Breedin Dubias

Sorry for another thread about breedin feeders but crix stink too much so I'm thinkin about dubias....just need some advice though....

How hard is it firstly?
How long will they take to multiply to a decent amount?
How should they be kept?
What should they be kept in?
And anythin else you think that will be handy to know

kirstxblue said:

Sorry for another thread about breedin feeders but crix stink too much so I'm thinkin about dubias....just need some advice though....

How hard is it firstly? So easy you won't believe it

How long will they take to multiply to a decent amount? depends on how many you start with.and how many you feel off as you go

How should they be kept? Mine are in an aquarium with a heat pad stuck on the bottom and a heat emitter on top. on substrate, just egg crates

What should they be kept in? Your choice, some use rubber made tubs, i use an aquarium.




And anythin else you think that will be handy to know

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They breed like crazy and eat like crazy but they don't stink, and if provided with water, they provide a very nice soft moist food source.

Sorry my aswers are after your questions I forgot to highlight them

They can't climb the inside of a plastic tote so that is ideal. You can cut out the top and put in screen for ventilation. I use a heat lamp to speed reproduction. As far as how long till you can use them as a steady food sorce, well that depends how many you start with and how many mouths you are feeding. I don't supply water but just feed fresh fruits and veg.
I absolutely hate the smell of crickets so these things are the best as far as I'm concerned. Very easy to keep.

Hope this helped a bit.

kirstxblue said:

How hard is it firstly?Easy
How long will they take to multiply to a decent amount?Not long really but it just depends on how many you start with, how much you heat them, how much you feed them, etc. Also if you just start with nymphs it will take a while 6+ mo to get much going
How should they be kept?In a plastic bin with a stack of egg crates
What should they be kept in?
And anythin else you think that will be handy to know They LOVE oranges , If you want more heat them up if you want less cool them down

Click to expand...

answers in orange

Ive been trying to get my colony going....I bought 200 nymphs of various sizes.....now I have males n females but I've been having a prob. with a good deal of die offs.....
I still havent seen any babies. I use heat tape under a tub and feed greens, fruit and cricket crack. I spray the sides once every other day just a little bit, and they seem to really like that. I use a couple of egg crates for hiding.

Any thoughts on how I can improve??

Also, I clean the tub once a month.....am I throwing away the eggs by doing this??

Sorry OP for posting my prob....but figured answers to my prob would help u out to....

Ive raised Lobster roaches without probs, so dont know what Im doin wrong here......

Fearaffect said:

Ive been trying to get my colony going....I bought 200 nymphs of various sizes.....now I have males n females but I've been having a prob. with a good deal of die offs.....
I still havent seen any babies. I use heat tape under a tub and feed greens, fruit and cricket crack. I spray the sides once every other day just a little bit, and they seem to really like that. I use a couple of egg crates for hiding.

Any thoughts on how I can improve??

Also, I clean the tub once a month.....am I throwing away the eggs by doing this??

Sorry OP for posting my prob....but figured answers to my prob would help u out to....

Ive raised Lobster roaches without probs, so dont know what Im doin wrong here......

Click to expand...

I clean my tub every 6mo or so...but every three mo would seem to be enough (they aren't crickets) You might be throwing out small nymphs (they love to live in the frass)but they give live birth so NO you aren't throwing out eggs.

I wouldn't mist them...ever...they drown really easy. In that treat them like crickets...give them moisture in food or water crystals. Repashy makes a good bug water gel that has calcium in it.

I would watch the temps. I don't provide mine with any heat and they are in the room with the chams which is 75 deg day and 68 deg night and my colony can more than keep up with my 5 chams...and they are the preferred food by most.

Ok, Ill clean less then.....
I read somewhere that misting on the sides of the walls was needed so thats why Ive been doing that.
I feed greens, potato, dried apricots, crix crack, oranges, apples and Ive used bran in a little dish a few times.
It gets cold here(no insulation) so I have to use heat....before the heat tape I used a red basking light.....they love the heat tape and are always over the side that has it.
Wasnt sure if live bearers or egg layers(getting old so forget what I read alot of times....) But I put the debris after cleaning n a container incase I missed some......havent seen anything yet.
Thanks for the help!!

Thanks everyone. Def seems like a better option than stinky crix!!
We've only got one veiled, she's about 5 months I think and we've got about 50 roaches. That be good enough to start with??

And that's ok Fear, I'll let u off lol

Thanks everyone!!!!

Oh yeah, I don't know if I have nymphs? Just ordered boxes of medium dubia roaches from an online live food sellin company.... How would I know?

Heres what I got when they arrived.....
These are what the nymphs look like, they havent developed wings/wing stubs yet

Yeah that's what mine look like. So they won't breed until they get older or develop then? Sorry, I'm new to
Roaches!!!

Correct.....its been about 2months since this pic was taken, and since my girl threw her nose up to them.....I havent fed any off.......I now have a number of adults, but Id say I've lost about 20-40 maybe for reasons unknown to me.......

Thas a long time! Ok well gonna give a shot. Thanks for the advice everyone

get one more (atleast) pieces of carton, they're not getting the shelter they thrive off of.

another thing too that i learned from some other dubia handlers:

shred your carrots and mist them very lightly and place them in the container, the less they have to work for their food the bigger they will get and the less calories burned (more fat = higher growth speed)

make them lazy, basically.

also, they will breed alot better with citrus fruit, such as grapefruit oranges and pomegranite.

it doesn't hurt to put in some romaine lettuce or collard/dandelion greens

Another question, sorry.... If it takes so long for the nymphs to grow into adults, I'm assumin we then feed the new nymphs yeah? How long will the adults live and breed?
I've got myself abit confused thinkin it through wiv the nymphs not breedin etc....

The adults live for quite some time and produce 30-40 per month. Feeding the nymphs is the best part because you will always have a feeder that is the correct size for the cham or chams you are currently feeding....I have been giving small nymphs to my 2mo cham.

How long do the adults live for though? When should I start lettin new nymphs grow to breed?

kirstxblue said:

How long do the adults live for though? When should I start lettin new nymphs grow to breed?

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I am pretty sure you are way over thinking this. You should let some of them mature now so you have a steady stream of nymphs. Life span of a Dubia is 1 1/2 to 2 years and depending on who you listen to it takes 2-6mo for them to grow to breeding age. But they are sexable from the beginning. In general you want a 5:1 F:M ratio so if you want you can save out the ones you want to breed. Personally I just bought a BUNCH of small nymphs and have never worried about it. I have always had enough to feed, breed, whatever. I don't sex the ones I feed off. I will feed of males if anyone takes them but my wife will not even look at the males so nymphs are mostly what gets fed off. I think I started with 1000 small nymphs and by small I mean many were 1/4"-1/2".

Lol you're probably right....
How do you tell male n female??

males have short wings, females have wings that cover their entire body

roaches live up to 2 years and stop breeding after that