Setting up a thriving Dubia colony..

Blaptica Dubia Roaches are a tropical insect that breed easily in the proper conditions. Females give birth to between 20 and 40 live young a month. They do not stink, jump, climb or fly. They can not survive low temperatures, low humidity, and can not inter-breed with native roaches. They are a nutritious feeder for lizards, arachnids, or any other insect eating pet. They range in size from tiny 1/8 inch nymphs to 3 inch adults, so they can be fed to any age reptile, amphibian, or arachnid.

You only need a few inexpensive things to get started.

~A large sterilite storage tub or Rubbermaid storage tub.
~6 to 8 egg flats. Easily ordered from a supplier.
~2 medium container lids like coffee can lids or old tupperware lids.
~A supply of roach chow (easily ordered from a supplier like the roach guy). They also like regualr old dog or cat food.
~At least 2-5 dry ounces of dry water crystals (2 oz makes 1 gallon of water drops).
~A 12in x 12in piece of screen. (the same screen that is used for windows).
~A dremel or multi purpose hand drill for cutting out a square of plastic in the lid of the large storage tub.
~Hot glue gun. (just a few $$ at any store like walmart).
~You also need to keep the tub in the reptile room or any room that is quite warm @ 80* plus. If this is not possible, you can use a piece of wired flexwatt or a small UTH. If a heat source is needed then you must control that heat source by using a thermostat like a herpstat.
~Last but not least, a starter supply of Dubia's. Try to get at least 4 adult females and 1 or 2 adult males. Then a bunch of nymphs to grow up. The more adult females you can aquire, the faster your colony will be established well enough to begin feeding from it. With only a few adult females, it will take months to establish a colony.


Take your large storage tub and cut out hole in one end of the lid. About 11in x 11in. The hole only needs to be big enough to allow some ventilation in.
The easiest way to attach the screen is by using a hot glue gun. Just run a line of hot glue around the top edge of the hole you just cut. Carefully place the screen down starting with one side. Smooth it down all the way around. You can hold a piece of cardboard against the opening of the hole on the underside of the tub lid to help prevent the screen from falling through until you have it secured all the way around with the glue.

While that is drying you can place the UTH or flexwatt on the underside of the tub using a powerful tape like gorilla tape or aluminum tape. Place it on one side opposite the side the food and water will be kept to allow the Dubias a warm and a cool side.

Some people just stand the egg flats upright (verticle) and line up as many as will fit in one end of the tub. Some stack them flat and then place this horizontal stack in one end of the tub. This way holds more heat in and allows the roaches layers of different temperatures to choose from. Either way you do it, its best to hot glue the egg flats together (alternate every other one so they do not slide into each other). Put a drop of glue on a few points where each egg flat sits on the other. Do one and then place another on top and glue that one. Etc etc, until you have a stack that fills the width of one end of the tub. You can place extra pieces of egg flat on top. You can use paper towel rolls in open areas etc..

Most people do not use any type of bedding. It is not needed and makes the tub easier to clean. If no bedding is used, you should put a large enough layer of roach chow in the open end of the tub to be able to sink the water dish in it. Otherwise tiny babies will not be able to get in or out of the water droplets dish.

I personally use eco earth as it contains its own colony of micro organisms to reduce the the amount of times I need to clean the tub each year. Plus it hold the high humidity these guys need to produce. If no bedding is used, humidity must be kept very high (at least 75% or more) in order for these guys to reproduce). The tub can be sprayed daily, a small humid hide full of moist eco earth or moss can also be used.

Now you just put everything together and add your bugs! Remember these are tropical insects. They will not produce or even survive very long if the humidity and temperature are not high enough. Here is a quick picture of my first tub which contains about 400 Dubias so far. You will notice I also use drink flats from fast food places and I put them in between the egg flats if Im running low on them.

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l2...s/66d1bdb2.jpg

Very good tutorial! They will be my next feeder project.

Can they chew through the plastic screen? They say crickets can, but I have never had a problem with them....I guess if you feed them properly that maybe they won't take the time to chew through the screening.

Nice write up, a couple of tips, I would use a colored bin because Blaptica Dubia dont like the light and thrive in the dark. I started with a colony of 175 and now have atleast 1000(probably more in the area of 1500). The trick to getting these guys to breed often is temperature, if you have your temps at 90 they'll breed like crazy. I dont use substrate(for easier cleaning) and have no problem with humidity. As long as you have a heat mat on, it will cause the gel water to evaporate and that keeps my humidity right. Great writeup

Male dubia DO fly.

High humidity is a huge no no. Humidity= mold for food. Mold will kill dubia. They DO NOT need high humidity

DO NOT SPRAY YOUR DUBIA.

*sighs*

Not spray the dubia, mist the sides of the tub if the humidity is low. As for mold. if the food is kept in a shallow bowl it should not mold. The bedding im using actually resists mold like it would in any vivarium (frog or tropical invertibrate vivarium etc) When I upgrade to a larger tub I will not use bedding. This was a good jump-start for my colony. The warmer and more humid it is, the more they reproduce, the less chance there is of young ones dying from not being able to properly molt. They are tropical, not desert insects. As for the tub being clear, its kept in the closet in the snake room. Plenty dark with an ambient temp of at least 80/85 at all times and sometimes higher during the day. They cant chew through the screen. At least the roach breeder I talked to said they could not. As for males flying. IO have only seen them flutter to the ground if picked up. If they can actually gain some lift and distance thats news to me. It must be a rare occurance.


http://www.theroachguy.com/caresheet.htm
"Water should be supplied by water gel as it does not get stinky the way sponges will. Using water gel insures against immature roaches accidentally drowning. A dish of water gel also raises the humidity inside the enclosure so that misting the sides of the tanks is not necessary. Blaptica dubia are more tolerant of a lack of moisture, more so than most other species as evidenced by a lack of dying. However, these roaches prefer more moisture than many other species and consequently breed better."

I don't use the gel things for water, I just feed fruits and veggies.

I learned if you give lots of fruits when the tubs are still hot it makes all the egg cartons get soggy and takes like a week to dry out when on the heat.

So I just feed lots of fruits, but take the tub off the heat pad to eat. When they are done eating, I put them back on the heat.

I've never had males fly.

Same with turk roaches, except they need more humidity for their egg cases to be able to hatch.

I never thought of the drink holders!! Great idea!

A dish of water gel also raises the humidity inside the enclosure so that misting the sides of the tanks is not necessary.

You can spray them if you really want too, but yeah having a bowl of water gel would make it easier. But spraying isn't bad for them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

I don't use the gel things for water, I just feed fruits and veggies.

I learned if you give lots of fruits when the tubs are still hot it makes all the egg cartons get soggy and takes like a week to dry out when on the heat.

So I just feed lots of fruits, but take the tub off the heat pad to eat. When they are done eating, I put them back on the heat.

I've never had males fly.

Same with turk roaches, except they need more humidity for their egg cases to be able to hatch.

I never thought of the drink holders!! Great idea!

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In the past I used oranges for water.

I have doubled my tubs and reduced roaches per tub and now use auto waters from ghann's for crickets.

if you use a heat pad, just only heat the side the crates are on.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

You can spray them if you really want too, but yeah having a bowl of water gel would make it easier. But spraying isn't bad for them.

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spraying with increase humidity to the point the egg crates will become moist. Then they can get moldy. It also encourages the roaches to eat your egg cartons.

If your spraying so much that the heat doesn't evaporate the moisture, yeah thats not good. But the OP said spray the sides of the container, not the actual egg cartons. A light misting once or twice a day would still be okay as long as it was able to dry out from the heat. But you are right, they don't need to be constantly moist to have high humidity. I've never sprayed my containers and have good breeding success with both species, even the other species which needs super high humidity.

I use all sorts of fruits that get a little too soft, peaches, oranges, watermelon, etc..

I would hope that anyone breeding these would be able to tell if it was too dry in the tub for them. Of course you do not want anything to be wet. Wet egg flats just fall apart. Wet food can mold. There is a happy medium which can be gained through different means. I did state that most people do not use bedding. In dry areas misting one side of the tub can work wonders. As for cleaning, there is a wonderful tutorial on that site I posted a link to for drilling small holes in a small bucket to sift out all waste without nymphs falling through the holes. Hey, are glass aquariums the wrong way to house snakes? What about those "horrible" little tubs in racks? Even though they more closely mimic the snakes den? So let ME *sigh* while I remind the general public that people will do whatever works best for them. Even a wet piece of paper towel will raise humidity if that ever became an issue. I find a certain bedding in my smallest tub and coffee can lids full of food and water drops works best for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

In the past I used oranges for water.

I have doubled my tubs and reduced roaches per tub and now use auto waters from ghann's for crickets.

if you use a heat pad, just only heat the side the crates are on.

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cricket water gel is pretty costly. Like $7.99 here for a small jar. Look into water crystals. I got mine on ebay for like $5 for a 13oz bag( will lasts probably a year or so)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by groki21

cricket water gel is pretty costly. Like $7.99 here for a small jar. Look into water crystals. I got mine on ebay for like $5 for a 13oz bag( will lasts probably a year or so)

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who uses water crystals or gel? I use water.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

Male dubia DO fly.

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I never had a single one of my thousands of male dubias fly, despite having wings. I rarely even see fluttering, and certainly nothing that even comes close to providing lift.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

I never had a single one of my thousands of male dubias fly, despite having wings. I rarely even see fluttering, and certainly nothing that even comes close to providing lift.

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I didn't think so either until recently

I've got a dubia colony going now. I know it says heat at 80+ but is there a heat I shouldn't let them go over? Curious if I can keep them in the garage or will they over heat and die?

"It is said that although the males have wings, they do not fly, they can hover 1-2 inches in the air; however, in practice it has been proven that the males rarely do seem to fly greater distances."

as for heat I wouldn't let it get over like 100*

Quote:

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Originally Posted by azmodane

"It is said that although the males have wings, they do not fly, they can hover 1-2 inches in the air; however, in practice it has been proven that the males rarely do seem to fly greater distances."

as for heat I wouldn't let it get over like 100*

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SHHHHHH!!!!!

Can't you read!!! he said they can't fly...:D:D:D:rofl:

I wouldn't let ambient in a tub get over 95 degrees because it is easier to fry dubias than freeze them to death.

My apartment hit 85 degrees this past summer for sure, possibly 90 one day. I was doing all I could to keep some of my various animals cool, but the dubias did just fine with no maintenance.