Not Breeding Dubia

MTsterfri

MTsterfri

New Member
When I get my chameleon, I want to feed it Dubia Roaches as the main source of food with worms or cricket every once in a while. To save money (since I'm an almost broke High School student) I want to buy my roaches in bulk. The problem is I don't want to breed them. If I did I would end up having way too many roaches for one veiled chameleon, I don't want to go through the hassle of selling them, and my family doesn't want me breeding them.
Does anyone know how I can buy Dubia in bulk (200-500) without them growing old enough too breed?
 
Well, feeding dubia, but not breeding them, would be very expensive. I'm assuming you haven't kept roaches before, but they pretty much just breed on their own... If you want to slow them down, just keep them at room temperature. You won't need to get rid of them or sell them. When the bin is too crowded and food is scarce they will slow down themselves.
 
jamest0o0 said:
Well, feeding dubia, but not breeding them, would be very expensive. I'm assuming you haven't kept roaches before, but they pretty much just breed on their own... If you want to slow them down, just keep them at room temperature. You won't need to get rid of them or sell them. When the bin is too crowded and food is scarce they will slow down themselves.
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Would the roaches be able to survive at my house's room temperature (68-75°F, but mostly 72°F)?
 
If they had food/moisture sure they could survive, but if you're worried about them infesting it's not an issue. You'd probably be one the first people unfortunate enough to have a dubia infestation...
 
jamest0o0 said:
If they had food/moisture sure they could survive, but if you're worried about them infesting it's not an issue. You'd probably be one the first people unfortunate enough to have a dubia infestation...
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Thanks, I know that they don't infest, but my family doesn't since they used to live in the south where roaches were a problem.
 
Dubia don't really get loose very easily unless you literally drop them and given there are thousands and thousands of keepers breeding and feeding them, I can safely say there are not an infestation species or you'd hear horror stories right and left. Furthermore, dubia are a pretty slow breeding roach which is one of their downsides if you have a collection of any real size. So I wouldn't worry about being overrun with roaches. You can sell any excess you have very easily to local pet shops, craigslist, the internets. Look at the prices even from the big sellers compared to say crickets and you can see even the big suppliers can't produce them fast enough to get the prices down to other faster breeding bugs like mealwroms, crix, or red runners.
 
jamest0o0 said:
My wife is not a fan of bugs and most reptiles, yet she wants to move to FL lol. Can't wait to mess with her about it.
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Ahaha!! She'll "love it" , snakes have been out more often here since so much rain flooding their habitats but mainly them gosh darn palmettos LOL
But sometimes the weather is reaaally nice on a good day!
 
Do you guys think its true that breeding and spending a lot of time around dubias can eventually make you develop an allergy to them and their frass?
 
Yes, you can for sure develop an allergy to a great many things after repeated exposures. I know someone who became very allergic to mangos and ended up in the ER with swollen lips like you wouldn't believe and felt like she was having trouble breathing from a mango salsa. She had no idea she had developed a mango allergy although in hindsight she realized there were clues that she never put together. So what can you do? Try not to stir up and inhale a bunch of dusty frass. I would even go so far as to say wear one of those dust masks when cleaning the bin. Ya you'll look stupid but it will certainly reduce the risk of developing an allergy to bugs like roaches or mealworms. You can get a case of disposable gloves off ebay for very cheap which are also useful to reduce cross contamination of reptile cages. Make sure to learn how to put the gloves on and off properly for them to be effective. You can find videos for nurses online to show you proper technique. Also wash hands often even with gloves. I wash my hands between every rack I service and when moving between different species of insect cages.
 
Very true what @insectovore said, but I'll share my take on it. I personally wear latex gloves(can get tons cheap), and sometimes a dust mask or my respirator if it's near. But I'll admit, most times I dig through the roach bins and whatever with bare hands. I used to be creeped out by roaches so it was no problem putting gloves on, but now I'm unphased. It's probably a good habit, but I just don't think to many times. Just don't touch your face and everything. I make sure to wash my hands thoroughly afterwards. Anytime I touch my animals or even go in their room i do it out of habit as well. Chances are low that anything will happen, but i just like the feeling of clean hands.

Sometimes I wonder how people get these allergies all of the time. Knock on wood, but I've never had an issue with it. I'm no expert on this, but it seems like the people that come from the most sanitary/sheltered backgrounds have the worst problems with allergies and sicknesses. I'm not saying live in filth, but I came from a conservative family that was basically just like 'oh kids get dirty, it toughens them up' attitude. We had animals, I played in mud, played with bugs constantly, etc. Never had a single issue from that. Maybe I'm just lucky, and maybe tomorrow now that I said it something horrible will happen lol, but i wouldn't worry too much. Just be aware of it, and use common sense!
 
If you do buy in bulk dubia take 7-9 months to grow to adult breeding size. So I would figure you would have plenty of time to feed them off before they start breeding unless you buy full grown adults right of the bat. Depending on the size of your Cham you could be good with getting small ones( baby Cham) and they will last a long time.
 
They dont breed fast enough to be sold too cheap. One allure is they almost thrive on neglect. You could go away for a month and come back and still have a colony. probably no babies but they wouldn't all be dead. Hatcheries can probably put out 100 crickets for the same amount of time and space s 1 dubia.
I understand if your parents wont let you have them, but having too many shouldn't be a problem. A ten gallon aquarium would probably fit just nice for a single veiled... May need to add a grow out tank as the cham gets older but this would also depend on how many other feeders you use. Also, anyone who has bearded dragons could take quite a few extras off you at a time.
Full Throttle Feeders (Nick Barta here on CF) sells them 200/$40 which is a pretty good price. Keep in mind, shipping them every few weeks is gonna cost you even if someone gave the dubias for free.
 
JacksJill said:
Since you haven't fed dubia to your cham yet. I would try some small batches first and be sure before you commit to hundreds. Some don't really like them.
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I second this--i set up a habitat and everything, then picked up 100....guess who gives me the stink eye still when they go in his cage?! (And are dug out 3 hrs later) Lol....he's still quite small tho, rather doted upon, as well as going thru his teen phases, so he's less fluff and more grump as of late--i need to hold out all other feeders but am to much of a wimp....I'd hold out about an hour as of last trial.....
 
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