Dubia Colony

[CaHarding]

I finally found a colony starter! I’ve been looking for months after deciding to bite the bullet. I’m over crickets and the smell. Anyways, I found on Craigslist. 24 adult females and 5 adult males. 150 little feeder ones. I’ve got a lot of research to do. Gah they gross me out and give me the ibby jibbys when I dumped the big ones into a bin. But I keep telling myself it will all be worth it to get the cricket smell out of my office. Any advice on getting this colony started?

 

[Clayton0520]

I keep my Dubai’s in the mid to upper 70’s year round. They seem to reproduce the most at these temps. Hotter or colder and they SLOW down. I also mist the egg crates in their cages every morning when I feed them to keep the humidity up. They seem to like that. I leave their lights on probably longer than most, I turn their lights on around 5:45 am and turn them off around 8:30 pm. Keep them warm, plenty of food and high humidity give them about 6 months and before you know it there will be oodles of them in the cage.

 

[Beardomania]

I finally found a colony starter! I’ve been looking for months after deciding to bite the bullet. I’m over crickets and the smell. Anyways, I found on Craigslist. 24 adult females and 5 adult males. 150 little feeder ones. I’ve got a lot of research to do. Gah they gross me out and give me the ibby jibbys when I dumped the big ones into a bin. But I keep telling myself it will all be worth it to get the cricket smell out of my office. Any advice on getting this colony started?

Those 150 little "feeders" I wouldn't' feed off if I were you. Your colony will never really take off if you rely on only 24 females to drop babies as you feed the babies off. If you can handle a couple months without feeding off and let those 150 babies grow into adults (and another few months for the babies that they drop to pack on some respectable size so your beardie doesn't need to eat 50 in one sitting), then you'll have a much healthier colony that can sustain being fed off.

 

[CaHarding]

I keep my Dubai’s in the mid to upper 70’s year round. They seem to reproduce the most at these temps. Hotter or colder and they SLOW down. I also mist the egg crates in their cages every morning when I feed them to keep the humidity up. They seem to like that. I leave their lights on probably longer than most, I turn their lights on around 5:45 am and turn them off around 8:30 pm. Keep them warm, plenty of food and high humidity give them about 6 months and before you know it there will be oodles of them in the cage.

Ok, great! Good to know. I was told about 85 or they won’t breed. So I was thinking I would screw that up for sure. I didn’t know about misting either. I will do that. Do they like dark bins or will an aquarium do? Since they have lighting on so long like you do yours maybe it’s good either way? So do you just leave the babies in the same bin as the adults to grow up for 6 months or do you separate babies after born?

 

[CaHarding]

Those 150 little "feeders" I wouldn't' feed off if I were you. Your colony will never really take off if you rely on only 24 females to drop babies as you feed the babies off. If you can handle a couple months without feeding off and let those 150 babies grow into adults (and another few months for the babies that they drop to pack on some respectable size so your beardie doesn't need to eat 50 in one sitting), then you'll have a much healthier colony that can sustain being fed off.

I threw the feeders in the bin as well. Sammy will not eat little bugs. Which is odd. But I will let them grow as well to help produce. Do you suggest getting females and males from another place to add in so they aren’t breeding over and over with the same genetic line? I’m not sure if that matters with dubias. Great advice thank you so much.

 

[Clayton0520]

I keep mine in clear totes and keep all the ages together, when the colony gets too big for the tote or I want to start another colony I just pull several adults (male and female) and several assorted size babies out and place them in a new tote. I have found that if I put a good mixture of sizes in a new colony they seem to reproduce quicker than if I only use adults. I guess I never thought about getting new blood lines until you mentioned it!!! My blood line is VERY inbred at this point lol I haven’t noticed anything wrong with them yet but I think I will pick up some new blood to add to the mix. My colony is probably 5 years old at this point.

 

[CaHarding]

I keep mine in clear totes and keep all the ages together, when the colony gets too big for the tote or I want to start another colony I just pull several adults (male and female) and several assorted size babies out and place them in a new tote. I have found that if I put a good mixture of sizes in a new colony they seem to reproduce quicker than if I only use adults. I guess I never thought about getting new blood lines until you mentioned it!!! My blood line is VERY inbred at this point lol I haven’t noticed anything wrong with them yet but I think I will pick up some new blood to add to the mix. My colony is probably 5 years old at this point. View attachment 25385View attachment 25386

Oh wow 5 years that’s awesome! Thank you for showing me your setup. I kept thinking there had to be more on the bottom for them. I was told to pour some food on the bottom? Can you look at my setup and tell me if I need to make adjustments? I’m making do with the lamp I have now. I can get a thermostat if needed but I put a 75 watt bulb in it. I’ll keep an eye on the temp. And I did mist the crates. I just used sammys old aquarium. Maybe more crates are needed?

Also, is it true that one can develop allergies from starting a colony?

 

[Clayton0520]

Your setup look fine to me iv always heard of the whole allergy thing but haven’t experienced it myself

 

[CaHarding]

Your setup look fine to me iv always heard of the whole allergy thing but haven’t experienced it myself

Thank you for your help!

 

[CaHarding]

Oh wow 5 years that’s awesome! Thank you for showing me your setup. I kept thinking there had to be more on the bottom for them. I was told to pour some food on the bottom? Can you look at my setup and tell me if I need to make adjustments? I’m making do with the lamp I have now. I can get a thermostat if needed but I put a 75 watt bulb in it. I’ll keep an eye on the temp. And I did mist the crates. I just used sammys old aquarium. Maybe more crates are needed?

Also, is it true that one can develop allergies from starting a colony?

4 of my roaches have died. I’m not sure what could be the cause? My ambient temps were 78-80. I just put an orange in the other day too. And I missed one day of misting. Not sure if any of that could be a cause? I’ve heard roaches and twinkies will survive a nuclear blast bahaha only kidding , but let me take care of a roach and they start dying

 

[Skybug]

Your humidity is to low, cut out some cardboard to go over the top of the tank, if you go to the thread “dexters giving attitude” i made a couple lengthy posts about how ive raised my colony, roaches like darkness, they dont need light , id switch out that bulb for a che, if your house cant stay above 60 then you definitely need heat, u also need protein for females to produce, broccoli is one i use , id move the food bowl aswell , they probably arnt even coming out for food cause of all the light and it being so far from their hides, heat humidity and protein are what u need to get spot on.

 

[Skybug]

Also I wouldn’t spray the cardboard, they poop on it and since you dont have a substrate or cleaner crew bugs its gonna get nasty real quick.

 

[CaHarding]

Your humidity is to low, cut out some cardboard to go over the top of the tank, if you go to the thread “dexters giving attitude” i made a couple lengthy posts about how ive raised my colony, roaches like darkness, they dont need light , id switch out that bulb for a che, if your house cant stay above 60 then you definitely need heat, u also need protein for females to produce, broccoli is one i use , id move the food bowl aswell , they probably arnt even coming out for food cause of all the light and it being so far from their hides, heat humidity and protein are what u need to get spot on.

Ok, I did swap out for a Che 3 days ago. Thought maybe that was killing them. How would you keep the humidity up if you don’t spray the cardboard? I will go check that post out. Thank you

 

[Skybug]

Ok, I did swap out for a Che 3 days ago. Thought maybe that was killing them. How would you keep the humidity up if you don’t spray the cardboard? I will go check that post out. Thank you

I spray the walls and the food dish, they really should only be getting natural foods, but I understand if thats harder for you, you basically want to be feeding them everything the bearded dragon eats, minus the broccoli(last time i checked it binds calcium?)

 

[CaHarding]

I spray the walls and the food dish, they really should only be getting natural foods, but I understand if thats harder for you, you basically want to be feeding them everything the bearded dragon eats, minus the broccoli(last time i checked it binds calcium?)

Ok sounds good. I was worried about the food the guy provided me. It smells like hay and told me to sprinkle it all over the bottom of the tank. I’ll get that all cleaned out today and start throwing in the greens. I have another one dead this morning. Kinda a bummer

 

[Skybug]

Ok sounds good. I was worried about the food the guy provided me. It smells like hay and told me to sprinkle it all over the bottom of the tank. I’ll get that all cleaned out today and start throwing in the greens. I have another one dead this morning. Kinda a bummer

Yea they sell you “adults” when really they’re grandparents, I usually have 1/4 of my adults die within a week, id message the guy, tell him you put them in a tank and everything (omit the part about the light) see if he’ll maybe send u some more for free

 

[CaHarding]

Yea they sell you “adults” when really they’re grandparents, I usually have 1/4 of my adults die within a week, id message the guy, tell him you put them in a tank and everything (omit the part about the light) see if he’ll maybe send u some more for free

No more died since so maybe you are right and they are old. Or this is a bad sign and I’m wasting my time maybe. Sammy still won’t eat them even if I give her the bigger size from the tiny ones. I might be stuck with crickets after all lol

 

[Skybug]

No more died since so maybe you are right and they are old. Or this is a bad sign and I’m wasting my time maybe. Sammy still won’t eat them even if I give her the bigger size from the tiny ones. I might be stuck with crickets after all lol

No you’re not wasting your time, just like your bearded dragons setup there’s certain things you need to get right, and it will take months for them to breed, take out any dead ones ,change out their food weekly , i mist every other day , if u have a shallow dish you can put water in that could help with the humidity (make shure the water is no higher than 1/4 of an inch) i go back and fourth between 3 different bugs for my beardy , has he had hornworms yet? When my beardie was a baby she would go crazy trying to climb anything to get one, dont order to many they grow fast.

 

[CaHarding]

No you’re not wasting your time, just like your bearded dragons setup there’s certain things you need to get right, and it will take months for them to breed, take out any dead ones ,change out their food weekly , i mist every other day , if u have a shallow dish you can put water in that could help with the humidity (make shure the water is no higher than 1/4 of an inch) i go back and fourth between 3 different bugs for my beardy , has he had hornworms yet? When my beardie was a baby she would go crazy trying to climb anything to get one, dont order to many they grow fast.

Thank you for the encouragement. I was afraid to wait 6 months and she still prefer crickets. But I guess if that’s the case I can always sell if her tastes don’t change. She has had hornworms and goes bonkers for them! It’s funny to watch. Is it me or when they get super interested their eyes look like raptor dinosaurs lol. Other than that she eats crickets as her staple. Doesn’t care for bsfl. Although they sat so long they turned to flies and she did eat them that way. Weird. I’m afraid to feed super worms with the skeleton so she’s never had those. Then her veggies she likes 3 things as well. She’s kinda picky and will eat the same thing over and over. But maybe that will change as she grows. I will keep at the colony and see how that works out. I appreciate all of the tips!