Talked into Dubia...Help..

[Megatron]

My girlfriend and I went down to the Tinley Park Reptile Show in Illinois over the weekend.
From there I was convinced into buying a buch of breeders Dubia's and was told about the whole "once they start, you should be ok".

Here is my set up:
- About a 30gallon tote with a square cut in the lid, screen around that.
- 3 egg carton sheets
- Cheap cat watering thing. Put the water gel cubes in the opening, under that I put a wash cloth to slow the amount of water being used and then filled the water jug. It lets enough water down but not enough to make it too watery.
- As for food, I threw some left over patato skins my girlfriend had in the fridge for a week from Fridays.
- I have a light on then for 12hrs a day

I wanted to let them breed a little before I started to feed them to my beardie, so my question to you all is this:

What, if anything else do I need to do for them?
What can they eat..? I was told nothing with salt, pepper or spicy sauses..

Im completely new to roaches and wanted to get on the right start.

Cheers,
PB

 

[ziggy23]

I use peanut butter lids for food and water dishes. For water i use water crystals, for food I use dog food, dragon pellets, and throw in some veggies once or twice a week. I check on them every day or so and make sure they have food and water and to take out uneaten veggies. I think I have 8 egg crates lined up vertically. I currently don't use additional heating because my apartment is pretty warm right now due to nearly non-existent ac. And that's it.

I think they can eat pretty much anything, but it's best to feed them healthy food. The healthier the more they're grow and reproduce, and the healthier the food they'll make for the dragons. You have to watch out for mold with fresh food though. it can wipe out your entire colony.

 

[Megatron]

The girlfriend and I have turned what was once our 'office' in our apartment, into a reptile room, so I think it is on average 80 degrees throught the day, if not warmer, and then its probably around 70 degrees at night.

I have the small cat water dispenser with water/water crystals and for now, potatoes. I am going to the store later when I get out of work to pick up some veggies for Megatron and for the Dubia. Also plan to get a shallow big tote for him to swim/poop. Try to get him used to water. We shall see what happens.

I probably have a while before I start seeing babie, huh??

 

[Honda99300ex]

I would deffinately go with healthier food, like the previous person said, dog or cat food ground up, I throw in some fish food too, and plain bran cereal. Maybe try some oranges, squash or zucchini, carrots, and even greens, my colony loves all those.Your heat sounds ok, but if you could get it upper 80's or low 90's you would probably see more/faster reproduction.

 

[Megatron]

Ok, cool. Thanks for the shopping list. You ground up the dog/cat food, do you do the same thing for the regular bran cereal?? Something like Chereos? (Spelling)

I will def. get them on a healthy diet asap. I want to eventually get a big colony going, but it is only feeding 1 BD right now, may get another one over the winter.

-PB-

 

[Honda99300ex]

Ya, I just use an old blender and grind it into a powder almost haha. I use an actual cereal called bran, but I do throw in a little cheerios lol.

 

[Paradon]

Veggies and fruits are really good for them, though.... The gut flora get food by breaking down the plant cell wall, which is called cellulose, and thus, providing the roaches with the necessary sugar and nutrients they need to survive. It's a symbiotic relation between the microbes, that live in the roach's gut, and the roaches themselves. We have our own gut flora, too. If we eat food that promote our gut flora we can digest food better and feel better. Veggies and fruits really make the gut flora in the roaches thrive....

 

[techdave]

So your looking a while before you can start feeding them off. Once the roach gets pregnant, it's a month until the egg sac is ready, then it gets transferred to another "pouch" for incubation for another month. Then she will have live birth and it will take about 4 months until the baby is an adult. You won't want to feed any off until the second generation has babies. Then you 're pretty much set. I know it sounds like a long time , but it is totally worth it. You won't have to buy stupid crix and they are ALOT healthier for the beardie.

For feeding them, oranges seem to act like an aphrodisiac. They need a high protein diet or they will start to munch on each other. Check out theroachranch.com Ian has a great faq sheet on there.

 

[Megatron]

Check out theroachranch.com Ian has a great faq sheet on there.

How come it seems that every site I go to, all their Dubia's are "Out of Stock" or "Not Available". I wanted to pick some up from Ian, but everything other than the XS Nymphs are Out Of Stock.

I figured, since you mentioned I had a while before they started to multiply, I would pick up 100-200 more and just wait a few months to see what I got. But seems that everyone is sold out.

Any good sites to get them from?? I like Ian's because of his guarantees and free shipping..Pretty sweet if you ask me!

Not to mention, I opened up my cricket can (plastic 30gal trash can), and OMG, ,I can not wait to get them out, I am so sick of that smell. UGH!

So if anyone has any good sites, please let me know. I am from Michigan, if that matters, but wanted to order before weather gets any colder. Thanks all.

 

[nair88]

i got mine from marcus at af exotics - http://afexotics.weebly.com/available-feeders.html he's great to work with, but he does have a limited supply. the cool thing is that he posts up new availabilities every monday. just out of curiosity, where in michigan are you?

 

[Megatron]

Ok, I will def check that out when I get out of my cubical. Hah.

I am from Allen Park but recently moved to Canton.
Are you in Michigan too??

 

[geckoboy3]

Before you do, check out roachesrus on this forum.... He's the cheapest, has an overcount, and will match any price :mrgreen:

 

[nair88]

I am from Allen Park but recently moved to Canton.
Are you in Michigan too??

that's cool. i'm over in the battle creek area. it's too bad i don't already have a well established colony, we could have just met half way and i'd give you some of mine. unfortunately though, i just started mine about a month ago.

 

[Megatron]

For sure, that would of been cool. How big is your colony??

I only have about 20/20 Male to Female ratio; and about 30 to 40 small to medium Nymphs.

I was iffy about the whole roach thing and the guy at the Reptile Show basically took the breeder contair he was going sell me for 10$ and scooped another 60 or so into it and sold it to me for 20$, basically a "Colony Starter Pack".

I've got a nice little colony going, but would like to get more breeders and get the ball rolling...

Offer could still stand, like if you need more males or females when I get "established" or visa-versa, could help eachother out. Or even to save money on ordering more, buy a bigger bulk to save money and split. Options... :mrgreen:

 

[nair88]

i started with 10 adult males, 20 adult females, and about 600 mixed nymphs. i haven't really counted since then - i've been leaving them alone for the most part. but i have seen some babies and i do know i have a lot more adults than i started with. i figured that i would wait at least until december before i start feeding off of it.

but yeah, definitely down the road, we might even want to consider trading off some of the roaches at some point. seems like it would be a good idea to add some new blood to the colony every so often just to keep them from becoming overly inbred.