Can babies eat dubia nymphs

[pinocchiosmommy]

I finally ordered some dubis roach nymphs for my chams to try before I start a colony. They haven't arrived yet. But I was wondering if they would be too big for my 8 and 9week old nosy faly babies to eat. I'm pretty sure they can because they eat 1/4 crickets, but these are ¼ - ½ inch in length. maybe I can just let them try the smallest ones.

 

[laurie]

I would make sure the dubia are wayyyyy small. That would be newly hatched, not liked one you ordered. But look carefully, there might be some very tiny ones.

 

[pinocchiosmommy]

Ok they haven't arrived yet. On the site that I ordered those were the smallest available. I hope there is just too tiny ones in there. I just want to see if they will eat them. But if my 2 veileds will eat them then it will be worth a colony anyways.

 

[laurie]

As long as you watch the little ones, offering tiny dubia it great. More food choices are always good.

 

[javsto]

you could always chop the roaches in half and try that method.

 

[JohnnyD]

Dont forget, those little nymphs are very soft too.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

If your looking for enrichment feeders then try getting a cpl of mantis ooths and hatching some baby mantis for them. I gave mine 4 ooths of baby mantids. Gives them something to eat besides ff's & crix.

 

[pinocchiosmommy]

If your looking for enrichment feeders then try getting a cpl of mantis ooths and hatching some baby mantis for them. I gave mine 4 ooths of baby mantids. Gives them something to eat besides ff's & crix.

I'm going to order some of those to try too. Are those hard to raise? I'm trying to find more feeders that I can hatch on my own. I am already started crickets, super worms, meal worms (by accident, but figure I can keep around for treats), now dubia roaches. I want to be able to offer a variety. But the only way I can get feeds is to order them and have them shipped. Even the nearest reptile shows are over 2 hours away. So I thought the more feeders that I can raise at home the better. I might try horn worms this summer. I was going to wc some and try to hatch them so they weren't toxic.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I just buy horns. I havent tried breeding them. As for mantis, they are super easy to hatch. I feed them off in a few days after hatching. I feed mine ff's and 1 week cricks. I dont seperate mine as i dont care about a little cannabalism since they are being used as feeders anyway. Just put your ooths in a plastic shoebox with some screen as ventilation on the top. Then wait til they hatch out. Some people mist theirs every few days. I live in hot humid texas and Ive never misted my ooths during incubation. Super easy, hardest part is getting the mantis from the hatching container to the cage. lol

 

[pinocchiosmommy]

Is this what I should order?

http://gardeningzone.com/product_info.php?products_id=181

I thought for sure that they were more expensive. I'm not complaining, but I would have ordered them alot sooner.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Thats them. As a matter of fact thats the same place I ordered my ooths from last year. This year i got some from forum member pssh. Her prices are about the same. She does give discounts tho if you order several at one time. If you do order a bunch you can store them in the fridge for several months and then when your ready take one or two out and let them warm back up for a few weeks and they'll hatch.

Its not the ooth price. Its the price of feeding all those baby mantids if you wanted to raise them up to adult size thats so expensive. And the idea of seperatng them into groups of 1-3 to avoid cannabalism.

 

[pinocchiosmommy]

Awesome. Lets see if the DH minds if I put more feeders in the fridge