First time trying Dubias

[DanSB]

Yesterday was an off feeding day. I feed 8 days 1 off so it cycles through every day. Coincidentally I had run out of crickets at the same time so when I went to my local herp supply to pick up more crickets they were out! Apparently there was some sort of issue with their supplier.

So I debated going to the Big Box store, which would cut into my time to look at all the new herps they had or try a different feeder. He won't touch mealworms, I won't touch wax worms, so I decided to risk my marriage and buy some Dubias. (My wife has an irrational hatred of all roaches).

Either way my 2 year old girl thought they were great and held the bag laughing for a good 10 minutes.

I put them i a little plastic bin, opened the cage, and got real close to the cage with the roach bin (If any escaped I might not be alive to be typing this). Pippin immediately rushed the bin, stood on the edge and picked off 2 of them right out of the bin! I have never seen him move so fast!

I know I need to find more variety for the poor guy so hopefully this is a good first step and he definitely loved them! Thank you to everyone here who recommends them. Without all the positive feedback I would have never risked roaches to start with.

 

[Angrychair]

research dubias, make your wife read the material, if she is rational, she will soften up to them. I wont lie, I have escapies(due to a cage design), they always are found dead or dying on the floor.

 

[pssh]

If she's never seen them before/doesn't recognize them, call them papaya beetles. She will never know the difference!

 

[DanSB]

ha haa well the i part where I said it is an irrational hatred eliminates any hope being rational.

I am working on it though. I was grudgingly told it was okay as long as none escape.

I'm working up to a Gargantuan Bird Eater Tarantula. First step: Get acceptance of Cockroaches.

 

[DanSB]

If she's never seen them before/doesn't recognize them, call them papaya beetles. She will never know the difference!

Ha ha I told her they were giant isopods at first. She would know they aren't beetles and they look more like an isopod than a beetle.

Sadly I'm honest and had to tell the truth once it looked like she might believe my lie.

The only insect I wouldn't feed personally is a mantid, I like the little guys too much and to me it would be like feeding a baby cham to a full grown cham.

 

[BocaJan]

speaking of roaches, who feeds full grown roaches to their chams?

 

[Solid Snake]

speaking of roaches, who feeds full grown roaches to their chams?

Here......................

 

[DanSB]

speaking of roaches, who feeds full grown roaches to their chams?

Other than Solid Snake I've seen several videos on here of people feeding them to their Parsons and I would imagine Mellers or a full grown Veiled or Panther would be able to eat them.

I didn't mention that when I got the roaches one looked way too big to feed and I wasn't planning to feed it off but that is the very first one he grabbed out of the bin and ate it up with little problem. I'm feeding a Senegal and he isn't very large.

I know at least my Senegal has preference for larger feeders. When I show him a small cricket he usually gives me a look before finally grabbing it. When I give anything larger he takes it immediately.

Once he spit out a cricket and that was because it was big and he got it butt first, usually he gets them head first.

 

[Solid Snake]

Lol, once Donahue found out their were larger ones, he wanted those!

I dont give him full adults all the time, but he gets them fairly often.

Im glad your dubia experience has been good thus far. They are the best!

 

[DanSB]

Lol, once Donahue found out their were larger ones, he wanted those!

I dont give him full adults all the time, but he gets them fairly often.

Im glad your dubia experience has been good thus far. They are the best!

My goal is to work up the variety of feeders. I can't get him to eat mealworms (Which I even bred a generation before I just gave them away because nobody would eat them) and wax worms are out as I evaluated the info and it just isn't worth it (but he will eat those).

I can't find anything else in town so it is time to hit up the mail order insects.

 

[pssh]

I feed adult male dubia to adult chameleons. I don't feed the females though. Too valuable!

 

[Solid Snake]

My goal is to work up the variety of feeders. I can't get him to eat mealworms (Which I even bred a generation before I just gave them away because nobody would eat them) and wax worms are out as I evaluated the info and it just isn't worth it (but he will eat those).

I can't find anything else in town so it is time to hit up the mail order insects.

Drive out to the middle of nowhere, and snag some grasshoppers

 

[hollyjean123]

our 9 month old veiled eats dubia roaches as his main feeder. we have a colony of a few hundred... theyre great because they cant climb up tupperware sides, they just flip over. so they dont escape like crickets, make no noise, our cham LOVES them, and have no odor. (i HATE the smell of crickets!!!) for us, roaches were the way to go.

 

[justjumpit621]

Calais main feeder is dubias, but he only gets medium sized babies, he is a bit of a pipsqueak I have tried a full grown male and he couldn't fit the whole thing with the wings so I had to pull the wings off while it was in his mouth, yuck! Leopold never really had a hard time with adult males but I try to save all my adults unless absolutely necessary.

 

[AllFallDown]

he he he, you read my Dubia story already!

BTW, she finally found one in the bathroom day before yesterday! Big giant male! Oh boy I got yelled at!!!

 

[Trillian]

My dubias arrived today! They are very cute... A few questions, if the temperature at the moment is around 78F, do I still need a heat source for them? And the box I have is a Rubbermaid-style storage box, but it's clear plastic, which I've heard can be a problem. I've put egg-boxes, paper towel and scrunched up newspaper in there, so they have darkness and shelter, will that be okay? And how do you tell females from males?

 

[Rodger]

I watched a zillion videos on YoutUbe about Dubias before getting them . Everybody says to feed off the males as a 1 male to 4 female ratio is plenty ( you can determine sex in the nymphs by the last segment .. narrow = male , wide = female ). I suggest buying adults or a producing colony if you can find 1 . That way you still have to wait until the babies hatch & get big enough to feed , but don't have to wait until the nymphs mature . That can save a month or more . It would be nice to find out how many adult females produce enough for 1 Chameleon , but since counting the dubias is almost impossible , a moot point
I have not heated them since warm weather got here ( 70s + ) & am getting plenty of babys . I keep my Dubias in an aquarium & have plenty of egg cartons so they can hide .To have max production , higher temps are needed . Males have full wings , females have dwarf wings .

 

[DanSB]

My dubias arrived today! They are very cute... A few questions, if the temperature at the moment is around 78F, do I still need a heat source for them? And the box I have is a Rubbermaid-style storage box, but it's clear plastic, which I've heard can be a problem. I've put egg-boxes, paper towel and scrunched up newspaper in there, so they have darkness and shelter, will that be okay? And how do you tell females from males?

So after the initial go Pip wouldn't touch another Dubia so I've just been giving them bug burger, carrots, berries, and green leaf lettuce and letting them just hang out. I had three until yesterday when one up and died on me. That is over a month in a little rubbermaid clear plastic bin with holes punched in the top and some egg crate.

I would say they are pretty hearty since I was making no real attempt to care for them and just replaced their food every three days or so.

 

[Rottsko]

My dubias arrived today! They are very cute... A few questions, if the temperature at the moment is around 78F, do I still need a heat source for them? And the box I have is a Rubbermaid-style storage box, but it's clear plastic, which I've heard can be a problem. I've put egg-boxes, paper towel and scrunched up newspaper in there, so they have darkness and shelter, will that be okay? And how do you tell females from males?

How big are the dubias you got? Did you get any adults?

 

[Trillian]

No, they are fairly teeny lentil things.