Dubia Care

etclement

Established Member
Hey guys! I just received an order from Josh's Frogs to start my breeding colony of dubia. I just wanted to check up on my care, I don't want anything to go wrong! I bought 4 male and 12 female adults, as well as 25 3/4 inch nymphs that are in a bin together. I also ordered 25 baby dubia to feed my 2-3 month old Veiled (I have about 75 babies to feed off of, he eats 6-7 per day), which are in a separate bin. I feed the breeders a dry roach food as well as apples, water crystals, and occasionally an orange. The feeders eat kale, collard greens, apples, and water crystals. There is no substrate in either bin, however, there is 3 egg cartons and a heating pad (not inside cage). I use the heating pads and a space heater to keep them warm. Temps stay around 80-90 F from what I can tell. Humidity is around 40. I keep them in a sauna (my room used to be an exercise room before we moved in) to keep in the heat. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free! I've attached pics of my setup below. Thanks!
 

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Sounds good :) I am on vacation, but as soon as I get back my first job is to relocate my breeding roaches into a bigger container, get a heating pad and really get things going. I have had the colony for several months but haven't pushed them much to breed... I've been spending the time getting used to the idea of roaches on my house :eek:, taking care of them :eek:, handling when necessary :eek::eek:and cleaning the cage:eek:. Even in conditions not optimum for breeding, I have slowly increased by 47 nymphs. They are adorable and I might be upset a little when I have to feed them off :LOL: they are interesting critters and I have come to appreciate them and how easy they have been to keep.
 
If they're in a separate room i'd just use the space heater and ditch the pads personally. I can't tell for sure, but the way you have your heating pads looks like it could be a fire risk. I keep all my roaches in the same bin in a closet with a space heater and they breed Fast. Cleaner beetles from nick barta help a lot too, i never have to clean their bins other than to throw out any old food. overall they're really hard to kill. you seem to have everything down, lucky roaches get a sauna!
 
Not according to my wife..... :cautious:
She just needs to get over the "ew" factor... tell her all the good stuff: they aren't your typical house (or NY sewer) roaches, they don't bite, don't smell, if one does escape - it won't live long, and they are cool - like a praying mantis wearing a backpack! TMNR = Teenage Mutant Ninja Roaches :p
 
I'll admit, I was not happy about dealing with "roaches" in the beginning. But - I'll do just about anything for my kids (Ophelia is one of them lol) so I thought... why not - I'll try anything once. Hands down, the easiest feeder. Love mine :love:
 
Hahaha so true. Roaches grossed me out at first, but now that i am used to all of the bugs, they are the good children of the group. My gf threatened to burn the entire bin of roaches when i first got them lol. Now she won't admit it, but i can tell she's alright with them. loves showing people that comeover that we have roaches -.- i think she realizes crickets are the true evil.

Jiminy cricket would have been doing less dancing, more eating the still-living head off another cricket.
 
So funny how that works. Recently I had some silk worms delivered to my work place. The secretary was horrified by these WORMS. I then told her they are actually caterpillars and really do spin silk like what clothes are made of. Now she thinks they are amazing and cute!
Oh no not worms! Please, people like that irk me. I'd chase her and then get fired for harassment. It's a bug get over it. The only bug I don't like are ants because they invade your house en mass like they own the place and they act like they're better than you crawling all over your stuff, just claiming it. Not crazy about the freaky looking pupae that mealworms and superworms turn into, no eyes or anus but I can deal with them. Show that to your secretary
 
She just needs to get over the "ew" factor... tell her all the good stuff: they aren't your typical house (or NY sewer) roaches, they don't bite, don't smell, if one does escape - it won't live long, and they are cool - like a praying mantis wearing a backpack! TMNR = Teenage Mutant Ninja Roaches :p
She has a fear of bugs. So this will not happen anytime soon. I had to have her watch a scene of the movie "Big A$$ Spiders" to show here what I consider a "Big" spider is. I have been woken up to screams in the night because a "huge" spider is on the shower (she works third shift) that's every bit of 1/4" or less....:rolleyes:

Ugh women
Can't live with them....uh....can't live with them! :love:

(Disclaimer: After 23+ years, I'm kind of fond of this model, so she's a keeper)

My family doesn't like them either so I call them dubia beetles
This is pure GENIUOS. :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy: Let me see how this works out.......(y)
 
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