Starting a dubia colony help me please =)

[DragonLuver211]

SUPER SUPER SUPER nervous but I would like to start a dubia colony. They just kinda creep me out! :shock: If anyone could give some pointers or point me to a thread on this that would be awesome!!!!!! I have a 5 month old rescue who's small and currently breaking the bank on crickets! Thank you Thank you

 

[KDK241]

They creeped me out at first but you get used to them pretty quickly. I use feeding tongs for mine though, I refuse to touch them.

Get a rubber storage bin and cut a hole in the lid and cover with window screening. I only have about 1/8 of my lid screened over to help keep the humidity in. I used hot glue to attach my screening and also put a strip of packing tape around the inside of the bin about 4" from the top. I have cardboard that I glued together in there along with a dish for water crystals and I put the food on the bottom of the bin. I use an under tank heater for mine but you can use a regular heating pad as long as it doesn't have an automatic shutoff. They do best at around 85-90*. Every 2 days I check on them and replenish the food/water crystals.

If you are planning on feeding off of them right away then order as many as you possibly can. They take about 4 months to really get going and the more the better. You should also have a separate bin or container for the feeders to avoid stressing them out if you have to go into the bin to catch some every day.

For food I made roach chow that they don't like (I found something that roaches won't eat, lol) and I give them fish food, ground up dog food, oranges, and the veggies leftover from the beardies' salads. I'll throw a piece of bread in there once every couple weeks too and they go crazy for it.

 

[DragonLuver211]

Awesome! Thanks for the help! I found someone selling a starter kit with 20females 10 males and 100nymphs in my area for $35 good deal? Also how bigof a tub do you use? I have a 10gal an a shallow one that is 1 1/2 foot by 2 1/2 foot long maybe 6inches tall could I use this?

 

[KDK241]

I have my breeder colony in a 20 gallon bin and the feeders in a 10 gallon bin. I could honestly have put all 400 in the 10 gallon bin and not had a problem at all so the 10 gallon should be good. The short bin won't work very well. They can't climb very well but they can climb a little and the males can fly short distances. I've never seen mine fly but when the tape for my thermostat came undone on the inside of the lid there were 4 males stuck to it and they only way they could have gotten up there was by flying. The males freak me out so much more than the females :shock: The babies can climb very well, that's what the packing tape is for. If you are going to use the shorter one I would use it for feeders and just pick any babies out that happen to be born in there.

I got mine local and got 400 mixed sizes for $55. I'd look in the for sale section on here and compare some prices. I haven't ordered any yet so I'm not really sure about prices but I do know that adults can go anywhere from 50 cents - $2 each. The more adults you start with the better. Out of my 400 I got I put about 300 in the breeder bin and 100 in the feeder bin and those 100 lasted about 3 weeks before I had to go into the breeder bin. Now I have a bunch of nymphs but none large enough to feed so I have had to start feeding off adults

 

[Flynnthedragon]

Well not much to add since the other person has said most of it haha. But You will get used to them VERY fast. I refused to touch them as well and a few days later i was sticking my hand in there and touching the adults and everything. They really arn't that bad. Unlike discoids they dont bite. Yes discoids bite dont argue with me people! mine did anyways. And i have a 35 gal sterilit bin and it was kinda to big.. Dont get anything bigger then a 35 gal bin. Even huge colonys wont need that much space lol. You want something that is pretty tall my bin is maybe.. almost 2 feet deep and i have a strip of packing tape around the top to keep the lil babies from climbing out. The only ones that can climb are the babies unless the plastic is smooth or if you have a glass tank but clear packing tape works wonders and i have had 0 escapees. Look on craigslist. I bought my second colony from a guy on there for 120$ or so and it had a lot of adults and nymphs. Right now i probaboly have 150 females so every time i look theres new ones. The more you can get the better. The only problem is Dubia grow super slow.. 4-6 months depending on the temp in the bin. Mine rarely drops below 80 and i am just not starting to get sub adults after a few months of having nothing but small babies and adults. Also look in the for sale section on the forum. A lot of members sell dubias and you might be able to find good priced ones. But other then the slow growth they are super easy. just make sure there is food and water crystals in there and temps are above 80 and they will breed like crazy

 

[Mariah94]

Dubia are so easy to take care of, and imo are much better for your beardie. for feeding them, just remember that whatever you feed them, your beardie will be eating as well. Other than that, everything else seems to be covered. I am still yucked out by them, and some people say it's better to seperate the nymphs from the adults, but overall very easy and I can let the baby nymphs crawel on me now problem. Haven't gotten around to the older ones...they still make me jump and my bearde can't eat them yet so I'll just leave them be :wink:

 

[Flynnthedragon]

I heard seperating all nymphs stresses the females out? Anyways What i did was put maybe half of all the nymphs in a small feeding bin. That way i didnt have to keep picking them out from around the adults and what not. It is a lot easier that way but they grew even slower even though the temps were hotter =\ so i dunno what was up lol. I have them all in the breeding bin and they seem to be growing faster, im just so confused lol!
If you just put a female since they are slower then the males you might be less creeped out by em thats how i got used to them, they just kept latching on my hand and finally got used to them lol.

 

[DragonLuver211]

Thanks so much for all the help! I'm def hoping to get started soon! I'd like to get some more beardies in the furture and I know hubby wont approve at another almost $100 a month I spend in crickets right now haha!

 

[DragonLuver211]

Just found a great deal on ebay actually 23adult females 10 Adult males plus 100mixed nymphs for $25.00 great reviews I'm thinking I'm buying =)

 

[KDK241]

They have them on amazon too

 

[mudskipper]

I wear rubber gloves when I change their food or touch their egg crates. I also use rubber tipped tongs to catch them. Hehe.. I actually have never touched one barehanded!

 

[DragonLuver211]

Ahh I love amazon Ill have to check that out. And rubber gloves good idea!

 

[Flynnthedragon]

Just wanna point out one thing about why gloves can be bad. If you use them to touch them there will ost likely be some escapee's because you wont beable to feel them on your hand, As long as you are cautious and tripple check before taking ur hand out of the bin it will be fine. Cleaning the tub with gloves IS a good idea though, Their messes do smell but its nothing like crickets