New Here! With a question about Dubia

[Hontas]

Hello everyone! Just registered here although I was a member here a few years back but I forgot my old login info.

I'm thinking about starting a few projects this year and one of them is getting a new herp. I've been eyeing a tegu for a few years now but always come back to beardies. I have plans of building or buying a 4x2 enclosure if I do decide on one. The only thing with beardies is that I know I'd better off with starting a Dubia colony. The problem? I am extremely squeamish when it comes to insects. I know all about Dubia but just can't get over keeping them, let alone looking at them :shock:

With that said, I was wondering how did you become used to dubias if you were ever afraid of them? I just need tips because I know I'll be looking at them a lot if I do decide on a beardie.

 

[CooperDragon]

I've gotten used to them by seeing them (especially the young ones) as roly poly bugs. They remind me of them and I used to play with them as a kid and know they're harmless. I also had a colony for a while without a dragon so I'd just feed them and watch them. I found them to be pretty interesting and much less vicious than crickets. I was never afraid of them though, so I'm not sure how helpful this info is. Having a colony is definitely a good way to go if you have another dragon though.

 

[z0mbiebabykiller]

my wife was terrified of roaches. it took a lot of research and showing her how much better it would be for our dragon (her dragon). finally I just ordered some dubia nymphs about 1/2-2/4" and showed her. she still wouldn't touch them for a while. I would catch and put in a small container and she used tongs to catch them. now she doesn't mind at all. just remember, they are only insects, and clean ones at that. the negative stigma is just something humans attached to them when in reality the humans who get roach infestations are usually the nastier of the two species. most roaches live in the forests and are decomposers, feeding on decaying plants. dubia nymphs don't even look like roaches more like beetles or oversized roly-polies. they definitely can't hurt you and if you want what's best for your pet, they are what you need. crickets stink, are noisy, die fast, cannabilize one another, and carry parasites that can get in your dragon. roaches do none of that. I know its weird but I find myself defending roaches a lot these days. hopefully you can get over it. if my wife can I think most other folks can too.

 

[Hontas]

Thanks for the info Yeah, I've read all about them and they do seem a lot better than the other insect options. I'm terrified of insects over all but I guess they don't seem too bad. I'm gonna do what you mentioned and use tongs until I'm used to them.

 

[diamc]

[Moved here from General Discussion forum]

 

[Rankins]

I totally disagree with the statement that humans that have roaches are worse than roaches.
You can have a spotlessly clean home, and still end up with roach infestations.
I lived in Gulf Port Mississippi for several years and had roaches. My home was totally clean, but my neighbors was not. My home was being infested from my neighbors property. We would hire an exterminator every month and still couldn't get rid of them. We eventually moved and threw away TV's, stereos, couches, beds, refridgerators...almost everything we owned.
We didn't have a single problem once we moved.

 

[Nihilist]

I totally disagree with the statement that humans that have roaches are worse than roaches.
You can have a spotlessly clean home, and still end up with roach infestations.
I lived in Gulf Port Mississippi for several years and had roaches. My home was totally clean, but my neighbors was not. My home was being infested from my neighbors property. We would hire an exterminator every month and still couldn't get rid of them. We eventually moved and threw away TV's, stereos, couches, beds, refridgerators...almost everything we owned.
We didn't have a single problem once we moved.

Your neighbors house must have been really bad. There are certain parts of the country that roaches are acclimated to, like Georgia they were everywhere outside but never had one inside. I am starting my own colony and so far these critters are the least scary bug I have come across. Crickets are beyond nasty and smell 100 times worse than Dubia roaches, and that's before the crickets start eating each other. If I drop a cricket I can spend an eternity trying to catch it, drop a Dubia and just sits there. Also since my house is at a constant 72 degrees and almost no humidity I am told any Dubia's that get left out would die, where as I have had to find crickets that got out and only found them because of the stupid chirping they do. I can not wait to save money and get rid of the horrible smell once my Dubia colony matures, never will I buy a cricket again.

 

[Rankins]

I didn't say anything about crickets, nor dubias.
I was talking about a native species. The american cockroach.

(Edit: Had limited time to respond earlier) I don't know what thier house was like, but I'm sure it wasn't a cleanliness issue (I'll explain this further down in this post). But we were not the only ones with them. People in other neighborhoods also had them. We lived in Mississippi twice and had issues with them both times. One house had them when we moved in, the other house had them because the neighbors had them (it was a duplex). It took a few months for us to get them from the neighbors. We lived on a military base so the housing had to be maintained very well. There was a possibility that the houses could be entered at anytime by military police to inspect housing conditions. Bugs and toads were always a problem. A tanker truck use to drive around the base discharging DDT into the air to kill mosquitoes. Now its banned because of cancer risks.
Toads at night were so thick that walking outside it appeared the lawn was moving. So many toads jumping made it appear that way. It was hard not to step on them. The road had sqashed toads everywhere on them. The stench of dead toad was pretty bad. Maybe that had something to do with the roach problem? Which Im sure it was, it had nothing to do with housing conditions.
The catholic school I went to also had roaches really bad, and the nuns had to keep the school spotless also. The convent had them, and the nuns lived in the convent on the school grounds.
So in other words, grouping people into a classification as worse than the roaches because they have roaches is a bit offensive.

 

[Rankins]

Hontas, you could try orange head roaches if the dubias bother you. They actually are kind of pretty in a creepy bug sorta way.

 

[Hontas]

Hontas, you could try orange head roaches if the dubias bother you. They actually are kind of pretty in a creepy bug sorta way.

I looked those guys up. They seem to be bigger than Dubia, which creeps me out even more :shock: The Dubia are starting to grow on me so I may just stick with those

I also agree with what you said about roaches in general. I know of people that got them as a result of neighbors or other factors, despite their houses being being very clean.

 

[z0mbiebabykiller]

well I did say "usually" not "always" didn't really mean to offend anyone. I was mostly talking about German cockroach infestations, not american cockroach. I'm from the south, Mississippi actually, I know the big flying American cockroaches can get in the most spotless houses. most people do tend to associate German cockroach infestations with nastiness tho.

 

[Rankins]

Hontas I was going to pull out a dubia and an orange head for side-by-side pictures for you. But I would have had to kill the roaches, they wouldn't hold still.
Orange heads are only slightly larger than dubias. They just weigh more because the are fatter.
Since they are not as ugly as dubias, they got less of a creep factor.
There are other species of roaches that are kind of pretty. Giant green banana roaches and a few others. I'll do some research soon...I found a good webpage on roaches before, I'll see if I can refind it.

Haha...German cockroaches can also be in clean homes. I had the Amarican roaches in the military housing in Mississippi. Then rented a home in Oregon that had German roaches. My house was clean but the roaches were there when I moved in (I wasn't aware of the problem). Even though my house was spotless it took awhile to kill the infestation.
Roaches can be anywhere...

 

[derangedplanet]

I tend to agree that roaches can be anywhere but have you ever considered a house gecko to solve the problem? I was talking to my husband about breeding them as feeders for some bigger lizards and snakes and explained that they can get out but that many people purchase them as a natural alternative to pesticides in their home and just let them free. And he was like "just let one or two free intentionally then, I like geckos more than roaches". He says this because despite constant cleaning roaches still exist on our house two. We have Germans and one other kind(unsure of that ones species) but I see babies of both the most. The adults are seldom seen. But I figured a gecko or two would probably never be seen anyways. We live in south carolina and they already live in a few areas near here so it's not even a new species introduction. Plus they live all over Texas and many other southern homes. Just something to consider if you're more comfortable with lizards in your home than roaches.

I don't mean to high jack the thread. But I'm considering having oranges(people around here keep selling out my dubias) and I wanted to know if there was any real benefit to them over discoids? I'm told they breed slightly faster. That's the only slightly relevant thing I've heard. Also how do you like your orange heads?

 

[Rankins]

I haven't had any roach problems for over 30 years, thank goodness. But geckos do help get rid of some roaches. A buddy in Guam use to keep lots of geckos loose in his house to eat them. I guess in Hawaii, Philippians, Vietnam and several other countries people do the same thing.
Its a myth that only dirty homes have roaches. Dirty homes do increase the chances you'll have roaches....but its not necessary to have them. Roaches eat anything, so if you have anything in your home (newspaper, magazines, yarn, clothes, carpet, furniture, ANYTHING!!) roaches can eat it and thrive.
I use to breed hissing roaches. I didn't like them for lizard food. Their exoskeletons are too hard to digest and I was horribly allergic to them. Dubias are okay, but they are not as bulky as Orange heads. Dubias also have a slightly harder exoskeleton, and take longer to breed. They are ugly and remind me of the American cockroach....
Orange heads breed faster, and are usually cheaper than dubias. They do have a bit of a defensive smell, but I keep both species of roaches in my garage anyway. The defensive smell isn't horrible...not nearly as bad as a cricket bin. They are actually kind of a pretty roach, so they don't have as much as a creepy factor to them. The nymphs are a reddish color and the adults have the pretty orange heads. I encourage people to buy orange heads over dubias, I may even totally stop breeding dubias.
My favorite reptile food item are crickets though. I know they can stink, are noisy, and expensive to buy....but I breed tens of thousands of them every month. I don't need to spend $30/1000 for them. I also sell them on craigslist, crickets always sell quicker than roaches.
In fact near the end of august there is a reptile show I'm going to try and have 200,000 crickets to sell there. I just need to buy the cricket eggs so I'll have enough for the expo. 60,000 cricket eggs cost about $90 from premiumcrickets.com so the profit margine is huge!! Ill bring some dubias and orange heads also, but I don't have enough to sell in large amounts.
Sorry, I got a bit side tracked...but my opinion on roaches is to buy the orange heads. I also like the ivory head roaches, but they are $3 each from capecodroaches.com. they are like orange heads, but are all white.
(Edit...forgot to mention if you use buffalo worms in your roach bins it really helps keep the bins clean. If anyone needs a culture of them let me know. I have many, many thousands I can sell)

 

[Hontas]

Thanks for all the info! Sorry for the late reply as well, I've been busy with finals this spring semester. The orangehead roaches do seem to be better in terms of being less creepy appearance-wise. I may try them. As of now, I may try crickets and phoenix worms. I could get in a lot of trouble if they found out I was breeding roaches for pet food regardless of telling them they won't cause an infestation, etc. We'll see though I'm hoping to have a beardie by the summer.