whats the best way to start a dubia colony? im getting a young jackson cham and dubias seem to be very good feeders and breed on their own, so should i just get some nymphs and 1 pair of adults? or a couple pairs? i dont know...
You'll definitely need more than one pair. They don't breed super fast, and the adults take 3-4 months to reach breeding size. Each female will only produce about 20-30 nymphs a month. It takes some time to get a colony going well enough to rely on it as a constant source of feeders. But they are very good for the chameleons and my Jacksons go crazy for them.
More adult females than males is best. I started with about 50-100 and left them alone for about six months before feeding any off. This was 2 years ago and I only buy crickets once in a while now to give some assortment in feeders. They are a great feeder but you will need more than a couple adults to start, and will need to leave them alone for a bit to establish a good colony.
dubia are a lot easier to keep alive and breed if you have a pretty decent sized group to start with (50 or more- the more the better but if you are only feeding a single chameleon 50 with adults and juveniles that could be fed off to the lizard over time until things get rolling might be the place to start).
They control their humidity by bunching up in tight spaces (like toilet paper tubes) and breathing together. So fewer are harder to keep alive and thriving than more.
It is also not instant- a pair of roaches wouldn't fix your feeding needs. It takes months (I've never kept track, but several? 3-6?) for baby dubia to mature to breeding adults, and they produce babies only 1x per month or more. And some are always dying. So it is good to have some always being born by having more adults.