Turks vs Dubias... Who Wins?

[DeweysMom]

First let me say that I'm not getting sick of crickets. I haven't had any of the issues that most people complain about and Dewey goes nutso for them so we're both happy with them. I don't know why, but I feel the need to defend the little buggers. :lol:

Now that that's out of the way...

I'm thinking about starting a roach colony, if nothing else just to give Dewey a bit of variety and of course the fact that it'll save me money in the end is very appealing as well. I also understand that roaches are more nutritious, which to me outweighs all of the other benefits. However, I'm a little worried about it because the thought of running a heating pad non stop is prett scary to me. House fires have always been a HUGE fear of mine so this makes me nervous as all heck. Do any of you use a black light or heat emitter to keep the bin warm? I don't know that that route would be any safer though. Any thoughts?

I was also hoping to get your personal opinions between the 2 most popular roaches; Turks and Dubias. From what I've read so far Turks breed faster, but they're also faster themselves. I also read in some places that they can't climb the sides of a bin, but other spots say they can. I'm a little confused on these guys. Dubias I've read quite a bit on and I've also see videos on Youtube so I have a good idea on what to expect with them.

Who here has experience with both roaches and can you share the pros and cons for each and which one you'd prefer? One last question, is one or the other more nutritional as a food source?

 

[clear]

If the inside of the bin is not slick then yea turks can climb. Lateralis also have more of an odor than dubia. If I had to pick and had less than 3 dragons I would go with dubia.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Dubias all the way! :wink:

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

I feed 3 dragons with 1 bin of dubias and the occasional hornworms. They rule and cant climb a rubbermaid bin. Ez to feed too. Baby carrots oranges bananas and roachfeed/dog food(crushed). Oh and they dont smell at all.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks guys... looks like Dubias would be the way to go.

What do you use to heat the bin? I know there are a zillion threads on this topic with the majority of people using heating pads, but I'm paranoid as all heck with that idea. I don't know that I'll ever be able to convince myself that it's safe. Any different methods?

 

[Twobeardieguy]

You can use heat tape which is the same concept as the pad but you can run that on the sides. You can also use a light up top. But a heating pad is ideal. Also just to make sure you don't have any escape you can run a strip of clear packing tape around the top of the bin because sometimes you can have a stray baby climb the sides. Good luck...

 

[reptilianboy831]

The non-stop heating pad has worked for me, no fires and its been on for a year. I do have it upraised on 2 2x4s with them stuck to the bottom.

 

[romanfj]

Turks can climb the inside of a Rubbermaid bin. They can't climb the inside of a Sterilite bin with a 5 inch strip of Vaseline smeared all over.

Dubia can't climb out of either bin.

Neither is more nutritious than the other.

Turks are probably the most prolific feeder roach there is and can eat anything you can. I've had my dubia 2 months longer than my Turks and still no dubia population explosion, but I have tons of Turks.

Thing is, while a beardie is young and small, the fast-moving Turks are great for stimulating a hunt/eat response. As your dragon gets older and bigger, he/she will want more meat per bite and I'd recommend a larger roach (dubia) for that life stage.

What kind of heating system does your house have? If you have a furnace room or a small boiler room that's always a little warm, just put the bug bin close to the heater. No chance of fire, unless your house's central heating system goes up.

I have an unfinished, unheated basement, so I put mine on my back porch and turn on a $15 forced air electric space heater I got for $15 at Wal-Mart to make the porch warmer than the rest of the house.

Frank

 

[glenCOCO]

Turks can climb the inside of a Rubbermaid bin. They can't climb the inside of a Sterilite bin with a 5 inch strip of Vaseline smeared all over.

Aren't Rubbermaid and Sterilite bins the same exact thing? So any of the two would work if you applied Vaseline.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Actually dubia nymphs can climb! So a strip of packing tape around the inside of the bin is plenty! Vaseline is messy and it runs and you need to keep applying it so I just use the packing tape. :wink:

 

[romanfj]

Rubbermaid and Sterilite bins, in fact, are NOT the same. Rubbermaid plastic has more texture to it even though both feel smooth to a human (took samples to work and checked uder the microscope).

I should be clear that I am seaking about the semi-transparent Sterilite bins. That's all they sell here, so I don't know if they make opaque, colored ones like Rubbermaid.

Further, the semi-transparent Sterilites ar emade of a different polymer than the colored, opaque Rubbermaid bins.

Frank

 

[romanfj]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason I found al this out is that I had a steady stream of Turks running right out of my Rubbermaid bins regardless of how muh Vaseline was applied. I literally lost hundreds of bugs.

Frank