dubia -new to me-

[Hoj]

ok so i got a huge colony of betles we will call them ( as i told thE GF they are madagascar beatles ) well they kinda freak me out, do guys and gals that use these thing hand feed with them? without tongs, do they bite?
also so far my panther who is the biggest cham i have and have only tried them with him, seems to show no interest?? he dosent really liek to cup feed and i dont think i want to let these things go free in the cage, for fear of an escape and the fact i figure they would just hid at the bottom.
any tips, tricks, basic care info, or ideas is welcomed

 

[maxttu]

Lol. I've had my dubias since mid-sept and haven't fed but like 6 lil ones to my panther...these things are massive! (They kinda freak me out too.).

 

[tatz4ever]

My new panther (I have him about 2 months) has recently allowed me to hand feed him. I love it! Just pick them up, they do not bite!

 

[ataraxia]

adults have rear prickly legs. thats about it.

 

[Dragonfly56]

They do not bite at all. They are however hard to free range as they tend to hide if you have a heavily decorated cage set up. Suck it up and hand feed if your cham will or just cup feed only dubia for 3-4 days till they and the cup look like lunch. Picky chams are usually just over fed their fave foods that's why I rotate through 4-5 feeders each week my chams eat anything

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

Hey Hoj,
I saw Suzi's colony today, those suckers are HUGE!!
If I heard her right she only feeds off the babies? and those looked alot easier to handle or put in a cup.
She is going to let me have some to give it a go....we will see, I have been adament about no roaches in the house!!
anne

 

[clarkrw3]

They are called Dubia beetles in my house too!! They are great, no smell, don't suddenly die off, don't squish, eat like crazy, don't bite.... and you have any size you want at any given time!! If you put the nymphs in a cup you have to put another bug in there that will bother them otherwise they just sit and look like a brown lump. Superworms work pretty well for that, or a cricket. I usually hand feed them and for most they can be a one bug meal.

let us know how it goes.

 

[Hoj]

They are called Dubia beetles in my house too!! They are great, no smell, don't suddenly die off, don't squish, eat like crazy, don't bite.... and you have any size you want at any given time!! If you put the nymphs in a cup you have to put another bug in there that will bother them otherwise they just sit and look like a brown lump. Superworms work pretty well for that, or a cricket. I usually hand feed them and for most they can be a one bug meal.

let us know how it goes.

thx clark the idea about another bug to bother the beatle is great, thats just what i was looking for. that and confirmation that people acctrually tounch these things.

 

[lslcronk]

Hi Hoj! It is good to know other ppl are being less than honest about these dubia "bugs" (I also loving refer to them as trilobites) lol I was nervous about them at first but now oddly enough...I LOVE them! Like love them love them...it is hard for me to offer one to Claude cuz I feel bad! They really are amazing! You have no stink, really no mess (I have never seen anything clean off an orange slice the way these guys do!!) They don't bite at all! I just hand feed...recently discovered that horn worms bite so I am more afraid of the big ones of those than my dubia. I have yet to touch a full grown one but the smallis ones are awesome! I just hold them so they wiggle thier legs at Claude and sometimes he goes for it, sometimes not. Cant say he is as fond of dubia as I am unfortunately but we keep trying!

 

[Miss Lily]

Thankfully nobody witnessed my hissy fit when I bought some 'mediums' for the first time! Well, my daughter video'd it but she knows that if she wants Christmas and birthday presents that the video will NEVER become public!

I bought some mediums at my local rep shop and when the shop keeper handed them over they were huge!!! The shop was busy (I would have asked for smaller ones if it wasn't) so I said thank you, paid, and left the shop. Well, the fun started when I got around to taking them out of the cricket tub and putting them into a new box. I freaked out so much I actually felt sick, they were so awful and creepy - the noise of their scurrying little feet on the plastic is just awful! I got in a hot sweat by the time I had finally transferred them all to the new tub!

These days I'm ok with them and find the babies quite cute! My friend has managed to breed her Dubias but now her beardie won't eat them so she is bringing some 'adults' over for me later this week when she comes to see Monty! I am sure I will turn the air blue when I see them! Needless to say, my daughter and her mobile phone will not be around this time!!

 

[laurie]

Yes, your beetles, now referred to as John, Paul, George & Ringo. I usually feed with tongs. i can hold the small ones in my hand, but there is no way I can touch the adults without gloves. I always have a box of the disposable gloves from Costco close to the "beetles". If you need to free roam, i put the bug ah beetle close to the cham and if the beetle doesn't get eaten the tongs go in to retrieve it. If one of those got lost in my house, I think my life might also be lost.

 

[JonRich]

Oh man, Oh man!!

I had a suprise colony behind the foam wall in my Cham's viv. (about 30 or so back there). lol

I assume they were from feedings by the previous owner and escaped to the back of the wall to avoid the Cham . I tried to pick one up and it wriggled, oh man i dropped that thing. Thank god my Cham cup feeds.

He liked the 1" ones best. I cleaned his viv, removed the wall and caught them all. I keep them in a 2.5 gallon tank with a glass lid(i hide them from my wife in my closet). I feed off about 3-4 a week. Once they are all gone i think i'll be done with Dubias. lol

 

[clarkrw3]

My wife feeds them with tongs...but only because they are "dubia beetles" if they were Roaches NO WAY!! but I get the call every once in a while...so...say I drop one and it runs under the drip pan....then what.... Well I have glue traps in the room for that but still I try my best to keep tight tabs on where they all go!

 

[Supergirl]

Surprisingly enough, Dubias don't freak me out at all in comparison to crickets (it's the jumping that really bothers me). We've got some small, medium and adult dubias, and I can pick them up without a problem Took a while for the chams to really show interest.. So far the best bet has been placing 1 dubia at a time on the screen wall in front of the cham, so it crawls around. That seems to be the only way that it stimulates our Panther to eat them. Our female Veiled is hardcore, she'll eat anything regardless if it moves or not. And our male Veiled is the only picky eater who isn't really crazy about them.

 

[Hoj]

ok well im glad to see im not the only one creeped out by these guys and that they r basically harmless to i can just get over it and handle them, i did however get my 2 male quads to each eat on and they seemed to really enjoy them.

 

[clarkrw3]

ok well im glad to see im not the only one creeped out by these guys and that they r basically harmless to i can just get over it and handle them, i did however get my 2 male quads to each eat on and they seemed to really enjoy them.

Your not the only one that is creeped out by them...all my chams like them except my new Ambanja female. She is an eating machine but you show her a small dubia nymph and she puffs up, take it away she is fine give her a cricket she eats it right way, show her a dubia nymph again and puff I will break her

 

[Maurer3D]

LOL, I hand feed adult male Dubia to Link (my adult male Ambilobe Panther). I handle smaller ones all the time (only have like 15000 to 20000 at the moment).

They disturb me way less than crickets.

 

[JonRich]

My wife feeds them with tongs...but only because they are "dubia beetles" if they were Roaches NO WAY!! but I get the call every once in a while...so...say I drop one and it runs under the drip pan....then what.... Well I have glue traps in the room for that but still I try my best to keep tight tabs on where they all go!

the males have veryyy roach like wings!!

 

[Miss Lily]

ok well im glad to see im not the only one creeped out by these guys and that they r basically harmless to i can just get over it and handle them, i did however get my 2 male quads to each eat on and they seemed to really enjoy them.

Before I got my first cham, Lily, I couldn't even pick up a tub of crickets or locusts! Lily helped me get over my fear and I now pick up locusts and small roaches with my fingers. Crickets are plain nasty and I won't hold them! It's amazing what you can do when you want something badly enough - I so wanted a chameleon and knew I had to deal with the food in order to have one. I wanted Lily more than I feared her food. I still put crix in the fridge first before I take the lid off as the family would never forgive me if any got loose! Still not sure how I'll react when my friend brings me some adults though! Ugh!

 

[clarkrw3]

the males have veryyy roach like wings!!

I don't feed off the males and my wife will NEVER look in the bin