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Wanted: Starter Discoids

Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
I live in Florida, else I'd be requesting Dubias. Anywho, I am looking to start a colony, however Discoids have been surprisingly difficult to come by. I mean...I have looked through every store that sells them and they are all out of stock! Either that or they don't offer bulk options. Is there anyone who has enough that they'd be willing to let some go? I would be forever grateful!
 

Germ

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
4,493
Location
North America
Check out your local Craigslist or Fauna, may have some local luck there. Too bad that we live in different countries or I would be more than willing to let you have some of my Discoids.
 

Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
Aw, thanks. I've looked already although I suppose I need to broaden my search on craigslist, and I've placed a wanted ad on Fauna. Thanks for the help though!
 

Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
After constant looking and several emails I managed to purchase 100 ($60 shipped x.x) from Coastal Silk Worms. So I no longer am looking :)
 

Germ

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
4,493
Location
North America
I started out with 100 younger nymphs, took just about 10 months for the colony to be established enough to feed out of. Hopefully yours are older.
 

Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
Well, they are mixed sizes. I'll be on the lookout to purchase some adults if I can ever find any in stock. Even with one dragon, would I have to wait several months?
 

Germ

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
4,493
Location
North America
Yes, once you can tell the difference between the sexes of the nymphs, you could feed off some of the males to keep a male to female ratio in the vicinity of 1:4.

Discoids014.jpg


Discoids004.jpg


Discoids take until they are 4-5 months old to molt into adults. In order for the colony to become established & self sustaining, a keeper should wait for the second round of nymphs to grow & start breeding before regularly feeding out of it. Again, some males can be periodically fed off to keep the M/F ratio in check.

Basically, if starting out a colony for one dragon when it is young, the dragons live prey intake has generally naturally slowed by the time the colony is established.

Some vids of my Discoid colonies & the roaches being fed ...

Discoid Roach Colony Feeding
Bearded Dragon Roach Feed HD
 

Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
Hey thanks for the info! Generally how many adults are needed to maintain a colony? I would like to start feeding out of it asap so if I happen to come across some adults for sale, I'd like to know how many to buy :) Also, I've read that they don't bite...right? I mean...I've never been bitten by a roach and they don't seem aggressive but your video displays their chompers pretty well XD
 

Germ

Bearded Dragon Veteran
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
4,493
Location
North America
Your welcome, those are some pics of a couple of mine that I did to show the sex differences a while back.

Each female will lay approximately 20-30 nymphs every month to 6 weeks. So depending on how many of what size your BD will eat, you will have to figure it out.

So if your BD will eat 10-30/day, depending on the size of the feeder, you will need a minimum of 40-50 females to sustain a feeder colony for one dragon. I have found that 100 females to 25 males will keep things going. If I start to get overrun with too many, I simply turn down the heat or store them in a cooler area, so they don't breed as quickly & if my BDs are big enough, feed of the excess adults.

Remember that you have to let some nymphs to grow up to replace the adults that will die off in order to keep the colony going.

Discoid or Dubia Roaches will generally survive 18-24 months.

And no, they won't bite Humans.
 
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Bushmaster11B

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
543
Location
In the U.S. of A.
check out http://www.coastalsilworms.com
They are a bit pricey on Roaches but they are an outstanding no dead on arrival company and they are based out of Florida too. They sell in a variety of sizes so to me, that is telling me starter colony. So they would understand your pain about illegal Dubia's in Florida. Why are they illegal (Dubia's) anyways?

Nevermind, you bought from them. LOL.
 
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Savannah

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
27
Location
Milton, Florida
They are non native to Florida and could become an invasive species if they were to establish colonies in the wild. Thanks, btw! Yeah, I snatched 'em all up xD
 

JMF

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
7
Go to KFCFEEDERS.com they have the cheapest prices I have found anywhere. I just found this ad today on another forum. I posted it below.

SALE USE COUPON discoid1 for an additional 20% off Discoids only.


25----- $10.50----- 20% off $ 8.40
50 ----- $12.50----- 20% off $ 10.00
100 ----- $19.50----- 20% off $ 15.60
200 ----- $32.50----- 20% off $ 26.00
300 ----- $48.50----- 20% off $ 38.80
500 ----- $78.50----- 20% off $ 62.80

Click on this link below to order

http://store.kfcfeeders.com/products...legal-discoids
 
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