Dubia Roach Colony Cleaning Crew?

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rking02

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I'm newer to the Bearded Dragon keeping and have just set up my first Dubia roach colony (my beardie seems to prefer them over crickets). I'm reading that a lot of people have a "cleaning crew" insect in their tubs as well. Does anyone have experience with this? and if so what insect would you recommend? I hear a lot about buffalo worms (beetles) being beneficial but also the opposite. Any advice will help thanks :D

Still a baby:
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CooperDragon

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Cleaner crews are good as long as they don't get too large in numbers and start to take over (the harmful bit you've read about). I've had good luck just using a handful of superworms in my roach bin. Some of them have turned to beetles and others stay as worms. They do a nice job of keeping the roach bin clean. As long as you can keep the frass and smell under control you may not need a crew. I got along OK without one for a long time and just cleaned the bin manually every few months. The addition of the supers has made it even more hands off though which is nice.
 

rking02

Member
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CooperDragon":1qdujqi2 said:
Cleaner crews are good as long as they don't get too large in numbers and start to take over (the harmful bit you've read about). I've had good luck just using a handful of superworms in my roach bin. Some of them have turned to beetles and others stay as worms. They do a nice job of keeping the roach bin clean. As long as you can keep the frass and smell under control you may not need a crew. I got along OK without one for a long time and just cleaned the bin manually every few months. The addition of the supers has made it even more hands off though which is nice.

Did you wait to add the superworms until the frass had built up a bit? My colony is new so I don't think they can be beneficial just yet. Thanks for the help!
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
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Yeah I added them to an established colony so they had something to burrow in a bit. The developed beetles can go right in the colony though, and they do a nice job of cleaning too.
 

hrdrokn

New member
Interestingly, I came a cross this thread wondering how meal worms got into our roach colony Looks like the buffalo beetle cleaning crew is breeding alright.... and we have yet to see any baby roaches running around :shock:
 
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