All dubia owners please respond :)

[DragonsInKansas]

I was doing 3:1, maybe i should cut mine down. Wonder if it'll make a difference :?

 

[kevindeeley12]

What am I supposed to do with my MALES?!?!? lol...

 

[ajkry2]

feed em out, thats what ima do

 

[Atsumi]

Hey Kev,

First of all I like this right here.
-Ian
http://www.theroachranch.com

Quite an honor Ian likes my Dubia post. I haven't started my colony, but I'm getting some tubs this weekend to start my colony.

OP: I hope everything gets sorted out for you.

 

[DragonsInKansas]

What am I supposed to do with my MALES?!?!? lol...

Is the problem that your beardie is to small to eat adults?

 

[Atsumi]

What am I supposed to do with my MALES?!?!? lol...

Is the problem that your beardie is to small to eat adults?

If that's the case, would it be possible to put them in a separate tub?

 

[switchitup813]

You could leave them in there with the rest of the roaches, but they will eat up extra food. Or you can create a separate container just for males and wait until your bearded dragon is big enough to eat them.

 

[ajkry2]

I've been confused about this for a long time. Doesthe no bigger than the spacebetween the eyes rule apply with roaches?

 

[DragonsInKansas]

I think that the roach rule is kinda like the super worm rule. Pretty sure that once they are full grown then the width of the roach becomes the new standard and they shouldn't be wider than the space between their eyes.

 

[switchitup813]

Usually when they reach 200 grams, they can eat adult dubia roaches. My beardie is 5 months old and 230 grams. he eats them like a a champ.

 

[clear]

I dont like keeping a low ratio of males to females. Males seem to die off faster (they have a shorter life span) and you can run into trouble down the line. I keep between 1 1:3 to a 1:5 no lower. Humidity is more of a problem when you see bad molts, males wings will be crumpled, if you see this humidity is to low. Another sign of low humidity if you see a lot of dropped egg sacks. My room stays dark and hot that I keep them in and anytime you walk in there you can see all the females and males swarming the top of the egg crates "socializing". I also noticed the the females like to have the babies close to the water dishes.

 

[Momto3boys]

Haha man, I paid 80$ shipped for 100 mixed dubias! NOT ONE FREAKING ADULT LOL, I am planning on selling them here, 60 cents each is a bargain here.. lol.

Are you in Canada??? If so there's atleast 10 people selling Dubia's right now, a girl is selling off her colony's and they are a awesome price...
I was going to buy over 200 but can't afford it right now

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

I dont like keeping a low ratio of males to females. Males seem to die off faster (they have a shorter life span) and you can run into trouble down the line. I keep between 1 1:3 to a 1:5 no lower. Humidity is more of a problem when you see bad molts, males wings will be crumpled, if you see this humidity is to low. Another sign of low humidity if you see a lot of dropped egg sacks. My room stays dark and hot that I keep them in and anytime you walk in there you can see all the females and males swarming the top of the egg crates "socializing". I also noticed the the females like to have the babies close to the water dishes.

I like this because it brings up some good points about humidity and more importantly the ratio issue. :study: DO NOT feed off all your male dubia. This is a bad idea as Clear has brought up (BTW what is your name so I don't have to keep calling you clear LOL!). Just as it is w/ humans, the girls outlast the guys by considerable measures. Don't worry girls it's your god given gift to drive us men nuts and take a few years off our life, I didn't mean anything by that! LOL! But keep an eye on the colony and replace any dead males you find.

As far as the ratio goes I am TOTALLY w/ Clear on this. You guys have smaller quantities of Dubia. 3 to 1 or a 5 to 1 is perfect. To make things clear (no pun intended bud), my breeder colonies have 2,500 females a piece in them. The larger your breeder colony, the less males you need. I know it sounds sorta off, BUT at a 3 to 1 ratio I'd have 850 males trucking around screwing up my production rates. I cut that right in half to around 400 males per breeder tub.

As for your questions about the eye rule. I don't think I've really mentioned this before here on the boards but just so you guys know I'm not speaking out of turn. I have been keeping lizards most of my life (About 20 years now to be exact). This doesn't mean diddly as I will NEVER consider myself an expert and continually learn day to day from Newbies to Professionals in the industry trying to keep up w/ all the new findings of Lizard husbandry in our hobby/industry. That being said though, I've seen and experienced first hand quite a bit.

Anyway I used to have impaction problems here and there w/ my dragons (not so much my geckos). Crickets, meal worms and super worms have high volumes of chitin in their exoskeletons. THIS fact is a MAJOR reason I switched over to roaches in 1998. Pretty much across the board as far as feeder roaches go they have considerable lower chitin than any other feeder. Dubia and Discoids have the lowest you'll find. And out of that Adult Male Dubia have next to nothing as far as chitin goes. The majority of it found in their headcap (sorry I'm at a loss for the scientific word right now). Adult Beardies, can/should/and will plow down Adult Male Dubia w/o any problems to their health whatsoever. I haven't had a case of impaction since I switched to roaches and all of my customers both on and offline will back this fact up w/ their own experiences. I've been dishing these guys offline now since 2000 to local shops, rescue leagues, private collections, and even smaller zoo's in my area. If you have an Adult Beardie you should be feeding it the Adult Male Dubia and saving those Large nymphs to see if they turn out to be more girls for your breeder tub. Remember, in the wild these animals frequently attack and eat prey items larger than between their eyes. However a lot of the insects they eat in the wild don't have a lot of Chitin either.

Just so the above statement doesn't confuse anyone I'll end w/ this statement that you can take to the bank. This is one of the few things I'm 110% positive of, IF you are still feeding your dragons Crix, Meal Worms, or Supers than YES you really need to be following the rule of not letting them eat anything that's bigger than between their eyes. If you don't you are seriously risking impaction w/ Bearded Dragons.

I'm in a chatty mood today. Sorry for the book!

-Ian
http://www.theroachranch.com

 

[clear]

My name is Chris btw. I started out with huge bins, but found that smaller bins with 500-750 females and only 250 or so males gave me more babies than larger bins over 1500 (Yes I counted every single little baby and it took days!!!!!!!!) I found that keeping a constant supply of food and water gel inside at all times also yielded more babies, never let the food or water gel run dry!

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

My name is Chris btw. I started out with huge bins, but found that smaller bins with 500-750 females and only 250 or so males gave me more babies than larger bins over 1500 (Yes I counted every single little baby and it took days!!!!!!!!) I found that keeping a constant supply of food and water gel inside at all times also yielded more babies, never let the food or water gel run dry!

You know what I like about your posts Chris? It saves me some typing! Aside from the smaller tubs, this is EXACTLY the way I keep my colonies to a T. I've also found that keeping a fresh supply of produce (fruits and Veggies) in there everyday really seems to help production as well.

We're going to have to make a little roach counter for you man! LOL! Your going to hurt yourself. I for one just get rough estimates when I shake down the colonies. I figured out what 100 of them weigh and then just fill up a large cup and weigh them on a little digital scale. I do this until I go thru my whole colony and tally it up. I'm pretty much right on the dot give or take a couple hundred either way I'm guessing.

-Ian
http://www.theroachranch.com