Decided to finally clean out my roach bin it's been about 5 months give or take? But was curious if someone could give me a ballpark of approx. the size of my colony? here is a pic, thanks!!!!
Hahaha the only prize I can offer up is my deepest appreciation! LOL!!!! That's not my regular bin, I just poured them into this 2nd bin as I was cleaning out the main bin. It's a tad bit larger and I replaced the egg crates and stacked them kind of like how the Roach Guy suggested. I've fed approx 1928 Dubias since I got my dragon in the middle of July (ya I keep daily records, LOL) and probablly culled 100 +/- males in the last couple of weeks to get my male/female ratio down.
I had a pic blown up for my kids to count for me. It's a 4x3 foot poster. It's posted on the wall in the dining room. My daughter is determined to count every one. I'll keep you updated. :lol:
I don't mean to highjack your post. But I have yet to find a simple way to clean my dubia bin. I empty everyone out of the container and put them a in bucket that I have drilled holes into and shake out the small stuff (poop, etc) then I poor them into a different container and clean out the bin. But I am still left with all their molts and sift through it as much as possible to get the odd dead roach and big molts but I don't wanna dump it and then get rid of a million little babies. So any ideas on how best clean a roaches home? or just explain to me what you do?
Thanks
ps I would think you have 1000 lol. Keep us posted.
I have an extra clean bin ready to transfer them into. I simply pick up the egg crates and turn them upside down a few times for all the loose stuff to fall off. Then put the crates into the clean bin. With a paintbrush, I sweep all the stuff to the center of the bin, put a couple more egg crates in, wait about 10 mins. or so, by then most of the roaches have climbed on the crates. When you sweep the stuff onto the dust pan or whatever you use ( I use a small piece of sheet metal), the remaining roaches usually run away to the edges of the bin. You don't have to worry about getting every little thing. It's better to leave some frass and molts, as the babies eat it.
Hahaha the only prize I can offer up is my deepest appreciation! LOL!!!! That's not my regular bin, I just poured them into this 2nd bin as I was cleaning out the main bin. It's a tad bit larger and I replaced the egg crates and stacked them kind of like how the Roach Guy suggested. I've fed approx 1928 Dubias since I got my dragon in the middle of July (ya I keep daily records, LOL) and probablly culled 100 +/- males in the last couple of weeks to get my male/female ratio down.
Why would you cull off the adult males? When my dragons where too small to eat the adult males I just keep tossing them in an other bin and waited till they where big enough to eat them. The males go fast once you start feeding 8 to 10 off a day!
Here are a couple of pics of my actual bin (slightly larger than the previous pic) after I cleaned it I put in new egg crates and poured the roaches in.
i tried setting my egg crates like that but i have a fear they will escape lol, i know its stupid but i have the tape and all that jazz and i have seen first hand what walking over tape does to a roach lol but i just cant do it lol, but i wanted to tell you your bin looks great!!
i tried setting my egg crates like that but i have a fear they will escape lol, i know its stupid but i have the tape and all that jazz and i have seen first hand what walking over tape does to a roach lol but i just cant do it lol, but i wanted to tell you your bin looks great!!
Thanks for the kind words. However, the tape isn't double sided so the idea if they try and walk on it they would slip off and fall to the bottom. Or is that what you were referring to? hehehe.