Dubia for cheap. Yay or nay?

[HeatherSullivan]

So heres the deal. I found a guy on CL who is willing to ship me 300 mixed 7 adult females and 3 males for $36. It is a great deal. Heres the problem. He is just a guy with overstock. No guarentee. No DOA replacement. No guarentee that these roaches arent infested with fruit flys etc. So my question to you all is,
Is it worth $40 to risk my entire (which is not very many 50?) colony for these "dubias".
Which I am leaning on the side of no, b/c I am worried that I may get ripped and have to restart a colony from nothing. But I'd like some opinions. Also if you all know of anyone who can give me a good deal on a "starter colony" that is reputable.
THX my BDorg friends.

 

[makeitbrief]

That is a judgment call based upon your comfort level/risk tolerance. If you can afford the risk/loss, go for it. If not, you may want to look at another seller.

I recently purchased 2 batches of "250 dubia mixed lot 1/4"-1.5" sub adult + 4 Adult Pairs $18" from gulfcoastcrickets (see link below)

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They arrived in a box with no noticeable DOAs and, so far, no other surprises. With shipping, I imagine that you can do the same and the total was like $46-48, which is about $10-12 more than you were paying, but you get 8 adult pairs plus 500 mixed (1 more adult female, 5 more males, and 200 more mixed for your $10-12).

 

[JDRoaches]

Where are they getting shipped from and to? It's getting colder. Lows in the 40's in some states this week. Just another concern I'd have if someone didn't know how to pack and ship them.

 

[randommonks]

I've gotten two shipments of mixed roaches from people on this site. The best thing to do I've found is to either try to get a picture of their colony and ask them what they're fed, etc. Keep up the conversation until you're convinced that they know what you're talking about. Shipping them is not entirely difficult. I've gotten all my shipments through UPSP express mail, with tracking number. They were just packed full of egg crate and then roaches were dumped in. Kinda gross but it's basic and works. There are better ways to pack it, but that is the simplest.

I prefer buying off this site, because more than likely you can trace their history of the roaches from when they first got them, to where the roaches started taking off, to where they now have too many and need to sell.