Dubia cannibals!

[veiledchamguy]

Recently i have noticed my male dubias eating each other is this a population method they use...lol

they have plenty of water,food, egg crates etc...

 

[blackbetty]

Mine do it too. I honestly think they do it to rid competition for the females. My males fight and I saw one attempt to eat the others wings last night.

 

[veiledchamguy]

Mine do it too. I honestly think they do it to rid competition for the females. My males fight and I saw one attempt to eat the others wings last night.

I was just reading some articles and when male/female roaches reach their life span and go out and push daises they get eaten. Im guessing this is instinct for them.

 

[blackbetty]

So you are saying when they die, they basically volunteer to be food? I can understand after dying, like crickets or fish eat each other.. But Ive seen them very much alive and kicking trying to be a snack to others. It could be a mixture of everything. What is your setup like and what are you feeding?

 

[Sancho]

Guess it's good I got 1 male and 6 females

 

[sandrachameleon]

My guesses would be they have either insufficient protein in their diet, or, they've outgrown their space?

 

[dodolah]

feed them high protein food (dog food and cat food) and see if they are still eating each other wings and so on.
Just a word of caution, don't feed the roaches to your chameleon for a while after feeding them such gutload.
Those high proteins gutload is good for the roaches but not so good for the chameleons.

 

[veiledchamguy]

So you are saying when they die, they basically volunteer to be food? I can understand after dying, like crickets or fish eat each other.. But Ive seen them very much alive and kicking trying to be a snack to others. It could be a mixture of everything. What is your setup like and what are you feeding?

Yeah thats what im thinking happens i dont know exactley but its a good guess. Yeah ive seen 3 males just chowing down on another males wings as he lay near lifeless its odd.

Touche! on the mixture of everything

I have a 30 gallon glass sides and screen top a nice roach motel of egg cartons a 50watt heating pad.

They get water gels/crystals
SSimsswiSS's awesome homemade gutload hes a forum member
This gutload suffices pretty well packed full of good stuff
Collard greens
mustard greens
apples
oranges
carrots
cantelope
grapes
sometimes crix food

 

[dodolah]

yes. but, not high proteins.
If you don't want to use dog food, try boiled eggs.
you should have less eaten wings casualties.

 

[blackbetty]

I use boiled eggs, bananas, carrots, applesauce (organic).

I havent had any casualties..just wing chewing as I witnessed last night, as a sign of dominance.. Mine is only a 10 gallon with about 25-30 adults in it. Lots of layers, plenty of space.. and as I said, I saw 3 mate last night so everything is A ok..

I think its just dominance. They are probably vying after the same female.. and the ones chewing on the male are probably celebrating their victory of weeding one more male out. Maybe increase the amount of females?

 

[dodolah]

I use boiled eggs, bananas, carrots, applesauce (organic).

I havent had any casualties..just wing chewing as I witnessed last night, as a sign of dominance.. Mine is only a 10 gallon with about 25-30 adults in it. Lots of layers, plenty of space.. and as I said, I saw 3 mate last night so everything is A ok..

I think its just dominance. They are probably vying after the same female.. and the ones chewing on the male are probably celebrating their victory of weeding one more male out. Maybe increase the amount of females?

This is an interesting idea.
Do you have any articles to back up the thoughts?
I am not aware of dubia showing dominance by chewing other male's wings.

I thought the chewing behavior derived from the lack of high protein diet.
That is why i suggest dog food and cat food (for breeding purpose -not for dubia that are about to be fed to chameleon).
Cricket crack is geared toward the chameleon ends. as far as I know, it does not contain high protein content.
(Steve, correct me if i am wrong).

 

[blackbetty]

I have no articles, just a video I took last night. One female, 2 males. The one that chewed the other wings won the female and the male that got his wings chewed left. Just an observation.

 

[desultadox]

I wish mine would do that. The adult male dubias gross me out, especially the thought of them flying, though I've never seen it happen. If they wanted to decrease their numbers or at least disable their flying ability, I wouldn't complain! =x

 

[Syn]

Wingless dubias, anyone?

 

[Justin Carl]

It's a sign the dubia having a lack of protein.
Simple as that.
None of my breeding colony feeds on each other.
They are feed a steady supply of dog food and vegetables.
I have a nice size colony, too.
I pulled about 500 babies out of the bin this week.

 

[blackbetty]

Ive only seen them flap their wings in front of a female. Ive never seen any attempt to fly. I did witness a scuffle between two males in which one did attempt to chew the others wings, therefore forming my *opinion* that it can be for dominance. I have not witnessed this outside of a female being present.