dubai question

cambech

cambech

New Member
I currently have 2 panther chameleons which are consuming around $80.00 worth of store bought crickets per month. I've been considering breeding my own insects and have been looking into roaches lately. questions:

1. Are dubai simple to care for?

2. I've read up on many of the sponsors sites and been researching and so forth. But for 2 panthers to feed off of round the clock(i still purchase hornworms and silworms to mix int occasionally)Is this overkill or a good idea? I'm not trying to sound as if this is all my chams would be eating.

3. Is there really no chance of them infesting my home?

4. I know for breeding a steady colony many recommend a ratio of 5 famales to 1 male and so forth. How would i get started? just get maybe 10 females and 2 males and in 3 to 4 months would I be good to go? or would you recommend getting a mix of say 100 to get started? or more?

sorry if these are stupid questions. I don't have much knowledge of keeping and caring for insects. To this point my knowledge has only been how to gutload and keep them alive long enought to be fed off usually within a week or so.

Thanks in advance.
 
Not stupid questions!

Dubias are super easy to care for. You'll find that they live a lot longer (adults can live a year or so), eat pretty much anything, don't smell like crickets do, don't chirp or make noises, can't climb smooth surfaces like glass or smooth plastic, and they are super resilient.

If you buy yourself a rubbermaid plastic tote (the very smooth ones, usually the clear ones) they will never be able to climb up the sides. What you can do to take it a step further is to buy a rubber strip and make a water-tight seal under the lid, for example, and then cut out panels on the lid and glue on some mesh - so even if you have a dog or child knock over the bin no one is going to get out. But they're tropical roaches, it doesn't seem like they do well anywhere outside of Florida, especially not during winter.

But they're pretty easy. I don't use heat because I live in Florida, and you don't necessarily have to either. I'd get a mixed lot of 200 or 500 (or more, they're not usually expensive), egg crate, and let them do their thing. With a larger lot you can start feeding off a couple here and there, so you don't just sit there waiting 6 months to be able to use them. If you just have two mouths to feed you may not want/need to get them a heat pad or basking light so they breed faster. At room temp they'll probably do fine once they get going.
 
Dubias are easy to take care of once you get the hang of it. I bought a large black rubbermaid type bin, big enough that you can stand eggcrate on its end, and still have space under the lid. Drill a few holes around the sides, as dubias can't climb well. Get some eggcrate, about 6 to 8 of them and stand them on end. Place a Flexwatt heating tape mat under one of the bin with polystyrene under that to help keep the heat in and not ruin your floor or carpet.
The other end of the bin is where the food goes. You can use cricket crack, veg etc. see sandrachameleons blog about gutloading.
You don't need water as the veg will provide that.
The dubis will provide their own humidity by huddling up together.
I did order a mix at first and kept them in a bin that wasn't really big enough. Also, it wasn't warm enough, so,although they were happy, there were no offspring. Then I bought some more at a reptile show, and got a larger bin but no heat. Again, no babies. I also keep them by the patio door which didn't help. The Flexwatt mat is safer than a heating pad by the way.
I've learned a lot in 6 months!
P.S. The reason I drill holes instead of cutting a hole in the lid and placing mesh screen there is because my cats use the bin as a trampoline!
Good luck. Youtube has some good videos about dubia keeping.
 
Olimpia said:
Not stupid questions!

Dubias are super easy to care for. You'll find that they live a lot longer (adults can live a year or so), eat pretty much anything, don't smell like crickets do, don't chirp or make noises, can't climb smooth surfaces like glass or smooth plastic, and they are super resilient.

If you buy yourself a rubbermaid plastic tote (the very smooth ones, usually the clear ones) they will never be able to climb up the sides. What you can do to take it a step further is to buy a rubber strip and make a water-tight seal under the lid, for example, and then cut out panels on the lid and glue on some mesh - so even if you have a dog or child knock over the bin no one is going to get out. But they're tropical roaches, it doesn't seem like they do well anywhere outside of Florida, especially not during winter.

But they're pretty easy. I don't use heat because I live in Florida, and you don't necessarily have to either. I'd get a mixed lot of 200 or 500 (or more, they're not usually expensive), egg crate, and let them do their thing. With a larger lot you can start feeding off a couple here and there, so you don't just sit there waiting 6 months to be able to use them. If you just have two mouths to feed you may not want/need to get them a heat pad or basking light so they breed faster. At room temp they'll probably do fine once they get going.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna need to see your roach permit ma'am ;)
 
Now for a helpful post lol

I have Dubai and they breed like crazy. I recently put them in a smaller setup so I could fit them under my cage and they are doing quite well. The best thing about them is that if you have to go out of town for a while you don't have to ask your terrified wife to feed or water them :D
 
FrankTheTank said:
Now for a helpful post lol

I have Dubai and they breed like crazy. I recently put them in a smaller setup so I could fit them under my cage and they are doing quite well. The best thing about them is that if you have to go out of town for a while you don't have to ask your terrified wife to feed or water them :D
Click to expand...

Lol. And frank has discovered the other reason I'm asking these questions. My wife fears the worst at simply hearing the word roach.:rolleyes:
 
cambech said:
Lol. And frank has discovered the other reason I'm asking these questions. My wife fears the worst at simply hearing the word roach.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Haha I told my wife I was getting dubai "beetles" hoping she would never even look at them. That didn't last long lol. She told me if she ever sees any of them in the house I have to get rid of them all. She is deathly afraid of roaches lol
 
I just purchased some mixed sizes of dubai to start a colony for my chams. really hope i don't regret this…My wife loves the thought of intentionally bringing roaches into our home.:D
 
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