Do you touch your Dubia?

[saulANDcharlie]

Does anyone here pickup their dubia with your hand as opposed to tongs?

I ask this because I just ordered my first dubia, I don't mind touching crickets, I do use tongs for superworms as they do bite

 

[Adriana]

When I started my Dubia colony (in January of this year) I could hardly bear to look at them, let alone touch them. I always wore gloves to handle them. But after a while, they started to grow on me. The babies and little nymphs are actually very cute. The adult males still frighten me, and I don't think I will ever be able to pick one up without gloves. But I can pick up babies and nymphs with my bare hands now. They are very clean and gentle animals.

 

[Gail]

Yep, I pick them up by hand with no problems, Sometimes the adult legs can poke you a little but its more startling then painful.
I'm quite allergic to dubia so I can't let them walk on me anymore, I break out in hives. I grab them by their butts and toss in a dish.

 

[Claudiusx]

Yep, I pick them up by hand with no problems, Sometimes the adult legs can poke you a little but its more startling then painful.
I'm quite allergic to dubia so I can't let them walk on me anymore, I break out in hives. I grab them by their butts and toss in a dish.

Were you always allergic or did it come on over time? I hear a lot about people becoming allergic to them, to the point where it gets difficult to breath just from opening up their bin.

-Brandon

 

[Gail]

It was gradual over about two years. It got so bad at one point that I had to wear a ventilator or I would have a severe asthma attack.
I haven't kept dubia in roughly 2 years, they don't seem to bother me as bad now. I'm very careful about not stirring up the frass and I take the bin outside to clean. I wash really well after touching them and take allergy meds at the first sign of respiratory issues.
I'm also allergic to lobster roaches and discoids will send me to the hospital. Red runners are the only ones that I have no issues with.

 

[joea]

Yes but not at first. I watched the guys at LLL handling large Madagascar hissers for us :shock: :bleick: I guess that broke my phobia with them & I started handling them. LLL started carrying Dubias & I pick them up also.

 

[Blitzjg]

What kind of gloves do you use?

 

[icelore]

I don't mind touching the babies, but the adults I use gloves with. I will barehand a cricket, but only one, and it makes me squeemish. I don't care about any kind of worms though.

 

[Jaskotch]

Handle them all the time. Haven't made a sieve for cleaning bins yet, often have to pick out stragglers one at a time when doing the monthly chore. Pick them out by hand for feeding, and hand feed one at a time to my dragon. I'm a dubia wrangler yee ha.

 

[Sauzo]

Same, I pick mine up all the time. Especially fun when you gotta dig through a bunch of larger nymphs to find those little guys in the bottom since I don't have a sieve yet either haha. I just pick em up, toss em in a ziplock bag with calcium and apply the "shake and bake" method and then pull em out and feed em to Harley off my finger. She has gotten pro at snatching em in mid climb up my finger :lol: Sometimes she like the chase so i'll drop em on her hammock and she runs all of about 3 steps and snags em

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Ive been handling them for some time. If you look around here you will see a picture of me doing a bin cleaning and both my arm are covered. You will know if you are or get allergic. As Gail did. But stay positive because they wont hurt your hands unless your skin is allergic. Good luck and if you have any questions just ask away....