Hey guys! I was thinking of raising dubia roaches for my little guy. I have looked into it pretty extensively but the one thing I can't find is how many to get. I only have the one juvenile, so would one or two breading pairs be enough to keep up with his demand? I also will continue to occasionally feed meal worms, super worms, silk worms and other tasty treats (as well as veggies if he will ever eat them). My concern is the balance between not having enough to feed daily and having more than I know what to do with. Thanks!
The trick with the dubia is that it takes a while for a colony to get established. I started mine with an order of 500 mixed size (no adults) and just let them do their thing feeding them vegetable scraps and slices of orange. After about 3 months I started seeing a new generation. My colony is about 9 months old now and I'd consider it well established with more than I know what to do with but I don't feed any of them off so that makes a difference. If you want to feed them off right away, I'd get a bigger mix order and maybe even split it into a colony bin and a feeder bin so you can leave your colony alone while having appropriately sized bugs ready to go for feeding. It can be costly up front but they are very easy to care for and are a steady source of food once they're established.
Great thanks! That's what I'll do! I appreciate all the advice I have so many questions about so many different topics you will probably being seeing more to come, just trying to do everything as correctly as I can for Cappie .