Thanks Justin. I didnt think it would really be enough but like you said I wanted to make sure they are going to eat them. I got dubia from mulberryfarms. If they like them I will order from the place you get them it seems like a better deal. How many would it take to start breeding them at a pretty rapid pace.
how big do these dubia roaches get? like im not all for having roaches in my house, but as long as they can stay small and not escape. would there be a smaller type of roach?
I would say the males are about 3 or 4 feet long. Sometimes when they stomp around the house things vibrate off the shelves, it seems that they're always fighting and when that happens things are gonna get broken!!!
OH!! WAIT!!!!! those are my kids!!!!
The male dubias are about 2-2 1/4" long the females are shorter but wider and heavier I hope they aren't insulted. I know you're not supposed to talk about a female's weight.
Dubias are definately easy to keep and aren't escape artists at all. I would think that if ANY got out it would most likely be an obvious mistake by the keeper.
The thing you also have to keep in mind about dubia size. They have their nymphs live, and then it takes a couple months for them to get to adult size, so a thriving colony will have all different sizes of nymphs, smallest being <1/2 cm. If you keep a set amount of adult females and feed off the nymphs as they get to the size you want them, you can feed any size reptile, from small geckos up to adult beardies.
I like keeping a larger colony now as I have found that ALL my reptiles LOVE and fight over freshly molted roaches. Every day when I go look, I'll have 2-3 that have just molted. Even when one of my reptiles goes on a hunger strike, they will go after them. (The first time they might be wary, but after that they come after them.)
My panther will not eat out of my hand, but will come running to me if he sees a white roach in my hand...
I love my roach colony.
It has saved me loads of money and is especially handy in the winter when other insects maybe hard to procure.
I read that these roaches are tropical meaning that even if they did escape they would die fairly quickly as the typical environment in our homes is not sufficient for their survival. You always want to consider the climate you live in when choosing what kind of roach to breed. You should never choose one thats natural climate is similar to the one you live in.
I think dubias are a good choice because I was told they are tropical, Slow, easy breeders, Non Climbing/Flying, and they are easy to handle as sometimes they will even play dead when you reach in. They are so much more nutritious than crickets and when you breed your own feeders you know they are clean. They don't stink.. and my favorite part of all... They are QUIET!!! I also heard that crickets from the pet store are the number one cause of worm parasites in captive reptiles.