Dubia Maintaince

[colmaslik]

I am very interested in starting my own dubia colony for my girlfriends chamelion and my beardie. I understand the portion of heating them(for breeding/daily 80-90 degrees), and using the water crystals to mix into water gel. But where do I get the water crystals? And feeding dubias you also can use a mix, do you get this online? Is there other food you can feed dubia roaches, like fruits and veggies and if so what fruit/veggie works best for them. I would appreciate any info in helping me maintain a healthy successful dubia colony. Thank-you for taking the time to read this!

 

[steph2one11]

I pmd you

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

You can buy water crystals online (here >>> http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=81. It has everything your dubias need for a balanced diet, just dehydrated. Of course you can always throw your dragon's leftover produce in the dubia bin - just make sure to remove any fresh fruits & veggies after 24-48 hours to prevent mold, as mold can destroy your colony.

Other random bits of advice: Make sure to choose the right size enclosure for the amount of dubias you have. Smaller is generally better believe it or not - dubias feel more secure with the bare minimum of space. More secure = more breeding. Adult female dubias produce 20-40 live young per month. To figure out how many adult dubia you need, divide the total number of dubias your dragon(s) will eat in a month by 20 and that's how many adult females you'll need. You should have 2-3 adult male dubias for every 10 adult females. Then add a few hundred mixed size nymphs to secure your colony and you'll be good to go! Try to use your male nymphs for feeding more than the female nymphs since you'll want to keep your ratio of females to males pretty high. The female nymphs are more pear/teardrop shaped and the male nymphs are more long & thin. The adults are easy to tell apart since the males have big long wings and the females have short stubby wings. The nymphs will mature into adults in 4-6 months. Adult male dubia live for about 9-12 months & adult females live for 18-24 months.

Hope that helped, good luck

 

[colmaslik]

You can buy water crystals online (here >>> http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=62&product_id=81. It has everything your dubias need for a balanced diet, just dehydrated. Of course you can always throw your dragon's leftover produce in the dubia bin - just make sure to remove any fresh fruits & veggies after 24-48 hours to prevent mold, as mold can destroy your colony.

Other random bits of advice: Make sure to choose the right size enclosure for the amount of dubias you have. Smaller is generally better believe it or not - dubias feel more secure with the bare minimum of space. More secure = more breeding. Adult female dubias produce 20-40 live young per month. To figure out how many adult dubia you need, divide the total number of dubias your dragon(s) will eat in a month by 20 and that's how many adult females you'll need. You should have 2-3 adult male dubias for every 10 adult females. Then add a few hundred mixed size nymphs to secure your colony and you'll be good to go! Try to use your male nymphs for feeding more than the female nymphs since you'll want to keep your ratio of females to males pretty high. The female nymphs are more pear/teardrop shaped and the male nymphs are more long & thin. The adults are easy to tell apart since the males have big long wings and the females have short stubby wings. The nymphs will mature into adults in 4-6 months. Adult male dubia live for about 9-12 months & adult females live for 18-24 months.

Hope that helped, good luck

Wow! Thanks for all the info; I really appreciate it.

 

[jharveyjr54]

I'm totally going to have to pick Tina's brain one day, I keep finding out more and more all the time! I always wondered if there was a way to tell the sex of nymphs! Now if I can just find the patience to sort them out(most likely yes...).

I will say this though, as far as water crystals, a solid option is :

http://www.lowes.com/pd_91231-50789-JCD-100SMJ_0__?productId=3047249&Ntt=soil+moist&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dsoil%2Bmoist&facetInfo=

they are the same crystals your getting from the people that supply your feeders, only slightly cheaper, and easily obtainable at any lowes/home depot/hardware or garden store. Miracle Gro makes a version as well, and I'm sure there are some other brands. Most people or places that offer feeders sell them for about 1$ an ounce, so your not saving that much money, but I know of at least one supplier that won't ship water crystals unless your ordering something else, so it's nice to be able to have your own supply.

 

[Brieana]

I got my Miracle Gro water crystals in the garden section at Wal-Mart, next to the plant food.

 

[jducky18]

A question in relation to this: In general, what size bin do you have for a colony, in gallons? I'm seriously looking into this since I'm starting to realize what my beardie food bill looks like. I know it takes a few months for a colony to really get going, and by then he should start outgrowing the obscene amount of food he eats every day, so will a colony still be worth it by then?

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

A question in relation to this: In general, what size bin do you have for a colony, in gallons? I'm seriously looking into this since I'm starting to realize what my beardie food bill looks like. I know it takes a few months for a colony to really get going, and by then he should start outgrowing the obscene amount of food he eats every day, so will a colony still be worth it by then?

I have a 15gal Rubbermade bin for a moderate sized colony. I have at least a few thousand dubias in there, and it's plenty big for another few thousand more.

I have two adult dragons and I still think it's worth it to have your own colony. It's just so much easier than going to the store or ordering online all the time. Besides, if you end up with too many dubias then you can always sell them off and make some money like I just did!

 

[FishboneNC]

A question in relation to this: In general, what size bin do you have for a colony, in gallons? I'm seriously looking into this since I'm starting to realize what my beardie food bill looks like. I know it takes a few months for a colony to really get going, and by then he should start outgrowing the obscene amount of food he eats every day, so will a colony still be worth it by then?

I'm in the same boat!
Mine is 6 months old in a couple days, I'm not sure how long he'll continue eating 125+ 1/2" nymphs a day (they're the cheapest) but I have to try to off-set the food bill!

I figured I could re-coup some money by selling them off either here or on Craig's List or ebay, when his eating habits slows down,
If it gets out of hand, my guinea hens and chickens will love to take the over flow off my hands
FYI the price of feed grain has gone up! I'll probably keep the colony going just to feed them!

I have a 16 gallon tote for the adult colony I'm starting, 50 adult females and 10 males, the 16 gallon I keep nymphs in is too big for the 1000 nymphs I usually have in there...it could easily hold 2500 1/2" nymphs.
I keep all the food in one area, on the other side of the heating pad, in cut down plastic take-out dishes, and take them out and clean them.
Mold will kill your colony.

I took the advice from a local reptile 'enthusiast', he only uses potato, apple and oranges slices instead of water crystals, and dog food instead of 'special roach food'. Any fruits and veggies his reptiles don't eat, go into the colony food dishes.

Keep clean, empty yogurt cups, with holes cut in the lid, (or something similar) filled with wet or damp paper towels ...to raise the humidity. Roaches need humidity to shed.

He uses two 20 gallon totes, one for the colony and one for the feeders.
He guess-timates he has around 3000 or 4000 roaches.

To separate the nymphs from the adults, have a bucket with 3/8" and a few 1/2" holes drilled in the bottom. Put the bucket with the holes in to another bucket, take the egg crates from the breeder bin, the crates are covered in roaches, and tap it on the sides of the bucket, then shake the buckets...the little nymphs fall through the holes, the larger roaches go back to the breeder tote.

I never thought I'd be excited to raise ROACHES
The things these lizards make us do for them