Insect Housing

[Brad Ramsey]

I just put pictures of my insect housing (as it currently stands <always adjusting>) in my gallery if anyone wants to see it.
Got my Mantis oothecas last Wednesday and have one set-up to hatch.
Still no baby roaches but it's only been a month and 2 of the girls are really fat! Pregnant???
Patience, patience...the hardest part of this whole hobby

-Brad

 

[MWheelock]

Hey Brad,

Just looked at your gallery. Neat stuff.

One problem that I had when I started out with my roaches was that they weren't getting warm enough. Dubia grow and reproduce faster if you can keep it in the mid to high eighties. I just put a heating pad under 1/2 of the cage on low to medium. They breed much faster.( Still not as fast as I like.) I also found they did better with more cover.

I've had my dubias for about 8 months. Started out with @ 50 larger nymphs. Now I have @ 400. As soon as these nymphs are ready to reproduce, I think I'll have a very sustainable supply for Manga.

Talk to you later,
Matthew

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Mantis oothecas ... How did you set that up for hatching Brad?

I am interested also in obtaining Dubias. I looked at your gallery pictures. We all give up our closets. lol I would like to see a down shot into the bin to see the set up inside. What did you end up using for bottom cover? Food source?

 

[MWheelock]

Go to blaberus.com

Good place to buy quality roaches. Also a good place to get care instructions.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Mathew,
Thanks for the tip. I am keeping the dubias in the mid 70's now so will try to raise that a bit and see if I can speed the plow.
The Dubia tub is lined with paper towels and has stacked eggcrates in the back half. I give them a well moistened wadded paper towel and ground corn, rolled oats, apple slices, orange pieces, sweet potato slices, zuchinni, collard greens and carrot slices.
The ootheca is in a 2 and 1/2 gal. tank with a mesh top I'm keeping it in the mid 70's as well. All the seperate little enclosures in the picture are for after they hatch. I plan to seperate them into groups of 3 and 5 and supply them with fruit flies to prevent canabalism (at least as much as I can). I have space/containers to do this for about 200 and two more ootheca in the fridge.

-Brad

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

I'm running my undertank heater on a light dimmer set for a temp of 90F for my Dubia's. When I want to slow the breeding down, I turn the heat down to the 70's .

 

[jleahl]

this is a little off topic, since I haven't gotten brave enough to get roaches yet (should have seen my husband's face when he unknowingly opened a box of silkies the other day! ), but.....how often does everyone change the veggies in their insect cages? Every day? Every other day? Wait until it molds?

 

[Heika]

I use 25 watt red colored lightbulbs on my dubias.. it keeps the container at about 100 to 105 degrees at its hottest spot. They reproduce quite well. Once again, I am too lazy to take new pics, so please forgive these very old pictures. I got rid of the substrate many months ago, but pretty much everything else is the same. I have 4 of these containers now.

this is a little off topic, since I haven't gotten brave enough to get roaches yet (should have seen my husband's face when he unknowingly opened a box of silkies the other day! ), but.....how often does everyone change the veggies in their insect cages? Every day? Every other day? Wait until it molds?

I spend almost as much time on the bugs as I do on the chameleons anymore, it seems. I clean out any old uneaten fresh fruits or vegetables every other day and replace it. I use wet mixes based on yogurt, cottage cheese, boiled egg, etc. also, and that mixture goes into the bug container in the morning and I toss any leftovers in the evening.

Heika