Do I need to heat my dubias? Not breeding!

So I've decided to start buying dubias in bulk online over crickets at the petstore for my 8" long head to tail bearded dragon (around 3 months oldish). His appetite is quite large and the pet store is expensive.

I have a plastic tote, egg flats, roach chow, water crystals, bowls, and a lid for the bin that has a huge hole cut and replaced with screen. Since I'm going to pry buy 500 smalls at a time, maybe 1000 at his eating rate, I'm estimating they will last around maybe a month or two. Do I need to heat the bin they're in? The rooms always at 67ish degrees. I have a zoo med UTH it but it says not to use on plastic like the bin I'm using so....yeah. Will they live without heat long enough? Or should I use a CHE/find a heat mat I can use on plastic?

If it's safe to use my heat mat I have from experience? Stick it to the side of the plastic tub? Or would that still melt it
....haha do let me know! Lol

They will need some added heat in a room that cool. I don't have experience using the plastic tubs so I can't say for sure on wether or not the UTH will melt it. I would at least put it up on a bakers rack or something similar that will provide plenty of airflow underneath. I do that even with my glass tank. If you're concerned, I'd get a lamp stand and a CHE and try heating from above. If you do this though, I would monitor humidity as I've heard that a CHE can really dry out the air in a tank.

If you aren't trying to breed you may be fine with that temperature. I kept my feeder roaches at a similar temp (68-70) in a bin for a couple years and didn't have problems with them. They will likely eat and grow slower if kept cool and it may influence their nutritonal quality to a small degree.

I've not had the nerve to try a UTH on plastic.

Taterbug":1xrhqy9s said:

If you aren't trying to breed you may be fine with that temperature. I kept my feeder roaches at a similar temp (68-70) in a bin for a couple years and didn't have problems with them. They will likely eat and grow slower if kept cool and it may influence their nutritonal quality to a small degree.

I've not had the nerve to try a UTH on plastic.

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Cool cool! I have the lid cut out and replaced with screen, I'll throw a CHE on and use the UTH on my bearded enclosure instead (only at night to bump his temp to like 75). I bought a heat mat thermostat to control the temp of the heat mat to make sure it stays at the perfect temp at night.....was all originally for the roaches but I guess I could switch it around and use the CHE for the roaches instead of my bearded!

FYI: he should be able to eat baby dubias right? XD

CooperDragon":1hf8513v said:

They will need some added heat in a room that cool. I don't have experience using the plastic tubs so I can't say for sure on wether or not the UTH will melt it. I would at least put it up on a bakers rack or something similar that will provide plenty of airflow underneath. I do that even with my glass tank. If you're concerned, I'd get a lamp stand and a CHE and try heating from above. If you do this though, I would monitor humidity as I've heard that a CHE can really dry out the air in a tank.

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aren't glass tanks not recommended for roaches since they're clear? Don't they like dark places?

They do like dark places. In my case, the tank is kept in the basement so it's completely dark most of the time. They also have plenty of cardboard tubes to hide in. Taterbug made a good point about breeding a colony vs feeders that I hadn't considered.

If you have a thermostat you could use that on the tub probably to prevent it from overheating. But again, it may not be needed. If you use it for your dragon absolutly use the stat, and keep in mind a heat mat won't heat up the air very much, they are mostly conductive heat.

Yup, little roaches are fine for little dragons

As for darkness - even roaches can tolerate and possibly benefit from a day/night cycle as long as they are given a suitable environment. I've started keeping my feeders in a terrarium in my living room (maybe I've finally lost it) - they mostly hang out under things (I use a pile of rocks instead egg crate) and they actually burrow into the soil too. Otherwise I will see little antenna waving about from between rocks and some of them venture out and explore, mate, eat and such - kinda fun to watch to be honest.