Joys of Dubia

[nightanole]

So with the 1k of crickets i have to clean the bin out almost weekly. I just cleaned out my starter colony of dubia (1k the size of pill bugs) after 2 months. The egg crates were so clean i just threw them into the cricket bin! I would have left them in with the dubia, but the colony had gotten so heavy that the little egg crates where falling over. I also like the fact that they just crawl, and dont jump out of your hand. I just wish they would wiggle more, i cant get my inherited tarantula to eat them since they dont move enough to make her want to pounce. They also dont wiggle enough for cham to want to hand feed

PS: does anyone use iddy biddy meal worms for cleaners? With my batch of dubia i guess i got some hitch hikers. So now i have some half inch long meal worms that turn into 1/4" beetles.

 

[ABDragons]

We use Mini meal worms they seam to keep it clean

 

[lisagr07]

PS: does anyone use iddy biddy meal worms for cleaners? .

i've not heard of this practice... what are the meal worms used for?? thanks,, lisa

 

[nightanole]

i've not heard of this practice... what are the meal worms used for?? thanks,, lisa

One guy sells little meal worms for eating the food bits that are too small for the roaches. He mixes them in with skull cleaner beetles that eat the dead roaches/molts.

 

[Shawntea]

One guy sells little meal worms for eating the food bits that are too small for the roaches. He mixes them in with skull cleaner beetles that eat the dead roaches/molts.

that's awesome I get a little creeped out picking out the dead dubias

 

[lisagr07]

One guy sells little meal worms for eating the food bits that are too small for the roaches. He mixes them in with skull cleaner beetles that eat the dead roaches/molts.

i see..... when i clean out my roach tank once a month or so I just throw out the dead!!!!

 

[ddvw123abc]

Interesting. Does this fellow have a website? I'm now a fan of crickets for feeding

 

[spawn]

One guy sells little meal worms for eating the food bits that are too small for the roaches. He mixes them in with skull cleaner beetles that eat the dead roaches/molts.

I don't know why I didn't think of this. I got a bunch of potato bug looking isopods in my dubia bin but I don't see them anywhere near the dead roaches. They just seem to cling to the wood and dead leaves. I'm talking about these:

So maybe it'd be a good idea to drive on down to Petsmart and pickup 15 mealworms and plop them in the bin then? Will the worms themselves clean it up or do you have to wait until they're beetles?

 

[nightanole]

Looks like i got a little thread started

Ok heres what to do for cheap. Get the iddy biddy meal worms from pets mart or what ever (the ones the can be in the fridge). The go on ebay and get 10 DERMESTID BEETLES for $10 shipped.

The worms of both beetles will eat the stuff that the dubia wont. the meal worms will eat the little food particles(or moldy fruit) that the baby dubia wont eat and the big ones cant eat. the dermistid worms will eat anything dead such as molts and dead roaches. The adult beetles will eat the same food as the dubia.

This is just an alternative to the pill bugs and spring tails others use. The only twist is the derm beetles will eat the dead, the pill bugs and spring tails just eat the moldy and molts.

 

[pigglett79]

I gave up on crickets a long time ago. Just too much trouble for me. I do hand feed the roaches though and it works awesome. The only time I don't hand feed is when I feed with hornworm, silkworms or any feeder that can crawl on the branches.