a little math... 2 dragons = ? dubia

[jargonchipmunk]

okay. I haven't convinced "her" yet. However, the business man in me always wants to come to the table prepared!

So.... aside from the obvious aspects of crickets. (stinky! jumpers, biters, always DYING! not as good for our beardies, etc etc etc) I'd like to do a little math here. I've seen a few prices, and a few kits from a few different sellers on here. I'd like to know...

We have two beardies both similar size. (8.5") 8 weeks old. They have appetites like there's no tomorrow. How many dubia of what size would I need to buy if I wanted to start feeding off immediately. I figure, toss the 8 months to get a decent colony idea, because... well... I just don't want to HOUSE the dubia for the next YEAR before they become a food source. I want to be cricket free NOW. So I need the following info.

Adults (say, 3:1/4:1 ratio f/m) how many so they can keep up with the two little mouths in nymphs, plus some surplus to grow the colony)
Nymphs how many to purchase along with the adults to feed off of until the adults start making more?

A side note: the dragons DO eat their veg during the day, and get one meal of PW's per day so the dubia wouldn't be their ONLY food source.

Any suggestions on quantity? I need to figure out how much it would cost to not have to buy crickets ever again. (so that I can work up the math behind how soon we'd be SAVING money, since crickets cost $22/1000 at the local feeder shack)

 

[clear]

I figured 40-50 adult female dubia should produce enough for one beardie. There is a lot of variables to how many your need. How many babies your female dubia reproduce and how many babies your beardie eats.

okay. I haven't convinced "her" yet. However, the business man in me always wants to come to the table prepared!

So.... aside from the obvious aspects of crickets. (stinky! jumpers, biters, always DYING! not as good for our beardies, etc etc etc) I'd like to do a little math here. I've seen a few prices, and a few kits from a few different sellers on here. I'd like to know...

We have two beardies both similar size. (8.5") 8 weeks old. They have appetites like there's no tomorrow. How many dubia of what size would I need to buy if I wanted to start feeding off immediately. I figure, toss the 8 months to get a decent colony idea, because... well... I just don't want to HOUSE the dubia for the next YEAR before they become a food source. I want to be cricket free NOW. So I need the following info.

Adults (say, 3:1/4:1 ratio f/m) how many so they can keep up with the two little mouths in nymphs, plus some surplus to grow the colony)
Nymphs how many to purchase along with the adults to feed off of until the adults start making more? Buy all you can afford to be honest. In my calculation it will take atleast 40 adult female dubia in optimal conditions to produce enough babies each month to feed one young beardie

A side note: the dragons DO eat their veg during the day, and get one meal of PW's per day so the dubia wouldn't be their ONLY food source.

Any suggestions on quantity? I need to figure out how much it would cost to not have to buy crickets ever again. (so that I can work up the math behind how soon we'd be SAVING money, since crickets cost $22/1000 at the local feeder shack)

 

[jargonchipmunk]

so if I assume that we're dealing in generalisations that will never completely mesh with reality (hehe) then I should be able to buy...

50 adult female
13? adult males
some odd few hundred nymphs?

as long as one meal is dubia nymphs and one is PW's or something else (so they're only eating half of what they would if I fed them straight dubia) I should be able to at least squeek by and ditch the crix?

I could always order more females if the colony looked like it wasn't producing fast enough.

 

[ajo]

I can assure you that switching to roaches will be one of the smartest moves you can make when feeding beardies.

I would check out all of your options, I don't want to alienate any of the great dubia suppliers on this forum. Usually, adult females alone cost around $.75. Some sellers offer adult trios (2 females + 1 male) for $1.50. Establishing a good "breeder" colony is important, so I would recommend buying a bulk amount of adult females, place them in a separate bin that you will only disturb occasionally. I would then pick up a large order of mixed nymphs (which will usually come with bonus adult pairs) and place them in a "feeder" colony, which you can sort through whenever you need to feed.

I have two 18-gallon dark rubbermaid tubs from walmart (~$6.00) next to each other, breeder and feeder, which I keep in my garage. I take it one step further and keep a small tupperware (12"x6"x6") inside with roaches from the feeder bin of appropriate size for my 9" beardie. When I clean/feed/water the feeder bin I just throw a few days to a weeks supply worth of roaches in the tupperware for convenience come feeding time.

PM sent for more specific ideas.

 

[jargonchipmunk]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I'm fairly certain that once I offer up all the evidence, we can come to an arrangment regarding the "beetles" lol. She already knows they're in the roach family. I'm not big on "fooling" the one person in my life I want to trust me completely. From all of the testimonies from the dubia keepers on the forum, it looks like I should be mad at all of the hollywood producers that made the cockroach into the monster it is today. Sure, we'd still hate the little buggers, but it was their movies that made us FEAR them lol. I just think it's crazy to keep food for your pets that takes more work than the pet itself to keep! I think even bigger than that is the fact that crickets aren't that great of a nutritional suppliment. I want my General Tso to grow up big and strong like a good general should! Hopefully, Jamie feels the same about her Mushu and will learn to deal with the mental aspect of keeping Dubia.

 

[DragonsInKansas]

Just push the "they don't smell" aspect, all the other parts are awesome, that that's what I think will win her over!

 

[jargonchipmunk]

yeah she's finally agreed (after smelling crix for a few months now) and having every batch we've ever gotten die off long before we fed all of them off. We're moving into a house (woot) in November-ish, and her one caveat was that we wait until then so we at least have some closet space or basement space somewhere out of the way to put the "evil bin of doom" lol.

Personally, I think the small apartment being filled with crick-stench is a reason to do it SOONER, but meh. A friend of mine who lives close and also owns a reptile has agreed to house them at his place until we get our house. I'm paying him for the service by letting his gecko have as many dubia nymphs as he can eat for a lifetime. I'm certain one leopard gecko isn't even going to TOUCH the amount my beardies are going to eat lol. I've got the package all worked out I just have to have one question answered before I order. This has reminded me to go make a thread asking that very question...