Dubia Breeding Questions

[NatashaFatality]

So I only have one beardie. That is the only animal in my house that will eat insects. I'm the weird reptile/pet owner that manages to keep her pets to a minimum. I don't have a whole lot of space so I can't go crazy breeding roaches. I wish I had basement access. I've seen setups online that people will have their breeders in a smaller bin for the breeders and then the colony in a bigger bin.

I currently have my dubias in a rubbermaid bin that is about 10 gallons. I'd like to have a smaller bin (maybe 5 gallons) for the breeders and then keep moving the feeders to the larger bin. If my colony gets too big to keep up with, could I safely just turn down the heat to slow the breeders down?

Right now Zan is about 3 months so she is eating a lot. I may be able to keep purchasing till she is an adult and buying won't be so expensive, but it seems more economical to breed.

Thoughts? What do you do for small scale breeding? Is that even a thing?

 

[Taterbug]

I havnt been able to do "small scale" and don't sort. I just don't have the patience for sorting breeders from nymphs so I just let them go. My colony has gotten huge but is still comfortable in the 20L (it's two or three years old) I split the colony when it gets too crowded and sell a "starter" colony.

Good husbandry will provide the most nutritious insects for the diet so it's in our best interests to take care of the feeders. Instead of lowering temps I would cull the breeders and keep them at a level to produce what you need. I go through every now and then and cull males, I either give them away or freeze them.

 

[NatashaFatality]

I do have one friend with a larger beardie so I think maybe I can cull the breeders with her. After thinking and researching I think what I will do is the opposite. I will keep the breeding colony in the 10 gallon bin and once a week take out feeders so I don't disturb the breeders too often.

I read that a 10 gallon can keep about 500 breeders and a total of 1000 roaches. Is that accurate? I don't intend to let it get that big, but I was curious. I didn't want to overcrowd them.

 

[Taterbug]

I'm not sure how many of any roaches I have at any given time. I just go by indicators - if they are showing signs like torn up wings or lots of roaches on the outside of the egg flats or food/water disapearing too fast I know it's time to split.

I like to use a feeder tub, I just have a critter keeper with toilet rolls in it. You can offer better gutload foods too when you are feeding a week or twos worth of bugs, rather than the whole ravenous horde.

 

[Sauzo]

There is no slowing down roaches. I started out small and now I got a 50 gallon Rubbermaid tote full of thousands of roaches. I have about 3 inches of frass and there is literally thousands of little babies in there. If I put my hand in there and pull it out, I will have tons of roach babies running around. They eat anything too lol. I can throw in half a loaf of bread and those suckers will have it done in a couple hours. I usually do half a butternut squash, 3 collard green leaves, 3 mustard green leaves and a deli cup full of water soaked alfalfa pellets every other day and they just decimate it all.

As for how many in what size, they like to crammed. I would just make sure that they have enough room to at least sit on egg crates. If they are buried 3 piles deep on the side of an egg crate, it is probably time to cull.

The feeding bin and breeding bin is a good idea if its just for you. I personally just use 1 bin as I sell my excess and my colony is so huge now. I did used to use 2 bins when my colony was smaller but im lazy now so I just throw all the veggies and fruits as well as alfalfa pellets in 1 bin now.