dubia question

[scubasteve25]

ok, so lately i have noticed that my male dubia are getting their wings torn up, not sure if it's cannibalism or what.the tips of their wings looks broken up or "shredded" i feed them roach chow, plenty of water crystals, and veggies/oranges. any idea what is causing this?

 

[clear]

It could be a few different things.

1) Too many males in the enclosure
2) Not enough protein in the diet
3) Weaker males will get attacked by others

 

[Claudiusx]

I agree with clear.

The first thing you should do is check out your ratio of males to females, and adjust accordingly.
If you already have a good ratio, try grinding up some dog/cat food and adding it into the roach chow you already have.

-Brandon

 

[garethhowells1981]

too many males, i have the same problem and my 2 beardies have went into brumation so i'm gonna have to cull the extra males lol

 

[warnisha]

whats a good ratio???

 

[garethhowells1981]

depends on the size of ur colony, an average is 1 male to 3 females for a medium to small colony but if ur colony is big ie 700 - 1000 or more them 1 male to 8 females

 

[warnisha]

Thank you! Right now I am still pretty small not big enough to really fully sustain my two beardies without other staples. I do feed them dubias several times a week (the young one anyway) but usually only the little ones... I know we like to vary our beardies anyway but I am looking forward to being able to keep our feeders self sufficient (dubias and supers)....although I sure do like having the reptiworms about once a month or so for their calcium benefits as my girl doesn't care too much for the powder! Although she will eat anything that moves (and that doesn't sometimes!!! lol) and so will he!

As far as the big dubias go, a full sized adult (12 inches with missing over half of his tail), can eat the males just fine correct? He hasn't had any trouble but I worry about giving him more than one per feeding! Anyone use the males pretty regularly with their adult beardies? I know its probably a silly question and that most people do!

 

[garethhowells1981]

best thing you could do buddy is not touch the colony whatsoever not even a wee cheeky roach now n then, give it 3 months then u should be able to start then maybe but feeding small ones was the worst thing you could have done, that's the future of ur colony to get it up and running, buy more roaches even 100 or so preferably nymphs and just throw them in that will help boost things, mines breed like mad i counted 20 females alone tonight with egg sacks hanging out eeeeeooooowwwwww looks like a maggot poking out there arse lol

 

[warnisha]

Oh gotcha!!!! I have been feeding off smal ones oops!!!! I have bought some more and will be laying off them now!!!! Thank u!!!!