How do you feed your beardies their dubia???

[Dawn McNair]

Do ya'll just let some loose?
Do ya'll put them in a bowl?
Do ya'll give them one by one?

I typically keep a few in a bowl for Moo, with her greens...and sometimes she eats them and sometimes she doesn't. I also give them to her one by one, but she will get distracted by me after one or two and not eat anymore. Plus she will not chase them...they must walk across right in front of her or go right past her. Lazy baby.

I'm getting a tad worried as her poopies are getting smaller. I need to order new baby dubs tomorrow. My colony doesn't seem to be making more babies. I only got 3 females and two males, and one male died on arrival. Person I ordered it from said they should have already bred so I shouldn't worry too much. I don't know.

 

[Canicke]

Re: breeding : sometimes mine do quite well, sometimes not so much. Not something i care to put a lot of time into, so if they breed - i'm happy, if they dont - i buy some more from my craigslist roach guy.

Re: feeding : my female is a chow hound. i usually put the dubias in a small plastic tub (tupperware like) that i have dedicated for insects. Calcium powder is always in tub. i just put a dozen or so mixed sizes in the tub, shake it a bit (to coat their little bodies) and hold the tub in front of the kids. The female gets greedy - she may grab 2 at a time. She's really good ! and will eat as many as i let her. My male - will eat 2, MAYBE 3, and then is on to other activities. Unless Toviah (male) hasnt eaten any, i dont put them in the viv - if he hasnt eaten, i put the tub in, add a few superworms, and let them be for a day or so.

Poop size can vary with amount of protein in, amount of fiber (veggies and fruit), amount of liquid, exercise time, heat, and sometimes, i think, location (my female doesnt like to poop in her viv, but if i get her in the sun in the pen outside - i think she saves it up!!!)

 

[Mushuandcricket]

I feed Mushu out of a bowl (end of sewer pipe from Home Depot) .Sometimes they will run up him and get free from the feed bowl but he will get them eventually.

 

[Dawn McNair]

She's being stubborn. I ordered more small dubias today, but they won't ship until Monday. Have to go through my colony to find suitable ones. Sigh

 

[Mushuandcricket]

Mushu is being stubborn too.He doesn't want to eat anything with calcium powder. I don't know if he is being smart maybe doesn't need it or stubborn. I am leaning more towards stubborn.He is fat and loves food so I think I will win this one.

 

[Dawn McNair]

LOL. I wish I thought I would win the war of stubbornness, but Moo is a tough cookie. She actually got aggressive and did the flat sideways body thing. Oh the silly girl. I even dug though the dubia box last night finding the best sized dubs for her and I get no appreciation at all from the silly girl.

 

[stinax182]

I have a thriving colony of Dubia roaches. To start a colony you need at least a couple hundred mixed roaches. Even if yours breed, the babies take months to mature and breed. Honesty, after you buy the 500, you should wait for your colony to stylize before actually feeding out of it. It took me months, but I have multiple animals to feed so a bigger colony. I feed them fresh food and collard greens for calcium gut load so I don't offer supplements as often.

I feed my dragon in a separate plastic storage container. Sometimes he lets them crawl all over him, some days he goes crazy. I mix it up with super worms and crickets because they do get bored after awhile.

 

[Dawn McNair]

I ordered extras along with my starter colony, but didn't think to separate them, so I had to do that. Ordered more smells so I can just leave my colony alone for a while. My super worm pupa have finally darkened and I should be getting some beetles soon. Have to order some strange small super worms too since it will take a good while for those to get going too. Too bad mealworms have so much chitin. My mealworms are multiplying like crazy. I do feed the recently molted white ones to Moo, but I think they are all too big now and they are all just turning into pupa now. Lotsa beetles, so hopefully we'll have eggs and babies soon.

 

[Augie]

I have a thriving colony of Dubia roaches. To start a colony you need at least a couple hundred mixed roaches. Even if yours breed, the babies take months to mature and breed. Honesty, after you buy the 500, you should wait for your colony to stylize before actually feeding out of it. It took me months, but I have multiple animals to feed so a bigger colony. I feed them fresh food and collard greens for calcium gut load so I don't offer supplements as often.

I feed my dragon in a separate plastic storage container. Sometimes he lets them crawl all over him, some days he goes crazy. I mix it up with super worms and crickets because they do get bored after awhile.

I agree, you definitely need more than 4 adults to start a sustainable colony. They only have about 30 babies every month or so, and a growing dragon will eat more than that in a week. Plus you want the colony to grow. I started my colony with about 75 adults if I remember correctly and a few hundred mixed, and let them do their thing for about six months. Eventually my colony peaked at about 12k roaches, which is way too many (the sterrilite tub I use could barely support them). I got them to that level because my dragon, frog, and gecko could eat adult males, which is what I fed them exclusively.

As far as how I feed her roaches, it's usually with tongs. She has sand in her enclosure and I don't want the roaches to burrow. Her record is 11 adult roaches in one sitting. These days I mix it up with crickets, so she doesn't get spoiled and has to chase her meal every now and then.

 

[Dawn McNair]

Moo is still a little babe, and we've only had her, oh my gosh, 2 weeks. Feels longer. So I'm having to feed her small everything, and it seems that the roaches are growing faster than she is. But I know she's eating out of her bowl cause she keeps pooping in it. I tried putting her in a bucket, but that just freaked her out. Maybe once she is more comfortable with us. And her enclosure is so big that I don't feel comfortable loosing the dubs in it.
I really think it must have been dead quiet where she was born. She is having to get used to a very loud house with three different types of predators not including the humans. Hopefully she will eventually be bomb proof, she'll need to be living here!

 

[Augie]

Moo is still a little babe, and we've only had her, oh my gosh, 2 weeks. Feels longer. So I'm having to feed her small everything, and it seems that the roaches are growing faster than she is. But I know she's eating out of her bowl cause she keeps pooping in it. I tried putting her in a bucket, but that just freaked her out. Maybe once she is more comfortable with us. And her enclosure is so big that I don't feel comfortable loosing the dubs in it.
I really think it must have been dead quiet where she was born. She is having to get used to a very loud house with three different types of predators not including the humans. Hopefully she will eventually be bomb proof, she'll need to be living here!

You really do need to give her time to adjust. Even if her last place wasn't quiet, I'm sure there are new noises and things to see that make her nervous. Have you thought of putting the roaches in something clear that they can't climb out of? That way she can see them and you can leave her alone to eat, at least until she gets her bearings.

 

[Dawn McNair]

I have a short stainless steel dish that's easy for her to get in and out of.. She knows where her food is since she keeps leaving me presents in it when I go to change it. LOL the only time I go into her cage is to change her food, mist her and I pet her when she's ready to go to sleep. We are not picking her up at all right now. Just getting her used to our voices and our hands. (My daughter and I that is...moo is actually hers, but I'm home all day and my daughter is allergic to roaches, so I have to do that)

 

[Dawn McNair]

Well damn. Hubby figured out the bugs were roaches. He's not happy with me at all. My question for those who raise dubia is will they survive the Texas summers? He wants me to put the tub outside. I don't like it as I don't want other bugs or ants getting in there. What can I do?

 

[PatsyB]

Well how'd he figure that out? I don't know how to care for dubias so I can't help here. Noella told me last night that cinnamon around the tank will help keep the ants away from my crickets. I was thinking of 2 way tape around the outside of the tank, not sure if that would be sticky enough though to hold ants.

 

[Dawn McNair]

The stupid Reptisun started to fall. I velcroed it and I guess the heat loosened it up. I asked how to fix it and he saw them in her bowl. He never goes near her. Totally my fault. Oh well. And the cats have decided that they need to sit on top of the darn dubia tub and they keep going through the screen. Sigh. I got a new tub and it's too tall to fit under the enclosures.

 

[Dawn McNair]

I'm sure my dubia are like, "heck no, we ain't having no babies in this crazy place!"

 

[Augie]

Putting your roach bin outside is a bad idea. All sorts of things will be attracted to the food and water in there. I live in San Antonio and can confirm roaches will not last in our summers. Well overall the colony will survive, but many will die and they won't sustain.

I had a bad gnat problem with my bin and put it outside for about two weeks while I was resolving it. I had about 12k roaches and that number went down to less than 500 during that time. I don't recommend putting them outside. Talk some sense into your husband. Have him check out some sites to get educated on them.

 

[Dawn McNair]

I've talked about the pros and cons, but he's not getting over the ick factor. It's all good. I'll figure it out.

 

[stijngh]

I'm having much problems with feeding my beardie as well

He/she eats 2/3 small crickets a day and is not interested in any more for that day... No greens or pallets either... But the ones I did get him to eat where dipped in vitamins or calcium
He is only 1,5 month old and new in home though.

I tried feeding by hand, tweezers and in an (open) shoe box.

 

[Dawn McNair]

I've had Moo now three weeks. She's still very skittish and on top of that, she's shedding. I don't handle her except when she's falling asleep right now. Sometimes she'll eat a small superworm from the tweezers, but more often than not she freaks when my hand moves too fast. Right now I have a short stainless steel bowl for her dubs. She eats them fine, just seems she doesn't eat a whole bunch...definitely not the numbers I hear other babies eating!

I put a bowl with veggies and greens along with the dubs and she has a bowl of just greens. And I know she gets in there just fine since that is where she is leaving me her poops. Argh.