New Dubia Colony Feedback

[Jenbo1227]

We are starting a new dubia roach colony for our bearded dragon. We only have the one dragon who is about 6 months old. How many adults should I use to start this colony? The price of purchasing roaches for our dragon has gotten too expensive which is why we are starting our own colony but I don't want to go too crazy.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[AHBD]

I don't have one but check with , Claudiusx, , KarrieRee or Cooperdragon.

 

[seleghari]

Just be aware that dubia roaches take about 5-6 months to reach maturity. So it really would depend on how fast you wanted to grow your colony. You also need to keep in mind you need about 5 females to every male. And keep their temps as close to 90F as you can for fastest breeding.

 

[Claudiusx]

I usually recommend starting with as many adults as you can afford. If they are overproducing for you, you can always sell some extra down the line to offset the costs, or donate them to pet stores.

You are looking at probably a 4-6 month time investment before you can sustainably feed out of your colony since you're going to be needing the larger sized roaches based on your dragons age.

-Brandon

 

[hdochow]

not necessarily breeding advice, but i think another thing to consider is how many roaches you will be feeding at the time your colony is established. at the age of your dragon my guy was eating easily 40+ of em twice a day. now that he's getting closer to 2 years, he eats bugs 3 times a week and only wants between 3 and 5 roaches on those days since they are larger. this might help you decide how many adults to start with to sustain those future numbers.

 

[Jenbo1227]

Thank you everyone for your feedback!

 

[Dinky26]

I’m looking for some advice on breeding the Dubia.
Is it hard to tell the females from the males?
We’re starting our colony, we got a bunch of them probably about a month ago.
We never really confirmed how many of what sex we had.
Now the container that we have them in just about knocks us out from the urea smell.
We’ve been keeping it moist in there and now I’m concerned about mold coming about.
Any advice anyone has is appreciated
@Claudiusx
@KarrieRee
@hdochow
If you all don’t really know that is fine, I’ll keep searching.
Thanks in advance!