Male dubia with chewed wings

[lwilson3]

When we first got our Dubias I thought a lot of them were dying too. I'm not sure how I could tell the difference, but you could just tell that it was a shell and not an actual bug. Plus I saw a white one the same day as the "dead" one.

 

[suzuki4life]

feed them
heat them
but most important...

let them alone!!!!!!

 

[Nathan1995]

Hey guys, I just went down to the roach bin and gave them some fresh oranges, but they haven't even touched their water crystals or chow in the centre of the tub
There is some leftover pieces of dog food that they travelled in behind the egg crates that I haven't removed, would they be living off that? I also haven't seen any babies despite having 30 males now, and I've had them for 5 days, would this be normal or should I have seen some by now?

One last thing, I've noticed that I'm getting a lot of them moulting absolutely fine, I see fresh white ones every day, but I saw teeny little nibbles on the ends of the males wings, would this be down to the lack of protein from not eating their proper chow? Thanks guys!

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

I'm not sure about the wing nibbles. However, how many adult breeder females do you have? A ratio of 10 females to 2-3 males is ideal for breeding. Each female can produce 20-40 live young per month. If you don't have a lot of adult females now, then just start feeding off all your male nymphs & the females will be full grown breeders by 4-5 months age from birth.

 

[Nathan1995]

Sorry I meant 30 females, I have 30 females and 10 males.

 

[Chirple]

Yep, the freshly molted ones are white and their shells harden up and will pass through light brown on their way.

If it looks like just the shells, I wouldn't worry - that is most likely molt. I just cleaned out my feeder bin today and there were some dead ones - you will see the body of the bug still in the shell if that's the case.

 

[Nathan1995]

Allright thanks guys, sorry but 1 more question!! One of my males definitley has chewed up wings. I took them all out today and re-arranged the egg crates, but this is the last time I'm touching them (bar feeding every day) for a couple months 'til I have to clean them.

My main concern is that they never seem to leave their egg crates, and thus the cat food I've given them hasen't even been touched yet! And one of my males definatley has had his wings chewed off, he's really flat so it's not a male with chewed wing stubs, I'm posotive it's a male. So, how can I get them to eat more? They sure get the oranges down fine, but obviously that doesn't give any protein, and thus this males lost his wings over the past week. Thanks guys.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

Could you try not giving them oranges all the time so they can't get so picky? Maybe you're right about the lack of protein & that's why they're nibbling on the males' wings. Also, I make sure to put two food & two water dishes (really just jar caps lol) one each on both the warm and the cool side of the enclosure in case they prefer one side or the other. These are all just educated guesses though, but can't see how it would hurt. It's nearly impossible to really mess up with dubias lol. Good luck!