Breeding Dubia Roaches

[Bballglass12]

Hello,

I am slightly new to this forum so as you can imagine I have many questions. I have one bearded dragon named Berko and I think is a male that could be anywhere from eight months to a year old (petsmart doesn't know anything...I mean they told me to feed him four crickets a day!!!!) anyways, i am in college and i just don't have the money to keep buying him live food so it I must find an alternate way and that must mean breeding some food...fun fun. So I wasn't certain which section of the forum this should go in so sorry if someone feels like this would be the wrong section. I have heard dubia roaches are better than crickets in many ways as well as cheaper and easier to breed. I have a few questions as to how to do this. I have done some research and I believe I know everything i need material wise. I am confused though, I only have one dragon so how many roaches would i need to start with. Im not looking to really sell any, i just am trying to save some money so I can keep my little guy. I have heard they live about 18 months but do i just let the adults breed their whole lives and how many baby roaches are born from a mother usually? How long does it take for a roach to be big enough to eat for my dragon? They are bugs so im guessing under the right conditions they will breed constantly? Is that thought wrong? I really would like to start a colony but I really have no idea how to start. I have seen alot of posters that have self-sustaining colonies and i was wondering if i could get some help. Thank you for any help and please excuse any question that may seem to have an obvious answer :roll:

 

[geckoboy3]

Dubias take a little while to be old enough to breed... LIKE 6 months! But, they breed like crazy, anywhere from 30 - 40 babies per month.
Care:
A large tub (ex. a rubbermaid) can house them.
You need a heat source. They will only breed at 80 F+... they breed best at 90 I recommend flexwatt heat tape.
Feed them roach chow, which can be
Dog food
catfood
fishfood
etc.
They also need sliced fruits and veggies!
Put in egg crates, or other things for them to hide in.
They also need water crystals! (Or paper towels slightly damp in it's own lid.)
Do not clean their container! Let their frass build up! The babies eat it!

Suppliers:
roachesrus is the BEST! Cheap, will match any price, etc!
Other:
You can also get the smaller lats commenly known as red racers....
roachesrus has them!

 

[Bballglass12]

Thank you for the reply and advice!

 

[DoubleJ]

This is a great thread viewtopic.php?f=76&t=116814 I read every page. Lots of things were explained and there are heaps of pics as well.

 

[Bballglass12]

Dangit I was afraid that would happen! I always try not to repost. Sorry and Thank you!

 

[StlGreaser]

Dubias take a little while to be old enough to breed... LIKE 6 months! But, they breed like crazy, anywhere from 30 - 40 babies per month.
Care:
A large tub (ex. a rubbermaid) can house them.
You need a heat source. They will only breed at 80 F+... they breed best at 90 I recommend flexwatt heat tape.
Feed them roach chow, which can be
Dog food
catfood
fishfood
etc.
They also need sliced fruits and veggies!
Put in egg crates, or other things for them to hide in.
They also need water crystals! (Or paper towels slightly damp in it's own lid.)
Do not clean their container! Let their frass build up! The babies eat it!

Suppliers:
roachesrus is the BEST! Cheap, will match any price, etc!
Other:
You can also get the smaller lats commenly known as red racers....
roachesrus has them!

Some of this is not true just what is commonly stated! It is true that they will breed best at 90+degrees Fahrenheit, but they will breed at much lower temps than 80! In one of my other post I stated that I picked up an extra colony and it had to sit in my car until I got off work at 12 midnight! It was 55 degrees in my car and there was a female with an egg sack, and other female that just molted to adulthood and a pair actually mating at that temperature. So they will breed at much lower temps. Not the egg production and egg maturing will be substantially longer than at higher temps.

An other thing is they do not need fruits and veggies, but it is recommended. They seem to really go bonkers for oranges, a whole orange cut in half will last 6 hours in my breeder colony!

Other that that

 

[geckoboy3]

Really? At 55 F ? WOW! I was told they'd die at that temp. When and where did you post it? Yeah I know you don't have to give them fruits and veggies. It boosts reproduction......
One breeder he said he did a 4 month study on fruits and veggies vs no fruits and veggies. LOL I don't know why he did it.... BUT each roach ben started with 1000 breeding roaches. They were not being fed the same roach chow but one ben was being fed additional fruits and veggies. He said that the ones with fruits and veggies had almost 3 times the number the no fruits and veggies had. I can see why he didn't count them.....I don't know if this is true, though.......

 

[StlGreaser]

It is posted in the tread titled Dubia Research. Is the the tread I started for the long term Dubia Research project I decided to take on. I am going to try to see what the absolute best practices are to keep and breed these roaches. I just started a little over a month ago so not a lot of data built up yet, but there will be much more to come soon.

 

[Bballglass12]

I need to get me some roaches soon!