Can female Dubia roach breed even if they are not fully grown but close to being full grown?
I got the dubias for my colony.
I said I wanted full grown males and females so
They gave me full grown males, but all the females are still not fully grown. Can they still breed?
yeah, I mispoke there.
Anyways, I looked into it in several different places, and it appears that they mate once they become adult, and that they start mating 5+ days after they become adults.
ok thanks
was just asking cause I have adults but I also have females that are still not adult but they are big almost close to become one, and I thought they could also breed like that.
Many dubia suppliers do that (send subadult females) to ensure you get the longest possible breed time from your females, and to avoid any suspicion that they sent you their retired breeders.
No, the nymph stage is not sexually mature and cannot breed. Once they molt into the mature adults they can breed. They can be different sizes and look a little different once adult, I've noticed younger adult females are smaller and not as long as older ones.
I was wondering the same thing because I have some large nymphs in a container waiting to be mature and go in the breeder tank but I keep getting babies in there (I'm not complaining though lol) A lot of them are very large but have the dull exoskeleton so I thought they weren't mature yet. I don't have them with mature males but the breeder I got them from had them all together so they did spend time with mature males. I have only been breeding for 5 months so I have no idea though lol guess only thing you can do is play the waiting game!!