EVERYONES dubia adive

codiwatkins

codiwatkins

New Member
Hello all, I recently purchased 50 small dubia for my baby veiled and panther. THEY LOVED THEM!!!:D

Anywhos I have been reading around the forum on breeding them.....What I have gathered is they can be kept in a rubbermaid tub( Which is what i have my babies in) They need a heat source for breeding, and they need constant water which they can get from fresh fruit and veggies. So what Im wondering, Is how many should I buy to try and start my own colony? I want to still be able to feed some off to my Chams at the same time. I was thinking maybe Having a seperate container with the feeder ones and then keeping maybe 20 or 30 adults inside of another bin??

Would this work??? I need all advice!!!I just dont think I want to deal with the stinky crickets anymore:p
 
codiwatkins said:
Hello all, I recently purchased 50 small dubia for my baby veiled and panther. THEY LOVED THEM!!!:D

Anywhos I have been reading around the forum on breeding them.....What I have gathered is they can be kept in a rubbermaid tub( Which is what i have my babies in) They need a heat source for breeding, and they need constant water which they can get from fresh fruit and veggies. So what Im wondering, Is how many should I buy to try and start my own colony? I want to still be able to feed some off to my Chams at the same time. I was thinking maybe Having a seperate container with the feeder ones and then keeping maybe 20 or 30 adults inside of another bin??

Would this work??? I need all advice!!!I just dont think I want to deal with the stinky crickets anymore:p
Click to expand...

You'll definitely want to seperate your breeders from the rest of the colony so you don't feed them off by mistake. I would suggest you buy 1000 to start your colony, especially if you want to feed from it right away. You can purchase 1000 babies at aaronpauling.com for $119. Then you can add as many adult breeders as you want for $2.50 a pair. If thats out of your price range I'd just suggest you buy as many as your budget allows. Good luck. They're WAAAAY better than crickets :)
 
Last edited:
Thats a little much for me to spend right now. I could spend it out of my emergency cham vet savings BUT what if something happens to one of ym cvhams I woulnt have the money to pay for it.

Coudl I just buy like 20 adults to start the colony off??
 
you COULD. heck you could even buy 2, a male and female, that just means your colony will start off slower than it would with..say 50 adults.
 
We started with about 20 Dubias of various sizes six months ago in a, let's call, "medium" sized bin. We fed them dry dog food, Ryan Jasorek's water crystals, and a variety of veggies. We have hundreds and hundreds of them now in a closet... so much that I want to upgrade to a large bin! Now that the colony is large, we only feed fresh veggies and water crystals. They will go through a medium sized handful of carrots in one day.

If you are not in a hurry, they get a few Dubias for free from someone local and in a few months you'll have so many you'll be giving them away for others to start their own colonies.

We don't separate the feeders from the entire colony. That would be a heck of a lot of work. We use egg crates placed perpendicular to the bottom of the container. When we need some roaches, we slide the egg crate closest to the side out and grab a few of the sizes we need for the particular chameleon. We try not to disturb the rest of the colony... just the same egg crate every time. We don't feed the larger females and keep the large male population down to three to five. We evaluate the males about every two months or so and look at all of the egg crates to get an idea how many are in there (thin down the male population by feeding them to your larger chameleons).

Some people like to have a heat lamp, others like to have a heat pad. I think either work fine. We use a heat pad and have great success.

Anyhow, this works for us... may not work for others... but they are Roaches, I don't think they are difficult, by any streach of the imagination, to keep or breed. "It's so easy, a caveman could do it." :D

Oh, one more thing... when you're starting your colony, just leave them alone... add the water crystals and food, but don't go messing with them. Let them get comfortable, prosperous, and breed.
 
DJnSoCal said:
We started with about 20 Dubias of various sizes six months ago in a, let's call, "medium" sized bin. We fed them dry dog food, Ryan Jasorek's water crystals, and a variety of veggies. We have hundreds and hundreds of them now in a closet... so much that I want to upgrade to a large bin! Now that the colony is large, we only feed fresh veggies and water crystals. They will go through a medium sized handful of carrots in one day.

If you are not in a hurry, they get a few Dubias for free from someone local and in a few months you'll have so many you'll be giving them away for others to start their own colonies.

We don't separate the feeders from the entire colony. That would be a heck of a lot of work. We use egg crates placed perpendicular to the bottom of the container. When we need some roaches, we slide the egg crate closest to the side out and grab a few of the sizes we need for the particular chameleon. We try not to disturb the rest of the colony... just the same egg crate every time. We don't feed the larger females and keep the large male population down to three to five. We evaluate the males about every two months or so and look at all of the egg crates to get an idea how many are in there (thin down the male population by feeding them to your larger chameleons).

Some people like to have a heat lamp, others like to have a heat pad. I think either work fine. We use a heat pad and have great success.

Anyhow, this works for us... may not work for others... but they are Roaches, I don't think they are difficult, by any streach of the imagination, to keep or breed. "It's so easy, a caveman could do it." :D

Oh, one more thing... when you're starting your colony, just leave them alone... add the water crystals and food, but don't go messing with them. Let them get comfortable, prosperous, and breed.
Click to expand...

OK cool thank u!!
 
Codi,

Make sure your plastic container is tall enough to stand the egg cartons straight up (about 12" high), and that the lid snaps down tightly so escapees stay put. Also a breeding colony requires high enough temperatures that fruits and veggies dry up and will need replenishment daily, so I would use a gutload in addition to the fruits and vegetables. I really like the water crystals you make yourself, I have the food and water containers about half way up the container, and the heat doesn't dry out the crystals for several days.:D

Nick
 
Codi,
I have lots of dubias for sale at a great price. You should start out with lots of nymphs that you can feed off and some adults to keep having babies. PM me if you are interested.
 
I saw a pretty good deal on tikitikireptiles that gives you at least 3 adult males and 5 adult females and 30+ juveniles for $20. I'm planning on getting that.:)
 
Since you're local, I would definitely hit up Ponders. I started with 100 of mix sizes and I easily established a colony with it. I'm sure other SBCK members have adult pairs to get you started too. Just post up when they announce the next meeting. Cricket Crack, veggies and water crystals is what I have them on.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

lecaméléon
Crickets!
Replies
13
Views
653
insectovore
I
Sticktongue
Advice Needed. Heating Feeders Tubs
Replies
15
Views
715
nightanole
nightanole
Jeevesieb
Ants in my bug shipment
Replies
3
Views
446
Jeevesieb
Jeevesieb
linkcraft
Only eating one food
Replies
1
Views
498
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
ChamChom
I need help
Replies
13
Views
783
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Back
Top Bottom