For the dubia know it alls!

[Twobeardieguy]

Should be fine. If you are seeing nymphs then you know it's working.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

up

 

[mikeneezy]

Do you guys recommend to start a colony even for 1 BD?

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Sure. Then you will never have to buy feeders again unless they stop eating them.

 

[kbro]

I'm so glad I came across this thread. Thank you everyone for the great tips! Thought I would give this a bump to keep it going too.

 

[BrandyS]

Hey all! I am a newbie to feeding dubia. Read this thread with great interest- thank for all the info.


First question. How do you all actually get the roaches from the colony into the bin to feed your beardie? I have a one year old dragon and I am not feeding out the full sized dubias yet (still letting my colony grow), so trying to catch some of the small/medium sized ones. I don't mind touching them at all but they are hard to catch! Then if I take an egg carton to shake it off I would get the cleaner crew off with it. May be a silly question, but I can't figure out an easy way to do it- loved the crickets going up in the tube since it made it so easy. Am I missing something??? I do need to separate the breeders from the feeders soon because I am sure I am very disruptive when trying to get feeders out.

Second question. I have read in a few places that 1 dubia = 5 crickets. Is that one full size dubia to one full sized cricket? Trying to figure out how many to feed my guy. He was eating about 20 7/8" in crickets a day. If I used the 15 min rule pretty sure he would eat my entire colony as he loves them so much!

Thanks for any advice,
Brandy

 

[BeardieNewbie326]

Hey Guys,

Please, please give any advice possible. I posted this in a new thread but haven't gotten any responses :/

I have been breeding Dubia Roaches for about 3 months at this point and they have been doing extremely well. They have been molting well, plenty of babies, and they eat about 3/4 of an orange in a day along side their dry feed that I keep plenty of.

I sorted them last night so that I can figure out how many females, males, and feeders I have since I just got my new beardie Nova and want to feed her solely out of it. (Minus the occasional treat of course). After sorting I did a 3-1 ratio of females to males, and my numbers came out to 144 Females and about 50 males. (Holy crap I have enough females lol)

Here's the issue, it's been about 16 hours since I finished the sorting and looking at them this morning there are several that are dead, they all seem extremely lethargic, and they did not eat much. This is scaring me as I don't want my colony to die!

My heat source is the same. A UTH under the tub which brings the temp against the very bottom to about 105 degrees or so. It's a little warm against the bottom but they have seemed to enjoy it since the ambient temp only gets to about 75 or so.

The only difference this time was instead of just setting the egg crates in there, I glued them together in twos so they would stand up easier, and that way I can handle them easier when need be.

Please help as I don't know if they are just stressed from everything, or if they are getting sick and dying. Any sort of information would be appreciated, and if you need pics I can post some of the setup. (18g plastic tote with 6 egg crates)

The above was 24 hours ago, at this point I have switched out the crates with glue for fresh ones without and am still having the same issue. The temp is also being regulated between 90-95 at the very bottom. It seems like they have less energy so some of the nymphs are not getting away from the heat and I'm assuming those are a couple of the deaths im seeing.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[jarich]

Okay! I just want to start off and say there is a ton of people giving off wrong info about dubia roaches. I am sorry for yelling here but I need people to know the truth.

1. LIGHT IS NO GOOD FOR DUBIA ROACHES! They are a nocturnal species so they have to know night from day. A simple rule we live by is they feed and breed at night. We have been testing this theory for quite a few years and if they have light 24/7 then they hide! So that means no breeding!

2. Oranges ARE GOOD FOR DUBIA! No the citrus will not be passed off to your reptile or amphibian! 90% of what a dubia consumes is excreted thru shed and frass. Yes we have documented this thru testing dubia body's, frass and sheds! Orange cubes will work if you are in a tight spot but if you want your colony to boom then don't make this a staple. It contains dried kelp and kelp contains salt. Salt is not good in a dubias body! Also contains ascorbic acid and is used to treat or prevent low levels of vitamin C. Well then again we use all organic and what most company's use is synthesized artificially. I don't like chemicals in any of my bugs diets. Another chemical not needed is the yellow #6 it is a "Food coloring, or color additive, is any dye, pigment or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or drink". Yes most foods contain this but why use it if its not necessary.

3.Heating pads and reptile mats will not catch fire on carpet or floors! I have both in my home and never had any problems.

4. You do not need to clean the bin every day or week. Remember the babies eat and get nutrients from the frass. If you have a very large bin with thousands of roaches and it is really bad then yes ether spot clean or do a whole bin cleaning once a month. However you do want to clean the sheds and any left over fresh food out of the bin. Always leave the food and water separate from each other and the egg creates. Mold and mildew will wipe out a colony quickly!

5. 50% humidity is what you want in your bins. To low and they cannot shed properly and to high will make mold and other issues.

6. Heat is a good range form 77-97. To cold and they go into stasis to hot they die!

7. You want the screen over the top side of the food.

8. You want the heat source under your egg creates stacked vertically or over top with an CHE.

9. DO NOT DISTURB the colony. The least stress they have the best outcome you will have.

10. Do not feed calcium to them!

11. Do feed a very high diet consisting of protein!

12. A mixed ratio is what you want. 3-4 females to 1 male is best.

13. I also want to add two main factors of a dropped egg sac and they are 1. she has to much stress and 2. the humidity level is way to low.

If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me thru email or pm! We have been dealing with them for quite a few years and know what works and don't! We work with very well known vets worldwide and also 4 major universities thru out the world. We do testing every 6 months to our roaches to make sure they are getting everything they need. Remember at the end of the day they are still roaches and will consume anything you throw at them. But it is our job and promise to make sure we sell the healthiest roach to you and your reptile or amphibian! If you think my post has offended you then please feel free to click the little red X on the top right side of your computer screen!

Ok, just a bit of clarification on some of these points:

1) Light is not bad for them, or rather a light/dark cycle is not bad for them. While they are nocturnal, they have a day/night cycle like most other animals. Taking away this cycle can actually be detrimental to their breeding. Studies have shown that they respond (breed) better when given a day/night cycle.

2) No issue

3) Heating mats and reptile mats can cause fires and should always be plugged into a reputable thermostat. Heating pads/tape are basic and cheap technology, and have caused massive fires in the past and will continue to do so, especially when people use them incorrectly. These are not meant to have tubs or other fully covered surfaces placed on top of them, it can cause a type of heat build up that starts fires. Just because it hasnt happened yet doesnt mean its worth the risk of it burning down your house. If you use these types of mats or heat tape, use it correctly. It should be placed around the outside of the tub, not the underside. This allows for air transfer around it and does not place unnecessary pressure on the mat/tape.

4) - 9) No issue

10) Calcium is fine to feed to them. While high calcium diets can be detrimental to breeding crickets, there is no evidence that a calcium rich diet is a problem for roaches.

11) Do not feed them a high protein diet, nor feed them things like dog food (22-30% protein) cat food (30-40% protein), or fish food (40-50% protein) as a staple diet. Not only do these feeds have lots of unneeded preservatives and waste products, they also contain too much protein. These roaches are adapted to low protein diets, as they do not come across animal based proteins very often. In order to compensate for these low protein diets, they have a very unique and amazing adaptation where they convert extra protein into uric acid that they store in their bodies. When they go back to their low protein environment, they then use these uric acid stores to synthesize proteins from again. The problem arises when they are fed high protein diets continuously. The uric acid continues to build up in their bodies more and more. This means that if you are feeding them a high protein diet, you are feeding your reptiles a high uric acid content feeder with an added gut load of protein. Since all insects have more protein than the nutritional needs of lizards require, not only are the dragons having to process the extra unneeded protein (a process which requires a higher amount of moisture) but they are now having to deal with a feeder that is high in uric acid. Probably not the end of the world for a healthy, hydrated lizard. However, for a compromised, or dehyrdrated or otherwise ill dragon this could be an issue. More importantly, its an issue that can easily be avoided by just feeding them a diet of around 16-18% protein. This will give the roaches all the protein they need for breeding, while keeping them from building up extra stores of uric acid.