Your Dubia Colonies

I want to compile some good detailed information from people that currently keep large colonies of well established Dubia. I don't want responses from people who are new to keeping Dubia or who do not have large colonies because that information wouldn't be very helpful. I want to know the information that you have found through keeping a large colony for a length of time and not just theory that somebody came up with and never tested.

1. What do you currently use for your dry food? Do you make a mix yourself or do you buy a pre-made food that is made for a different type of animal?

2. Are you having a lot of success with this dry food? What I mean by this is have you been having consistently low die offs and high breeding numbers while using it?

3. How many Dubia do you currently keep and what size tub do you keep them in?

4. How many full size 12x12 egg crates and/or cut egg crates do you use for the number of roaches that you have in each tub?

5. Do you have your fruit, water, and dry food bowls on the ground of the tub or raised up and sitting on top of egg crates? I ask this because since putting mine about 8 inches up on top of egg crates it seems like they aren't hardly getting to them even though egg crates are surrounding them making it easy to get in and out.

I think that I had one more question but I accidentally deleted all of the write up and had to redo it so I don't know what I had written. If you can think of any extra information to add please do so. I'm sure that this will be helpful to more people than just myself.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

1. I mix Purina dog chow, oatmeal, bran flakes, and cheerios in a food processor for the dry chow. I also supplement that with the stalks from whatever greens I feed the dragons that day and oranges or other citrus once a week.

2. I have really low die offs, but I also have 3 tubs keeping the colonies relatively small roughly 1500 in each.

3. I have about 4500 in 3 18 gallon sterlite tubs3. 1500 or so in each tub. I shake everything out through buckets with 3/8" holes monthly and feed them off. Roughly 2000 feeders a month is what I go through then they go back in a breeder bin.

4. 7 egg crates per tub.

5. gelled water in a plastic dish with one side removed on the floor. Food dish on the floor right next to it.

If you want a pic of one of my tubs let me know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AdamL8

I want to compile some good detailed information from people that currently keep large colonies of well established Dubia. I don't want responses from people who are new to keeping Dubia or who do not have large colonies because that information wouldn't be very helpful. I want to know the information that you have found through keeping a large colony for a length of time and not just theory that somebody came up with and never tested.

1. What do you currently use for your dry food? Do you make a mix yourself or do you buy a pre-made food that is made for a different type of animal?

2. Are you having a lot of success with this dry food? What I mean by this is have you been having consistently low die offs and high breeding numbers while using it?

3. How many Dubia do you currently keep and what size tub do you keep them in?

4. How many full size 12x12 egg crates and/or cut egg crates do you use for the number of roaches that you have in each tub?

5. Do you have your fruit, water, and dry food bowls on the ground of the tub or raised up and sitting on top of egg crates? I ask this because since putting mine about 8 inches up on top of egg crates it seems like they aren't hardly getting to them even though egg crates are surrounding them making it easy to get in and out.

I think that I had one more question but I accidentally deleted all of the write up and had to redo it so I don't know what I had written. If you can think of any extra information to add please do so. I'm sure that this will be helpful to more people than just myself.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

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1. I dont use Dry Food. One of the biggest reasons for die offs is a lack of moisture. We use Repashy bug burger for feed and water crystals for water.

2. We are constantly having to bring in more roaches but this is due to expanding very quickly. We feed 7-10 appropriately sized dubias to all species once a week, except the V. exanthematicus. He gets 10-20 Dubias or worms every second day.

3. We keep two 66QT (I think) rubbermaid bins. All in all, we have roughly 5-8K roaches. I have noticed that seperating them out and keeping the numbers below 3-4k a tub increases breeding. For whatever reason the males will start tearing each other up if they are too dense. You will also get alot of males attempting to fly out of the bin, obviously seeking to find breedable females to spread genes.

4. I dont really count the egg crates, nor do i stack them right side up. I put them horizontal and keep them below the clear packing tape. Dubia males can flutter out of the bin if they get hot enough, chances are they cant get through the cracks in the lid. However you do not want them tipping over the egg crates onto the wall above the tape, you will quickly find little dubias all over your house.

5. I just slop everything in there in no particular order. I keep the food and water crystals from hitting the tape and I try not to get the eggcrates too moist as they will get soggy with too much food/water.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AdamL8

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1. What do you currently use for your dry food? Do you make a mix yourself or do you buy a pre-made food that is made for a different type of animal?
Whatever dry cat or dog food is on clearance.

2. Are you having a lot of success with this dry food? What I mean by this is have you been having consistently low die offs and high breeding numbers while using it?
In 6 months, I could count the amount of die offs on my fingers.

3. How many Dubia do you currently keep and what size tub do you keep them in?
~1500 in an 18 gallon smooth walled Rubbermaid tub.

4. How many full size 12x12 egg crates and/or cut egg crates do you use for the number of roaches that you have in each tub?
I use whole egg cartons that I got from the supermarket for free. They ordered me a huge plastic sleeve with a few hundred cartons that they got for free because they have a good relationship with the egg supplier. I told them I was doing arts and crafts with kids with them. Don't judge me. I think I use 6 total per cleaning.

5. Do you have your fruit, water, and dry food bowls on the ground of the tub or raised up and sitting on top of egg crates? I ask this because since putting mine about 8 inches up on top of egg crates it seems like they aren't hardly getting to them even though egg crates are surrounding them making it easy to get in and out.
I have some 2 inch high tupperwares that I cut one side off and just sit them flat on the floor. The roaches drag the dry food out and all over the tub, but I keep humidity relatively low and watch for mold and clean diligently when I see it.

I think that I had one more question but I accidentally deleted all of the write up and had to redo it so I don't know what I had written. If you can think of any extra information to add please do so. I'm sure that this will be helpful to more people than just myself.
I clean them maybe every 2-3 months.. pretty much only if I see mold anywhere. I don't give veggies simply because it's a lot of extra cleaning. I have considered feeding citrus to boost production.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Elusive Dream

1. I mix Purina dog chow, oatmeal, bran flakes, and cheerios in a food processor for the dry chow. I also supplement that with the stalks from whatever greens I feed the dragons that day and oranges or other citrus once a week.

2. I have really low die offs, but I also have 3 tubs keeping the colonies relatively small roughly 1500 in each.

3. I have about 4500 in 3 18 gallon sterlite tubs3. 1500 or so in each tub. I shake everything out through buckets with 3/8" holes monthly and feed them off. Roughly 2000 feeders a month is what I go through then they go back in a breeder bin.

4. 7 egg crates per tub.

5. gelled water in a plastic dish with one side removed on the floor. Food dish on the floor right next to it.

If you want a pic of one of my tubs let me know.

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I would like to see a pic of your tub set up. That would be helpful... Thanks.

Here is the top. I just cut screen and hot glued it on.

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/...Y/IMG_4867.jpg

The food and water are directly under the screen. I just cut the side off of a little storage container. The food dish is a old reptile water dish that I had laying around.

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/...Y/IMG_4868.jpg

Here is inside and the egg crates. The foil tape on the top is to prevent the babies from climbing. When I pull egg crates to sort I have had a few little ones that stick to the side so just a precaution.

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/...Y/IMG_4869.jpg

Heat tape, what you can see is 6"x11" and on the bottom is another piece 9"x11". I have them on the hydro farm you see in the picture set at 93 degrees. Before I had one longer piece on a dimmer and had a probe thermometer and just adjusted it to 91. The hydro was picked up at an auction for $7.00 so why not use it!

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/...Y/IMG_4865.jpg

Easy way to get the egg crates is go to Denny's or IHOP whatever you have near you that serves breakfast and ask if they can hold them for you and you can pick them up in a couple days. I picked up 117 in one day.

If you need anything else let me know.

Willis

1. For about 6 months I used a commercial vegetarian cricket food, but when I ran out I followed a recipe online using cat food as a base. However, I did some research and found some evidence that using animal protein can lead to gout in reptiles, so I've since switched to a mix of ground rabbit pellets, oats, sunflower, flax seed, rice puffs and cheerios and whatever other grains I have lying around.
2.It's worked just fine for me. I've had 3 deaths in the past 8 months or so.
3. I'm only feeding 2 animals, so I try to keep it around 500 in an 18 gallon Rubbermaid.
4. I just put 2 or 3 full egg crates in.
5. I put water gel in the lid of an old butter container and throw dry chow, veggies and fruits directly on the tub floor.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/23/tamu9aja.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/23/5eju3e2y.jpg

A quick question to all of you that replied. How many of the numbers that you estimate you're currently keeping are actually adult females?

Most of mine are small or medium nymphs. I'd say maybe 30 or so adult females. I usually thin out my males when I notice them.

I run at least a 3:1 ratio.

In the breeder tubs I have roughly 600 females to 200 males.

I only feed 2 dragons, the rest get sold off on craigslist and I donate to the humain society and herp society also.

I have been breeding them since Jan of 2012. I started with 500 mixed nymphs, 50 adult females and 10 adult males. I did not feed out of the colony for 3 months. Now I could keep the local petco in feeders every month!

One thing I never mentioned, temps. You need to be between 85-95 for best breeding. I set at 91 so if it fluctuates a little in either direction its ok.