Dubia Cleaning

[d3s5]

So I cleaned out my Dubia bin today for the first time. It wasn't the horror show that I thought it was going to be. I recently read posts about how people go about cleaning them and THANK YOU to all who posted! Although I didn't imagine I would have to shake the egg crates so hard to get them all off. Anyway, that job is done for another 3 months - I hope!
Deb

 

[iwantone]

I've just had the pleasure of cleaning mine out for the first time and initially I was trying to remove the roaches off the egg crate one by one until I remembered that someone said to shake them! And yes you are right, they really do cling on.

 

[lslcronk]

So you guys seem to be new to the Dubia thing...how terrible are the big ones?! I think I could handle the small ones, little bugs dont bother me (but I have a hard time with the BIG crickets). Do you guys use tongs or just touch them? My big fear...do they bite?! I would love to try them, but I dont want 1000 bugs I cant deal with and then have to get rid of!

 

[JohnnyD]

They don't bite at all. The only thing that takes a little getting used to is that they need to hold on to something when you handle them. So not unlike crickets, you can feel their legs on your hand/fingers. They don't jump out of your hand either which is nice.

 

[chameleonoobie]

I don’t use a substrate, so cleanup is mostly using a small paint brush and sweeping all the frass, food dust and molts into a pile in one corner. I notice it is usually teeming with nymphs so be careful cleaning that stuff that you aren’t throwing out your newest roaches! I usually just leave it in there and let the nymphs eat it. (mine are discoids, not dubia)

 

[lslcronk]

Tongs, I am definately getting tongs! If it is too bad, seriously, they will die if they are outside in say -35 degree Minnesota winter right?! lmao

 

[d3s5]

@lslcronk - the little ones aren't a problem at all picking up and what not. But I have never and don't ever plan to pick up or even touch one of the adults! I have tongs in case. But. . .I still am not in love with them. But when I think that the alternative is crickets, well, Dubia are 1000 times better!

 

[iwantone]

@lslcronk - the little ones aren't a problem at all picking up and what not. But I have never and don't ever plan to pick up or even touch one of the adults! I have tongs in case. But. . .I still am not in love with them. But when I think that the alternative is crickets, well, Dubia are 1000 times better!

Lol, ditto! I don't mind picking up the babies as they are just like woodlice but the big ones get handled with tongs too. I still prefer them to crickets too.

I had a bit of a scare the other morning ... I put the cushions back on my bed the other morning when I made it and underneath them on the floor was an adult Dubia. I had been careless when I was feeding them and one had escaped, won't do that again.

 

[chameleonoobie]

I cleaned some stale potato slices from my discoid bin and threw them in a disposable grocery store bag. I forgot to take it to the trash and let it sit overnight. When I checked the next day and threw something else in the bag I noticed a bunch of little nymphs in the bag that I guess were inside the hollowed out potato slices. This was before I even knew I had any nymphs in my recently set up bin! The potato sliced looked dried up and on the verge of becoming a slimy moldy mess too. I think the little roaches were feasting on them though from the inside out. I am now very careful of what I throw away from my roach bin.

 

[d3s5]

Ugh! Just reading your posts gave me the willies! I haven't found a dubia outside the tub yet, but it IS inevitable I suppose. I don't even want to think about it.

 

[lslcronk]

@lslcronk - the little ones aren't a problem at all picking up and what not. But I have never and don't ever plan to pick up or even touch one of the adults! I have tongs in case. But. . .I still am not in love with them. But when I think that the alternative is crickets, well, Dubia are 1000 times better!

Ok that makes me feel better about my pending wussiness!! lol I am so scared of these things and I have only seen pics! I am off to target for tongs!

But what is all this about them ESCAPING!!!??? This is just due to one hitching a ride out of the bin on accident...I will be in BIIIIGGGG trouble if the BF finds one of these running around the house! lol he freaks about the crickets!

 

[chameleonoobie]

You will find your tongs are so inferior to your fingers and hand they will be just useful for picking up old pieces of oranges and other foods. You will be really good at it in no time. Unless your house is 100 degrees, these roaches can not live very long, and will not reproduce if one escapes. SE Minnesota? NO WAY!! Think of the big nymphs as living trilobite fossils, they are kind of cute. You will see the adults are meticulous about keeping themselves clean, they aren’t dirty. You just have to get use to the sharp legs that will feel like you are getting poked until you get use to it, then it’s no big deal.

 

[Thezillaman21]

u could also do what i use to do to get the ones i need for feeding if u want smaller roaches just take a small bottled water (thats empty) and put alittle gutload in it make use its just alittle than put it in the cage so that a piece of egg create touches it. than once they climb in for the food they cant get out. than u can just pick them up and dump them in with your chams. this also works for crickets.

good luck and dont worrie about them getting out cuz they die if temps get lower than like 60.

 

[lslcronk]

Thanks! I knew there was an upside to living in the arctic circle! lol You say they have sharp legs? Do I need to worry about Claude's mouth getting injured? I see some of the threads on here with injured lips, is it better to stick with feeding the smaller nymphs? I finally got my paypal to go through so I got 1000 of the buggars coming so I have been trying to read up on here on keeping them, but I haven't seen anything mentioned about this. Thanks guys!