For the dubia know it alls!

[Twobeardieguy]

Just give it a try and see what works best for you. I am not saying what I do works for everyone. But I can give tips n trips through out your journey.

 

[Claudiusx]

Thanks Lance.

I personally won't use a day and night cycle just because I am lazy in regards to the dubia (part of the reason I like them :twisted: ) But will pass on the info you suggest if it comes up again.

-Brandon

 

[Sauzo]

Sounds good. I'm more than open to any suggestions or tips as this is my first colony and it started very rough as you can read from a few of my posts. I think the ones that have survived are doing ok now. They eat good, I've been seeing babies but all together I think I lost 1/4 of the colony in shipping which has left me with about 40 adult females, 5 adult males, 40 large nymphs and a handful of smaller nymphs Now it's time to bolster what I got left with some fresh blood and hopefully get em taking off since Harley gobbles down about 1000 dubias a month :shock: :lol:

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Thanks Brandon :wink:

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Sounds good. I'm more than open to any suggestions or tips as this is my first colony and it started very rough as you can read from a few of my posts. I think the ones that have survived are doing ok now. They eat good, I've been seeing babies but all together I think I lost 1/4 of the colony in shipping which has left me with about 40 adult females, 5 adult males, 40 large nymphs and a handful of smaller nymphs Now it's time to bolster what I got left with some fresh blood and hopefully get em taking off since Harley gobbles down about 1000 dubias a month :shock: :lol:

If they are eating and you are seeing babies then what you are doing is working. :wink:

 

[Sauzo]

True, just wondering why I get a random death here and there. The juvi stuck in molt I attribute to the CHE drying out the air in the bin but still not sure why the female died with a huge egg sac hanging out of her. I guess bugs will be bugs and a few random deaths are to be expected. Completely opposite though in my feeder bin. Those ones never have a single death and the only thing I do for them is give em food, water and put the bin on top of my red tail boa cage on top of the RHP. That's kinda why I wonder about the breeding bin. Although the feeder bin is a blue sterilite that does allow light in vs the breeder bin is a Rubbermaid grey roughneck with black top so no light really gets in except for the hole on top.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Yes could be a few factors like humidity to low, to much stress, age of the female or just simply birth defects.

 

[Sauzo]

Yeah, I checked the humidity after that and it said 50%. The female was a pretty small one vs some I got that look like little tanks pushing the food dishes around and stuff haha. Think I might try the light deal though and put in a 75 watt household bulb during the day and turn it off at night. Also it was weird cause the one that died halfway through molt was the only one. I had old molts in there from quite a few so it was weird but I know low humidity can cause death during molts.

 

[unkempt1]

Two words: Roaches die.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Two words: Roaches die.

yes yes they do but i don't want to cause the deaths.

 

[Sauzo]

Well i'm pretty happy, even though I had all the trouble to start out, tonight I saw a female backed into a divot in an egg crate and saw a whole bunch of little babies around her so I figure she gave birth . Imagine...happy to see roaches breed :lol:

 

[millerracing81]

I've made a couple changes to my new colony.

First, I split the colony into 3 containers, from a single container. The large bin is the breeding container. The second container is a smaller one, these will be the feeders, and having them separate means that I don't often have to disturb the breeders. I'm keeping a couple hundred in this bin. The third bin is a small critter keeper type container. I have about a dozen roaches in here, and they will be my testers for when i want to make any changes. They will get new food mixes, different water crystals, etc before the big bins to see how they do. For now, they are getting the new batch of crystals I have. They are from Miracle Grow, and although there are no chemicals listed on the package, I still want to try them out.

Now for feeding, the breeders are getting a 50/50 mix of pond food pellets, and rabbit pellets, all ground up together. I figure that this will be better than dog food. Time will tell. The feeder bin will get a mix of rabbit pellets and juvenile bearded dragon pellets.

Thoughts?????

 

[Sauzo]

Let us know how those Miracle Gro crystals work cause I was thinking of buying a bag of those from Home Depot. Also for my breeders and feeders, I feed them both a local made starter chick mash from a granary in my area. It's called Scratch and Peck. It's naturally grown and corn and soybean free with 21% protein. The roaches seem to love it and since I started feeding them that, the breeders that I had a rough time with seem to have improved and are much more active and alert. I personally think the supplier I got my starter kit from kinda neglected the roaches cause they looked pretty rough. Kinda torn up and "ragged" looking. the ones that lived are much fatter, active, alert and I've noticed a bunch of babies now. just my 2 cents for that brand of chicken mash. Anyways, definitely let us know how those crystals work out though since i'm curious. Oh and of course they all get stuff like collard greens, dandelion greens, squashes, red and green leaf lettuce and left over fruits like apple cores and stuff. The breeders I also toss in an orange here and there to get em revved up. And boy does it rev them up. You can hear em run all over the egg crates after a night of oranges haha. :lol:

 

[hiTimothy]

I currently used the miracle grow water crystals cuz they were recommended by a breeder and so far they work really well. Just as well as regular water crystals in my opinion. I don't see any noticeable difference between the miracle grow and insect water crystals other than its much cheaper

 

[millerracing81]

Let us know how those Miracle Gro crystals work cause I was thinking of buying a bag of those from Home Depot. Also for my breeders and feeders, I feed them both a local made starter chick mash from a granary in my area. It's called Scratch and Peck. It's naturally grown and corn and soybean free with 21% protein. The roaches seem to love it and since I started feeding them that, the breeders that I had a rough time with seem to have improved and are much more active and alert. I personally think the supplier I got my starter kit from kinda neglected the roaches cause they looked pretty rough. Kinda torn up and "ragged" looking. the ones that lived are much fatter, active, alert and I've noticed a bunch of babies now. just my 2 cents for that brand of chicken mash. Anyways, definitely let us know how those crystals work out though since i'm curious. Oh and of course they all get stuff like collard greens, dandelion greens, squashes, red and green leaf lettuce and left over fruits like apple cores and stuff. The breeders I also toss in an orange here and there to get em revved up. And boy does it rev them up. You can hear em run all over the egg crates after a night of oranges haha. :lol:

I also do a lot of lettuce and collards. Some bananas and kale too. I will go ahead and try oranges too.