Dubia protein

[Zombiepanda]

Hey guys! Been a while and everything is great! But I need some reliable info on a quality protein for Dubias. I know they shouldn’t have much because of the gout it can cause, but my males are going cannibalistic. They have a great heat source, fed at least every other day(sometimes Every three if I’m really swamped), and I even culled down my colony males ALOT. They’re still eating each other. So I either have some psycho roaches or they are needing some protein. Before I split I was finding dead females. I found 8 in a three week period. Now two weeks later I found a half eaten male-still alive- crawling around in the feeder tub.

Just in case anyone wants to know: I split my colony up into a breeder and feeder. My breeder is a huge tub that sits 107-75 from warmest to coolest corners but the majority warm area runs around 97, it has 43 females, 17 males, some nymphs and lots of babies. The other tub is just males and nymphs that I’m using as feeders as a way to drop down the male to female ratio. This feeder tub has the cannibals and I don’t really monitor the heat because they’re just feeders. Both tubs get fed collards/mustard greens, squash(usually yellow but sometimes butternut), and the breeders get orange slice on occasion.

 

[CooperDragon]

That's pretty similar to what I feed my roaches. I haven't really considered or worried about cannibalism though. If you are concerned about protein in the diet, perhaps offering beans of some sort would help. I'd try adding some chickpeas, green beans, or kidney beans to their diet and see if they eat it and if their behavior changes.

 

[Zombiepanda]

I’ll try that! I don’t wanna give him full on protein regularly, but unless these guys are just psychopaths I can’t think of any other reason for them them to be eating each other.

 

[CooperDragon]

My guess is it's either a dietary deficiency, disposing of dead roaches, or they are just aggressive. Probably worth playing around with some different combinations and see if dietary adjustments help. I'm not sure what the right combo is but I'd be careful not to introduce too much protein to make them content at the cost of a healthy dragon diet.

 

[PodunkKhaleesi]

While I by no means think going this route is your only option, I really like Repashy Bug Burger for roaches. It was formulated to be lower in protein to avoid the gout issue (there’s an article about this on the Repashy website) and roaches really love it. A container lasts me quite awhile, and since Bug Burger is also a water source for insects, it sounds like the 2-in-1 factor would be a plus with your busy schedule. So if you want just enough protein to keep them from turning on each other but not so much that their uric acid buildup (and it’s effect on your reptiles) becomes a problem, get thee a jar of this.

 

[ryknoll3]

You could also try culling the males down to 1:5 ratio. Still enough to get the job done. ?

 

[Zombiepanda]

Ok so first I’ll get to the replies and then tell you what I witnessed last night firsthand!!
They were definitely killing each other because out the 11 total I found 3 we’re still dragging themselves around half eaten. I’m all for the repashy for my breeder colony if it continues, but for the feeders, I’m not worried about them.the breeder colony is actually culled down significantly. I finally sat down and counted after seeing so many dead at once and I had 43 females and 50 males, so that was my very first move, and I removed all but 17 males. Its been roughly two weeks and no dead in the breeder colony. So I assumed too many males fighting, but what threw me off was that all the dead ones were female!! So I thought maybe a mix of males and protein.

CUT TO LAST NIGHT!! I kept hearing this popping noise and I got up and flipped on the light and noticed something weird with the roach bin(the feeders are all the culled down makes in a clear tub). So I sit down and start watching them and some of them are running around like crazy and bouncing. So there’s this ONE roach that’s ATTACKING the others, like literally going out of his way attacking. He’s lifting his wings and bouncing his butt, then he starts bouncing his whole body and lifting up on his legs making himself look bigger and then attacking the other roaches. Like even just running up on another roach and biting it!!! (it’s all boys in the tub aside from a few non adults). I googled it and that’s their mating dance!!! This hypersexed violent little guy is running around and trying to mate with and attack other males!!!!!!!!

 

[CooperDragon]

Wow that's a pretty interesting observation! Can you get video of this? I haven't seen that behavior in my colony but it's in the basement so I don't pay super close attention. The Repashy products are quite good and worth consideration as well.

 

[Zombiepanda]

I tried to last night, but I forgot to turn off the flash and he stopped. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen!! Like if I saw a bug doing that at me, I would freak out, he legit looked scary.

I’ll try and see if I can catch it again tonight