Questions on new Dubia colony

[sydneysmom]

So I just recently decided that I wanted to take the plunge in starting a Dubia colony. I was using crickets and was shocked at just how dirty and stinky those tiny little things could be. So I have few questions...

For my colony I received 10 adult females & 10 adult males however in the majority of posts I've read it seems like there is a 4 or 5 to one ratio, females to males so should I purchase more females for my colony to do well?

It was recommended to me to keep a small amount of coco fiber on one end of the container however again in all the photos I see here I don't see that in anyone's setup, I'm also finding its very hard to get the feeders out of the fiber plus have to clean them off before I feed. Is the coco fiber necessary or no?

I see a lot of people are using a "chow" for their roaches, is there a preferred recipe that works well?

I also currently have all of the adults along with the 200 mixed sizes I received together, but in reading it looks like best choice is to separate adults out from others so they can breed in peace, is this also correct?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

 

[Doublet74]

No, coco fiber isnt necessary. Yes you should get more adult females. 5 to 1 female to male ratio. I would seperate the juvies from adults. I cant help woth the chow question I buy mine.

 

[TeachersPetDragon]

Regarding chow: http://books.google.com/books?id=idUw2mFQuTsC&pg=PT120&lpg=PT120&hl=en

My chow is horrible, so here's the recipe: cat treats (low protein), whole oats, instant cocoa mix, and some honey nut cheerios. I read the honey nut cheerios make the roaches like them better maybe because they are sugary. Anyways, my roaches seem to hate my chow so I did something wrong and definitely need to reformulate. From making a bad batch, my plan for next time is to use actual dog chow and no instant cocoa. Additionally, I made maybe 1/2 cup of chow, but since my chow is bad I now have a LOT of bad chow. If I try a new formula, I would make much less chow like 1/8 cup that way I can see if the roaches like it.

Additionally, I tried feeding them canned dog food. It made the colony stink horrible and they didn't like it. My colony has had like 12 deaths out of the initial 150 I bought and 10 of those deaths occurred when I tried feeding them canned dog food. I threw out the can.

 

[aussiefreak101]

I keep all of my roaches together. The only reason I separate is so I can have a feeding/selling bin so that I'm not constantly reaching into the bin with the females and disturbing them every time I need some babies. The ratio range for people is 5:1-10:1 depending on the size of your colony. For the chow I raid the local Sunflower/Sprouts(health food store) bulk bin. I get flax seeds, sesame seeds, rolled oats, raw almonds, brown sugar, etc...anything that's healthy for them and on sale at that time. I blend it all together into powder and feed. You can also feed ground up quality dog or cat food with rolled oats and perhaps some dried bananas for sweetness. Roaches like sweet so if you can provide that with at least some brown sugar in the mix then they will love it.