Start a dubia colony?

[LemonyFresh]

So, now that I've convinced the lady that crix are infinitely more gross than dubias (its better not to call them roaches )......is it even worth it to start a colony for a single beardie? Especially since it would take 3-5 months to establish a "profitable" colony....unless I start with close to 100 adults (1:4 M:F).

The other side of the decision is buying dubias in bulk...since she's now eating close to 60 little ones a day (sometimes more).

Looking for some input from those in similar situation and/or anyone that has set up colonies.

 

[Doublet74]

I only have one beardie and I have a dubia colony. A colony does take a couple of months to establish itself. However once it does it takes off fast. When I started mine I had 40 females and 10 males and 1000 nymphs. 1 female gives birth to about 30 babies every 30 days. My dragon is getting bigger so I usually just feed off the extra males. However depending on the company you buy from. Most will buy any extra that you have. I guess answering your question is tough. I also have other reptiles that eat dubia so for me it makes sense to have a colony. Your dragon will always eat dubia. Even as an adult although substantially less as it gets older. So I guess it comes down to whether or not you have other reptiles or plan to get more or sell dubia that you won't be able to feed off.

 

[LemonyFresh]

Hmm, I hadn't actually considered selling off the excess. There aren't any pet stores in our area, that I'm aware of, that sell dubias so it may be a viable venture. That being said, once she grows up (not really sure when they're considered grown up 1-2y?) she won't be eating nearly enough to put a dent into an established colony and I would be sitting on a tote of roaches. Though suppose I could always sell the colony....

Ahh decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

[FishboneNC]

I made the decision to keep a colony.

Mine was 6 months old when I decided. I figured he's going to eat like this for another 6 months, then taper off, but still need roaches.

I asked myself:

Do I want to keep ordering shipments every week or two? I had an order delayed a day and 1/3 died.
Can I afford that? Mine was eating about $30 or $40 worth of roaches a week! With the 1/3 dead shipment, I had to run to Pet Smart and buy crickets....Mine will eat 3 crickets to 1 roach...of equal size, crickets are less filling and die easily!
As he gets bigger, I'll have to buy bigger roaches!...Which are more expensive!

It was an easy decision after I did the math!
If I'm going to be a 'beardie slave' I'm not going to go broke doing it!

The colony size is determined by how much your beardie eats.
I started with around 100 adults (5f:1m)...nymphs the first month, cleaned/harvested the second month, over 1200 nymphs, (I leave 10% of the nymphs to grow into future adult/breeders) they'll be feeder size in a few weeks.

So, in 3 months I'm 'almost' self sustainable!
After the initial cost, to keep around 2000, "Dubs", it cost a 1/2 cup of Purina dog food, a 1/2 cup of Science Blend high protein dog food, a 1/2 cup of cat food, (I have dogs and cats too) 4 little bags of instant oatmeal, around 16 oranges, some water crystals and electric for the heating pads....A MONTH!!

I recently found a deal on Craigs List and started a second colony of over 600 (I have to determain the sex ratio)
Now I'm a Dubia Farmer!
The excess will be sold on Craigs List, to friends with reptiles or feed for the Guinea hens!

 

[LemonyFresh]

I think I'll wait a month, just ordered 1000 more feeders, and see how her eating develops. If she keeps increasing like she has so far, I'll start a farm.

Also, about harvesting... How exactly do you go about doing it? Don't they get disturbed and that messes with the breeding? Is there any "easy" way to separate the feeders from the colony?

 

[Soulwind]

You want to "disturb" the breeding colony as little as possible.

Yes, the females will sometimes drop the egg case when they get scared, but
you have to really mess with them a lot before this happens, most of the time.

What I do, is to keep a "breeding bin" and a "feeding bin". Then I seperate out
a month or two of feeders into the feeding bin, so I'm only messing with the
breeding bin (other than food/water/etc which is seperated from the egg cartons)
once every 4-5 weeks.

With a smaller colony you can easily go several (I've seen reports of 6+ but I think
that's pushing it a bit) months without needing to move everyone out of the bin
for a good cleaning.

For seperating/sorting the feeders, nothing really beats the "drill holes of the right size
into a bucket and shake them through it" method.

 

[FishboneNC]

I think I'll wait a month, just ordered 1000 more feeders, and see how her eating develops. If she keeps increasing like she has so far, I'll start a farm.

Also, about harvesting... How exactly do you go about doing it? Don't they get disturbed and that messes with the breeding? Is there any "easy" way to separate the feeders from the colony?

I do similar as to what Soul does.
This came up the other day, it might help, I got most of the idea after searching You Tube, then modified it to suit me.

viewtopic.php?f=76&t=183937

Lots of videos on You Tube, they all harvest/clean almost the same way.

 

[Hynstyle68]

You want to "disturb" the breeding colony as little as possible.

Yes, the females will sometimes drop the egg case when they get scared, but
you have to really mess with them a lot before this happens, most of the time.

What I do, is to keep a "breeding bin" and a "feeding bin". Then I seperate out
a month or two of feeders into the feeding bin, so I'm only messing with the
breeding bin (other than food/water/etc which is seperated from the egg cartons)
once every 4-5 weeks.

With a smaller colony you can easily go several (I've seen reports of 6+ but I think
that's pushing it a bit) months without needing to move everyone out of the bin
for a good cleaning.

For seperating/sorting the feeders, nothing really beats the "drill holes of the right size
into a bucket and shake them through it" method.

how do you sort the feeders out.

 

[unkempt1]

To sort you have two buckets. One with no holes, and the other with holes one size down from the size of the feeder roach you want (example: if you want half-inch roaches or smaller, drill 1/4 inch holes). Then you put the bucket with holes on top of the one without holes. Then dump the thousands of roaches you have inside the top bucket.

Now give it a couple shakes. Viola! Easy separating. My advice would to search on YouTube if you want to see it in action.

 

[BomaniTheDragon]

To sort you have two buckets. One with no holes, and the other with holes one size down from the size of the feeder roach you want (example: if you want half-inch roaches or smaller, drill 1/4 inch holes). Then you put the bucket with holes on top of the one without holes. Then dump the thousands of roaches you have inside the top bucket.

Now give it a couple shakes. Viola! Easy separating. My advice would to search on YouTube if you want to see it in action.

Yes there are a few good videos that show this easy method. This method is another great way to clean out the bins as well.