Round dubias?

So I started my dubia colony in the beginning of May this year (30) females (10) males bought from a local breeder. They are gut loaded with bug buffet and mix fruits and Veggies (kale, sweet potato, apples, pears yada yada) and today I found a couple round females running around. Very short and very little meat compared to the females I started out with. So from my reading they say this is from inbreeding. Is this my problem? Should I get another (30) females and (10) males to throw in my colony? Should I toss all the weird shaped ones?

Normal shaped female


Round thin female


Anyone have this problem?

The round ones are fine my Cham ate them just the same

How certain is it that inbreeding is at fault?

Just wondering as I've seen this appear and then disappear in the same colony later on. I attributed it at the time to diet or perhaps some trigger causing rapid (early) maturity (lack of moisture maybe I guessed at the time)...

Certainly selective breeding (feeding off the wierd ones to the lizards) wouldn't hurt anything and might correct the problem over time.

I'm not 100% its from inbreeding, that's why I'm here but from everything I read that's what it points at. I don't have anything big enough to eat the big ones and they got way less meat to them. Very flat and thin compared to the others.

I at times notice similar rounds discoids in mine feeder bin. I clean out my breeder bin about once a month to remove nymphs into the grow / feeder bin. I don't know this as fAct but I think it may just be a phase of their growing cycle. Neither my male or female tell me they taste any different. It's kind of like going to Taco Bell. It's the exact same stuff on the inside just in a different wrapper.

I think these are the older females that are done breeding. These are the only ones I find dead. I just think its old age.

ponders said:

I think these are the older females that are done breeding. These are the only ones I find dead. I just think its old age.

Click to expand...

+1 on that. The fat ones are full of eggs. The thin ones are not.

The ones I'm referring to are only about the size of a nickel. Most sizes are the shape of a football except when they're about this size and the much flatter and almost totally round. These are about 1/2" - 5/8". Then it's all football shaped with plump bellies again when they about 3/4" to 1".

Maybe I'm also experiencing something else with my discoids.

So your telling me that if I separate these out they will either die of old age or plump back up when they fill with more baby's and look completely normal?

I thought of one other thing that I considered when finding these in the past and that was too much heat. Stress of any kind will cause some animals to mature at a faster than normal rate- could be lack of moisture, too much heat, bad nutrition etc, resulting in smaller size and faster maturity...

I think you are just looking at younger ones.