Change from crix to dubia... worth it?

[Skipper7]

I'm interested in switching Skipper over to Dubia. Dubideli sounds as though it is the best choice to buy from. Is this correct? Also, an adult beardie can it adult dubias, right?

I don't want to order in quantities of much more than 100.

Crickets at my local store come out to 9.9 cents a piece. One inch/one inch+ (not uniform) dubias at dubideli are roughly 25 cents a piece. Is one dubia this size worth about three crickets?

How long can I keep around 100 1 inch dubia alive with minimal care for them? I am willing to do water and food for them in Skipper's old tank. What do I need to do to get them to last around a month?

Thank you in advance,
Patrick

 

[MsCarter]

It is definitely worth it in my opinion. I found that my female eats just as many Dubias as she did appropriate sized crickets. However, they are easier to keep and care for in my opinion and they live much longer. Not to mention they naturally have a higher amount of protein to offer a dragon and do not hop around when your trying to feed them. Because of this I have had 0 Dubias escape in my home where as I always use to find crickets hopping around. An adult can easily handle adult sized Dubias. If you feed adults than he will most likely eat much less since they are pretty large. My 8month old (who is approximately 18" and 480grams) eats 25-30medium sized Dubias a day to give you somewhat of an estimate.

As long as you keep them at room temperature (anywhere between 70-80•F give or take a few degrees) they will be just fine and last as long as you need them to. For both a water and a food source I just simply feed mine a bowl of the same greens and veggies my dragon eats. It works well and she gets a nice healthy roach also you can check out a vendor called DubiaRoaches on Amazon or at their website "dubiaroaches.com" they usually have pretty good prices.
Hope all of this helps some

 

[Skipper7]

Thank you MsCarter. So what your saying is that if Skipper ate x amount of crickets a day, she will eat the same x amount of Dubia even if Dubia weigh more per specimen? In that case, I want to stay with crickets as they are cheaper.

Skipper certainly couldn't eat 30 one inch dubia :shock: It sounds like yours is still a growing beardy.

What size roaches and crickets are you comparing? My research shows that a typical dubia is in the ballpark of 1.5 g wheats crickets are somewhere around .25-.5g.

 

[CooperDragon]

The roaches tend to be a bit meatier so you'll likely go through less. The actual number will vary depending on appetite though. If you are ordering in batches, order young ones as they tend to be cheaper than adults which can be used to start a colony. I ordered my starters from ABDragons and they worked well and were reasonably cheap as I recall (no adults in the batch).

 

[Skipper7]

Thank you CooperDragon.

I'm ordering the dubideli sample sizes to see what Skipper likes. I'm thinking she will probably go through 100 or so a month depending on size. She is more into her veggies that insects.

How fast do they grow? I really don't want a colony, hence ordering small batches.

 

[CooperDragon]

That's a good idea. From what I've seen in my colony they take a few months to grow up. They do best if you keep them warm and give them lots of fresh veges to munch on. They LOVE orange slices and squash.

 

[Skipper7]

Is there any chance you'd sell extras for cheap?

Good to know, thanks. I would love to have a colony, but at this point im not sure if its worth it. Skipper doesn't eat many bugs. And my family doesn't want many roaches LOL!

 

[CooperDragon]

I wouldn't want to ship them with the cold snap coming in. If you're going to be near Iowa City anytime soon though I'd give you some extras. Alternatively you may want to search local craigslist and see if there is anyone in the area with a colony who has some extras.

 

[Skipper7]

Mostly kidding :roll: I'll stop by if I find a reason to head to Iowa

 

[JessPets]

I just ordered from westcoastroaches, and I'm pretty happy with them. They have free shipping on a lot of things and good prices too. My order from dubiadeli was not as good, but I've heard other people love it, so go with either

 

[Rankins]

I know everyone gets tired of me recommending a different species of roach....but there really are better ones than dubias. Dubias are not very filling, they don't have much mass. That means your feeding more than you would need to with other roaches. I really like orange heads, and ivory heads. The ivory heads would be way too expensive to buy regularly and they are hard to find rare roaches. Orange heads are comparable in price to dubias and are very chunky roaches. That means you'll feed less of them to fill up your dragon. I posted pictures of some of mine on a thread...can't remember the title at the moment. But will edit it in as soon as I find it. The ivory head pictured is massive...way too big for a dragon to eat. But it gives you an idea on how bulky some roaches are. Orange heads are not as massive, but a lot more filling than a wimpy dubia
Brb with the title of the thread...
Its under "Contemplating Breeding Feeders"

 

[Skipper7]

Thanks for the info Rankins. Where did you get your orange heads/where SHOULD I get them? I can't find any that are really within the same price range.

Does anyone have a table comparing weights of dubia, orange heads, and crickets at various sizes?

 

[Rankins]

I don't remember where I bought mine from. I have had the colony for awhile. But ABdragons has dubias priced the same as orange heads. $20/100 3/8-3/4"
As for size and weight charts, I don't have that info. Not sure if anyone has done anything like that before. Maybe something for me to consider doing in the future.
However, roachcrossing.com has pictures of a bunch of species. There is a tab that you can push that will give you sizes of all of them. The owner does a pretty good job of explaining the species he has pictured.

 

[Rankins]

Just noticed ABdragons is having a 30% off sale on some of thier roaches. So might be a good time to give the orange heads a try with your dragon.

 

[Skipper7]

Thanks!