Dubia Colony HELP!!

[Chameleonbeeb]

I just tried to start a dubia roach colony about a month ago and nothing is working Im not sure what im doing wrong. I have about 25 left I bought 50 at the last expo and used about 25 for some of my reptiles and some died from not being eaten so I have about 25 total now. I have a heat lamp on them a heat pad and plenty of food and water at all times in a 20 gallon tank in my garage with a bunch of egg cartons. about 3 days ago I thought i would try to put a few of them in a smaller tub in my room covered with food and water to see if they would do better in a warmer area but nothing has happened to either of the groups so far I need advice what Im doing wrong i have about 6 males right now

 

[BeBoSON]

Heat lamp and heat pad might be a bit overkill. Are your temps at 90?
How big is the enclosure for them?

I think you might be overheating and not providing enough hydration.

 

[Chameleonbeeb]

well the heat pad im not sure how hot it is I was thinking of jsut unplugging it becasue they are never on the floor anyways but its a very small heat pad made by all living things I got for very cheap but also the temp on the outside cage is a 20 gallon glass cage and the temp never gets more than 80 usually but the lamp is on 24/7 and I usually try to put new water cubes in every day or every other day

 

[pigglett79]

They like it dark, warm and a little moist. I have a heat pad under mine. I feed them well and keep them dark and warm. They breed like crazy.

 

[maxttu]

You have 25 remaining, correct? One obvious thing that hasn't been determined yet, is are they of breeding age? Do you have 25 adults? 25 nymphs? Also, how many males to females?

 

[Chameleonbeeb]

there are about 6 or 7 males and the rest are females ...i havnt seen them breed once and they are all large too big to feed to any of my reptiles thats why I want to breed so i can have constant small ones. would not puttting any light on them be ok as lnog as they are at what temperature?

 

[LLLReptile]

As Maxttu pointed out, how big are your dubias?

What kind of substrate are they on? Is it deep enough to burrow in? I always had the best success with mine by putting them on a few inches of orchid bark that I'd add water to, and then putting a few stacks of egg crate on top of the bedding for them to climb on. I used a heat pad with mine and kept them in a plastic sweater box rather than an aquarium, and they EXPLODED.

A month is also a bit of a short time span - if you did not have breeding size adults when you started, it's not entirely unreasonable that they haven't produced nymphs yet. The nymphs could also be hiding in the substrate. I started my colony by setting up 100 mixed size and then leaving them alone/kind of forgetting about them for a couple months. Roaches seem to do best with a kind of intentional neglect; the less diligently you care for them, the better they seem to do. They are roaches, after all!

-Jen

 

[pigglett79]

I keep mine in plastic bins with screen hot glued on cut out lids. No substrate, just egg cartons. They seem to breed just fine. It might be a matter of age, heat and light. If you have a light on them 24/7 they aren't going to like that. They want it over 85 degrees and dark. I also provide many fruits and veggies for food which also offers moisture.

Also keep in mind, these are not fast growing bugs. It takes them quite a while to grow to full adulthood and another while to breed. It takes many months to get a good colony started.