Planned Odor free cricket breeding but changed my mind.

[AlienCreeper]

So I had planned on building a cricket keeping tub implementing a few fans and a carbon scrubber for the smell. But now I am thinking of just going with dubia roaches instead. Can anyone that has dealt with breeding both dubia and or discoid roaches and crickets share your experiences or link me to your threads? Thanks in advance

 

[jpowell86]

Dubia are so much easier to breed and the odor is almost nonexistent. I once bred crickets quite successfully, but the smell can be overwhelming if you aren't willing to clean the tubs out FREQUENTLY. I now just breed dubia and have my crickets delivered bi-monthly....so much easier IMO!

 

[MSMorgan]

AC,

Lots of great posts on dubia breeding. As jpowell indicated they are easy to breed and don't smell like crickets do. I have a successful colony of 3-4K at the moment. Three key things to remember when breeding the dubia are proper heat 85-90* ( I use a seeding mat); a 3 to1 ratio (3 fully mature young adult females to one male) and proper nutrition. All information/ videos can be found in a quick google search, or on this site.

 

[AlienCreeper]

AC,

Lots of great posts on dubia breeding. As jpowell indicated they are easy to breed and don't smell like crickets do. I have a successful colony of 3-4K at the moment. Three key things to remember when breeding the dubia are proper heat 85-90* ( I use a seeding mat); a 3 to1 ratio (3 fully mature young adult females to one male) and proper nutrition. All information/ videos can be found in a quick google search, or on this site.

Thanks! I've been reading extensively on breeding them and the whole time have been trying to figure out why people even bother with breeding crickets instead of the roaches lol! I guess I'm really trying to find if there are any significant cons to dubia over crickets and I have found absolutely none. Did you replace crickets all together or do you still feed crickets too? How well do your roaches climb the sides of your cages?

 

[MSMorgan]

AC,

No cons. I still buy crickets in small batches weekly, as variety of feeders is one of the keys to success. I've only got one veiled, so the dubias have gotten a little out of control, but I trade the excess males off to a friend that has chickens and I get eggs in return.

 

[gotwqqd]

You can follow my posts, I'm relatively new to the forums and, as you are, as going down the dubia road... Plus silkworms. So you may get some answers that I found useful.

 

[mvad]

Dubias are so very easy to breed. Heat, food, egg crates and a good sized bin. I live in Rhode Island and checked out RI craiglist and alas, someone was selling dubias. I got a some medium sized and a colony starter amount of adult males and twice as many females. I added no extra heat to my bin and I have more dubias than I can feed my single chameleon. Heat would have greatly expedited the process.

 

[bobcochran]

Thanks! I've been reading extensively on breeding them and the whole time have been trying to figure out why people even bother with breeding crickets instead of the roaches lol! I guess I'm really trying to find if there are any significant cons to dubia over crickets and I have found absolutely none. Did you replace crickets all together or do you still feed crickets too? How well do your roaches climb the sides of your cages?

One thing: I don't know how many chams you have but you should make sure they are willing to eat Dubia roaches before going all in. There are a minority few that just won't eat them.

 

[MadameTerrapene]

Dubia are so much easier to breed and the odor is almost nonexistent. I once bred crickets quite successfully, but the smell can be overwhelming if you aren't willing to clean the tubs out FREQUENTLY. I now just breed dubia and have my crickets delivered bi-monthly....so much easier IMO!

Agreed, dubias are much easier to breed and house than crickets. I have a small dubia colony in Reptibark/peat substrate in a 10 gal glass aquarium with a heat mat on the bottom. I feed them non-fatty kitchen scraps and pull out the males to feed to my turtles. They're sooo easy and low maintenance. I've never had an issue with flies or funky smell (I also use springtails).

Aliencreeper, I recommend that you give them a try if you can! I think that the main reason why more people don't breed them has to do with the fact that they're big roaches.