Not sure but I think my dubia s are producing babies

[Lindasjackson]

I added a small heat mat to the side of my dubia roach bin about 2 months ago. I checked to see how many large females and males I had and I had at least 3-4 large females but I couldn’t identify any males that looked like the pictures of males I’ve seen. I haven’t bought any roaches in a couple months but I have some very small roaches in my bin so there must be a male in there somewhere! Is this possible?

 

[MissSkittles]

Sounds like at least one man snuck in with the ladies.

 

[jamest0o0]

Can you show pictures? Males are very obvious and they cannot breed without being adults.

 

[Lindasjackson]

Males have wings that cover their backs where as females only have short wings, correct? Also males look more long and slender where as the females are wider I think. I’m going to look again tomorrow but I don’t remember seeing any males. I could be wrong though. I don’t know where the small roaches are coming from if they aren’t breeding.

 

[jamest0o0]

Males have wings that cover their backs where as females only have short wings, correct? Also males look more long and slender where as the females are wider I think. I’m going to look again tomorrow but I don’t remember seeing any males. I could be wrong though. I don’t know where the small roaches are coming from if they aren’t breeding.

Yeah the females are generally larger, tiny wings, you can’t even tell they’re wings. Males have large obvious wings that make them look like they could fly with ease. Maybe they just accidentally sent some small nymphs in your order? And are you sure they’re not cleaner beetles or something, or are they definitely roach nymphs? Are there any adult females? Maybe they came to you after breeding prior to shipment?

 

[Sonny13]

Mine are dropping. I keep them on top of the enclosure which gives good heat on the bottom, same as your heat mat. Here’s one dropping eggs….

 

[Lindasjackson]

I thought they incubated the eggs inside themselves. No I definitely haven’t gotten any adult females in my shipments in the last few months but I’ve had some th@t have been maturing by accident in my bin. They are adult females now. Too big for my cham to eat. I don’t know but it sure seems like one of them had to have had babies somehow. There must have been males in there as well because how could they have shipped me only females Unless I asked for them which I didn’t.

 

[Lindasjackson]

So where do they lay their eggs? In the frass?

 

[MissSkittles]

So where do they lay their eggs? In the frass?

I had to look it up, but they grow the babies inside of themselves and then birth them. My discoid do the same and only once have I witnessed it kind of.
Every once in a while I try to sex my roaches to make sure there’s a decent male/female ratio and after about a dozen I just give up…it’s too hard. The last time I did it I wondered for a while if I accidentally got rid of all males, but then babies started appearing and I finally got confirmation of males by their wing flapping (to entice the ladies).

 

[jamest0o0]

Yes they are hatched within the body, at least with dubia. Without pictures we really can’t help any more than we have. I’d find it pretty hard to imagine not noticing a male Dubia adult unless you have hundreds/thousands in a tub with loads of hiding spaces. The adults really stick out. Only other thing would be you got shipped a pregnant adult female Dubia or that the small “nymphs” are cleaner beetles or isopods from their CuC that they shipped along.

@MissSkittles Dubia are far easier to sex than discoids. The males and females are dimorphic(incase you didn’t know you). With discoid, over time I got used to sexing them just by glancing at the in the bin, females are almost always large and more plump. Flipping them over is the most accurate way though of course.

 

[Lindasjackson]

I found a male dubia in my colony!!! Finaly! I knew there had to be one in there! So they must be breeding then.

 

[jamest0o0]

Your house surely has an infestation at this point

 

[Lindasjackson]

Your house surely has an infestation at this point

i hope you’re joking!