lynne2062":2q7zp8i2 said:
have you ever had some escape? thats a worry for me....And my boy friend is not thrilled about roaches in the house..
I have had escapes with my colony.
1) I dropped the "feeder bin" once while it was open.
2) My cat got into the back room and knocked out the mesh cover giving them
a ramp up from the egg crates to freedom.
In case #1, I got them all pretty easily as I was right there. I know I did miss a few as I found a couple of dead nymphs about 3 days later.
In case #2, I didn't notice for a couple of days (until I went into the back room to check on the buggies and give them more chow). I had adult males EVERYWHERE in the back room. Strangely it was only the adult males that made a run for it, the nymphs and females stayed in the bin.
Fortunately, well over 90% of the adult males escapee's were already dead or so near death as to not matter. I did find a few that lived long enough to get out into the main house, but died shortly thereafter.
Dubia are a tropical species, so unless your house has a tropical environment, they really can't live very well. They also need a good source of food and moisture, so if your house is clean, that's another strike against them. Also, they are a very slow growing species. It takes upwards of 6 months to go from baby to breeder, and the odds of enough surviving long enough to actually establish a "free" colony is very low.
You are much more likely to get an infestation of escaped crickets than escaped Dubia.