THOUGHTS ON BREEDING FEEDERS (CRICKETS TO START)

I’m newly sold on Dubias. We are raising a variety of our own feeders and crickets by far are the most demanding in terms of space, cleaning, sorting, feeding, temp, noise, and smell. We have 3-4 cricket bins in rotation to sort by size. We get a fair amount of die off once they hit about 4-5 weeks old... and dead crickets can really smell! That being said we will continue raising them for our guys but we’re looking at how to be more efficient. Theyre also going outside to a shed at the first chance.

Dubias are just in a single bin where just throw some food in. Much less cleaning and right now our veileds are all over them!

I think silkworms have been easier than what I’ve read... but like hornworms, they grow quickly so it will take some fine tuning for us to have a system where we have a handful of good sized feeders vs 250 babies or 250 huge ones!

I’d def recommend dubias for the first attempt. Very easy and you can decide if you want to branch out and take on crickets.
 
From everyone I've ever spoken to who own chams most refuse to breed their own crickets because of the horrendous smell and how easy they die off making it smell even worse. Dubias are much easier to breed, less noise, less smell, and require less care. Also healthier nutrition wise than crickets and they don't carry the same nastyness parasites that crickets do as well. That being said I still think crickets are an important stable feeder for our chameleons. I mean what chameleon doesn't love a cricket?!
 
Ya I agree, they are stinky lil mofos, and cleaning is never fun, lol. Just tryiing to as self sufficient as possible. Ima look into the roaches, I think I have to special order them because Ive never seen them around where I live, just hornworms, superworms...
 
I've been breeding Dubias for months now. Started a colony and wanted it stable enough to feed off before I got my cham. Super easy. Water crystals and chow replaced as needed, and oranges and some greens mixed in there. I also use bug grub from www.thebiodude.com. they go crazy for it, also a really nice gutload. I have a reptile tank heating pad underneath to keep it in the 80s. Then egg cartons placed together standing up. Started with 10 females and 5 males and 100 nymphs. I'm at 100 females and 20 males( I give away extra males 5/1 ratio is best) and 1000s of nymphs. Super easy, they dont get away because they cant fly or crawl on the plastic tub. I was going to do crickets, but my God they smell like a sewer, also they aren't as nutritious and dont hold a gutload for very long.
 
KobaOregonherper said:
I've been breeding Dubias for months now. Started a colony and wanted it stable enough to feed off before I got my cham. Super easy. Water crystals and chow replaced as needed, and oranges and some greens mixed in there. I also use bug grub from www.thebiodude.com. they go crazy for it, also a really nice gutload. I have a reptile tank heating pad underneath to keep it in the 80s. Then egg cartons placed together standing up. Started with 10 females and 5 males and 100 nymphs. I'm at 100 females and 20 males( I give away extra males 5/1 ratio is best) and 1000s of nymphs. Super easy, they dont get away because they cant fly or crawl on the plastic tub. I was going to do crickets, but my God they smell like a sewer, also they aren't as nutritious and dont hold a gutload for very long.
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You guys are winning me over, lol. Never in a million years think I would want to have roaches, lol. Very interested now tho
 
JIFFYPOP said:
You guys are winning me over, lol. Never in a million years think I would want to have roaches, lol. Very interested now tho
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Oh trust me neither did I. Cant stand bugs, thought I was into the wrong animal hobby for awhile. You get over it. They're also not super gross looking. The nymphs just look like overgrown isopods. My wife though... needless to say what she doesnt see wont upset her... except for when they're scurrying arou d at night and wake her up, then there's hell.
 
JIFFYPOP said:
Ya I agree, they are stinky lil mofos, and cleaning is never fun, lol. Just tryiing to as self sufficient as possible. Ima look into the roaches, I think I have to special order them because Ive never seen them around where I live, just hornworms, superworms...
Click to expand...
If you live in Florida or Canada they are illegal. If not you can get them onsites like Ebay or Rainbowmealworms.com however if you're looking to start a colony there are quite a few people on this site who could hook you up with a starter colony for a decent price.
 
KobaOregonherper said:
Oh trust me neither did I. Cant stand bugs, thought I was into the wrong animal hobby for awhile. You get over it. They're also not super gross looking. The nymphs just look like overgrown isopods. My wife though... needless to say what she doesnt see wont upset her... except for when they're scurrying arou d at night and wake her up, then there's hell.
Click to expand...
Lol, ya ima just keep em away from the females in my house,lol. I know my daughter aint gonna be a fan, but, really like the idea of not having to spend as much on food
 
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