3 Months Later

[Evergreen]

I got my first bearded dragon late last December and had purchased ~200 extra large Dubia more or less on a whim. There was a sale going on and I knew it was now or never so they came in the mail and I was literally in tears trying to get them out of the box and into the Rubbermaid. About 20 minutes later I snapped the lid closed and regretted buying them 100%, I was hoping they'd die but I stuck them in the storage closet with a heating pad underneath and crossed my fingers it wouldn't start a fire.

That was in December so it's been roughly 3 months since and I finally got the courage to take it outside and try to clean it last night. (I had posted in another thread saying it smelled, i think i figured out why...) I had rubber gloves, a bottles of raid to quickly murder any that escaped and of course my camera as proof of what I did. I had seen some babies running around a couple weeks ago but never thought I'd have more then 50 since of their less then ideal conditions.

The new setup is still far from ideal but when I move I'll go ahead and get a new container, big stack of egg crates and hopefully find some other way to heat it since an old heating pad is a very bad fire hazard. I'll go ahead and make another post with pictures for those that are interested.

 

[Evergreen]

(Below) Here is everything that came out of the tub.

No wonder it smelled. You can see who I just threw a handful of dog/cat food in there every once and awhile. Clearly they didn't eat it so I'm not sure what they were living on... They now have a couple oranges and I'm researching different foods. Little black things in the bowl are dried water balls from the craft store.

(Above) Ended up with probably 25 dead bugs. (Below) The new tub. Like I said it's far from ideal but Ive only got one mouth to feed so I don't need them producing at top speed.

(Below)A 5 gallon tub, a 2.5 gallon and a 2ish gallon. Green one was a cover so I could shake it without them getting out. Middle had a bunch of little wholes and the bottom collected the babies. Unfortunately I don't really know how to separate the dirt from them so it's all in one tub for the moment.

I just realized I dont have a picture of the babies. I'll take one here in the next couple hours but I'd say there are over 200 of the little guys. I defiantly have was more males then females but I don't know what to do with them so I just dumped all the adults back in the new tub. (And WTF, I did NOT know the males could fly. I think I got my first grey hair at 20!)

I left the contents of the bottom of the tub sit in the 5 gallon pails overnight and I know there are more babies in there but there were only 5-6 that had fallen threw the holes so it looks like I'll have to shake them more today.

 

[Flynnthedragon]

I got my first bearded dragon late last December and had purchased ~200 extra large Dubia more or less on a whim. There was a sale going on and I knew it was now or never so they came in the mail and I was literally in tears trying to get them out of the box and into the Rubbermaid. About 20 minutes later I snapped the lid closed and regretted buying them 100%, I was hoping they'd die but I stuck them in the storage closet with a heating pad underneath and crossed my fingers it wouldn't start a fire.

Why did you regret buying them? im confused Also I would think a easy way to seperate the frass/roach poo/what ever else you want to call it is maybe getting some screen you use on your window to keep the bugs out and making a huge hole in the bottom of the bucket and just hotglueing that onto the bottom. should be big enough to get all that stuff out but small enough to keep all the new babies if any and all the nymphs from falling through.

 

[Claudiusx]

Looks like you are starting to like dubias if your out there cleaning their tub! :mrgreen:

-Brandon

 

[Evergreen]

Looks like you are starting to like dubias if your out there cleaning their tub! :mrgreen:

-Brandon

Shhh, don't tell my left brain :silent:

 

[Flynnthedragon]

ah u regreted buying em cuz u didnt like em>? i felt the same way kinda trying to get mind out of the box, was thinking wth was i doing! lol. they are in my room in a 45gal sterilite tub and i dont even know they are there. still hate the big ones though, little ones are kinda cute

 

[Evergreen]

I agree, the little ones are pretty cute (still have a no touch policy though!) Even the adult females aren't so bad but those males are just plain creepy!

 

[Evergreen]

Little update: Completely forgot about the colony again and haven't fed or so much as looked at them in 2-3 weeks. :| Since I cleaned the bin a month ago I haven't turned on the heat pad so the bin has been at room temperature since then (about 75F). I tossed in an apple and brown banana today and looked back in 30 minutes later to see a TON of new babies. I honestly didn't think they would have reproduced and I was kicking myself over not caring for them properly but wow, looks like I could separate them out again by the end of this month!

Never took into account how slowly the babies seem to grow though. I am feeding 1/4-1/2 inch nymphs to Felix and the ones I harvest last month are still so small it doesn't seem like it'd be worth feeding them. I'm looking around now but does anyone have a general growth chart for dubia? I know they sell crickets by length and weeks old but I haven't seen anything like that for dubia yet...

 

[suzuki4life]

growth rate is deetermined by heat and food.

 

[Evergreen]

I understand that completly but I'm pretty sure I got some extra frisky and hardy bugs to start with! I weighed them out and I think I've got roughly 1000 babies from newborn nymphs to 1/4".

 

[Dooter]

Little update: Completely forgot about the colony again and haven't fed or so much as looked at them in 2-3 weeks. :| Since I cleaned the bin a month ago I haven't turned on the heat pad so the bin has been at room temperature since then (about 75F). I tossed in an apple and brown banana today and looked back in 30 minutes later to see a TON of new babies. I honestly didn't think they would have reproduced and I was kicking myself over not caring for them properly but wow, looks like I could separate them out again by the end of this month!

This is really good news - I've been wanting to breed my own roaches, but the idea of having to heat them really irritates me for some reason (its bad enough I have to feed them!)

I think I might get a few adults and throw them together and see how they do at room temp.