Dubia Colony Dwindling = Going back to Crickets for a while

[dolphinsilversea01]

I used to have thousands upon thousands of dubias!! So many that I tried to give some away and sell some. Suddenly, and I don't know why as I am doing nothing different, they are dwindling down in numbers. Why could this be? I haven't changed temps, or their food, or care, so why aren't they muliplying like they used to?
I have decided to just leave my colony alone for a while as far as feeding any of, besides maybe the occasional small treat for my beardies. I already keep small crickets for my toads and occasionally give some of those to the beardies as well, but because they are so small they don't fill up the beardies very well.
I am now considering going back to large crickets for a while. I have decided to keep them in the basement as it is cooler down there and the smell won't be near the main level of the house. I am not too worried about the smell and the other small negatives of crickets, but I am concerned about the chirping. I have tried the removing of the wings before and that is just tedious and time consuming, so I am hoping to figure out a way to constrict the noise asmuch as possible.
Has anyone figured out a way to do this? I was thinking of maybe some type of insulation on the outside of their bin to help with the noise, but not sure if and how that would work out. Putting it on the inside would possibly affect their health (as well as the beardies), and also give them something to climb on so that wouldn't work.

If anyone has any ideas, experience, etc. please let me know!!!
thanks!!!

 

[Mikhail]

I know a lot of people who run into this problem and the cause is usually the same. Dubia have a gestation period of 30 days or so then they give birth to 30 little nymphs as I'm sure you know. After this first birth they can become pregnant again anywhere from 30-45 days followed by the 30 day gestation and then another birth. As the female roach ages she needs more time to recover. There is a chart somewhere on the net I'll try to locate, but basically an older roach can take months to recuperate. Most people get this huge colony boom and soon their main producers are worn out. This could be your problem.

Do you hold back a certain percentage of nymphs to maintain new breeders?

 

[dolphinsilversea01]

I didn't seperate any because I had so many of them I really didn't think something like this would happen.When the numbers go up I am definately going to have to do something!
Thanks though... it makes sense.

 

[Mikhail]

One method that helps with this separation is keeping your roaches in large buckets. Stack one bucket inside of another. cut the bottom of the top bucket out and put in mesh or hardware cloth (wire fencing) that has 1/4" or 1/2" holes. The adults will be at the top and the young will fall through. From there just sort out what you want. It's less picking through them and is easier to sort.

I don't do it because I'm too cheap to buy the buckets and I already have rubbermaid totes, lol.