im pretty sure its warm enough in there! Either way, not too warm or too hot they should be eating their food. What am I doing wrong? How do I get these suckers to eat?

HELP!
If they live off of eating the egg cartons im gonna get screwed because they won't be nutritious for my beardie Shenron at all :oops: I can order stuff online when I get paid next, I mean I really dont want to blow money just for my enclosure to not work maybe drop some links to new supplies if Im doing this wrong? Thanks so much for reading again you guys, Im a beginner and desperately need help asap...
 

Xanelic

Hatchling Member
ShenronMyBeardie":197brk6x said:
Hello all you amazing pet owners here at BeardedDragon.org!
Thank you for clicking on my topic to try and help out my Dubia roach colony problems :shock:

I have a bearded dragon that I am tired of spending money on for feed to gutload at the local pet shop here, so I took it upon myself to start my very own Dubia roach colony. This is the first colony I've ever started so please bare with me to briefly explain how my enclosure is setup...
I bought 15 females and 5 males from the pet store 2 days ago and they are decently big so they must be at least a few months old.

I bought a pretty big tub (I think it's 20-30 gallons or something, can't tell already ripped off the tags lol) with a light layer of organic coconut substrate on the bottom. Under the tank is a heating pad half the size of the bottom, and a heat lamp (which I used tinfoil to deter the light so it wasn't shining on them) so they can get enough heat to breed. I have the egg cartons stacked in there on one side and originally I had the food and water crystals in small styrofoam bowls on the other side (I cut a small part of it out so it should be easy for them to climb in and get into it).
Yesterday I tried feeding them Collard Greens, Oranges, and a little bit of dry cricket feeder. I can't even see a single roach in the whole enclosure, maybe like 1 or 2 for like a millisecond but they are all completely hidden! They didn't touch their food PERIOD yesterday. Today I gave them Butternut Squash, Bok Choy, and the dry cricket mix and decided to move the water and the styrofoam bowls to ontop of their egg cartons and today I haven't seen a single one PERIOD. No head, no attennaes, absolutely no sign of them even being in there.... and again Ive waited about 3 hours now with no luck of seeing them get attracted to their food. This is really concerning me because I spent quite a bit of money to setup this enclosure and to prepare their food... it's been 2 days and these are COCKROACHES how in the hell do they ignore their food? I don't have a temp gun right now because Im short on cash but Im pretty sure its warm enough in there! Either way, not too warm or too hot they should be eating their food. What am I doing wrong? How do I get these suckers to eat?

HELP!
If they live off of eating the egg cartons im gonna get screwed because they won't be nutritious for my beardie Shenron at all :oops: I can order stuff online when I get paid next, I mean I really dont want to blow money just for my enclosure to not work maybe drop some links to new supplies if Im doing this wrong? Thanks so much for reading again you guys, Im a beginner and desperately need help asap...

1) they do eat, just usually at night. I replace the food for my roaches every three days and since they have tint mouths, we dont see much but just look very closely to see small bite marks. temps could also be hothering them.
What are the temps? (You can use a stick on heat sensor thing (forgot what it's called) for reptiles if you're short on money. It's bad but cheap and sometimes just a few degrees off (as long as its not in the high nineties, it should be fine.

2) they almost NEVER come out unless it is for food. I never see my colony because the nymphs are in or under the food, the adults are mating or hiding on the hot side, and the juvis are just chilling.

3) water crystals don't do much, roaches usually just poop in them and leave. Feed them fruits and greens and that'll give them a source of water.

4) dubias are smart and won't eat the egg cartons unless its the babies eating the poop. Just wait a couple of days (make sure you check to see no mold at all) and there should be improvement

(Also, quick tip, do NOT give your colony tomatoes. I know you haven't said anything about it but in case you're thinking about it.. Don't.. I tried it and within a day I found mold. Half of the nymphs I've raised died but luckily the adults are kicking and kept breeding.
 

ShenronMyBeardie

New member
Original Poster
Xanelic":hadool7r said:
1) they do eat, just usually at night. I replace the food for my roaches every three days and since they have tint mouths, we dont see much but just look very closely to see small bite marks. temps could also be hothering them.
What are the temps? (You can use a stick on heat sensor thing (forgot what it's called) for reptiles if you're short on money. It's bad but cheap and sometimes just a few degrees off (as long as its not in the high nineties, it should be fine.

2) they almost NEVER come out unless it is for food. I never see my colony because the nymphs are in or under the food, the adults are mating or hiding on the hot side, and the juvis are just chilling.

3) water crystals don't do much, roaches usually just poop in them and leave. Feed them fruits and greens and that'll give them a source of water.

4) dubias are smart and won't eat the egg cartons unless its the babies eating the poop. Just wait a couple of days (make sure you check to see no mold at all) and there should be improvement

(Also, quick tip, do NOT give your colony tomatoes. I know you haven't said anything about it but in case you're thinking about it.. Don't.. I tried it and within a day I found mold. Half of the nymphs I've raised died but luckily the adults are kicking and kept breeding.

Sweet tyvm! Yeah I saw the black dots in the water crystals like wtf so that must be there poop then. I thought they drank out of that? I feed them veggies and I put some chopped up orange in there as well so its good to know I am hydrating them properly. Yeah I just see all the videos online of their colonies constantly walking all around during the video but that must be an already HUGE colony... I will check for the nibble bites tomorrow morning, much love :mrgreen:
 
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