For anyone debating dubai

[dmrich]

Started with a small starter of about 50 made up of adults, juvis and babies (because it is so expensive buying a large amount/developed colony in one go), and have had them approx 4-5 months.

They have bred alot and have hundreds if not thousands of babies, but they are very slow to develop in comparison with other feeders. So hopefully in another few more months the colony will have developed into one that can be used for feeding regularly (my beardie loves them and knows the plastic box they are housed in).

However they will find the smallest, most out of the way place in the viv if not eaten straight away and will apparently survive on nothing (whereas crickets usually die quickly). Kept finding baby dubias in my Male Yemens screen enclosure for ages (which clearly I would not offer to him as they are way too small), and finally found the culprit sculking about at the back - an adult female who must have been in there months staying out of the way that has now been returned to colony.

 

[AMGChams]

I am sure what you say is true but I have a phobia of roaches. No joke. I just freak out when I see them.

You sound just like my wife. LOL but to dmrich, I am assuming your Chams are large enough to eat the adults. I made the mistake of feeding off all of the smaller roaches before my colony had a chance to start reproducing and now I am waiting for the new babies to start showing up. I have had my colony for about 2 months now but due to not keeping them at around 95 degrees there has not been any reproducing going on lol. But I agree they are so much better than crickets.

 

[dmrich]

Yes tried a few to see that my adult male Yemen would actually eat them, then my wife started feeding her beardie them when locust/cricket supplies were running low so the population took a bit of a dent, before I explained the plan! Just a tip but I keep mine on top of the beardie's wooden viv (above the spot light area) and it keeps them nice and warm without the need for a heatmat.

 

[laurie]

I really had to force myself to buy roaches - that just seems wrong. But I have had them for a while now. My problem is I am dumb and keep feeding off the ones that are about 1/2 " long then can't find any more for some small chams who love them. I have a zillion tiny ones and a zillion large ones, but all mine skip the middle size as they grow. Since I live in old country keeping dubai has given me a feeling of security as even when I can't get crickets shipped I have food for my babies. My high temp this week is going to be -5, so shipping crickets is just not an option.

 

[Itwas]

when I first saw the title of this topic I thought it was about holiday destinations

 

[fluxlizard]

LOL me too- not to be anal, but

it's dubia, dubai is a destination, dubia is a tasty snack.

 

[yoshi9]

They aren't roaches. They are beetles! It might help you if you buy a small amount of the really really small babies (they look like/are the size of Rollie pollies!) and just go from there. You don't even have to touch them! Use 12" tweezers. Do it for your chameleon! Tif (miss lily) decided to start this way as she absolutely did not like roaches at all!

300 a month is supposing most/all produce every month. It will probably take quite a while for you to be able to actually feed from it without killing the population.

Edit: the white ones have never let me down! My chameleons couldn't refuse a white dubia!

Pssh I 100% agree! Exactly what I posted on a differnet post

 

[Cainschams]

LOL me too- not to be anal, but

it's dubia, dubai is a destination, dubia is a tasty snack.

LOL!!!! I too thought he was talking about Dubai from the thread title

MichaelRyan, try putting one in a cup, shake it so it flips on its back and the show it to your animal. If it flips back over keep getting it on its back and showing it. The leg movement can trigger a feeding response and when an animal eats one or two they then will eat them regularly. I had to do this for a few animals. Or if you are not afraid to touch them just pinch them in your fingers at the behind and hold it up so the animal can see its legs moving.

Personally, I think crickets are much better to deal with. Cleaning dubia bins is a pain in the when you have thousands of little ones running around. My cricket bins do not stink! If you keep up with them they shouldnt stink. Also feeding a drier gutload with a water source, for me its a wet paper towel, while they are in the bins. Then transfer a certain amount to a smaller bin a day or so before being fed off and offer more wet gutloads will help immensely with the smell. The wetter the poo the worse they stink.

Dubia will devour gut loads but crix will do it much faster. I wouldnt stop feeding them all together. Variety is the key!!

I dont keep dubia anymore because my chams are very small. ALthough, a few of them still ate the dubia but not enough to make it worth me keeping them. I gave THOUSANDS away to a friend when I moved.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

My crew eats em but I have one cham that wont touch a dubia. He ate a few of the adult males and now he wont touch one.

 

[pssh]

When I clean the bin I just throw the big ones in another tub and leave some tubes and egg carton in tooth the babies. A few times a day I just go back and shake the babies in with the big ones. Then when I get mad at the stupid babies who won't get on the carton I just freeze them because they are stupid and dumb and stupid.

 

[ziggy222]

maybe its just a myth,idk,but can't roaches lay eggs on your skin if you touch them?

 

[pssh]

I've never heard that... Im not even sure there are any roaches that lay sticky eggs. The egg layers I know of only lay egg cases and they just kind of drop wherever.

These definitely don't even lay eggs, soooo....

 

[radstusky]

When I clean the bin I just throw the big ones in another tub and leave some tubes and egg carton in tooth the babies. A few times a day I just go back and shake the babies in with the big ones. Then when I get mad at the stupid babies who won't get on the carton I just freeze them because they are stupid and dumb and stupid.

How can you be so mean to those cute little dubia babies?

I have a colony which I started small back in June or so, and it's going really strong now (must be 2-3000 I'd guess). In fact, I have pretty much too many! I'm starting to think about population control now, like feeding off all the males or something or turning off their ceramic heater. My panther won't eat the adult females, but loves the adult males. In fact just this morning he got a white one, a special treat!

Edit: On a side note, yes I'd love to go to Dubai!!

 

[sixstring]

LOL me too- not to be anal, but

it's dubia, dubai is a destination, dubia is a tasty snack.

Tasty snack, lmao. Seriously though I have been using turks for a year, and I am so tired of how fast they are. They dont get quite large enough either. I bought 100 dubia a couple weeks ago and am going to let that colony build up and take out the eggs case things from the turks and kill them off. I ordered a heat pad and have a ceramic heat bulb pointed at them. I figure if I can "power breed" them at 100 or so and lots of food. I like them. The males are cool looking and the nymphs are alien looking.

 

[jmdavis]

I like them too but they breed pretty slow....it's gonna take a while for that colony to be stable.

To be honest they don't breed that slow if you keep them under the right conditions. I probably have about 20 adult females and probably the same amount of males that I separated from the rest of the colony a few weeks ago just to see how many babies they were producing. Last night I separated the babies from the breeding cage and took this picture of all the newborns I have just to give you a idea. Don't really feel like counting all of them to give you the exact number but it is a lot more then I expected

 

[jmdavis]

Forgot to post the pic with that last post Here they are

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Forgot to post the pic with that last post Here they are

Aw! They are adorable! I hate seeing them being mushed up in Hughs mouth. Lol!