How often do you change your Dubia Food/Water?

[blackbetty]

i USE DISHES AS WELL. SHALLOW REPTILE BOWLS. i USE oATS, AS i STATED, BECAUSE THEN i KNOW THAT THEY ROACHES ARE NOT CRAWLING IN FECAL MATERIAL SOLELY AND HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF IT BEING REMOVED BY THE OATS PRIOR TO MY HANDLING THEM. makes ME FEEL AS CLEAN AS ONE COULD GET WHILE TOUCHING A ROACH.

Not sure why that was in caps. Sorry

 

[Sancho]

i USE DISHES AS WELL. SHALLOW REPTILE BOWLS. i USE oATS, AS i STATED, BECAUSE THEN i KNOW THAT THEY ROACHES ARE NOT CRAWLING IN FECAL MATERIAL SOLELY AND HAVE THE POSSIBILITY OF IT BEING REMOVED BY THE OATS PRIOR TO MY HANDLING THEM. makes ME FEEL AS CLEAN AS ONE COULD GET WHILE TOUCHING A ROACH.

Not sure why that was in caps. Sorry

Why are you yelling

 

[crablady]

EWWW doesn't begin to describe them. It is going to take me awhile to adjust to how big they are. Looks like something you'd have to shoot with a gun in order to kill.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt that way. Still can't bring myself to touch them, but it's only been a few weeks. So far, I've just been feeding fluckers cricket food. They love it! The are on it before i've even got the lid back on the tub!

i was wondering too, if a full grown chameleon would eat the full grown roaches. i don't think i have anything else that would eat them that big. hmmmm...... seems like it might be the perfect excuse to get that bearded dragaon i've wanted!!

 

[jojackson]

The secret to keeping roaches (and) having them breed like...well,...Roaches!, is to keep them clean, warm and well ventilated.
Ventilation is crucial to prevent moisture buildup. Moisture is a haven for nasty fungus and bacteria and lots of dead roaches.
Use the largest bin/tub you can find 90-100 litre capacity minimum. Your looking for max floor space, not height.

Using some kind of tool, cut most of the lid area away, leaving a few inches all round.
Flyscreen can be either stretched across the tub Beneath the lid, Or 'hot-welded' to the plastic lid on the outside using a soldering iron or heated flathead screwdriver.

A coating of vaseline (petroleum jelly * messy) or teflon paint, several inches wide around the tubs inner rim will prevent escapes. Likewise, a ring around the outside of the tub will prevent 'undesirable' common cockroaches from infesting the colony.

A stack of egg crate from your local market, each layer separated by flat cardboard and the lot held together with elastic bands, providesa place for roaches to live.

A chinese or similar containe inside the tub will be used for staples (dry food)

This can be dry dog food, fish food, rodent pellets/blocks, spirulina powder etc, whatever you use or a mix of all. Keep this full, cleaning only every so often when most becomes 'powderised.'

Moisture. Fresh whole carrots can be left on the tub floor, as often as required, only as many as the colony consumes as they will rot if not eaten.

Gutloading. Roaches will consume anything, and like other insects need to be kept hydrated and gutloaded for the reptiles benefit. The carrots are the main hydration, but Fresh greens like bukchoy can be added and will be consumed.

Caution: Moisture is a killer and makes roaches stink! Be sparing with WET food. If using wet food, ensure the colony is of sufficient size to rapidly consume wet food.

Half an orange is great for hydration also.

Cleaning. If kept in this manner, roach poo looks like dry fine granules, depending on the colony size, this matter can buildup fast becoming an inch thick on the tub floor.
Prevent this by cleaning atleast once a week.

A Spare TUB.

A spare tub of the same dimensions is handy for cleaning day! This too will be painted/smeared with vaseline or teflon.
Simply pickup the colonys 'hotel' (egg crate stack) and without shaking or disturbing them, place in the spare tub. 90% will remain in the hotel making cleaning easier.
transfer the dry food tub, carrot to the spare tub.

Now you have lots of roach poo and some live roaches in the bottom. scrape or tip, everything to one end of the tub.

Spare Egg crate. Now a spare egg crate will come in handy. Place this in the dirt tub on the side you cleared. Keep the tubs clear end slightly tilted up (shove something under it) and wait a few minutes. The last of the roaches will hide isidethe eggcrate layer and you can now transfer them to the spare tub also.

Now you just have roach poo! This is extremly great garde fertiliser, So dont waste it!
Roses love it! Wash the tub with hot soapy water. Dry thouroughly and repaint/smear if required! The clean tub is now your spare. Switch lids!

Your Done!

Notes: Roaches in big numbers will consume food rapidly. Occasional protein , for example, the dead mouse/rat your snake or frog didnt eat can be left on the roach tub floor and will be completely consumed leaving nothing but tiny skull next day, just like those domestid beetles museums use to clean specimans.

Be aware that the more roaches you have, the better they will do this. Dont leave a large rat if you only have a few roaches.

Baby roaches? Roaches 'give birth' to an egg sac called an 'oothica' which is about the size of a pill/capsule. From this the baby roaches, a perfect copy of adults, emerge.
Babys are easily visible and you wont miss them.

Babys will hide with the adults in the eggcrate hotel but will also tend to hide among the dry food. A few loose toilet roll cores will provide a place for babys to gather where the are more easily separated.

Sorting Roaches. You can make life easier when sorting roaches by size, again using that spare tub! This time a plastic bucket 0.99c at walmart comes to the rescue as a roach seive. Yes seive!
Drill 1/4 inch holes all over the bucket base and paint its inner rim with teflon/vaseline.

Place the bucket over the empty spare tub (holding it above the floor) and tip those toilet roll/saranwrap cores out into the bucket. Big roaches stay put, babys, smaller than the holes you drilled, fall through into the spare tub, ready to dust and feed.

 

[crablady]

wow... thanks for the detailed instructions! There's some awesome pointers there!

 

[GooglezNvincent]

The secret to keeping roaches (and) having them breed like...well,...Roaches!, is to keep them clean, warm and well ventilated.
Ventilation is crucial to prevent moisture buildup. Moisture is a haven for nasty fungus and bacteria and lots of dead roaches.
Use the largest bin/tub you can find 90-100 litre capacity minimum. Your looking for max floor space, not height.

Using some kind of tool, cut most of the lid area away, leaving a few inches all round.
Flyscreen can be either stretched across the tub Beneath the lid, Or 'hot-welded' to the plastic lid on the outside using a soldering iron or heated flathead screwdriver.

A coating of vaseline (petroleum jelly * messy) or teflon paint, several inches wide around the tubs inner rim will prevent escapes. Likewise, a ring around the outside of the tub will prevent 'undesirable' common cockroaches from infesting the colony.

A stack of egg crate from your local market, each layer separated by flat cardboard and the lot held together with elastic bands, providesa place for roaches to live.

A chinese or similar containe inside the tub will be used for staples (dry food)

This can be dry dog food, fish food, rodent pellets/blocks, spirulina powder etc, whatever you use or a mix of all. Keep this full, cleaning only every so often when most becomes 'powderised.'

Moisture. Fresh whole carrots can be left on the tub floor, as often as required, only as many as the colony consumes as they will rot if not eaten.

Gutloading. Roaches will consume anything, and like other insects need to be kept hydrated and gutloaded for the reptiles benefit. The carrots are the main hydration, but Fresh greens like bukchoy can be added and will be consumed.

Caution: Moisture is a killer and makes roaches stink! Be sparing with WET food. If using wet food, ensure the colony is of sufficient size to rapidly consume wet food.

Half an orange is great for hydration also.

Cleaning. If kept in this manner, roach poo looks like dry fine granules, depending on the colony size, this matter can buildup fast becoming an inch thick on the tub floor.
Prevent this by cleaning atleast once a week.

A Spare TUB.

A spare tub of the same dimensions is handy for cleaning day! This too will be painted/smeared with vaseline or teflon.
Simply pickup the colonys 'hotel' (egg crate stack) and without shaking or disturbing them, place in the spare tub. 90% will remain in the hotel making cleaning easier.
transfer the dry food tub, carrot to the spare tub.

Now you have lots of roach poo and some live roaches in the bottom. scrape or tip, everything to one end of the tub.

Spare Egg crate. Now a spare egg crate will come in handy. Place this in the dirt tub on the side you cleared. Keep the tubs clear end slightly tilted up (shove something under it) and wait a few minutes. The last of the roaches will hide isidethe eggcrate layer and you can now transfer them to the spare tub also.

Now you just have roach poo! This is extremly great garde fertiliser, So dont waste it!
Roses love it! Wash the tub with hot soapy water. Dry thouroughly and repaint/smear if required! The clean tub is now your spare. Switch lids!

Your Done!

Notes: Roaches in big numbers will consume food rapidly. Occasional protein , for example, the dead mouse/rat your snake or frog didnt eat can be left on the roach tub floor and will be completely consumed leaving nothing but tiny skull next day, just like those domestid beetles museums use to clean specimans.

Be aware that the more roaches you have, the better they will do this. Dont leave a large rat if you only have a few roaches.

Baby roaches? Roaches 'give birth' to an egg sac called an 'oothica' which is about the size of a pill/capsule. From this the baby roaches, a perfect copy of adults, emerge.
Babys are easily visible and you wont miss them.

Babys will hide with the adults in the eggcrate hotel but will also tend to hide among the dry food. A few loose toilet roll cores will provide a place for babys to gather where the are more easily separated.

Sorting Roaches. You can make life easier when sorting roaches by size, again using that spare tub! This time a plastic bucket 0.99c at walmart comes to the rescue as a roach seive. Yes seive!
Drill 1/4 inch holes all over the bucket base and paint its inner rim with teflon/vaseline.

Place the bucket over the empty spare tub (holding it above the floor) and tip those toilet roll/saranwrap cores out into the bucket. Big roaches stay put, babys, smaller than the holes you drilled, fall through into the spare tub, ready to dust and feed.

So you are saying basically always keep the large, adults to breed and put the babies out to be food?

 

[Sancho]

So you are saying basically always keep the large, adults to breed and put the babies out to be food?

Correct Adults will keep breeding read the blog LOL

 

[GooglezNvincent]

Correct Adults will keep breeding read the blog LOL

HA HA HA i did, well i think i did may b there are things i didnt see, is there more than 1 page? i could have sworn i read all you info. Sorry for this lol! you would have been better off ignorming me! ha ha ha i must be causing you alot of strife!

 

[Sancho]

HA HA HA i did, well i think i did may b there are things i didnt see, is there more than 1 page? i could have sworn i read all you info. Sorry for this lol! you would have been better off ignorming me! ha ha ha i must be causing you alot of strife!

LOL I think you just didn't scroll down enough

 

[Jason4045]

Good information Here! I am going to start a colony real soon. How soon do they start to produce offspring? Say if I was to recieve the roaches on the 1st of the month? few weeks,days,hours,mins???hehe seriously how long? I am going to need to get a heating pad and some egg flats aswell. I have a few new tubs already. I'm going to use this as a break from the crickets. I am currently feeding silks,horns,butters,crickets,blue bottles(flies) and fruits.

 

[Sancho]

this weekend I swapped from a heat pad to a inferred light. The heat pad was only keeping the tank 75 to 80 at max and with inferred light I'm at 90 to 100 all the time

 

[blackbetty]

I need one of those.. What wattage did you get?

 

[Sancho]

I need one of those.. What wattage did you get?

I got a 75w one and it's working great in my 10 gallon tank 90 to 105 depending on the time of the day

 

[WashingtonCham]

I clean the cage once a month and put down fresh oats. I change the food and water out daily. I like to give them a variety of fresh fruits and veggies. I also mist the cage once at night before I go to bed as they lick the glass.

I heard oats are not good for your chameleon though?

 

[jamest0o0]

@WashingtonCham hey I see you keep bumping old threads, this is 10 years old. You're not going to get many or any replies this way. I suggest starting a new thread for any questions

 

[WashingtonCham]

@WashingtonCham hey I see you keep bumping old threads, this is 10 years old. You're not going to get many or any replies this way. I suggest starting a new thread for any questions

Yah I just search things on the search bar of what I’m looking for I guess that’s not the way to go? Hard to find exactly what your looking for and have it be new As well. I just got a new colony of Dubia roaches and was searching them honestly didn’t even look at the date

 

[jamest0o0]

Yah I just search things on the search bar of what I’m looking for I guess that’s not the way to go? Hard to find exactly what your looking for and have it be new As well. I just got a new colony of Dubia roaches and was searching them honestly didn’t even look at the date

BTW im not trying to be an ass about bumping threads. A lot of people that see the dates or posted might just ignore the thread though.

 

[WashingtonCham]

BTW im not trying to be an ass about bumping threads. A lot of people that see the dates or posted might just ignore the thread though.

Yah I appreciate it I didn’t even think of that. A lot of people do care though I noticed that very quickly lol I should prob stop commenting on old stuff or pay attention I suppose.

 

[KobaOregonherper]

I got my first start on Dubia's about a month ago and I don't know if this is normal or what but the food goes bad (shrinks / stinks) within 2 days. I feed them sweet potatoes, Apples, Limes, Grapes, Oats and Carrots. Their water crystals also dry up really fast. I assume its the heat pad that is doing this.

Clean the cage once a month (leave some grass, the nymphs like having it. I Change THE food and water every week, but I do this more so when it's necessary. Orange food are the best. I've found oranges are amazing. I've read they increase the desire to breed, but Id take that with a grain of salt. As for the water crystals, they dry out fast if the heating pad is right under them. I've found that they do better if half the bin has the heat pad and the other half doesnt. I keep the food on the colder half and the cartons on the hot side.