keeping 1/4 in dubia roaches

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natnat

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I have 1/4 inch dubias to feed my 4 mo old beardie and I haven't been having good luck keeping them alive. I don't want to grow/breed them just store them for a few weeks while I feed them. I have them in a box with egg crates at room temp and I provide a dubia diet with ground oats/wheat and a few veggies. However they don't seem to eat at all. Should I be providing some sort of heat pad?
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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They do like warmer temps. You could use a heat pad (make sure to allow airflow underneath if you put it on the bottom) or you could use a ceramic heat emitter overhead to provide some heat that way. They should do OK at room temps, but tend to thrive in temps in the 80s and into the 90s a bit. Try offering some pieces of squash or some orange slices and see how those go over. They tend to really like those a lot.
 

NYBeardie

Member
I've been keeping small batches of dubia for our beardie for months now. For small batches of small roaches, I just kept them in a small tupperware with some egg crate pieces and never lost any. Dax was going through almost 40-50 a day, so they never lasted long. I've since had really good luck with a plastic shoe box from home depot (like $2) and egg crates. I mainly feed them just fresh veggies and fruit changed out every day or other day, depending on what I put in. Carrots, butternut squash, apples, pears, Kale, banana, mango pit (to clean it off). I sometimes supplement with cricket food, but only rarely. I haven't provided any heat with about 70-75 ambient temps at night. With this setup, I can keep hundreds...last 2 purchases were 500 and 700. I recently installed a screen for air circulation and a poly insulating foam strip on the edges to prevent escapes (about $10 for both). Even now I only lose a roach here and there, but it's definitely less than 1 a week. Hope that helps!
 
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