Dubia breeding - outbreak control question

[WarDaddy]

I just ordered over 250 dubia from The Roach Guy. I am quite excited and looking forward to being able to sustain my BDs protein needs without a monthly order of crix. I live in Florida and I want to be a responsible Roach Rancher. My question is a simple one:

When I use the bucket method of cleaning the bins I will have some of the smallest juvis fall out of the buckets. I can not just toss the waste in the garbage, because if I do I will end up with roaches living in my garbage can... not good. What can I put in the waste to ensure that I am killing EVERYTHING that is mall enough to pass through the filtering process?

 

[WarDaddy]

Second question. Are 2 18 gallon tubs big enough for a good colony? Should I upgrade to 30 gallon?

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

I dont know anything about this-- lol but here is some advice anyway.

try a bleach solution in a seperate garbage bag? then put that bag into the outside garbage, away from your house, right away?

 

[WarDaddy]

Ok, one more question... how often are you adding food and water crystals to your bins?

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

i think you leave them in as long as they are good?

and you want enough to make sure your roaches can get access to them when they want them.
-
but again, this is my experience from cricket breeding.

 

[invictusrules]

Overnight in a freezer is my wimpy way of killing insects humanely.

(People in my house know better than to open the frozen plastic food storage boxes, 'cause it's guaranteed there's no ice cream in them!!!!) :shock:

 

[patrickb]

When I use the bucket method of cleaning the bins I will have some of the smallest juvis fall out of the buckets. I can not just toss the waste in the garbage, because if I do I will end up with roaches living in my garbage can... not good. What can I put in the waste to ensure that I am killing EVERYTHING that is mall enough to pass through the filtering process?

Well first off, congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of Roaches!

As invictusrules said, overnight in the freezer is the absolute best and surest way to make sure there are no live roaches being tossed in the trash. I would *highly* recommend that approach over anything else. Bleach was mentioned, but I have seen roaches and other various insects survive straight bleach poured on them before, so I would never rely on that. No offense to you at all ArdorAndZeal1, it is a good idea, but experience has shown me it doesn't work well.

2 18 gallons should be enough, and I personally believe you should have two separate colonies going in case mold or something else gets into one colony and kills it off, that way you have a backup. The 18 gallon totes should be fine for now, but you will most likely want to upgrade to the larger 30 gallon ones in the future, especially as your colony takes off. I guess that really depends on how many roaches you will actively need. The food and water crystals I put in every 2-3days. Your mileage may vary there. Just keep a mental note of how much you are putting in each time and adjust as needed.

One other tip, I keep the crystals in a container that allows me to pour some freestanding water in along with the crystals. The crystals will give the baby roaches something to climb out of the container so no worries of drowning. The added extra water helps to keep the crystals hydrated and last longer. Replace with fresh crystals weekly and you should be good to go.

 

[WarDaddy]

Well, gosh dang darn it, my wife is totally against these things. Not a happy camper, nope.

She found one that my end up in me selling my colony before I even get it going. The boys tested allergic to Roaches

now I have no idea what Roach they tested for, or how allergic.

I get to keep them in the garage, no biggie, I have AC that will keep the garage under 100 in the summer, but if the boys asthma flairs up, the are GONE

Well that is not anything I can argue with, so now I wait and see how they react. Grrr.... I looked at raising superworms, and I thought Roaches were gross... ick!

 

[dawnki]

And superworms bite. :shock:

Good luck. I hope you will be able to keep your colony. They are awesome to raise.