Need convincing help! DUBIA!

[jcot13]

Okay, so i'm only 14 and i completely take care of my bearded dragon (which i paid for) and buy all the supplies and feeders. I guess you could say i'm pretty responsible.

I want to switch over to dubia. i have no problem with the cost, i have the money. i have no problem with them. the only thing that is stopping me is my dad! i briefly mentioned it to him the other day and all he said was, "i dont want roaches in the house. if they get loose they multiply." while giving me a face kinda like this..

I really need to convince him to let me get them. it would be so much easier! i would keep them up in my room where he wouldnt have to ever be by! i dont see what the big deal is. as far as escapes, how can they be prevented, or are they very rare? please please please help!

How would you convince your dad to let you bring dubia into the house!?

I need your help!

 

[Triage]

You can tell your Dad to research these roaches for himself. He will find that they are non-invasive. The invasive "pest" roaches are American and German Cockroaches that have survived long enough to learn to eat wallpaper and not get sick. These are tropical roaches and are very sensitive. Even a mold outbreak in your colony could kill them. If you keep them in a bin, the way most people describe their setup, you should have 0 to extremely few escapees. And if you find one, its usually dead. These roaches are from Tropical environments, they don't thrive in other types of environments. Not sure where you live, but if the climate is cold, you wont have problems with infestation. I live in Virginia and I keep Dubia, plus mealworms and just started a superworm colony. My 10 and 12 year old daughters help me with my colonies...AND they learn something from it. Ask your Dad to look at it like a project and see if he will work with you on it.

 

[jcot13]

oh god, thanks so much! your a true life saver! i'm gonna try talking to him tomorrow. i'll let you know how it goes... wish me luck!

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Good luck.

 

[reptilianboy831]

Good luck, I'm just now realizing how awsome my mom is for letting me get 250 of them last year. haha, I even got a Emporer scorpion at the expo I went to saturday, and she wasn't too mad hehehe

 

[jcot13]

thanks everyone! all you who have them now are sooo lucky! extremely jealous... :roll:

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Well when it happens you will be a happy camper! :wink:

 

[romanfj]

Get a nice big order of crickets in and let your Dad smell those nasty suckers for a few minutes. Especially if they've been in the bin for a week or so - Dubia are odorless.

Then place that nice order of crickets next to his bed for the night and see if he sleeps - Dubia are silent.

Leave those crix by his bed for just a week and let him see how fast they die. A cricket's entire life cycle is 8 weeks. Dubia live for 18-24 months. Do the math on the economics with him.

At the end of that month with you taking crix out of the bin for food and after your father has completely lost his sanity due to sleeplessness and he smells like a giant pile of decomposing whatever after sleeping with the bugs, look around the house with him and see how many fugitive crix you have. Some of them escape, I don't care how careful you may be. In a month, you will have a cricket infestation because Dad didn't want tropical roaches. Dubia are too lazy to climb out of a Rubbermaid bin. If you want extra security, smear Vaseline around the top 4 inches of the bin on the inside or, if you can get it to stick, put clear packing tape around the rim. They definitely will never make it over the clear side.

Crickets cannibalize their young and keeping the different sizes of crix separated when you breed them is a pain in the... - Dubia do not eat each other. If you have way too many adult males, the most they'll do is chew on each others' wing tips.

As another poster stated, dubia can't live on the food available to them if they escape, nor can they reproduce well below 82 degrees.

Even in their native homeland of Guayana, they do not infest homes. Tropical roaches actually prefer to live in leaf litter, such as a jungle floor would have.

Dubia don't carry any parasites that I know of. Crix can harbor pinworms and, since their cousin the grasshopper can carry tapeworms, it's likely crix can, too.

To my knowledge, none of the bacterial or viral illnesses transmissable from common AMeric or German roaches/roach waste to humans can be carried by dubia.

If this doesn't convince him to buy dubias, he'll certainly never want to see another cricket again!

Frank

 

[jcot13]

thanks sooo much! i'm gonna have to tell him some of this information! hope it works!

 

[reptilianboy831]

Frank, that was an awsome comparison

 

[romanfj]

Thanks, Derek!

 

[Triage]

Agree with Derek, very nice post Frank.

I was checking out Ian's site today (watching the new setup video) and was re-reading his FAQ and thought of this thread. We are still waiting to see if you had any luck, but if not here is some more ammo for your fight, so to speak.

http://www.theroachranch.com/faq.html