Not Feeling the Dubia Love...

This is just a vent. I'm not having a great day, and thought that getting Figment's first shipment of dubia roaches would put me in a better mood. It really didn't, and this is the only place I can vent without people thinking I'm a complete lunatic. (My school's secretaries, upon realizing that the box delivered for me at work was full of live feeder insects, are now convinced that I am a complete lunatic and refuse to touch anything with my name on it unless it's clearly labeled Scholastic Book Clubs... but I digress.)

I know that conventional wisdom says that dubias are the premiere staple feeder for dragons, but I'm just not feeling the dubia love tonight. Figment is, as he gorged himself on my first shipment this evening and is currently one nearly comatose dragon... but me, notsomuch.

Firstly, I ordered 3/4" dubias because that's the approximate distance between Figment's eye ridges. From the looks of it, I recieved 1"+ roaches for the most part. Granted, he chomped them down without any apparent difficulty, but I like to know I'm feeding the right size. If I'd known shipments run large, I'd have ordered the half inchers.

Secondly, how on earth do you separate the little crawlers from their eggshell crates? I tried shaking. I tried whacking them against the sides of the new container (gently at first, then with more force). I tried scraping them out with a spoon. They just kept crawling to the reverse side of the eggshell crates... or onto me, which I did NOT appreciate. I know they don't bite, and I can tolerate feeding them to my dragon, but ugh... is there some trick I'm missing out on?

Thirdly, just... ewww. I am not the most bug friendly dragon owner on the block, though I'll do just about anything for my Figment (hence, dubias), but all those swarming roaches just turned my stomach. Sigh. I may just have to resign myself to going to the pet store every other day for crickets.

I am happy that Figment seemed to enjoy his new feeders. I am happy they are so good for him. But I really wish I liked these critters more than I do at the moment!

Aw I'm sorry.the good news though is that figment liked them.

If he chomped them down fine there should be no issue. although it's nice to get the size you ordered... but typically dubias don't pose much impaction risk.

I bang the egg cartons against a container. They have a pretty good grip so you have to have some finesse to it, but you get the hang of it quick.

I dont particularly like them crawling over me either, but it doesnt bother me too much. I'll sometimes pluck a few out with my hands.

They are a great feeder, but they aren't the only feeder! And a varied diet is best. So dont feel like you have to feed dubias, or that you have to feed them as the bulk of figments diet. They can be a treat if you dont like dealing with them.

Personally I dislike dealing with crickets. So dubias to me are great in that compassion. I just wish dubias were as cheap as crickets. I'd rather not have a dubia colony if I'm perfectly honest.
I loved my colony back when I had more free time. Now it ends up just being another responsibility. a small one, but still, lots of smalls add up.

Anyways, sounds like you need some beardie therapy tonight so just relax with figment and enjoy some free time if you get a chance

-Brandon

To put it mildly " my wife is HORRIFIED" of them, lol!!! I got a new shipment in today and, while I was putting them away, she walked by and shrieked like a schoolgirl. I had to cover them so she could continue her track through the house. She is OK if she doesn't see them, she's nuts, lol!!!

3 years ago when I got my first shipment of Dubias in for Rygel, I was in the exact same position you are. I thought they were nasty creepy things and couldn’t imagine ever getting used to them. Rygel didn’t think much of them either, so I was able to escape having to deal with them. Instead, Rygel thrived on a costly diet of Phoenix worms and silkworms, which I was much more comfortable with dealing with. Three years later and Rygel died very suddenly after the onset of a serious Illness, and after grieving for his loss, a new baby dragon found his way into my life. Walter utterly loves roaches, and even though they gross me out, it’s worth it to see his eyes light up when he sees me with his roaches.

I’m still figuring out the best way of dealing with dubias, but some tips I’ve found so far are-

RIp the egg cartons up into smaller pieces so you don’t have to deal with too many roaches all at once. With smaller egg cartons, you can also just hold the Smaller egg crate pieces with the stubborn Roaches that won’t leave towards Figment and let him pick them right off the egg crate.
Use toilet paper rolls instead of egg cartons - you can just tIp them over the food dish and they’re easier to shake out.
Shake egg crate or tube into a Large (I use 1 gallon) ziplock bag, add calcium or vitamin powder and shake well to get everything thoroughly dusted, then dump them out into food dish.’
Use a large food dish which is escape proof, so you don’t have to worry about funneling the roaches into a small area.

I know what you mean about roach sizes . I ordered 1000 1/2 inch roaches, and I’m pretty sure what I got were more like 1/4 inch, and nowhere near the quantity I ordered. Walter had eaten almost all of them in under seven days. I’ve had good experience with https://dubiaroaches4less.com/ . I ordered 3000 1/2 inch roaches from them and they are perfect size and came packaged as 250 per cup, so I know I got what I ordered.