Dubia roach breeding not going so well :S

[Garrett]

I would suggest adding some sweet fruit like oranges or mangos..
mine go absolutely nuts for sweets! Dubias don't seem to need as much protein compared to blaberus. I haven't noticed any cannibalism at all compared to something like discoids. I feed mine cricket gutload, random greens and oranges.. and they breed like CRAZY

 

[ocdirtyjerz]

Eww. Raising cockies? Hell, I'm trying to get rid of them in my house.

 

[lampshade]

No heat? No breed. Instead of a clear container use a matted dark container. They hate the light and are shy. No ventilation? Use more protein as opposed to veggies. Don't feed off your nymphs! Are you crazy? Feed off your surplus of males, but keep a ratio of 1:3. Seems like you're doing a lot wrong...

 

[tryme]

Threads old. Got over the problem ages ago and have seen LOADs of nymphs. Problem was I fed off to many young and got worried they weren't breeding. I didn't give them the 3 month period to have more young.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Yeah - don't even think of feeding them off for several months - unless you have a big lizard that likes the spare males.

I keep mine in clear steralite containers, as they're much smoother,and I can see what's going on inside. I'm sure they resent that, but they've got plenty of dark places under the egg crate. Once your initial roaches have grandchildren, you'll start to see why they are so good at infesting homes.

 

[tryme]

Well mine are kept in the airing cupboard which is dark near enough ALL the time unless i'm getting a towel out or something lol.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

do you have a heater?

I couldnt' find a heat pad I would trust, so I bought a 60W "night light" fromt hepet store. It's a red light, so it doesnt' seem to bother them as much. They don't like it too much, however. So, I have the thing stacked up with egg crate, not touching the light (the light is hanging through a hole in the lid of the container - It came with a reflector, so I just turned the reflector inside out, so the light is hanging down inside the tub - it was kind of a half-a**ed, impatient improvization I haven't bothered to change yet). If i keep it room temp, the food will last for a week or so. If I keep it around 90, the food is gone in a day or so.

That just gives you an idea of how fast they "Work" when the temps are high.

 

[tryme]

The airing cupboard has my boiler thing in it for the central heating system.

 

[sandrachameleon]

tangent: I keep roaches in plastic rubber maid type bins. I keep them in a warm room. I am thinking of trying up production by adding more heat. Anyone know if those under tank heaters are safe to use with plastic?

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

Heat Mat

Heat mats are very safe I use them with my big plastic tubs!
I have the heat mat sitting on my hardwood floors then the plastic tubs right on top. It's been like that for months. The mats are kinda exspensive and I've had one go out after 6 months but I still like them the best. Hope this helps

 

[sandrachameleon]

Thanks! I'll give a heat mat a try. I've got one kicking around here somewhere in a box. Up until recently, the low roach production (due to them only being around 75-80F) wasnt a problem since I used a fair number of crickets and other feeders as well. But I'm getting to the point (after more than ten years) of wanting to get away from crickets (will still use them, but maybe just once every other week) and I'm increasing the number of chameleons I have at the same time.

 

[laurie]

How do you tell a female roach form a male roach? I have lots but don't know which are excess males, I could feed them to my dragons.

 

[sandrachameleon]

How do you tell a female roach form a male roach? I have lots but don't know which are excess males, I could feed them to my dragons.

That depends on the type of roach With Dubia, the males have wings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaptica_dubia there's pictures half way down the page
A ratio of 4-10 females per male seems to work well for me with other roach species, and I would guess dubia are similar?

 

[tryme]

9 months on and things are going well have to keep prizing my self away from the lid feel so tempted to feed them off but gonna wait til oct/nov!

 

[Eric Adrignola]

it's exponential - every female you kill as a nympth means hundreds less in 6 months or so. Feed off just one hatching of nympths (say 30 of them), and you deprive your colony of 450 or more roaches in less than a year. Each group will be about half female, which in less than a year, will produce around 30 babies each time.

Each nympth you feed off early on has a dramatic impact on the colony down the road.

 

[tryme]

Good point.

 

[Minihuey]

You should have started off with 100-200 dubias.

One of the Sponsors "Ken the bug guy" sells 100 for 35 dollars right now

He is doing a 30 dollar special right now.


My colony went from 100 to 200 in less than a month.

You should keep them in a dark part of the house since you are using a clear bin.. but not sure if that makes a difference.

Good luck!

 

[Redeye]

I don't like heat mats, I just use a 150w fish tank heater in a tall glass of water, then seal the top of the glass, to cut back on evaporation
the glass radiates heat, just gotta make sure you keep glass full of water, but your in there feeding and watering as is

 

[Fearaffect]

Yea, I didnt have any luck breeding them either......but it was probably the heat issue......lobster roaches are the only ones I'm having luck with........

 

[jojackson]

Cccccrank up the heat, give them something to drink daily.

I agree! carrots (raw) are excellent moisture source. Incidently, protein gets them going really well!