dubia growth rate

[veildowner]

i ordered some dubias off the internet and they came today, ive never used these before and thought id give them a try but they are tiny if i feed them up how fast will they grow? cheers

 

[xanthoman]

generally speaking, the warmer you keep them (95*) the faster they will grow and multiply. the food that usually comes with them is primarily intended for optimum growth and getting the colony established, but it is a high protien food (primarily crushed dry dog food) and is not good for chameleons (has been known to cause gout or worse in chameleons) so if you intend on feeding any of your roaches to your chams right away, then it would be better to feed the roaches regular cham feeder gutload, fresh grains, and veggies, melon rinds, and stuff instead. even under optimum conditions it will take several (3-6) months for dubia to reach full grown breeding size. adults will begin producing babies right away. many chams cannot handle full grown dubia

 

[Breanna]

How warm can you keep roaches without being too hot?? I live in AZ and its about 100 out right now can I keep them in my garage or is it too hot out there for them to live?

 

[xanthoman]

How warm can you keep roaches without being too hot?? I live in AZ and its about 100 out right now can I keep them in my garage or is it too hot out there for them to live?

as long as they arent in direct sunlight and they have plenty of ventilation, and water crystals or melon rinds, thats just the way they like it

 

[Breanna]

it can get in the 110-120 range in the middle of the summer would that be too hot do you think or are they ok with that

 

[veildowner]

ive onli bought about 30 smalls ones ( ill feed them up)to see if my chams like them then i was going to buy a colony a breed them cheers for tthe info

 

[xanthoman]

120*?

it can get in the 110-120 range in the middle of the summer would that be too hot do you think or are they ok with that

95 -98* is generally considered optimum, but they can tolerate much higher, not sure about 120 though. they would probably be ok, if they had enough ventilation and water, but if it was truly 120*, it might not hurt to use a small fan or place wet blanket over the enclosure, not really sure, never had to deal with temps that high, probably be a bigger prob for your chams than your roaches. might be better answered by somebody who actually lives where there are temps that high. jmo

 

[xanthoman]

imo dubia are best hand, forcep, or cup fed. if they free range in your cage they will just find the best hiding spot and never come out, plus they poo a lot, so it just helps keep the cage clean and keeps the dubia out where your cham can find them. jmo

 

[laurie]

it can get in the 110-120 range in the middle of the summer would that be too hot do you think or are they ok with that

From my experience the key is lots of egg crates so they don't pile on top each other. I have 2 ceramic heaters on my colony 24/7 and they grow like crazy. i also feed them a frozen wet gutload that I freeze in ice cube trays.