Starting & Caring For A Dubia Roach Colony

[diegothediggy]

TBH i dnt no ewt bout breeding dubias. Sorry sum 1 will jump in with ur answer soon but id say they b ok thats a nice temp. But not 100%

 

[timbalan]

They like it in the high70's or 80's is ideal. i dont know if i would let them get close to 100. they also like humidity so if its dry there than make sure you keep the humidity up a little somehow. Usually its good enough as long as you have water crystals in with them.

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

I live in Glendale and while you could leave them there you probable want a fan in the summer so you dont cook them

 

[RaidenMarshall]

Funny, I live in Glendale too. Where do you keep them? I want to stick them either in the garage or in a closet. My mother would scream if she ever saw them, so just want to keep them from sight.

 

[Jon Macintosh]

So, I live in Phoenix, AZ where the temperature is hot as heck during the summer. I'm just wondering if I could put the dubias in the garage without a heat source as the garage can go anywhere from the mid 70's to 110 degrees Fahrenheit?

Unfortunately you might experience negative effects of surpassing 95 degrees.. Ideal temps are in the 70-80s. Low 90s for max in my experience.

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

Mine are in the kitchen so that doesnt help you. Good luck finding a place though.

 

[timbalan]

I keep mine in a closet for now until i build a stand for my viv. Im going to make it so i can keep them under the viv in an enclosed stand.

 

[Jon Macintosh]

Ok, so I'm super pumped I found this thread. So is have a very small 7" baby beardie. I HATE crickets. They terrify me, and they get out all the time. I seriously can't handle it anymore....I've been researching dubia. While they are still super nasty, (Sorry, have a bug phobia), the fact that they don't fly, climb, jump or stink is very attractive to me! Plus reading the nutritional value of them is swaying me more and more...my question is where he's still so tiny, and has health problems, are they good for him? I'm worried with a colony that I wouldn't have appropriate sized roaches. He's still on pin head crickets. And have any of you had issues with them getting out? Can they infest my house? Are they hard to catch?...I have like 4 foot tweezers lol...wondering what the best choice is here. I also have a larger chinese water Dragon who is polishing off 30 crix a day...getting extremely pricey and they seem to eat each other very quickly.

I missed this ages ago.. I apologize for skipping it!

If I miss any of the questions, or if they have already been answered - my apologies!

You said he has health problems? Before I'm comfortable saying anything is better.. what are these problems?
If your beardy is 7" I honestly don't believe that you'll ever have problems finding dubias of the right size within a self-sufficient colony. Just so long as they are within the size of the width between his eyes (which should be larger than a pinhead cricket).

As for infestation - what's your climate like? Within most of NA these roaches need controlled climates to be reproduce effectively, but they are hardy. I've dropped a small container (holding 10-15) and while I thought I collected them all, I found one weeks later in a corner struggling to find darkness - and he wasn't in the best condition. I've had zero issues with them getting out - glass climbing is impossible and that's why I love keeping them in my painted aquarium.

As for hard to catch - if you can catch crickets with those - these will be no problem.

Best of luck!

 

[Jon Macintosh]

I keep mine in a closet for now until i build a stand for my viv. Im going to make it so i can keep them under the viv in an enclosed stand.

So I tried a similar setup to this and found that the sound of the roaches crawling around during peak feed hours (nighttime) drove my beardies BONKERS. They would just sit still looking down - waiting for the meal they were certain was bound to crawl up.

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

My dragon (Bright Eyes) found the bin my colony is and everytime I let her run around she ends up outside the bin looking at me begging to go in and catch her fill.

 

[jarich]

I would say a place in the tub at high 80s to low 90s is perfect. These are tropical roaches, so warm and humid works well. The entire tub doesn't need to be this hot but some part of it that temp is good. That is the temps I've always found they breed best at. I actually just put my tubs on top of the basking area of my monitor enclosure. That way I'm just reusing the same heat energy. Could easily do the same with a dragon enclosure if it has a solid top.

 

[monkeybumpz]

I used to breed dubias, they are a great food for your lizard.

 

[CMahoney]

I just received my start up colony and I have been trying to keep the warm side right at 100 but it sounds like most of you are thinking that is too hot. The care sheet I'm going off of says to keep the warm side between "90-100 and the cool side above 75-85". I am also noticing that my humidity is only around 30%. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to raise it besides misting the walls of the tank?

Sources: http://www.southtexasdragons.com/dubia-roaches-blaptica-dubia.html

 

[Toni17]

Does it really take three to five months to start a colony. I recently bought about 100 nymphs and am keeping them in a 6 liter tote. I know I need to go bigger, but right now they seem okay.

 

[jarich]

It takes that long for the nymphs to mature, and therefore to be able to breed themselves. They wont breed until the reach the last stage of their development, so no babies until then.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Very well written care sheet for breeding these critters Thank you!!! Getting my first order of Dubia's and yes they are expensive and since my Izzy loves them soo much and they are way better I'll have more of them on hand for the future..

 

[MarySC]

I got a new beardie, 6 month old male, and I am considering feeding him some dubias. HOWEVER, I am NOT at all interested in breeding them. Can I just purchase a decent amount of them at a fair price and feed them to Remy? Or do I have to have my own colony to breed? If the later, I will just continue to feed Phoenix worms. I can't take the thought of breeding roaches! Thank for your help!

 

[Hdrydr31]

You can buy them online in amounts that you want I last bought from discount dubias they were very reasonable. They are super good for them too I just started my colony a few months ago and they are just now reproducing my Izzy LOVES them so for me it works (I used to breed crickets so this is super easy doesn't smell)

 

[PatsyB]

I got a new beardie, 6 month old male, and I am considering feeding him some dubias. HOWEVER, I am NOT at all interested in breeding them. Can I just purchase a decent amount of them at a fair price and feed them to Remy? Or do I have to have my own colony to breed? If the later, I will just continue to feed Phoenix worms. I can't take the thought of breeding roaches! Thank for your help!

Mary, you don't have to have your own colony. People breed them because in the long run it's cheaper. You should really feed a variety of bugs. Phoenix worms are good but you should give other things such as dubia, crickets or different kinds of worms like hornworms or super worms or silk worms.

 

[littlsadie2]

I just got a small Dubia colony started today. Local breeder also has Dubia colonies and sells starters. I actually received most of the 10 female breeders ready to have babies within the next week. There is a super ick factor for me but my girl loves them so much I couldn't deny her. They certainly don't smell like the crickets and the can be put in bowls so they are captive with the vegies for you babies to eat. If you are interested and in the San AntonioTX area email me and I will point you in the right direction for enclosures and dubia starter colonies.