Dubia colony

[owtoty]

I've been looking into getting dubia for awhile now and want to start a colony. I've heard that they sometimes breed so much they have more dubia than they know what to do with. I want to do that, because I want to sell them to pay off some of the money I've spent on having Zeus. I only have one bearded dragon, so how much dubia do I need to start off with? I'm looking into buying adults and nymphs so I can start feeding right away. How many males and females will I need to get extra to sell?

 

[steph2one11]

mass dragons sells adult females for 50 cents a piece

 

[owtoty]

can i have a link? Maybe I can buy them from there.

 

[steph2one11]

i dont know if they have a website but heres a link to there facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/MassDragonz/207738449272170?ref=ts&fref=ts they are a bearded dragon breeder but they sell dubia

 

[czuber]

alos Facebook CnS feeders

http://www.facebook.com/groups/386911501320751/

 

[midwestdragon]

The most important question is how many dubias will your dragon go through in a month. Once you can answer that then the rest should be easy to figure out. My beardie will eat up to 30 a day on the high end which should be the number you go with. So 30 per day times average 30 day month is 900 roaches per month just to feed my beardie. Breeders report that their average female will produce 20-40 nymphs per month. So on the low end of 20 per month you would need 45 females to produce exactly what your beardie will eat. If you are only producing what he/she will eat in a month your colony will eventually die when your males die. So shoot for 5-15 more females from your base to keep sustainability. At 15 extra females you would have 60 and they would produce 1200 on the low end leaving you with 300 to let grow into adults. Depending on who you talk to about ratios(i use 1 male to 5 females) so in my example I would need 12 males for the 60 females. Going 15 over your base need is also a good way to let your colony grow to the point where you could sell off extra once you have let probably 2 months worth of extra nymphs reach maturity. Best advice i can give you when your starting is keep your adults plus 50-100 mixed in a separate tote than the ones you plan to feed off of at first. Your "Breeder" tote should be smaller if you have a smaller colony to start so they are more comfortable. The smaller tote is also easier to get up to temp and sustain temp. I put my feeders from the mix i got which was a total of about 400 in a 18 gallon tote that the entire colony will eventually move into once its big enough(I plan on having a large colony as I have a friend or two who breed beardies that i will be supplying for). Doing this I managed to leave my breeders alone unless I am feeding them or replenishing their water crystals. I saw new nymphs on day 31 of having the breeder tote set up. Hopefully this helps with your question.

 

[owtoty]

okay thanks!