dubia colony for juvenile cham

[pba110]

hi,
new to the forums. I'll be picking up a 3 month panther this Sunday and I'm considering dubia as my staple feeder. I want to breed them, am I going to be overun with roaches? Will a single cham be enough for population control? I was thinkinga about starting a colony with 100 mixed aged dubia. It seems it would take about a month or two to get established. I could feed sparingly until this happens.
The adult dubia look too big even for an adult panther. Am I wrong about this?
Thanks in advance.

 

[blackbetty]

They are not too big. Many of us feed adult Dubias. Leo will eat 1-2 day/every other day depending on how hungry he is.

Use the Search bar and type in Dubia and Im sure you will get loads of info. In fact, in a thread one the first or second page of new posts says "how often do you change your Dubia" there is some great info on the last page from JoJackson on starting and whatnots. Good luck.

 

[pba110]

thanks for the reply.
I've been reading a lot about them on here. lots of good info. I just can't tell how many reptiles people are feeding with their colonies. I guess I could control reproduction with temps but that seems a little more advanced as I am just a beginner. I had a male veiled and another horned species that wasn't a jackson. I can't remember the name I swear it had a w in it. It was pretty big, had a higher humidity requirement. It died after about three years of keeping him. The veiled was huge when I left for college and I gave him to a friend who still has him I believe. Hardy little guy.
Anyway, dealing with crickets sux. I hate the smell and they crap everywhere, escape, and make noise at night.

Breeding the roaches seems cool.
how many reptiles are you feeding from your colony?

 

[blackbetty]

Werner?

I currently only have one Panther Chameleon. I keep my temps ont he lower side to keep breeding slower because I only have one. Im trying to get my Red Eye Tree Frogs on the babies, but cant tell if they are eating them or if the dubias are hiding since their tank is so foliaged (That isnt a word but Im using it).

You could always start a poll and ask how many are using Dubias as feeders? Or Ask Brad or mod to just so you can get an idea. I know MOST who have been keeping chams longer either use them or are switching..

I currently have about 30 adults, 20 juvies, and 10-20 babies. Those are rough..cant exactly get a count since they wont line up in a straight line like I ask them nicely to do

 

[BocaJan]

I just got 10 adults to start a breeding colony. I only got 10 because I think they are gross and I had to be sure I could deal with them on a daily basis. As time goes by I guess I will see how many I need for 5 chams.

 

[pba110]

werner is possible. I was young and I picked it because it had some pretty amazing colorations in the back of the reptile mag. Remember having to order from the back of a reptile mag? ha! Times have changed.

i agree they are a little gross looking. i'm a single guy and I'm already concerned owning "lizard" might send the wrong message to someone who knows nothing about them. How about a closet full of roaches?!. I've been watching youtube vids with people feeding their chams. One the guy feeds an anole to a veiled. It was the first time i really realized these guys are fierce little predators. you could almost see the terror in that anole's eyes. he was still kicking as he went down. I'm not sure if I'm down for that...

Anyway, if you are having success with your single panther, I'm going to go for it. I'm thinking roaches as the staple feeder w/ supplements and then ordering random stuff 1 once a month (probably silk/wax/hornworms) and then crix when I'm near petsmart.

I'll put up some pics when I pick him up. I'm 99% on a Ambilobe Screameleon that is sired by Xirxis. But i might look at a few others!

 

[nick barta]

Welcome to the forum. I would suggest you start with a few appropriate sized feeders to make sure your Cham will eat them, then if he does, a couple of adult pairs to start your colony. I got 100 mixed for 6 chams and I have WAY more than i need.

 

[blackbetty]

Yea.. My dubias were getting it on the other night and I was cheering.. Hubby was a little freaked out.. and My daughter is embarassed that I willingly keep roaches in the house! So Yea, I imagine it wouldnt be a chick magnet.unless you find a super cool chick! There should be a chameleon owners dating site or something!

Yea, Leo loves em. There are a lot of Great site sponsors here who offer chameleons. I got Leo from Cleanline Chameleons. Good luck!

and Ive never ordered from the back of the mag, but I do have a subscription!

 

[pba110]

Nick,
That's exactly what I was thinking about ordering. The "100 mixed" from blapticadubia.com that might have taken off too quickly huh? Especially because he's so young. Maybe I'm getting off to a little too quick of a start. I might just do crickets and worms for awhile and then do as you said. I need him to be a little bigger before I try to maintain a colony. Again, I don't want to be throwing bags of these little guys out into the street...
Betty,
How long have you been running your colony? What temps are you keeping them? Room?
Thanks for the responses guys!

 

[blackbetty]

I have had mine for over a month now. My temps stay around 65-70 at night and 75-80 in day. I use an undertank heater on one side and oats for bedding. No heat lamp as they are in the sunroom. If humidity is an issue since its a 10galln with screen lid, I throw a light down over the top. I do this at night as well since they like darkness and the computer screen is rather bright. Have had 2-3 uhm, egg sacs/clutches/litters/offspring born since in my care.. I did have em in my bedroom but they werent getting enugh warmth and the scurrying at night freaked me out..

I dont know how much that website charges, but I saw an ad on Faunaclassifieds for like 100 for 34 shipped or something close to that under the feeder part in reptiles..

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Keeping them at an even 80-85F degrees 24/7 will produce enough for your single chameleon. Spray them once at night (I usually spray 10-15 squeezes of the sprayer) for humidity and water, and feeding a varied diet full of protien will help.

Anything below 80 and they will produce drastically slow compared to their full potential, but you'll still get some breeding. If you don't want much breeding at all, keep them below 80F.

If you keep them 90-110F degrees, you'll have tons, and you could sell the extras off, as dubias are easy to sell because they're the best feeder roach out there. I usually sell 100 for 20-25$, you can also do trades for butterworms and silkworms. This helps you out, helps someone else out, and helps your chameleon out!

I would feed a baby as much as it will eat for a few days, and based on how much he DOES eat, you will know how much to offer (probably a 8-15 a day).

As your chameleon becomes an adult, you can feed bigger roaches in smaller amounts, 5-8 larger nymphs every two days is good (or 3-5 adult males), or I prefer feeding 3-5 a day spread out through morning, lunch, and early evening by 6pm (lights out around 9-10).

Feeder lizards (anoles, house geckos, viper geckos, pictus geckos, mourning geckos) are all GREAT feeders for your lizards. I think a big step in herpetoculture in the next decade will be having a few breeding colonies of these feeder lizards.

Don't use wild caught ones though, could have parasites and other nasties, but definitely worth getting a breeding group going for the occasional treat.

--------------

blackbetty, as for the red eyes, I cup-feed mine (well, more like a long jello dish), and this works well for me. I'd bet you anything that when you clean your frog tank out, you're gonna find a bunch of roaches hangin around.

I used to just toss them in, then a few months went by and I cleaned the cage out, almost 90% of what I had fed in the last few months had been living beneath the substrate! Definitely bowl feed your frogs. They'll get used to it and hang out near the bowl in the early evening when lights go out, which makes it easier to keep tabs on them too.

 

[pba110]

betty and brock,
Thanks for the input. Very helpful. I think that makes up my mind!

 

[blackbetty]

Brock, good idea.. Im gonna do that especially since I have Red Eye babies coming.. Ill clean it out today and see what I find.. Its like hidden treasure!!!

I cant really sell them here.. People here don't have really exotic critters or they are freaked out by having roaches. I gave some to a girl for her beardeds, she said they loved them but her husband was freaked out by them. LOL! I bought mine from a guy because his wife didnt want them in the house anymore... Im gonna get a heat lamp and kick up the temps and see what happens.. thining about moving them into a rubbermaid tub..Does that work? Im just worried because its been beat up and there are some scratches ont he side and I think it might give them the texture to climb....

 

[pba110]

Just talked with a guy at dubiaroaches.com he said it would take 6 months to get a colony going! That seems a little long, but I'm sure he knows what he's talking about more than me. I'm going to give it a shot anyway. Hope it works!

 

[ConcertPhotog]

6 months sounds right for a full cycling colony when you start with nymphs. It will take a month before your biggest ones turn into adults. And then one month or so for their pregnancy. Babies then take about 6 months to fully mature.
I purchased about 150 from http://theroachguy.com/ in November I think, and I've fed off maybe 25 males, still have plenty enough males for the colony ratio, and have at least 500 babies w what seems like dramatically more every day.

oh yeah, and I highly recommend The Roach Guy - his prices and supplies are great