Help me revamp my dubia colony

[JenFid]

So I've been disappointed lately with the output of my dubias, so today I decided to do a count of the adult males and females. Here is what I found. I took out any males with wings and any females that were bigger and shiny black and orange.

31 females
25 males

So I can tell right away that I need a lot more females! Problem is I can't find anyone selling straight up adult dubias. Here are a couple pics of what I had left over after picking the adults out. I can tell there are some definite males and females in that mix but the problem is I'm not quite sure what they look like when they are ready to breed, heh.

Here is from one side of the bin I shook them into

Other side

In the roach colander. Not very many were small enough to go through the holes (I think we drilled 1/2 or 3/4 inch holes) except for the little little babies and maybe 10-20 of the size we would feed to our dragon.

As you can see there are a decent amount of babies so I know they are breeding. The temp at the bottom of their bin is around 98 degrees and they get oranges, chow, and crystals every day. What should I do to get them breeding more? We seemed to run out of the mid-size nypmhs pretty fast. I know I need to get more females, probably like 40? But I need to find someone willing to sell (nothing on craigslist in minneapolis currently). Or should I get a couple hundred mixed nymphs?

 

[techdave]

Dubias like a really dark home. Swapping out the clear tub for a dark colored one that doesn't let in any light will help. Kepping the temps around 85-95 and oranges seem to be like roach viagra. Getting more females will help, but getting mixed will get them to the feeding point faster. Since you won't have to wait for the females to get pregnant, then then give birth, then wait for the babies to grow up. If you can get both, that would be ideal. Keeping the ratio about 1 male to 5 females will also help.

 

[JenFid]

Oh yea their normal tub is an opaque one I keep in a closet, the clear one is just what I shake them out into when I get ready to sort them.

So some mixed, and lots of adult females. Anyone know of someone selling females?

edit - also how many mixed should I get?

 

[techdave]

Well if you're close to my area I'd be happy to hook you up. The more you get, the faster you'll get to the feed off time.

 

[JenFid]

Aah unfortunately I'm out in MN so a bit far away from Oregon I'm seeing if I can make a deal with some members here who are selling, like HondaPower!

 

[reptilianboy831]

Just make sure you have temps and oranges, as stated above, nothing gets a roach going like an orange. Also try to feed off a few of the males, too many and they'll fight and stress out the females. But most of all, just give them some more time. The 31 females you have if they each have 20 babies will produce 620 babies a month. So just give them some more time to get that colony up and running.

 

[JenFid]

Well Sartharion is only about 15" so he's not quite big enough to eat the extra males unfortunately. I give them about 3-4 orange slices every other day since that's how long it takes to eat them, they loooove them. And of course some roach chow and water crystals. Ordering some females and a couple hundred mixed nymphs so that should help pick it up a lot.

 

[MrMatt]

This for sale thread is selling females. [ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=142702 f=2 ]

Also if the for sale section here dosn't have any listed you can always check http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/

Good luck and happy hunting!