HELP! How long does it take to establish roach colony?

[essenm25]

I recently purchased 150 varied and 50 adult dubia roaches and was wondering how long I should leave them until there colony is self sustainable. I just am not sure what to look for in order to know when its the right time. I have one bearded dragon to feed around 4 months old!

 

[jon21388]

I would leave the colony alone for atleast 3 months, that should be more than enough if you only have one beardie.

 

[mickeysmomma]

Took mine about 3 months to see some babies, at 4 months now..tons of babies. I also ordered more roaches to get it going more quickly. It you start too smalll, it takes to long...and having 3 beardies that love dubia...it was a no brainer to invest another $30 in dubia to hopefully last forever!

I highly recommend oranges and fish food...those are what my dubia seem to love to eat.

 

[essenm25]

How many did you start with?

 

[mickeysmomma]

Wasn't many. I believe 50...and I think 2 sets of breeders ( whatever the male/female) ratio is. But...we fed off too many too quick. If we wouldn't have used any to feed the beardies, it would have been enough.

When do you want to be able to start feeding your beardie the dubia? I mean, without having to worry about running out of them?

 

[essenm25]

Oh no I think I got wayyy too many.... I got 150 varied and then 50 adults from roachesrus.com but then I wanted to be able to start feeding my 4 month old bearded dragon, Penny, as soon as possible so I bought a deal from theroachguy with 420 varied with 12 adult females and 8 adult males.

 

[essenm25]

So I will have around 650...

 

[jon21388]

i personally think you can't have to many the more the better. If they start getting way out of control, make a post on craigslist and see if anyone around you wants any and sell them for a price. You wouldnt have to worry about shipping that way.

 

[dmglakewood]

I ordered 250 and started feeding right away. I then had to order another 500 roaches. I let them do their thing for 2 months and I've been feeding out of my colony for over 6+ months now.

 

[Vacren]

I was kinda curious about that, too. I have about 300 adult females and about 30 adult males. I fed off a few 3/4" when I first got them to see if my dragons liked them. I've been seeing random nymphs, but I'm not sure if they're actually new or stowaways from the packaging.

 

[essenm25]

wow where did you get that many adult females?

Does anyone know how many you would need to be able to start feeding right away for one 4 month old bearded dragon?

 

[Vacren]

Cleaned out a few breeders in the area after I had a power failure during SNOWPOCALYPSE and lost about 700 mixed. I've got them split between two bins now, eggs in baskets and whatnot.