Dubia roaches - Heating question and a few others questions.

[PuffMagic]

Hello! i havent posted in awhile. Hope everyone and their pets are still doing well

I am getting dubias delivered to me today. I was setting up their new home and found that my under the rubbermaid reptile heating pad wasnt getting super hot. So I was thinking of putting an infrared heating light on top of the screen. Would that be okay or will that red light disturb them?

also I was wondering how everyone else heats their roaches? I want to feed them as soon as I can. I bought 100 so hopefully in a couple months I can start to feed off of my colony.

I have egg cartons on one side of the rubbermaid (where the heat pad is) and ground up cat food along with fruit and vegys on the other side of the rubbermaid. Can roaches eat peel? like banana peel?

What do you use to check temps?

Anything I am missing?

Thanks again for all your responses!

 

[adamcollier11]

with only 100 it could take alot longer then that.... Are you getting nymphs for adults. When I was asked the same question I was told I want anywhere from 100 to 200 females before I start feeding heavily....

I use human heating pad but if you go this route make sure its not one with a auto shut off. I used Digital thermometer to check all my temps...

not sure about the peel question someone else will have to help you with that one...

As for the infared light I wouldnt go with that as I said and I am sure most people will agree with me the human heating pad is most widely used...

Make sure you have water crystals.. and I use a bottle of water placed on the hot side to make sure my humidity is up. molts seem to be going fine..

 

[PuffMagic]

with only 100 it could take alot longer then that.... Are you getting nymphs for adults. When I was asked the same question I was told I want anywhere from 100 to 200 females before I start feeding heavily....

I use human heating pad but if you go this route make sure its not one with a auto shut off. I used Digital thermometer to check all my temps...

not sure about the peel question someone else will have to help you with that one...

As for the infared light I wouldnt go with that as I said and I am sure most people will agree with me the human heating pad is most widely used...

Make sure you have water crystals.. and I use a bottle of water placed on the hot side to make sure my humidity is up. molts seem to be going fine..

To be honest I am actually not too sure what I am getting :shock: I just told the guy that I wanted to start a colony and he said his suggestion was 100....so thats what I did. I am using a reptile heating pad...is this okay? How do I know which ones are female? So I should probably never feed a female to my beardie? I will only be feeding one dragon from this colony. The infrared would be in addition to the reptile heating pad (i am in basement and even on hot days its comfortable not stifling like up stairs) so you or anyone still advise against it? In regards to the water crystal is that for them to drink or just humidity? I will have my vegys in there is that not enough moisture? The water bottle is a good idea. what should the humidity be at? temps 100?

Anyone with any opinion please let me know, I wanna make sure I get a thriving colony

 

[adamcollier11]

I tried to the reptile heating pad and found it didnt work very well the human was is less then 30$ at wal mart.

Here are some pics someone gave me females and male and nymphs are there..
http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=105902

That what I was told for one dragon which is all I have 100 to 200 female and you do not want to feed your females better to sell them when you get to many then feeding them off...
You will want water crystals it helps the humitidy and is mainly to hydrate them...
temps should be 85 to 95 but in the higher range is better....
As for the infared the light will bug them they can probably see the red bulb... Someone correct me if I'm wrong..

 

[reptilianboy831]

The water crystals are for humidity + for the roaches. If you got 100, as adam was saying, it would take awhile. For heating i use 2 human heating pads under my 50 gal rubbermaid bin, and the temps are just fine. I use a water bottle with holes in the top to help keep humidity just incase its not humid enough, but the water crystals are usually just fine.

 

[PuffMagic]

So I am a little confused. What exactly is a human heating pad? All I know of are beanie bags, hot water bottles, and heated blanket? What is "awhile" till I have my colony? 4mths,6mths....?

 

[reptilianboy831]

A human heating pad is usually a one that doesnt shut-off after 2 hours, and mine are for the back and neck. I found my at my local walgreens. But you could probably find them at any local pharmacy. The "awhile" part is too hard to say, but if you could get your hands on like 100-200 more roaches, id say about 4-6 months, just depending on the amount of females you have. And you can feed off the extra males once your beardie gets bigger. Mines about 5 months old and he love to chase and eat the males.

 

[PuffMagic]

So I went and bought a human heating pad it definetly made a difference. Much hotter. I also bought a humidty reader then realized I never got an answer to one of my questions. What should the humidty level be at...moderate? right now it is sitting at a little past dry, so after work today I am going to buy water crystals to hopefully up the humidty. I was using a water bottle plus veggies but clearly not enough moisture. Does anybody know if dubias can eat peel from a fruit or vegy?

I think my little colony is doing well so far. They are out eating and etc when the lights are out and scatter when I turn them on to look but I try leave them be as much as possible. They arnt demolishing their food so I hope they get comfortable soon to start the humping process! What does everyone feed their roaches?

Any other advice anyone can give me to make this a healthy colony please let me know

 

[adamcollier11]

Good you see the difference... I only use Water crystals and the bottle I wouldn't worry about the humidity too much unless you start seeing bad molts. If you see what looks like a dried up roach or white roaches you are having good molts.

As for feed I just grind up kitten food some ppl also add dried oats. And just keep adding your vegetables, I also heard that oranges were like roach viagra.


Adam

 

[PuffMagic]

oooo I like the idea of roach viagra! I will be giving them some oranges tonight I have ground up cat food in there as well, I forgot to mention. Good to know about the molts, I did a lot of research before I acquired these roaches but apparently not enough haha I thought I had this all covered.

I did already find a dead one (a nymph) so lets hope it was stress and not something that is going to kill the whole colony. I am so nervous about stressing them out I would like to lift up all there eggs crates to take a look at them because I may see one eating when I look in. But I am sure they will become more comfortable I have only had them since Thursday afternoon.

 

[adamcollier11]

Another thing are you sure it was a dead roach, I thought I was finding dead roaches but it turned out to what was left over of the molts.... They litterally crawl out of the exoskeleton, hopefully that's the case. Europe has it easy, they have a site you can actually buy a colonys in small, medium or large.

Good luck with you roach love making lol...

Adam

 

[PuffMagic]

Do you know what I am not sure if it was a dead roach or a molt. It crunched when I picked it up in the papertowel? haha
Anyway you have been a great help thanks so much!~

and thanks for the good luck wishes :mrgreen:

Have a great weekend!!

 

[reptilianboy831]

If it crumbled up, then it was a molt, a dead roach would have some thickness too it.
But the humidity should be fine as long as you have a water bottle on the hot side and water crystals.