Breeding Dubia Roaches
- Thread starter tryme
- Start date
shrink9
New Member
I use a regular heating pad under one half of the tub I have mine in. The heating pad is set on lowest setting. That seems to incrrease their activity a bit.
I followed someone's DIY instructions and made an egg-flat condo for my roaches. I cut 3 regular-sized egg flats in half then glued four of them together (male to male, if you get what I mean). One of the remaining halves is layed on top of the finished contraption to make the condo. It makes it easy to pick up and I don't have to worry about the egg flats falling down. Well worth the time, if you ask me.
Allen
I followed someone's DIY instructions and made an egg-flat condo for my roaches. I cut 3 regular-sized egg flats in half then glued four of them together (male to male, if you get what I mean). One of the remaining halves is layed on top of the finished contraption to make the condo. It makes it easy to pick up and I don't have to worry about the egg flats falling down. Well worth the time, if you ask me.
Allen
tryme
New Member
They can be fed on dubia as a staple but variety is always good. Offer cricks etc from time to time or they can go off food. If your dubias are gutloaded and dusted correctly it's not so much the fact they wont get all the right amount of nutrients etc its more of a fact they might go off them.
Also, I keep my rubbermaid in the airing cupboard and its doing well.
Also, I keep my rubbermaid in the airing cupboard and its doing well.
Jeweledchameleons
Avid Member
All you REALLY need is two in order to start a colony (M&F)
but the more the better.
Keep the temps up above 75F for breeding
egg crates are a good viable housing method
rubber mail storage tubs make great housing containers
No substrate needed. droppings will quickly cover the bottom
Fruit and gutload will be more than enough. - meats will be ignored.
MALES WILL FLY!!!!
if overcrowded and/or hungry
a launching pad can get males out of the tank! (via low angle of attack)
feeding other insects to your animals is a must -roaches aren't enough
my panthers turned off of all roaches
they respond very well to a high energy diet
gut loading is very easy
will eat most veggie table scraps no problem
low tech arrangements do quite well with these guys
they're hardy and make good feeders to animals that will take them.
I've got an overflow and can send a few (PM)
but the more the better.
Keep the temps up above 75F for breeding
egg crates are a good viable housing method
rubber mail storage tubs make great housing containers
No substrate needed. droppings will quickly cover the bottom
Fruit and gutload will be more than enough. - meats will be ignored.
MALES WILL FLY!!!!
if overcrowded and/or hungry
a launching pad can get males out of the tank! (via low angle of attack)
feeding other insects to your animals is a must -roaches aren't enough
my panthers turned off of all roaches
they respond very well to a high energy diet
gut loading is very easy
will eat most veggie table scraps no problem
low tech arrangements do quite well with these guys
they're hardy and make good feeders to animals that will take them.
I've got an overflow and can send a few (PM)
Chanel
New Member
It depends, what size roach are you planning to feed off?
What I personally did (and yes it sounds like a bit of work):
I counted the number of adult roaches I have, and separated 1/10 of them with a ratio of 1 male - 4 female. (which turned out to be a group of 15 roaches)
I duplicated the conditions (food/temp/humidity) in the smaller cage as I do in the main colony, and I'm going to keep them in there for awhile. I do NOT feed out of this group. You can then count to see how many nymphs are produced within the time frame you'd like (a month sounds good). Multiply this reproduction rate by 10, and you have what I feel would be close to the average reproductive rate of the entire colony.
Now all you need to figure out is how many roaches, and of what size you plan to feed out. Remembering that it's 4 months for a roach to reach full adult size, you can figure out whether or not your colony will sustain feeding your animal(s).
Just remember that you can't feed off more than about 75% of the nymphs, as you need some of these to become adults to maintain the colony.
What I personally did (and yes it sounds like a bit of work):
I counted the number of adult roaches I have, and separated 1/10 of them with a ratio of 1 male - 4 female. (which turned out to be a group of 15 roaches)
I duplicated the conditions (food/temp/humidity) in the smaller cage as I do in the main colony, and I'm going to keep them in there for awhile. I do NOT feed out of this group. You can then count to see how many nymphs are produced within the time frame you'd like (a month sounds good). Multiply this reproduction rate by 10, and you have what I feel would be close to the average reproductive rate of the entire colony.
Now all you need to figure out is how many roaches, and of what size you plan to feed out. Remembering that it's 4 months for a roach to reach full adult size, you can figure out whether or not your colony will sustain feeding your animal(s).
Just remember that you can't feed off more than about 75% of the nymphs, as you need some of these to become adults to maintain the colony.
Last edited:
