Dubia

[ERKleRose]

You’re good! I don’t feed dubia often, so I’ve never seen any newborns, but they probably are tiny!

 

[Flick boy]

Given that I have my dubia adults and no young will try adding a heat mat

 

[Flick boy]

Hi @jamest0o0 . If you have time just a couple of questions. So my roaches are adults which I have had for a while but they have not produced young I think temps are not high enough so I have a couple of heat mats iyo should I put one below the the bin say 60 %of area creating a gradient towards the clear feeding area not below food But also if I put in a thermostat where would be the best place to put the probe? Tia

 

[jamest0o0]

Some people put the heat pad on the side. I can't speak too much on it because I use a oil heater for the whole room. I'd put the probe right where the roaches are. Dubia can handle pretty warm temps 90-95 for max production. Just feed and hydrate a lot

 

[Flick boy]

Thank you

 

[Lindasjackson]

I got a heat pad for my plastic roach bin but when I got it home and read instructions it said to use on glass tanks only! It’s only a 2 watt mat!

 

[Flick boy]

I have two the last one I bought is 7 Watts. The first one is 14 Watts which I used for baby bd's . I would believe that with only a 2 watt mat be more than fine to use with a plastic container most recommend a 1cm distance from the bottom ( maybe the recommendation is in general for safety reasons) incase someone would use on sorry but stupid plastic .

 

[Andee]

Heat mats need elevation or ventilation if put on the bottom ofnsomething, they can and do crack glass tanks without it. On the side they expell most the heat outward and arent an issue

 

[Andee]

However i also use my heatmats on thermostats. >.> but then again breeding insects and having belly heat digesters is a different ball game. Its like how when i had socrpions they actually required basking lamp and not a uth

 

[Flick boy]

Hi @jamest0o0 so I've put a heat mat below the dubia bin with a gap, on a thermostat set at 30c now it in iyo does it matter if I have a different day/night temp set ( I have the the probe set central between the egg crates and around 25% from the bottom? The bin is around 12 inches deep ( will be getting something bigger soon )

 

[Andee]

Usually dubia roaches do best with no large variances from what ive seen. So no drops or increases are necessary, however changes within safe ranges wont kill them. More complex species do better with dormancy periods or humidity spikes etc. But most feeders species are easy keepers

 

[Flick boy]

Yeah thanks I have only set the thermo up with a 2 degree difference. Might give it more like a 10 difference ( as until now they have been kept at room temp ) but not producing young

 

[Flick boy]

Hi @ERKleRose so my locusts are doing well, but not sure they are laying eggs in the substrate provided but they are laying all over the tank only problem is along with the eggs falling into the egg containers also poop, so when trying to hatch eggs mold is growing any thoughts the substrate tray are at the bottom of the tank should I maybe put them up higher and more to the outside of the enclosure. How many adults do you keep. I'm not sure of my ratio but way more males

 

[ERKleRose]

I only have 2 locusts left, the rest died of old age. I know I have at least one egg sac, though. They never laid in coco fiber when that was what was in their egg laying container (I also had a container too shallow for them to lay in in the beginning, too), it compacted too much. By the time I changed the substrate in the container, I only had 3 left, but one did lay. Right now I’m just keeping the substrate in the egg laying container moist with a heat lamp over it to see what happens (still in the cage with the other 2 locusts).

Anyway, @SauceGandhi will be the better person to ask. Do you have substrate throughout the cage or just in the egg bin?

 

[Flick boy]

Thanks just in lay boxes

 

[Flick boy]

Yeah I've over 70 some fun cleaning and feeding every day lol not fun getting hit by one in the face

 

[ERKleRose]

The amount of poop they generate is insane! Are yours picky about what they eat?

 

[Thatcher]

The turning white happens to mine sometimes, I always thought it was them not getting enough nutrition but now I know

 

[Flick boy]

No I feed them sliced greens , dandelion greens, shredded carrot sometimes with some melon pulp threw it along with coarse bran and some insect fuel. Though it is mentioned elsewhere that its better to feed them plant matter than vegetable matter like grass ,clover, bamboo etc. And yes they poop a lot I think going to do bio active bottom with springtails . I also have buffalo worms not sure how good they are for my cham so going to pupate them and stick them in. Interesting as many of the adults go below the uv as go go under the heat lamps. @Thatcher just molting

 

[ERKleRose]

Mine will only eat dandelion greens! I’m hoping the babies (if the egg sack hatches) aren’t the same!