Dubia Colony Questions!

[Tassadar]

Hello everyone! New to the dubia colony breeder life and had a few quick questions.

First off, I have three beardies, one is a baby (about 8-9inches) and the others are about 11-12inch juveniles. The baby is new and doesn't really have an established appetite YET, but has taken a some what liking to roaches. My Dunner is a decent eater, probably about 10-15 a day is all he wants. My leather is a dang beast, I swear he goes genocide-mode on those roaches, he eats about 15-25 a day, sometimes less when he is shedding but I would say that's a good average of what he likes to eat.

I recently ordered about 1000+ roaches, males and females included plus mixed nymphs so I can't get an exact number just yet. I already have maybe 500 roaches that I'm using as feeders right now.

My main question is, When I get the new shipment, should I separate them? Taking the males and females and placing them into a different bin/away from the others that have not molted into adults?

Second, how often does the enclosure need to be cleaned? I heard that if there are babies in the mix that cleaning is about every 6 months or so due to not disturbing the colony and the babies benefit from the frass (sp?).

Thank you all!

 

[Spike1etta]

You are correct, you really want two bins going. One to feed from and one that has all ages to build a strong colony that you will not touch for 4-6 months.

 

[Tassadar]

I think I'll sort through the 1k+ and pick out every male and female with some babies and just leave them in a bin by them selves and attempt to kinda forget about it some where. Then just use the remainder to feed my buddies.

 

[unkempt1]

In regards to cleaning, it depends on the size of the colony. My breeder colony consists of about 80 males, 100 females, and 100 large nymphs that are 1-2 molts away from adulthood. I've had the bin for 9 months and have cleaned it three times. Each time it really needed it, :lol: and I separated hundreds (maybe even close to a thousand) baby nymphs.

Oh, and you had mentioned frass is good for the babies. Yes it is - they eat it! :mrgreen:

 

[ScaleGripper]

Although most agree and practice putting less adult male Dubias than female adult Dubias in their breeder colony, the exact ratio may be up for debate. I use a 5:1 female to male ratio in my breeder colonies. Too many males are known to inhibit efficient mating and thus yield struggling colony growth!
Bless,
Bill