So I've been doing research on starting to breed Dubia Roaches and wanted to know if anyone uses heat tape?
I heard it's the best to keep the heat regulated but it's pretty expensive.
And is it hard to keep it regulated w/o the tape?
What other heat sources would you suggest?
I actually don't use any supplemental heat, I just keep them in my hot water tank room in my house. It's warm and dark and they do great. It's not the recommended 90F, so they probably would breed faster if I did add some heat, but they are active and eating and growing, so its enough.
A ceramic heat emitter works well too (but can cause the air to dry out quite a bit). I also don't use heat except during cold stretches in winter. I just keep them in the basement and they're fine.
My house doesn't really have a room that's any hotter or colder than the rest of the house. We have a garage but it's always usually colder in there. I'd have to have a source of heat to keep it above 75. I was thinking maybe a low-medium heating pad and a ceramic bulb to keep the heat balanced between the top and bottom. Would you think they'd get too hot With both?
You could put the CHE or a heat pad on a thermostat to keep it under control. Otherwise I'd monitor the temps closely for a while as you may need to make lots of tweaks at first. They seem to be pretty content if even the frass at the bottom stays nice and warm. I see them basking at the top of the cardboard stack when I have my CHE on so they're probably OK with either one.
flex watt heat mat... Google it. you can buy it any lengths you want, but the most important think you need is a thermostat! it keeps temps constant and they breed a lot better and faster.
honestly you could buy a cheap che or heat bulb (that doesn't emit light) and it would work. If you want a fast successful colony, I would invest in a $30 thermostat (with a probe, find them on ebay)