Dubia breeding question

[dlaunde]

I've finally decided to setup and breed a dubia colony for my new cham and my three leopard geckos.

I ordered 100 medium sized dubias from LLLReptile (1/2" to 3/8" in size) which all arrived alive today. They are set up with egg crates, food, water crystals, and a small UTH pad on the outside of the the storage container I am using.

My question is, how long does it take for the size of dubias (medium) I received to mature enough that they are capable of reproducing?

Or do I need to order specific breeders from a place like backwater reptiles to add to the colony to jump start things?

I don't mind letting the dubias sit and mature enough before I start using them as feed if need be. Just curious on a general time frame so I can plan accordingly.

Thanks!

 

[Graves923]

Im not sure exactly how long it takes for them to mature from that size but what I would do is purchase a small quantity of adult male and adult female dubias. I usually find them cheap on eBay if I need to jump start my colony for my tarantulas.

I am blanking on the name of the forum but there is a dubia roach forum that has alot of good info on breeding them.

 

[Klinger #4077]

When I bought a starter colony, I asked the breeder and she said it generally takes 6 months from a young Dubia to sexually mature. I've have a small colony for about 8 months now and have close to 12 adult males and 15 adult females.

 

[dlaunde]

Thanks. I will buy a some adults to jump start breeding.

I just make sure the adults stay alive/don't feed them and I should have a nice continuous supply going?

 

[Klinger #4077]

Thanks. I will buy a some adults to jump start breeding.

I just make sure the adults stay alive/don't feed them and I should have a nice continuous supply going?

Yeah as long as you have good temperatures going, food and water then they should do pretty well. However I wouldn't recommend feeding medium sized roaches until you have a fair amount of them. A month or so ago I had run into a problem where I only had very small roaches or adults and no in-between.

 

[dlaunde]

Yeah as long as you have good temperatures going, food and water then they should do pretty well. However I wouldn't recommend feeding medium sized roaches until you have a fair amount of them. A month or so ago I had run into a problem where I only had very small roaches or adults and no in-between.

Thanks.

I plan on making a schedule that is consistent with the amount of breeding and growth once the colony stabilizes.

Most likely going to do one week of roaches, one week of crickets, one week of worms, and one week of all three mixed in so I can use the small ones for the week of mixed in. Plus I have some leopard geckos who could snack on the smaller ones if they breed too quickly and I need to thin out some of the population.

I'm sure it'll be a balancing act for the first few months.

 

[Blang]

I feed my colony oranges & they reproduce like crazy!