Ran out of babies...

[Rob461]

So I have have my dubia colony for about 2 months now, and the girl I got it from (found her on here) had it for I am guessing at least a few months, it was a pretty nice colony when I started, but the problem is, it is dwindling at a rapid rate! I am basically out of small enough roaches to feed my dragon (around 8 inches)... the problem I have is I have NEVER seen a preggo roach. No egg sacks or anything... any ideas on what could be causing this problem?

My temp stays around 87, and my humidity around 55%. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[BlueDevil]

Hello!

I'm by no means a roach expert but my colony that I started several months ago and just started feeding off has been doing really well. I see tons of babies running around all the time. Perhaps you could post up some pics of the inside and outside of your setup to maybe give us a visual idea of how everything is set up and controlled. My roach bin consists of a solid colour Rubbermaid tub (it's a 20 or 22 gal tub, can't remember the exact size?) filled with egg crates, water crystals and cricket food (I use Fluker's cricket diet but have mixed in ground up cat food as well). They really like the fresh fruits and vegetables, I usually have pears or apples or oranges with carrots supplied all the time. My bin is heated with a human heating pad controlled with a HerpStat Pro thermostat set to 90 degrees. I made a short YouTube video awhile ago of my bin you can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvjJT6LcJ_8

Hope that gets you started!

 

[clear]

What do you think a prego roach looks like? I rarely ever see egg sacks, which is a good thing. The only time you should see a sack is when they are rotating it. New born roaches typically darken within a few hours so unless you are there at the right time you wont see them either.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

If you look at a non pregnant female she will have a thin trunk in the back half of her body. Then if you compare a pregnant female she will have an oval shaped rear section. It will look fatter and you should be able to tell. Hope this helps..

 

[Rob461]

Ah so there are some roaches that are having babies, I thought they all carried around the egg sack... well in that case I guess I am just gonna have to refortify it.

My set up is just like yours, 22gal solid color bin, with 5-6 egg crates, water crystals, and some roach chow from one of the online websites. Herman does eat about 100 a day sometimes, so I guess it would dwindle fast.

Also, I feed them some fresh veggies every 2-3 days. I cut up an orange yesterday and threw it in there, hope it makes them get nasty fasty.

 

[Stycim]

I'd suggest getting a separate, smaller, feeder bin. Now my big ones are left to do their thing without the stress of me getting in there 2-3 times a day and messing things up. Now I just check on them every other day or so to replenish food/crystals. I've been doing this about a month....and yesterday I noticed lots and lots of babies!!!! I *know* there were none that small when I put them in there.

 

[clear]

If you look at a non pregnant female she will have a thin trunk in the back half of her body. Then if you compare a pregnant female she will have an oval shaped rear section. It will look fatter and you should be able to tell. Hope this helps..

I have to disagree. I have been raising roaches for many years and the only way you can 100% tell if a female is pregnant is if you watch her rotate the sack or she is giving birth.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

If you look at a non pregnant female she will have a thin trunk in the back half of her body. Then if you compare a pregnant female she will have an oval shaped rear section. It will look fatter and you should be able to tell. Hope this helps..

I have to disagree. I have been raising roaches for many years and the only way you can 100% tell if a female is pregnant is if you watch her rotate the sack or she is giving birth.

I also have to agree and disagree with you. Respectfully! Yes one way of telling is by seeing the sac. As I to have been raising them for many of years, if you look or feel the tail section you can feel the sack their. A female that has no sack the tail section will look thinner and you are able to squeeze the tail almost flat. When their is a sack in their you cannot squeeze the tail section flat. Also take note when a female has a sac in their if you lift her up you can see a white part around the vent. The white gunk that squirts out or being pressed out is the fat body. Like fat in humans, it stores energy. It also breaks down nutrients to provide energy, make room for an egg sac and helps treat or detoxify insecticides that may be sprayed on the roach and if their is an egg sac formed. Hope this helps....

 

[Rob461]

I'd suggest getting a separate, smaller, feeder bin. Now my big ones are left to do their thing without the stress of me getting in there 2-3 times a day and messing things up. Now I just check on them every other day or so to replenish food/crystals. I've been doing this about a month....and yesterday I noticed lots and lots of babies!!!! I *know* there were none that small when I put them in there.

Yeah I do this, I keep enough for a few days in the Cricket Keeper thing we got at first. It works well.

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Rob, I think your going to need to add more nymphs to your bins. Order a couple hundred smalls to boost your numbers up a bit.

And as for telling if a female is prego or not, well I asked Lance (Twobeardieguy) this question a while back and you can tell if you check them as he suggests. Also here's a link to his thread about dubia females/egg sacks that answers tons of these types of questions that you might find useful. viewtopic.php?f=76&t=116814 He's had roach colonies for years and done a lot of research so he can definately answer all your questions and offer solid advice for your colony.
Good luck!