Dubias

[J0ker]

so im *thinking* of maybe starting a dubia collony
just the sight of the roache makes me cring
but the thought of making my joker happy makes me want to look in to them :study:
so as for geting everything set up

i plan on about 3-25g solid *no light to get in* tubs with tape on the top so no excapees and screen spots on the lids
i will start with everyting in just 1 but ive been told that in about 6 months expect to expand

as for heat
im a little stuck
heating tape
heating pad
or red light
im worried about fire hazzard since the tubs will sit on the floor
my best bet is the red light but i have a few questions?
does it go over the food or the hideing spot?
does it need to stay on 24/7 to keep them at a constant 90F?
or only at night since they are nocturnal?

to keep my collony healthy i know i need to add fresh males and females
but how often?
and how many?

i know i should keep a 1:3 male to female ratio
how many of each should i get to start?
i have a beardie and leo
and hope to be finished with crickets in about 6m

as for cleaning i was planning every 3 months is that good?

i also want to make my own roach chow
with kiten food
and cereal
what else would be good to add?
do i need to grind it up first or should whole be fine?


did i cover everything?
please expand

 

[HKzForDayz]

I would avoid the red light, as it will dry out your tub and make it hard for you to keep your humidity up. I use an uth and a table-lamp dimmer to control the temps. you can get the dimmmer at lowes for about 6 or 7 bucks.

 

[J0ker]

but like i said i was worried about fire since the uth would be directly on carpet and in an apt i cant wrry about just me there are others in the same building

 

[HKzForDayz]

Like i said use a dimmer on the under the tank heater. If you keep your tank in the 80s your not gonna start a fire. If your still worried get something to set the mat on. Light heat is going to dry your bin out and when you will have roaches dying when they molt

 

[nair88]

but like i said i was worried about fire since the uth would be directly on carpet and in an apt i cant wrry about just me there are others in the same building

i have a couple of large ceramic tiles under my bin. then the heating pad sits between the tiles and the bin. the floor underneath the tiles never even gets warm.

 

[J0ker]

would the uth need to cover the entire bottom in the middle or mostly on 1 side?

 

[nair88]

mine is only on one side - the side with the egg crates. that way, they have a cooler side as well.

 

[J0ker]

thanks can you answer the other questions i have up there also?

 

[HKzForDayz]

mine is only on one side - the side with the egg crates. that way, they have a cooler side as well.

Same here.

 

[nair88]

thanks can you answer the other questions i have up there also?

sure, i'll try:

does it need to stay on 24/7 to keep them at a constant 90F?
or only at night since they are nocturnal?

keep it at a constant temperature. they don't really seem to care what time of day it is - just that it's dark all the time.

to keep my collony healthy i know i need to add fresh males and females
but how often?
and how many?

there really isn't a set time frame on this. but it wouldn't hurt to bring in some fresh blood every so often. though, if your colony is exploding, you might do better to trade some off rather than just adding.

i know i should keep a 1:3 male to female ratio
how many of each should i get to start?
i have a beardie and leo
and hope to be finished with crickets in about 6m

for the ratio, you could easily go as high as 1:10 and still get very good production. the males definitely get around ;-) if you were to start with about 50-60 adult females, 10 adult males and a few hundred nymphs, you'd definitely be done with crickets within 6 months. this site has some really good specials to start with - http://afexotics.weebly.com/available-feeders.html i actually started with the breeder's special, but i later supplemented it with another 50 females

as for cleaning i was planning every 3 months is that good?

yep, that should be fine. you might even find you can go longer than that.

i also want to make my own roach chow
with kiten food
and cereal
what else would be good to add?
do i need to grind it up first or should whole be fine?

i don't know much about this. i just buy the ready made roach chow from http://theroachguy.com/ however, i do supplement it with oranges and apples a couple times a week. they seem to love both of those

did i cover everything?
please expand

sounds like you got it pretty well covered. however, you didn't mention hydration at all. personally, i use water gels, but a lot of people rely on fruits and veggies to hydrate them, which is fine as well. i just like to have a constant water supply in there that won't spoil. oh yeah, are you going to use egg crates and/or toilet paper rolls? you didn't mention that either.

 

[J0ker]

i was planning on water crystals for hydration and didnt really have wuestions over that
i was planning on egg crates stacked verticly

sorry its hard to typr my baby is asleep on y now trying not to wke him

 

[nair88]

i was planning on water crystals for hydration and didnt really have wuestions over that
i was planning on egg crates stacked verticly

cool, then it sounds like you everything under control

sorry its hard to typr my baby is asleep on y now trying not to wke him

haha, that's understandable

 

[J0ker]

now its time to convince the boy friend... lol backwards and im still a little picky about the thought about them

 

[Honda99300ex]

now its time to convince the boy friend... lol backwards and im still a little picky about the thought about them

I was a little sketchy about the roaches at first too, but all of my guys/girls LOVE them and after saving $75+ a week on crix, I couldn't be happier. At least give it a shot, if it's too much for you then your guys will eat good until they're gone haha

 

[EShell]

I set up some Dubia bins and am VERY pleased with them. I'd bet if you can handle crickets, these roaches will not bother you at all. They really aren't very much like cockroaches that can infest apartments, etc.

I have the feeder bin at waist level and sit deep ceramic bowls next to it. I lift the egg flats and pick the sizes I need for the various lizards, and drop them into the appropriate bowls. Very easy, very simple and the baby tank is so close, I can drop 1/4" roaches into directly in front of the small one and don't have to handle them twice. ALL of the lizards watch me get into the roach bin with GREAT interest and you can almost hear their bellies growl.

I'd suggest not going head over heels at first. Consider setting up one bin with minimal amenities and buying a couple hundred Dubia at the size you need for your lizards. By the time you feed these out, you'll probably have a pretty good grip on whether you're comfortable with them.