ratio for starter dubia colony

[Ta2Smitty]

I'm going to be ordering my first roaches next week and trying to find out what to order? I have 3 18 gallon bins to use for colonies. Whats to best number to start off with? Do I order mixed groups or just med-large sized? Whats a good number to start of with for each bin? I came across one site that sells 420 mixed with 8 adult females and 5 adult males? I'm not sure which way to go starting out??? Any help will be great, thanks!

 

[Digby Rigby]

It depends how many you need to supply the amount of feeder you want. Waiting 6 month or more to have a self sustaining colony is not practical for most people. We have found that actually fairly even ratios of male to female seem to work just fine and seem to be the best way. Generally it is also better to buy nymphs and raise them up. When buying adults there is no way of knowing how old they are. You will never see nymphs dead from old age. We have been selling dubia for over 7 years now and for most of that time been dealing with dubia on a bulk lot basis. In that time we have gotten to a point where we start at lots of 5,000. No one has ever said they bought too many in all the time we have been selling dubia in bulk.

Digby Rigby
___________________

Bulk dubia & other roaches. Include phone number in reply [email protected]

 

[DeviousMike]

I have 3 juvenile chams. 5000 just seems like an overwhelming amount for them!

 

[chachilla]

For my little male roaches, they love to have orgies with the females at a ratio of 1 male to every 3-4 females. More importantly than that is to have heat to get them to bread in my opinion. Good luck any you'll have little roaches all over the bin in no time if you already have some adult or soon to be adults.

 

[Digby Rigby]

I have 3 juvenile chams. 5000 just seems like an overwhelming amount for them!

You are correct on that in your case. However he said he had 3 18 gallon bins to set up colonies in. However I was not soliciting sales, just giving a basis based on what we do as far starting colonies and also that information was provided to show where the experience and basis for my answers come from.

Digby Rigby
___________________

Bulk dubia & other roaches. Include phone number in reply [email protected]

 

[DeviousMike]

I emailed you before, digby. I wish I could handle that many since you are local to me!

 

[Maurer3D]

You need somewhere around 30 adult female and 6ish male roaches per chameleon you want to feed. If you are also using other feeders that would reduce the amount needed. Then supplement with 1 or 2 thousand mixed sizes at the start of your colony.