Breeding/Raising Crickets and/or Dubias

[Sparx]

Seeing as I have a baby beardie who likes to pack down crickets and they're fairly expensive to purchase, ship and feed - I'm thinking of getting into breeding my own colony as a way to save a bit of money.

My couple questions are: dubias or crickets? I've heard mixed reviews where some people swear by crickets and others by dubias. Which have you had better luck with?

Also, is it easy to have a beardie go from crickets to dubias (if I choose to go that route)?

Any input is great appreciated!

 

[Dreamless]

I personally feel dubia are way better, here's 10 reasons why. If anyone else has anything to add or if you have any questions, feel free to ask/add.

1) No smell - crickets are really smelly, especially dead ones; roaches on the other hand have no odor I can detect at all

2) They're hardy - a properly cared for cricket will die so much easier than a properly cared for roach. They also live for up to 2 years unlike crickets who only live a few months

3) Hold way more gutload for longer - crickets hold food in their systems for about 12 hours I find while roaches can hold it for up to 2 days [which does mean crickets require more food than roaches]

4) Roaches prefer to be crowded - crickets will die if there are too many in one space while roaches actually do better when it's crowded

5) Die if escape - crickets will live for at least a week or more in your home if they escape while roaches can't live for very long without their heat, food and water [which means they can't infest your home either]

6) Won't bite your reptile - crickets are notorious reptile munchers, they love to nibble on your sleeping herp if left in the cage; roaches do not

7) Very quiet - crickets can chirp and hop about and make a mess of their container; roaches just hide or come out to eat while being very quiet about it

8) Breeding is so much easier - crickets require a place to lay eggs then to have the eggs be incubated; while roaches will breed if just simply taken care of properly [they give ovoviviparous birth, meaning they carry an egg sac within themselves and give birth to the live babies that hatch inside them]

9) Really easy to get started - crickets can be a real pain in the butt to get started, while roaches will thrive if just provided a few essentials such as hiding places [egg crates], food, water gel and heat [a heat pad works great, they like 85-90 from what I can tell]

10) Sexually dimorphic - adult crickets can be hard to tell the gender of at times; while adult roaches on the other hand are extremely easy to tell apart [males have large wings, are fast and skinny, females are fatter and have little wing nubs]

 

[wes]

Yes, it's very easy to go from crickets to dubia. It's best if you can switch over several days, like what is recommended for dog food. So the first couple days you might go 75% crickets/25% dubia, then a couple of days 50/50, then 25% crickets/75% dubia.

Dreamless made some great points. I have to disagree with 1. and 5. For item 1, they can smell if you have a lot of them or have poor husbandry, but I never thought the smell was as bad as crickets. For item 5, they can survive quite well unheated. I know this from experience, having kept a couple of bins in my unheated garage two winters ago (I live in a suburb of Chicago) with very little attention given to them. That was a mild winter and last year they did not do well with our sub zero (F) weather. Even so, I don't think they will infest your home. One, they grow too slowly and two, like most insects, I think they would rather be outside. They have been in the reptile industry for so long, especially in Europe, and have never become a household pest.

 

[Taterbug]

Really, if you can you should feed your dragon as many types of prey as it will accept. For me that means a dubia colony and rearing other bugs (silkworms, superworms) and sometimes crickets or other worms from the pet store. For breeding, I wouldn't personally consider crickets because I can't manage to keep the bin fresh enough for a lot of feeders, let alone a breeding colony. If you live in the south US it's possible to culture black soldier fly larvae too.

I like how little cleaning they need. Once you learn how much they eat in a day or two you won't need to do much cleaning. I clean out frass every few months. Crickets need to be cleaned every couple days I think.

Dubia can survive but not thrive in suboptimal conditions. I have seen nymphs survive without food or water and at room temp for over a week. (A couple escaped and got left in a drawer while we were on vacation) that said, they need humidity to molt and heat/food to breed. It's unlikely they would infest a house. I've never seen a healthy escapee roach. Not sure I agree they would prefer to be outside, they are a tropical species, they probably prefer to be wherever best suits their needs for heat, humidity and shelter.

Anything with working mouthparts can bite - roaches are just much less likely to.

I agree, they are low on smell but not stink free. They smell.... Insecty. I don't find it offensive.

Adult crickets aren't that difficult to sex, but dubia are certainly easier. Dubia nymphs can also be sexed so you can feed off the males - helpful since they are pretty slow to mature. That said, a colony large enough to being feeding out of immediently can be expensive.

Dubia are illigal in Florida and Canada.

 

[wes]

I've never seen a healthy escapee roach. Not sure I agree they would prefer to be outside, they are a tropical species, they probably prefer to be wherever best suits their needs for heat, humidity and shelter.

Two of the best looking roaches I ever saw were escapees who survived a Chicago winter. I had a lot escape in my garage three summers ago and the following spring found a few dubia under some bark in a wood pile I had five feet from the garage. Two were absolutely gorgeous, fat females with excellent coloring.

 

[Sparx]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who commented and made suggestions. I really appreciate it!
Secondly, I'm going to order some roaches tonight to see how well Sparx likes them and if she does, I'll set up a colony - I cannot deal with the horrid cricket smell. Cleaning the cricket-totes is absolutely horrible. That and they grow much too fast >.>

Thirdly, if all goes well with the Dubias once they arrive (meaning Sparx gobbles them down), I will be cutting back my crickets to one tub/tote (I normally have thousands of crickets on hand so I never run out) and will set up a breeding tote for the Dubias and then a feeder tote.

Do you all have a company that you've had good luck buying Dubias from? As in, good quality, few DOA from shipping, healthy, etc?

 

[Dreamless]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who commented and made suggestions. I really appreciate it!
Secondly, I'm going to order some roaches tonight to see how well Sparx likes them and if she does, I'll set up a colony - I cannot deal with the horrid cricket smell. Cleaning the cricket-totes is absolutely horrible. That and they grow much too fast >.>

Thirdly, if all goes well with the Dubias once they arrive (meaning Sparx gobbles them down), I will be cutting back my crickets to one tub/tote (I normally have thousands of crickets on hand so I never run out) and will set up a breeding tote for the Dubias and then a feeder tote.

Do you all have a company that you've had good luck buying Dubias from? As in, good quality, few DOA from shipping, healthy, etc?

I've ordered from http://www.dubiaroaches.com is also really nice, I like the way they package them for shipping. http://abdragons.com/ is ok... but I really recommend the previous two more.

 

[Dreamless]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who commented and made suggestions. I really appreciate it!
Secondly, I'm going to order some roaches tonight to see how well Sparx likes them and if she does, I'll set up a colony - I cannot deal with the horrid cricket smell. Cleaning the cricket-totes is absolutely horrible. That and they grow much too fast >.>

Thirdly, if all goes well with the Dubias once they arrive (meaning Sparx gobbles them down), I will be cutting back my crickets to one tub/tote (I normally have thousands of crickets on hand so I never run out) and will set up a breeding tote for the Dubias and then a feeder tote.

Do you all have a company that you've had good luck buying Dubias from? As in, good quality, few DOA from shipping, healthy, etc?

I've ordered from http://www.dubiaroaches.com is also really nice, I like the way they package them for shipping. http://abdragons.com/ is ok... but I really recommend the previous two more.

 

[Sparx]

I've ordered from http://www.dubiaroaches.com is also really nice, I like the way they package them for shipping. http://abdragons.com/ is ok... but I really recommend the previous two more.

I was actually looking at Dubiaroaches.com today and was pending on using them. I might just use their services to see how it goes.

Thanks for the input!

 

[wes]

There are three people selling dubia in the For Sale forum and all three have excellent reputations. I bought mine years ago from Marcus of AF Exotics, who had a nice deal in the For Sale forum. These people support this website, so I think it is nice if you can support them.

This is a good time of year to buy them as there aren't very many places with extreme weather, so you shouldn't have many DOA.

If you are looking for a great deal, sometimes you can find them on Fauna Classifieds. They have a rating system and a Board of Inquiry. http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=961&order=desc