Dubai Colony

[Maddie]

Okay so about a month or 2 ago I got an adult female Dubai from the pet store. Once realizing it was much too big for Spyra we have kind of just kept her as a pet with the rest of the Dubai (her name is Mildred [emoji23]). Well she has met probably over 1500 other medium sized roaches since we got her and when I go to feed spyra tonight I notice babies running around all over the place! At least 25-30 of them. I'm getting towards the end of this batch of roaches and I haven't noticed them before, even took everything out last night to clean their cage and there were no babies at all. My question is, could Mildred have been pregnant when we bought her?? How long do they stay pregnant until they produce babies? And also, could a medium sized Dubai have gotten her pregnant?? Thanks!!

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[Hdrydr31]

It is likely she was pregnant when you got her if she was an adult.. I don't think they can get pregnant before they are adults but I could be wrong, once they go shiny they are adult.. The males I don't think become of age until they have their wings and you'll know if he's looking for love as you'll see his "equipment" sticking out 1 side of the end.. not sure how long they stay before live birth never done an experiment before..they tend to have 30 nymphs if you see an egg sac it's like 15 eggs on each side making the 30

 

[Hdrydr31]

what do you mean clean out their tank you should leave the frass for the nymphs to eat and hide in and they will also hide in the dry chow

 

[Maddie]

She's a good 2 1/2 inches long and very shiny. I don't have a picture of her but she's definitely an adult. (I honestly didn't know they got that big!!). 30 babies is about what I have overnight basically. This whole time I was hoping she was pregnant and after a month I kinda just thought well guess not.


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[Maddie]

Well it was getting a little stinky with the greens and other veggies/fruits drying up therefore I took them all out and dumped it to start fresh.


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[Hdrydr31]

And they can live several years

 

[Maddie]

We put fresh collard greens and other veggies in all four corners, a bowl of mixed veggies in the center, and a bowl of roach chow/dandelion powder. I have noticed some are burying themselves in the chow.


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[Maddie]

Well in that case I hope Mildred is comfortable in her forever home [emoji23]


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[Hdrydr31]

We put fresh collard greens and other veggies in all four corners, a bowl of mixed veggies in the center, and a bowl of roach chow/dandelion powder. I have noticed some are burying themselves in the chow.


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The collards is what smells..I only put food on 1 end (the end that isn't by the heat which also extends your food life) 1 lid of water crystals, 1 lid of veggies 1 lid of chow

 

[Maddie]

Yeah that's what I thought would be best was to just have it in a bowl. Not saying no names but RaeAnn wanted it in every corner she said she wanted everyone to have an opportunity to eat [emoji23] she's so sweet. Anyways, we actually don't have any heat yet. We plan on getting a heating pad of some sort. We already went ahead and got the bin just not using it yet.


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[Hdrydr31]

It's funny when I come across a jar that's empty my honey asks if i want the lid lol mayo lids, peanut butter lids are perfect!! lol I'm a lid hoarder lol

 

[Maddie]

The people our babies make us become haha...I never would have imagined I would be so ecstatic to have roach babies.


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[RaeAnn]

what do you mean clean out their tank you should leave the frass for the nymphs to eat and hide in and they will also hide in the dry chow

Hdrydr, I'm wondering should we not be cleaning out the feeder bin either? I know you stated not to clean the breeder bin.

Also, once the breeder bin is finally up and going should we be removing any babies from this bin? Or is it best to leave them alone to enjoy the debris in the bottom of this bin?


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[Hdrydr31]

Hdrydr, I'm wondering should we not be cleaning out the feeder bin either? I know you stated not to clean the breeder bin.

Also, once the breeder bin is finally up and going should we be removing any babies from this bin? Or is it best to leave them alone to enjoy the debris in the bottom of this bin?


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It is best if you leave the frass in the bottom of your bins it should be allowed to accumulate until it's say an inch or 2...(mine are about an inch, I move it to under the egg flats)
Once your breeders are steadily producing and established it really won't matter if you go in there and check on them...but if you come across a female with her egg sac out venting it be very careful with her or she will drop it.
sorry I'll finish this later gotta go take care of something.

 

[Fernfronds]

I have a colony that I just started, I've had a couple females give birth this week and I'm leaving the newborns in there for a while. In 3-4 weeks they'll double in size, but honestly it'll take a while for them to be a good feeding size for an adult bd, likely a few months. Plus you'll want to be careful not to feed off all of your new generation. It's best to wait to start feeding them off or moving them until your colony is established. If you take the babies out too soon you'll stress your colony and that lowers reproduction rates and the overall health of your roaches.


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[Fernfronds]

You'll know your colony is established when your first set of babies is starting to have babies of their own. Ideally you want to have roaches of all age groups so that there is a constant resupply as you're feeding them off.


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[Hdrydr31]

It is best if you leave the frass in the bottom of your bins it should be allowed to accumulate until it's say an inch or 2...(mine are about an inch, I move it to under the egg flats)
Once your breeders are steadily producing and established it really won't matter if you go in there and check on them...but if you come across a female with her egg sac out venting it be very careful with her or she will drop it.
sorry I'll finish this later gotta go take care of something.

(ok sorry had to take my SIL back home she had toe surgery Tues she's been at our place)
Ideally you want to leave your breeders alone except to give fresh water/food for at least 6-8 weeks...then your colony should be settled.. so what you will want to do is buy feeders of all sizes until your nymphs grow up more...that way your not taking them out of the breeder tank until your getting lower on your feeders. You first want to feed off the males (to which you will have more of) keep all females for now until your colony is really going. then you can decide how many females you want to have on hand.

My colony is over a year old now and I've not thrown out any frass (goes to show that they do eat it up) as I don't have more than an inch on the egg flat side. I tend to mine every other day, all tubs (I have 4) My breeders are not affected by me removing nymphs, I have very rarely lost any egg sacks when I go thru them...every other day I do the following:

-All male and bigger nymphs/juvies tub (ones that are close to being able to determine the sex) fresh food/water crystals/veggies (no oranges as I feed from this tub)
-All female and female nymph/juvies tub, fresh food/water crystals/ veggies/oranges (I keep all females unless I have a super abundance of them) some of my adult females are pregnant and will have babies, as I will rotate some of them out to give breeding females a break. So I remove any nymphs (putting them into my nymph tub)
-breeder tub "main colony" these are all adults, fresh food/water crystals/veggies/oranges, I remove any nymphs (so I know how fast/slow they are producing so I can speed them up or slow them down depending on need). Don't do this on a new colony as you might slow your colony down in the beginning wait until your colony is well established and used to you messing with them... I will also check the males and if they are looking beat up (as they will get) I will swap out males as needed from my male tub. I will also swap out females if they are looking beat up missing legs...**I have SOOOO many dubia if I loose egg sacks it doesn't affect my numbers** my breeders are used to being moved, shaken off of egg flats and handled...
-My nymph tub, all my baby nymphs go into this tub to grow out and once they are bigger I move them into the all male tub to grow more until I can sex them into the all female or all male tubs to become feeders. Fresh food/water crystals/veggies (if you have any dropped egg sacks you can put them into this tub the babies will eat them (good added nutrients for them)

Feed off extra males 1st! of all sizes equally.. a big mistake people do is they feed off too many of one size then you really stunt your colony.. so take out feeders of all sizes, if you feed adult males cut the wings off as they have zero benefits..Males CAN fly short distances it's more of an controlled decent kind of "flight" however they are super fast buggers.. lol

Hope that helps.. let me know if I've missed anything your asking (been a long few days for me)

 

[RaeAnn]

(ok sorry had to take my SIL back home she had toe surgery Tues she's been at our place)
Ideally you want to leave your breeders alone except to give fresh water/food for at least 6-8 weeks...then your colony should be settled.. so what you will want to do is buy feeders of all sizes until your nymphs grow up more...that way your not taking them out of the breeder tank until your getting lower on your feeders. You first want to feed off the males (to which you will have more of) keep all females for now until your colony is really going. then you can decide how many females you want to have on hand.

My colony is over a year old now and I've not thrown out any frass (goes to show that they do eat it up) as I don't have more than an inch on the egg flat side. I tend to mine every other day, all tubs (I have 4) My breeders are not affected by me removing nymphs, I have very rarely lost any egg sacks when I go thru them...every other day I do the following:

-All male and bigger nymphs/juvies tub (ones that are close to being able to determine the sex) fresh food/water crystals/veggies (no oranges as I feed from this tub)
-All female and female nymph/juvies tub, fresh food/water crystals/ veggies/oranges (I keep all females unless I have a super abundance of them) some of my adult females are pregnant and will have babies, as I will rotate some of them out to give breeding females a break. So I remove any nymphs (putting them into my nymph tub)
-breeder tub "main colony" these are all adults, fresh food/water crystals/veggies/oranges, I remove any nymphs (so I know how fast/slow they are producing so I can speed them up or slow them down depending on need). Don't do this on a new colony as you might slow your colony down in the beginning wait until your colony is well established and used to you messing with them... I will also check the males and if they are looking beat up (as they will get) I will swap out males as needed from my male tub. I will also swap out females if they are looking beat up missing legs...**I have SOOOO many dubia if I loose egg sacks it doesn't affect my numbers** my breeders are used to being moved, shaken off of egg flats and handled...
-My nymph tub, all my baby nymphs go into this tub to grow out and once they are bigger I move them into the all male tub to grow more until I can sex them into the all female or all male tubs to become feeders. Fresh food/water crystals/veggies (if you have any dropped egg sacks you can put them into this tub the babies will eat them (good added nutrients for them)

Feed off extra males 1st! of all sizes equally.. a big mistake people do is they feed off too many of one size then you really stunt your colony.. so take out feeders of all sizes, if you feed adult males cut the wings off as they have zero benefits..Males CAN fly short distances it's more of an controlled decent kind of "flight" however they are super fast buggers.. lol

Hope that helps.. let me know if I've missed anything your asking (been a long few days for me)

Between this and your information on the first timers link, I think this covers everything we have been unsure about, Thank you.

It sounds like you have this down to an art. I'm just hoping we will be successful. It would be so nice to not have to buy another dubia ever lol. I would much rather spend that money on treats to spoil her



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[Hdrydr31]

For sure! I havent bought dubia in over a year.

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[Maddie]

Wow that is a lot of information!! Thank you so much Hdrydr31


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