So I have had a dubia colony for a while... about 6 months. I did a cleaning last night and observed that pretty much all my bugs are large or adults... not many medium sizes, almost no babies. There are maybe 200 to 300 adult females, and I try to keep the male population at about 5:1 female to male. In the colony there are about 100 baby nymphs. Considering that females should pop out 20 to 40 babies every month or so, having only a hundred babies in the colony raises a red flag. It appears that they have stopped popping out the babies. I would like to have a Q&A session to try to figure out the issue. I have a large Sterilite bin, opaque, with some screened off holes on one end (6 of them, 2"each). I have an old heat mat that never turns off on a thermostat, set to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the probe is in the middle of the egg flats that are sideways. I feed them water crystals and chicken crumble and baby carrots. They seem to be eating the food and drinking the water and eating the carrots, so food consumption seems okay. I didn't really notice any cannibalized roaches, nor do I notice a lot of dead roaches. I can't think of any other information to provide right now, so if you have any ideas or any other questions for me, please let me know! Have a good day!
-
Hello guest! Are you a Bearded Dragon enthusiast? If so we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Beardie enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your dragons and enclosures and have a great time with other Bearded Dragon enthusiasts. Sign up today!
Try changing up their diet. I think it's dubia deli that posted their feeding schedule for their dubia. I feed mine the same things I would feed the dragons plus a few other things. Mustard greens, collard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, carrots, sweet potato and oranges. I alternate when they get what green and usually give a carrot or sweet potato or squash with the greens. Oranges are supposed to put the male roaches "in the mood". I also use a water crystals and a dry food that I got online. I have some Super Pig and Veggie Burger from Repashy that was lying around and I give that to the dubai's too, they seem to like it.
Thanks for your reply and input, I was also suspecting that the diet was insufficient. Honestly, I was just being lazy and hoping for complete simplicity, but I guess even cockroaches need a little variety in their diet!
- Messages
- 5,574
Yea I would offer different foods.. I make my own roach chow, I offer the stems of my greens (collards and whatever my dragons are eating at the time) I will put in some squash of any kind mine like spag squash along with carrots and oranges for the breeding tub.. water crystals..
I am thinking that I will buy a bunch of different fruits and veggies, cut them up, and freeze them in pieces. When it is time to feed the roaches, I could just give them the frozen food. It'll thaw out over time, of course, and be easier to eat. Does this sound like it would be fine? My issue is that my daily life is super busy, and I need to make feeding the little guys and gals as brainless for me as possible.
- Messages
- 5,574
I tend to my large colony everyother day..so if that works for you and your roaches as only they will "show" you if what your feeding works for them lol
I was just going to say I usually change the food every day but I tend to change it every other day or so because I forget. You need to be careful with leaving certain foods in there too long because after a few days of sitting out it will get moldy and you don't want your bugs eating mold. I feed my dubia at night because I feel like they are probably more active at that time of day.