dubia roaches

[crayfishguy]

hey, i bought 15 sub-adult dubia roaches and kept them in a container with crickets till i figured out what to do with them, well i am setting up a colony so that my whites can eat the babies (the ones i have right now are too big) and was wondering if anyone had any tips, right now i have 7 juveniles, an adult female and an adult male so it is kind of sad when i say i have a "colony"

 

[A. gigas]

If anyone's wondering how he managed to kill some, the answer is he didn't feed them and they got desperate enough to cannibalize...

 

[crayfishguy]

^ says the person who talked me into cutting one in half so it would be smaller, the result of this was the loss of half a roach, as the front half crawled away

 

[A. gigas]

Ah shut up, he ate it did he not? So it wasn't wasted..

 

[Fat Homer]

^ says the person who talked me into cutting one in half so it would be smaller, the result of this was the loss of half a roach, as the front half crawled away

I literally Laughed out loud when i read that the front half crawled away...

I hope you don't have half a roach running around your house some where...

 

[Vicious_Fish]

It's going to be a LONG time before you have any babies to feed. They take a while to mature and they breed faster when you have a lot of roaches. I'd pick up some more if I were you. What temperature are you keeping them at? What are you feeding them?

 

[A. gigas]

We'll be getting 300 more soon. As far as temperature and diet, I'll let him answer.

 

[paul112]

I started with 10 adults, and they really didn't breed much. It was only once I added another 50 sub-adults that they started breeding properly. With 300 on the way, you should have a decent colony in a couple of months.

I don't really keep tabs on the temperature of their tub, just stack egg-crates vertically and sit the tub on a heatmat, and they'll figure out how warm they want to be. I feed mine crushed dog biscuits, chick mash, fish flakes and cereal, and they seem to do well!

Best,
Paul

 

[crayfishguy]

Ah shut up, he ate it did he not? So it wasn't wasted..

actually he didnt eat it... heat= i put a heat pad under it... and they have water in the gel form and food is cricket food in little pellets

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Try giving them a variety to eat. They have a habit of getting bored with a single food item. I feed mine fish flakes, dog kibble, cereal, grated carrots/squash, lettuce and their favorite, mango baby food. I also give mine vegetable table scraps when they're available.