Can you show me your dubia breeding set up?

MelissaM · Jan 8, 2015

I'm more of a visual learner. Ha
I'm wanted to start my own colony and know the basics (bin, crates, heat, food, etc.) But would love to see what others have done to see what would work best.
I'm ocd about organization and am having a hard time visualizing how I want to start this.

Thanks,
Melissa

Taterbug · Jan 8, 2015

I use a 20L with screen and a medium zoomed uth under the egg crates. I use a plastic dog dish for water crystals and a plastic plate for food. The dishes keep the good/water up off the frass.

It's on a plywood board on casters so I can roll it around. It tucks up under a shelf in my basement and I have a "door" made out of foam insulation (not shown) so light is blocked out. I keep my supplies on the shelf above.

CooperDragon · Jan 8, 2015

I have a 20g tank with screen top that sits on a bakers rack. There is a zoomed under tank heater. I house them in cardboard tubes and feed veggie scraps to them every day. The tank is in the basement which is completely dark most of the time.

MelissaM · Jan 8, 2015

Thank you so very much for taking the time to post those. I have the same tank as you Tator... Do you find it difficult to lift to clean or sort thru? I know that tank is heavy empty to move around (my youngest boys have a Russian tortoise they use to take back and forth to their dad's, but Rocky now resides permanently with dad) empty. I'm thinking I might go the tote route for the light weight factor to breed and the tank for feeders.

Can I ask how y'all sort them?

MelissaM · Jan 8, 2015

CooperDragon":2zmct75e said:
I

Can I ask what those "biscut" looking things are. I'm assuming chow...

Taterbug · Jan 8, 2015

MelissaM":1wlnh44t said:
Thank you so very much for taking the time to post those. I have the same tank as you Tator... Do you find it difficult to lift to clean or sort thru? I know that tank is heavy empty to move around (my youngest boys have a Russian tortoise they use to take back and forth to their dad's, but Rocky now resides permanently with dad) empty. I'm thinking I might go the tote route for the light weight factor to breed and the tank for feeders.

Can I ask how y'all sort them?

My husband built a rolling stand for it, it wheels out easily, always had it this way, but it's super convenient. To clean, I pull the tank out, take out the egg crates and put them in a tote, I stir up the frass and will put a few egg crates on then leave a bright light on for about 30 min. I'll do it a couple times and then anyone who doesn't take the lifeboat goes out with the frass. I have a dust pan that is the exact width of the tank, a few scoops and the crates go back on. I'll replace nasty ones but they last a while.

To sort them in bulk I pull a few flats out and shake them into the tote. I've made buckets with various hole sizes that I would use to filter through the sizes. Now I feed few enough to sort by hand.

CooperDragon · Jan 8, 2015

The buiscuit looking things are slices of yellow squash. There are some green beans in there too. I don't sort the bugs, I just let them do their thing. I haven't fed off more than a few of them so far so I can just pick them out one at a time.

AcceptableGeek · Jan 10, 2015

Does the breeding take care of itself as in the roaches will breed and you just feed from the tank as normal? Or do you have to keep the breeding roaches separate and move babies to another bin?

CooperDragon · Jan 10, 2015

I've just left them alone to do their thing. I provide food and warm shelter, they do the rest. Not sure if that's correct, this is my first colony, but they seem OK after about 6 months.

AcceptableGeek · Jan 10, 2015

Ok. So you just pick out however many from the colony to feed your dragon?

Taterbug · Jan 10, 2015

AcceptableGeek":2tkoo5jx said:
Ok. So you just pick out however many from the colony to feed your dragon?

I'll pick out about 1-2 weeks worth. The less the colony is disturbed the better usually. I dont bother to sort breeders either, at this point I have too many.

Sauzo · Jan 13, 2015

If your colony is small, then the 2 bin idea with 1 being for breeders and 1 for feeders is a good idea. Once your colony reaches a certain point, I call it the "point of no return", it will just explode and you will start seeing tons of little babies everywhere and they seem to double and triple each month. At that point, you really don't need to worry anymore about disturbing the breeders as now you will need to focus on a way to start slowing them down and how you are going to feed the huge bottomless pit in your bin you just created

Can you show me your dubia breeding set up?

MelissaM

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MelissaM

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