Impatience... when will they pay off?

[jargonchipmunk]

I know this post is pre-emptive... but...

I've had the dubia colony for a few days shy of a month. I have a TON of adult females, plenty of males to "service" them, and 125 or so large nymphs that are turning adult all the time.

They have temp gradients from 95 to 85, 60% humidity, food, water crystals, and an orange every now and again...

...and they aren't producing! I mean, they made a few babies, but nowhere near what a colony of this size should be doing. Do I have to wait an entire gestation period to start seeing good results? I assumed a good portion of the females would come pre-pregnant. Do they abort on the way to my house?

Also, and more importantly... My dragons are growing FAST! They've grown nearly 10 inches in the 8 weeks I've had them, so they certainly won't be able to subsist on the tiny nymphs. What is the growth rate of a Dubia? How long does it take for them to go through enough molts to be big enough to satiate a dragon that, at this point, can easily put away 100+ 3/4" crickets in a day?

 

[ajkry2]

I'm curious about this too. Thinkin about starting a Dubia colony of my own, so--lets learn!

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

Don't worry about a thing. If you've only had them a month than you should start seeing nymphs soon. After molt into adults you usually start seeing babies 6-8 weeks later. Then after their first babies they'll get on the 30 day turn around for you. All your parameters look good and now you just need a little patience.

As for the growth rate they take about 3.5 - 5 months to mature to adults. And should be ready to start feeding beardies of the size you have at about a month to 6 weeks depending on how fast they grow. Keep lots of food in there and the heat up and they'll grow quicker for you. Oranges seem to work the best. But they love carrots, pears, grapes ect.

When buying roaches make sure you find out what size your getting. It can save you a lot of time on the other end of things. Remember 1/4" baby is going to take at least 3.5 months and thats if it pops early. Most likely after 4 months it will turn into an adult and then you have to wait for it to produce nymphs and so on and so forth until you establish your colony.

Any more questions as to their husbandry can be found on my caresheets and FAQ section.

-Ian
http://www.theroachranch.com

 

[jargonchipmunk]

thanks for the info. :study:

Time to plan on buying a couple more boxes of crickets and let them do their thing for a while. Just can't wait until all these subadults are adults and everyone's gettin' with the program. (then I'll have to find places to get RID of them lol)

Also have to figure out how to seperate the darned things without giving the breeders heart attacks every time.

 

[zebraflavencs]

James, now you understand why I suggested the lobs or turks, don't you
Big hug,
Janie

 

[Ihaggerty1313]

We're in the process of editing a video that will be on my caresheet page that explains step by step how to separate the babies from the adults easy, quickly, and w/o disturbing the adults. I'll let you know when it goes live.

-Ian
http://www.theroachranch.com

 

[ajkry2]

Great news about the video! If you have a chance, could you post it on this thread? I would love to check it out! Thanks