When I first got my dragon (about three months old, nine inches), I ordered 500 mixed dubia and 160 small to get my colony started. At first, he picked at them and I was scared he didn't like them.
Now, however, he LOVES them. I only give him about five a day (he also gets as many crickets as he wants, I'm not a monster ) But I'm pretty sure he would like more and I would love the roaches to be my main feeders. They are so much better than crickets so far!
The good news is, my dragon is too small to eat the biggest dubia. So they're safe. I'm thinking of ordering 1000 small to medium dubia in the mean time while I wait for mine to breed.
Does this sound like an okay plan? I hate spending so much on bugs but he loves them so much and honestly, I do too!
That is pretty much what I did. I started with some adults, hoping they would be able to produce fast enough to keep the feeders going. 100 females were producing just enough, but it was requiring me to go into my breeder bin every couple days. Which was causing dropped egg sacks and slowing production. I was getting just enough to get by. I purchased 1000 small, put a bunch in a smaller feeder bin and the rest in the breeder bin. He eats 8 small at a time twice a day. I can put 20 of them in the bowl and he will stop at 8 pretty much every time and head to his basking spot. I now have so many roaches in the breeder bin of different sizes, that it should be pretty self sufficient.