Male dubia with chewed wings

[Nathan1995]

Hey guys, I'm starting a roach colony but am having some trouble getting it hot enough for when my roaches come.

I have a 50 litre (10gallon tub), and it's totally empty at the moment. I've managed to get the air temp inside to about 85F by using my radiator and a 15watt heat mat underneath the tub. I was contempt with this temperature, but then my mum told me I have to keep them outside in the shed. I'm from England so temperatures get quite low around here, and my shed is normally around 60F.
I have some plugs in there, but can anyone give me any advice as to how to do this? If this fails, I have to go back to buying roaches at £14.99 every 2 weeks! So what can I do and buy to get my temperature up, outside in a shed. Thanks guys.

 

[jodyberry]

I had issues with under tank heaters, etc. So I went with a ceramic heater and it works GREAT!

Here's a video I posted a while ago that shows my setup:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YiYykhNHuw

 

[cr1chard]

I have an UTH. The adhesive won't stay on the tote once it gets hot though, so I've had to cover it with duct and electrical tape.

 

[Nathan1995]

Thanks for the replies guys. I went out and bought myself a 100watt CHE as the 15watt heat mat wasen't getting higher than 60F during the day.
I started with the CHE and heat mat, and the temps rose to about 120F, so I took out the heat mat, and have put the CHE onto the thermostat at 93F.
However! The lid directly above the CHE has begun to melt slightly and dip in, and the floor beneath too has begun to raise up a little bit. How can I avoid this with my bin?! My temps are perfect though.

 

[kjinxx2]

Build a box out of foam insulation from your local hardware store and put a dimmer on your CHE, this will allow you to keep the CHE low enough while retaining enough heat.

 

[Nathan1995]

Well what I was thinking, by insulating the box, the CHE wouldn't need enough heat as the box is retaining it, so the light wouldn't get as hot and hopefully wouldn't make the plastic tub melt. That sounds logical right? Anyone think this would work?

Also, this was before I had any ventilation holes in it, would that by letting heat escape help to not do this too?

 

[kjinxx2]

You need ventilation otherwise mold will start to grow

 

[Nathan1995]

Yeah I know, I have it, just hadn't put it in yet, I'm getting the roaches next week.
Do you think having ventilation will help to prevent the lid and bottom from melting?

 

[ChrisMiller]

The thing about a CHE is that it's going to get VERY hot until you turn it off. My 100 watt will reach 600 degrees on the surface!! There is no need for that much heat at one time. To tone it down a little bit, use a light dimmer. Here is the model I run.....

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FK9X94/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=aemavm-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000FK9X94&adid=0KH6G97RWAGABJVFC66X&

Cut it down to about 1/2 and work it up from there. You'll be really happy with the results. I am using 60 watts of heat tape under my bins and I run them at about 1/2 power and they keep it real nice and toasty in there. They only kick on for about 10 minutes at a time before the thermostat shuts them back off again. Very efficient setup and that light dimmer is top notch.

 

[suzuki4life]

I had issues with under tank heaters, etc. So I went with a ceramic heater and it works GREAT!

Here's a video I posted a while ago that shows my setup:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YiYykhNHuw

your setup is a fire hazard. CHE's get too hot for such application+ a junk thermostat(I've seen multiple Zilla units fail)+ no flash box on your socket.....

all of the Zilla untis I have seen fail, they always fail in the "on" position. Keep that in mind.

 

[suzuki4life]

under tub heating. Lower venting and retain heat in top of tub and tubs will heat unless your place is super cold. In that case, you will need to insulate.

 

[jodyberry]

I had issues with under tank heaters, etc. So I went with a ceramic heater and it works GREAT!

Here's a video I posted a while ago that shows my setup:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YiYykhNHuw

your setup is a fire hazard. CHE's get too hot for such application+ a junk thermostat(I've seen multiple Zilla units fail)+ no flash box on your socket.....

all of the Zilla untis I have seen fail, they always fail in the "on" position. Keep that in mind.

Thanks, Flash box? Is that the same as a power strip? (Which is what I have it plugged into). The top metal screen is right above the che so no chance of plastic melting.

Zilla thermostat has been working fine for 2 years but I suppose anything could fail at any time. Thanks for the tip on Zilla's failing in ON position.

Do you know if dubias can survive at 70 - 75 degrees F? I don't necessarily need them to breed for a while (at 85-90 degrees F), but I just wanted to make sure they wouldn't die at 75.

Thanks again

 

[suzuki4life]

Flash box or utility box is the blue box used in houses to allow airspace behind a socket in case of a short, arc or spark. In your setup, you have the wires sandwiched against plastic which will become the fuel for a fire.

70 degrees? yep they'll survive for a good while. Keep them fed and and with a water source(carrots or potatoes will work in such cases)

Zilla units= junk...

Low end units, probably the best is the zoo med 500r which you can find around $30 or less, then Ranco, then Johnson controls....then higher end.

 

[Nathan1995]

Hey guys! Thanks a lot for the help on the tub, I've got it up and running now and got 300 roaches in there! My new question is, how long do you think it will take for them to start producing me some babies! I got:
30 females
10 males
160 large to medium
100 nymphs.

How long do you think it will take to be able to feed out of it, and to be able to see some new babies? They've already devoured a whole orange, except the skin in 1 day haha.

 

[Nathan1995]

One more question! I went down to check on the bin today (I do like every 2 hours because I love making sure they're okay haha. They are all hiding in the egg crates, apart from like 10 babies that are sitting on the dish with the water crystals.

Today, I lifted up the egg crates, and saw that behind where they are, there was a lot (around 12 total) cockroaches on their back, I haven't poked them or anything to see how hard they were, as I assumed they were dead but I suddenly thought, could they be molts? Is there any way to check? What would you expect?
So on second thoughs, it kind of just looks like their shells, but what should I do? I don't want my colony to start dying off after only 2 days!
And another thing, there was a few of them i noticed that were a lighter brown, no where near as dark as the adults, are these freshly molted roaches? Thanks guys!