New dubia colony tips?

[coffeeguy89]

Hi everyone! I've recently set up a dubia colony due to Yoshi giving up on crickets and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for me. I have a large black rubbermaid storage bin with a heat pad reaching 90 degrees F under one side with clean egg flats over it (no substrate). I use Josh's Frogs roach food for their food source, and orange slices and watering gel for their water source. It's been about a week and new nymphs are already scurrying around the egg flats. When can I expect to have a colony big enough to use as my staple diet? And is it okay to pick off a few now to get Yoshi started on them?

Thanks

Chris

 

[FroggtheCham]

I would recommend picking out a few to offer to your cham now. With my guys, it took a couple offerings before they would take them. It seems that they took the smaller roaches better than the larger ones. Now they eat them all!! Some chams don't like them at all. It would be good to know before you get things rolling!! It depends on how many roaches you started with as to when you can use the colony as a buffet!!

 

[chamili]

i started my colony about 4 months ago with only 15 adults and now i have over 300 . so im waitting for the babes to get big than ima have 1000+ in a month . all u need is a hit pad and big bucket with egg crates in it . and the best way to get ur cham loveing those offer with the smallest roach . cuz mine didnt eat the big once . so i offered him the small once and now he loves it . i would say start with 100 adults

 

[vegas shooby]

i started my colony about 4 months ago with only 15 adults and now i have over 300 . so im waitting for the babes to get big than ima have 1000+ in a month . all u need is a hit pad and big bucket with egg crates in it . and the best way to get ur cham loveing those offer with the smallest roach . cuz mine didnt eat the big once . so i offered him the small once and now he loves it . i would say start with 100 adults

I wouldn't feed adults dubias too a chameleon..the adults have sharp things on there legs and it could cut there mouth up..just saying..

 

[pssh]

I feed off adult males with no problems. I wouldn't feed off an adult female, or even a female nymph.

 

[coffeeguy89]

I started out with about 40-45 of all different sizes. I think there was 2 fully grown males and 3 females.

 

[KCcham]

I am not sure if the dubias are like my discoids in the fact that they CAN climb some surfaces as they get older. Not sure about the black tub they are in, I usually use a clear one that they can not climb up! My wife was Solomon mad when I found out the hard way they could climb!

 

[chamili]

I wouldn't feed adults dubias too a chameleon..the adults have sharp things on there legs and it could cut there mouth up..just saying..

no im talking about mid size roaches . in know that adults are bad to feed

 

[Leslie11]

Hi. I keep a tub for my Dubia Colony, and a tub for my mid-sized Dubias. The mid sized is what I feed my chams. If my colony is getting too big, or my mid sized are getting low, I just spoon some from the colony into the bin with mid-sized. Every morning I put Dubias into a baggy with a little Calcium (no D3), dust them and spoon them out into the chams cups, plus a few in the cage they have to hunt. This way I can tell if they have eaten. I give each cham 6-8 Dubias. Two times a week, I give them a couple of waxworms (no care). One time a month they get Dubias dusted with supplements, and 2 times a month, they get Calcium with D3. I gutload the Dubias with fresh veg/fruits. I change the food every other day, and make sure they get fresh water. Some times I put some powdered food for Dubias on top of the egg crates.
Hope this helps.

 

[Leslie11]

date

I need to pay attention to the dates! Ugh!