Starting a roach colony?

[Monotov]

Hello, my boyfriend and i are finally starting a roach colony!

We ordered: 200 nymphs, 3/8
2M 10F

I've heard using a human heating pad is the best to get them going and I also know can't start feeding heavily just yet..
I've got 6 gallons of water crystals, plenty of fruits and veggies, and some premium cricket food (if they can eat that?)
I've got the egg crates stacked and their colony ready.

Did I order enough? should I have had more females and males? If so I can always order more, I'd like to know so I can get this colony going and to have some very happy dragons!

 

[midmichicer]

You don't have enough adults unless you plan on letting your colony sit for a few months. A female only lays about 30 babies a month. My two beardies can eat 300 in a day.

 

[MissT]

Agreed. I was told I needed a minimum of 30 females per dragon and even then to let the colony sit for 1 month before feeding.

 

[Monotov]

Okay so my dubias came in today, all of the males and females were alive along with the 200 that I ordered. when will they start breeding? I'd like to get this going asap, though I have read that it takes months.

 

[kjinxx2]

You're probably going to have to wait at least 4 months with that amount of roaches to even consider feeding out of it as a sole source of food. The babies don't grow into adults very quickly so it takes a while to get one generation to adulthood.

 

[midmichicer]

From new born to adult it takes roughly 4 months, plus time to get gravid and lay new babies.

 

[Pixall]

DO NOT GIVE ANY TO YOUR DRAGON. I made the newbie mistake of 'trying them' when I first got my starter colony to see if my dragons even liked dubias. BIIIG mistake. My baby now REFUSES to eat crickets so I am in quite a predicament as my colony cannot fully support her yet. My older baby is a pig(thank God) and will eat anything and everything.

 

[midmichicer]

I agree, none of mine will eat anything except dubia now. They are like candy to a baby.

 

[Monotov]

Either I got lucky or something else, there are already newborns in my colony??? There are roughly so far I've counted about 10-15 little teeny tiny babies, they are almost not visible, and I can't imagine this is a 3 day process, or these little things are an invader??? There is a bunch of them and they are super tiny, they almost dont look like roaches, should i separate them?

 

[Monotov]

Iam sucha noob to roaches.. lol whatdo newborns even look like? Having a hard time finding pictures

 

[MrWhite]

they look like little rolli-pollie beetles. you know, the grey armadillo beetles you find under a rock or log when you roll it over. they are about 1/4 inch long.

I hope this helps,
Larry

 

[Pixall]

What he said.

Pictures? They will help us determine if they are in fact roach babies.

 

[midmichicer]

Either I got lucky or something else, there are already newborns in my colony??? There are roughly so far I've counted about 10-15 little teeny tiny babies, they are almost not visible, and I can't imagine this is a 3 day process, or these little things are an invader??? There is a bunch of them and they are super tiny, they almost dont look like roaches, should i separate them?

Your females probably came gravid from the source. Most do. When babies are first born, they are pure white then shed like crazy and turn the greyish brown color.

 

[Monotov]

Oh okay. Right now they are pretty much pure white but got some light tanish color, along with tiny little antennas from their head, i wouldn't say they pinheads like crickets but that are just a LITTLE bit bigger than pinheads.

 

[Monotov]

The more I looked at them I realized that they are definitely pinhead crickets.. I'll take some photos when I can get the chance, I wonder how they ended up in my colony?? Has anyone ever received crickets with their dubia order?