Colony Size and feeding

[westcoastchameleons]

Hey all,
I am wondering what a good colony started size for B.Dubia would be for 8 chameleons. And how many should i be feeding to each chameleon???? I know they are meatier then crix.

Jake

 

[booshified]

i was kind of wondering this too. how many should you have in a colony per cham? i do understand that roaches may be breed faster or slower based on their environment.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Well, supposing all of your chameleons are actually going to like, and will regularly eat roaches...I would say 200 would be a good start.
You would want to leave them alone (not feed out of the colony) for awhile so if you are wanting to feed some off right away, you'll need more. Once the colony gets going you'll be in great shape, but it takes a few months.
Start with 500 and you lessen the time you have to wait and you could feed out of the colony right away. A good sized nymph is as good as 3 or 4 crickets.


-Brad

 

[westcoastchameleons]

Brad, do you mean 200 mixed? Or all adults? Would that be like the breeding colony, and then i would feed off the young??

Thanks,
Jake

 

[Brad Ramsey]

200 that would be adult or nearly adult. Yes you would want to start with a decent size group to up your odds of getting nymphs sooner.
Getting 200 fully developed adults might be a bit pricey though, so try to get as many as you can and the rest decent sized nymphs.

-Brad

 

[westcoastchameleons]

Where would you recomend going to? And what do you think the price tag would be on 200 adults?


Jake

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Well, I would recommend going to me.....but I don't have any available right now
PM Matthew Wheelock and see what he's got....also Heika might be able to help but I haven't seen her around.
Personally, I wouldn't pay more than 50 cents apiece for adults and large nymphs, and I would think once you hit a certain quantity
you could get that dropped down to .25.
I sell to retailers at 25 cents apiece but generally at 1000 roaches or more and the sizes are very mixed.

-Brad