Dubia Home

[mccallumpiper]

Hey All,
I am going to start a Dubia colony soon because I just can't resist. I want to use a fish tank because I know I can use an UTH then. I dont feel safe using heating pads or anything with plastic. My question is would a 10 gallon be big enough? I just want a colony for my one beardie. If it is how much do you think a 10 gallon can hold? I was also wondering if a UTH by itsself would be sufficient? Thanks a lot for your help

 

[dmglakewood]

A 10 gallon tank is fine just make sure you put cardboard on the sides to keep it nice and dark. Also they will be able to climb the silicone along the edges so make sure you remove it or as much of it was you can. The UTH should be just fine, but it might be a tad too hot. Some people have had it get too hot and others too cold. Make sure you spray the tank with a spray bottle too to keep the humidity up. The humidity will escape the tank faster then it will a plastic tote. The 10 gallon will house a few thousand roaches but since you only have 1 beardie you will have an infestation on your hands. In a few months they will be breeding so much faster then you can feed them off. You will have to do 1 of 2 things: 1. sell the excess as feeders 2. feed off your adult females. No females = no new babies until your nymphs grow up.

Honestly almost everyone uses plastic totes with UTH, heating pads, heating strips etc and I've never seen 1 issue with them.

 

[mccallumpiper]

Hey,
Thank you for the info I do see your point about the infestation. I just have a hard time with the concept of heating plastic bins and not being home or whatever. I imagine if I do have too many selling them off would not be too hard? I know she wont eat enough to keep it balanced but its just soo much better than crickets. I just feel more comfortable heating an aquarium.But you are right I have not heard or read of any instances with the bins.

 

[dmglakewood]

Hey,
Thank you for the info I do see your point about the infestation. I just have a hard time with the concept of heating plastic bins and not being home or whatever. I imagine if I do have too many selling them off would not be too hard? I know she wont eat enough to keep it balanced but its just soo much better than crickets. I just feel more comfortable heating an aquarium.But you are right I have not heard or read of any instances with the bins.

Okay I was curious so I went searching. The type of plastic that is most commonly used by Sterilite & Rubbermaid is polypropylene. Knowing that I was curious to see what the fire point on polypropylene was. The firepoint is at what temperature the plastic would need to be at before it caught fire. Based on the site below the firepoint of polypropylene is 570 degrees. Not only that but the melting point is 158-169 degrees. Your roaches would be dead way before the temps were even close to that. Not only that but the UTH would burn itself out before it reached 150+ degrees.

If that doesn't raise your confidence in plastic the lowest firepoint I could find on any plastic is Polyethylene ld and that is still 349 degrees.

I guess anything is possible but I just can't think of a way that the bin could catch fire. There is no way the UTH can reach 300-500 degrees and if it does I think you have a major issue even if you're using a glass aquarium.

http://www.tcforensic.com.au/docs/article10.html

 

[mccallumpiper]

Wow..thank you very much that sure makes me feel a lot more confident. I appreciate you doing the research. I think that should be posted somewhere for all newbies starting out on roaches with the same fear. I am convinced now I will get a tote I already have some Zoomed UTH so I will just use them. Thank you for taking the time out to look that up that is very interesting and really helpful.

 

[romanfj]

Just want to say that dmglakewood is absolutely correct about melting and ignition points of polypropylene and I'm glad to see people doing real research and documenting their sources.

Frank Romano (chemist)

 

[the4campbells]

I am just starting out with a starter kit and hoping to have a thriving colony!! I have them in a 35 gallon plastic tote and saw that you guys said that its safe to use an under the tank heater. Does it matter which one I purchase? Do you keep yours on all the time or do you shut it off at night time? Where do you keep your totes? Does the uth sit right underneath your tote, with nothing in between the two? What do you have it setting on? Mine is currently in our attached garage on the cement floor and it's around 80 degrees in there.

Thanks!!