Need Serious info on my Dubias

[civicblend97]

I bought 500 nymphs about 3 weeks ago, and there doing good.
Growing really fast....I have 4 females and I think 2 males.
1) Can I serperate them and put them in a bin alone or just leave them all together? If so how do I try to keep them alive?

They have crystal gel, chow, whole carrots...all of mine are still living and ive even seen some really small babies that were not in there when I got them.

2) How can I tell if the females are having babies? ive seen post on here with lil white things coming out of there butts...havnt seen that yet with mine

3) I have 3 white dubias....what are the difference in these?

Heres a female....there huge

 

[randommonks]

If you're going to use the adults for breeding, it might be best to put them in their own separate tank, so they're disturbed less. Babies come out very small (1/4" or so) and are white. The white roaches you see are ones that have freshly molted, and they turn dark in a couple of days I believe.

I have my roaches in 2 separate containers. One are smaller nymphs that I use for feeding, and the larger nymphs and adults I have in a separate container so they can be left to breed and grow as undisturbed as possible.

 

[civicblend97]

thanks yea my plan is for them to breed lol and make me a colony....there so expensive....Yea i didnt know if it was not good to seperate them or not. I noticed when I got them i had like 2 or 3 white ones and then within a couple of days they were gone....i knew they couldnt get out and now i have like 4 more.....
When i got my first shipment the grown male lasted about a week and he died....so thats why im trying to keep these alive....plus i didnt know they needed heat. Now i have a red head lamp on them...with temps between 80-90 in there....

Is is normal for them to put holes in the carboard?

 

[randommonks]

You mean when they ship them to put holes in the box? It's not necessary but might be something they do, mine came without holes. Best thing to do is to watch humidity. If you're keeping it above 80, putting a small plate with a pinch of water crystals would be enough to keep the humidity up.

 

[civicblend97]

You mean when they ship them to put holes in the box? It's not necessary but might be something they do, mine came without holes. Best thing to do is to watch humidity. If you're keeping it above 80, putting a small plate with a pinch of water crystals would be enough to keep the humidity up.

NO sorry didn't explain it right..... the egg crates that i bought and put in there cage there putting lil holes in them.

 

[randommonks]

NO sorry didn't explain it right..... the egg crates that i bought and put in there cage there putting lil holes in them.

Ohhhh ok. I'm not sure about that. Do you have food set out for them? I feed them the leftovers from my cat's food that's all crumbly. If they're hungry they might nibble on the cardboard.

 

[civicblend97]

yea they have food out, the chow, and they have carrots...and there water crystals in there!

 

[randommonks]

Huh odd...maybe try emailing the supplier you got them from. I haven't noticed that from the dubias I have yet.

 

[civicblend97]

Seperated the Adults today!!!!! Very Shocked after fingering all of them..... found that i have like 10 adult females and 15 Males....very happy there growing this fast! Hope this works out, and I see a good turnout in a couple of weeks!
Adult Set-up

Chow, Oatmeal, spinach, and carrots w/ water crystals!

105qt plastic container for the babies!

Babies that are all hiding at the bottom!

 

[randommonks]

Yay! Yeah leave the adults as alone as possible. It might take a couple of months, but hopefully you'll be able to get a colony started. Don't feed off the new babies right away, and feed off excess males. Are you keeping up the humidity in those tubs? It needs to be fairly humid in there for them to molt correctly.

 

[civicblend97]

Yay! Yeah leave the adults as alone as possible. It might take a couple of months, but hopefully you'll be able to get a colony started. Don't feed off the new babies right away, and feed off excess males. Are you keeping up the humidity in those tubs? It needs to be fairly humid in there for them to molt correctly.

Yea I leave the lil babies alone....why feed off excess males?

I dont know about humidity.....how would I know or check?

 

[randommonks]

Dubias need serious humidity to thrive. If you have a screen for ventillation, just keeping the temperatures around 90 degrees and keeping the water crystals moist should be enough to ensure high humidity. You can use a gauge for humidity similar to the ones in the BD tank to check, but again 90 degrees and water crystals seem to be working for me.

http://www.theroachguy.com/caresheet.htm

You can take a look at that website. It's been recommended by people on this website as a good reference. You'll want to feed off more males than females because males are only needed for sperm, and one male can fertilize multiple females. If you have too many males in the colony, it will become excessive and just a drain on food and water. When you buy a starter kit, you normally will see a 4 female: 1 male ratio rather than keeping them even. Did that make sense? Lol I'm kinda tired.

 

[civicblend97]

Dubias need serious humidity to thrive. If you have a screen for ventillation, just keeping the temperatures around 90 degrees and keeping the water crystals moist should be enough to ensure high humidity. You can use a gauge for humidity similar to the ones in the BD tank to check, but again 90 degrees and water crystals seem to be working for me.

http://www.theroachguy.com/caresheet.htm

You can take a look at that website. It's been recommended by people on this website as a good reference. You'll want to feed off more males than females because males are only needed for sperm, and one male can fertilize multiple females. If you have too many males in the colony, it will become excessive and just a drain on food and water. When you buy a starter kit, you normally will see a 4 female: 1 male ratio rather than keeping them even. Did that make sense? Lol I'm kinda tired.

Yup made perfect since, thankyou for you info! It helps! Yea I keep a screen on top and its 90 or hotter in there and they always have water crystals.....i mean im sure im doing everything right, cuz none has died but maybe 3 or 4.....

 

[randommonks]

Cool! Keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you'll have a large colony of roaches growing soon (something I never thought in my life I would say before I got Darwin)

 

[civicblend97]

Cool! Keep doing what you're doing and hopefully you'll have a large colony of roaches growing soon (something I never thought in my life I would say before I got Darwin)

lol haha me too....my family is still freaked that theres roaches in my bedroom....i told them no worries!!