Mixed cricket/dubia combo

[ridgebax1]

Pigglett79 has a blog about raising silks and hornworms. She shows her set-up which features a false bottom that allows waste to fall through and to ease cleaning. She gives advice on them from egg to moth.

As far as calciworms, I get mine from rainbowmealworms.com, they seem to have the best worms that are active and healthy. Others I have gotten (especially from the pet stores) have a lot of pupae in them. I do pull them out and keep them in a separate container, that I check every day or every other day, for flies which I release directly into my chams cage. He loves chasing them and they don't last long.

 

[Garf]

Thanks. I'll looks for piggletts blog now.

 

[Slug]

From my limited experience with Dubias, I found that when I got a small starter colony (25 mixed adults) from a friend. All I had to do to get the breeding going was cut up a couple of oranges into slices, and they practically exploded with babies within a few days. I never got a full count, but I had several hundred very quickly. Unfortunately, their heating pad got unplugged accidentally during the winter months while in the garage and it wiped out all but 8 of my larger adults.

So my tips include:
1. Keep them in the dark
2. Large plastic container with ventilation and egg crates (most places that serve breakfast will have a lot of egg flats they will give you for free. I left a restaurant with almost 50 in one visit.)
3. ORANGES!!! They love them. (I was told that it is Dubia Vaigra from my friend who sold them to me.)
4. Keep them close to a wall outlet (to avoid accidental unplugging of your heating pad.)
5. Keep them warm.

 

[Garf]

Thanks. I'll try the roach Viagra on them. They've had no babies yet (that I've noticed) and their numbers are dwindling, well, George (my veiled) loves them I will be getting more though, so all tips are great fully received.