Dubia Roaches

[Rankins]

Yeah, those JumpStart thermostats have a 3°F temp difference between off/on.
Have you tried closing the vents you cut?
Not sure what the roaches died from but I don't think it was the low humidity. If they tried to molt it might have deformed them or killed them I suppose.
The more roaches you have the greater the humidity. I actually had to put fans in a couple of mine to vent the humidity.

 

[LouP]

So my test isn't going so well. I'm having trouble getting the temperature up and it seems to be capping off in yhe 80s. I just wrapped the carboard on the floor on tin foil to see if that helps. Maybe once I get some roaches in there it will heat up more. I don't know.

LouP

 

[Taffer]

Thanks Rankins - I put tape over the holes in my bin. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best. I raised the thermostat from 93 to 95 to see if that will boost the humidity a little as well.

Lou - I was about to suggest the same thing for helping your temperatures - cover some or all of your holes. Did you get the foot warmer as a heat source, or are you using a ceramic heat emitter, under tank heater or what? Are you using a thermostat? What temperature are you aiming for?

 

[LouP]

Using the 90 watt foot warmer under the bin and just taped a 7 watt reptile heater to the warm end to aee if thst helps. I have a thermostat set to 95 and a temperature/humidity guage to backup the thermostat reading.

LouP

 

[Taffer]

Lou,

I'd suspect the holes in the top are allowing your heat to escape, or the temperature probe may not be located in a good spot. I have my probe about 1/2" from the bottom and it is set for 95 degrees. I put some tape over my holes and it increased my humidity in a few hours. I suspect when I'm in the office tomorrow I'll be able to time the amount of time the heater is on and off. My original set up had the 8 watt heater included with the foot warmer heat, but I had the probe sitting on top of an egg crate too.

How do you guys upload your images? Can you do it directly, or are they hot linked to a site like Photobucket?

 

[Rankins]

I had the exact same problem with heat tape. Only the sides of the bins were getting warm. Needless to say, my colony wasn't breeding. Once I put the heating element in the top of the bin and insulated it its working really well.
I just posted some pictures of one of my really nice bins. The rubber maid one is just a cheap version.
See the thread "Want dubias but...." for some pictures of it. It probably cost about $125. I built 2...soon to be three.

 

[LouP]

Ordered a 16 watt heater for the hot end and two 24 watt heaters for the sides. I'll let you know how that works out. In the meanwhile, what I currently have will keep the buggers alive ok until the additional heat arrives. Next step will be to get a thermal blanket to wrap around the bin if this doesn't work.

LouP

 

[Taffer]

Lou, those three heaters probably cost a lot more than the Cozy foot warmer I posted in this (or another) thread. I think the foot warmer was $24.

I'm in my office now and I just finished timing the ON/OFF cycle. I have my thermostat set for 95 degrees with the foot warmer on high. The Foot warmer was on for about 13 minutes. Once the foot warmer turned off, it was still putting out heat and the temperature went up to 97.7 (roughly), then went back down. It took it about 35 minutes from when the thermostat turned off until the heat dropped back to 95 degrees (the foot warmer holds heat for a while), then another 15 minutes until the temperature dropped to 92.8 and the thermostat turned back on. The total cycle was 65 minutes.

I just switched the Cozy foot warmer to low to see how long it takes to go through the same cycle.

Lou, did covering the holes in your bin help with your heat issue?

Rankins - I taped up the holes in my bin and it kicked the humidity up pretty well. I think I was about 75% or so. There are 3 strips of tape on each hole, so I'll probably take a strip off and see how that effects the humidity.

How did you guys upload photos? Did you send the photos to another site like Photobucket and link from there, or can you upload directly to this site?

 

[LouP]

Weird, my foot warmer only has an on/off, not low and high. Yes I covered the holes and it came up a bit but not much. My bin is not in direct contact with the foot warmer. Also, remember that this is in my basement which is pretty cool (60 - 65 degrees)

LouP

 

[Rankins]

I'll type more a bit later, but to post pictures look under the menu on the upper left screen. There is a link to the photo upload page somewhere on there.
Glad the humidity bumped up after closing the holes some.

 

[kornel351]

I am finally happy to say my little buggers seem to be more active after placing more egg crates, a bottle water and hole on the top of the cap for humidity, covering all sides and My UTH working also blocking off some holes in the top.I Saw some of them on the water crystals I put in there I also threw in a orange for them.

 

[Rankins]

Turn the heat down a tad, 95°F is a bit too high. Anywhere between 85°F-90°F is about right. I ran into a bunch of problems trying to get my bins the right temperature until I switched to the ceramic heater. Bottom heat and side heat really wasn't working for me...
Not sure if you saw the Colman cooler bins...they are total overkill nice. But I never have to monkey with them. Temps stay perfect, and the plastic only gets slightly warm when the heater is on. The dimmer limits the wattage and the thermostat keeps it from running very long. If your not getting temps up high enough you'll be waiting forever for baby roaches.
I tried to video the huge volume of orange heads I have in my bin. But it didn't come out very good. I'll have to keep trying, it looks like a horror movie there are so many

 

[kornel351]

LOL well looks like I'll need another clamp and a next heat emitter do u guys think it would work if I just kept the UTH running in the day and The Ceramic and UTH run at night?They would still breed ? Just tryna cut down on electrical costs

 

[LouP]

LOL. My electric meter has been spinning like a top ever since that dragon got here. I may wrap the bin on a fireproof blanket regardless to try and save a little energy.

LouP

 

[Rankins]

Hmmm...not sure.
It isn't a very efficient way to heat the bin, I'm sure there is a lot of wasted heat. I'll just repost the cooler bin so you don't have to search for it.
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