Leopard gecko or hognose snake

No UVB, the calcium with D3 is enough for them.

For the dubia, you want to start your colony with as many adults (ratio of 1:3-6 male:female) and you also want many nymphs of different sizes.

It takes months for a colony to establish, so you will need to order enough extra feeders to provide for your geckos while you wait for your colony to take off. I let my colony grow for ~3-4 months before I fed off it. Once the colony is producing, I'd suggest keeping a separate smaller bin to keep your dubia to be fed off. This will prevent higher stress on the main colony and help them breed more quickly.

You will need a dark bin with a lot of ventilation (cut out the whole top and cover with mesh). Vertically placed cardboard egg flats for them to live on, and a dish for water crystals (or veggies) and a dish for dry food (I use organic chicken layer crumbles). Do not allow fresh food to sit for more than 2 days...Try to provide pieces small enough that they can finish them before you have to remove them. Also, avoid putting the dry food close to the source of water (water crystals or veggies) you don't want to risk mold and mold will kill the colony quickly. Feeding oranges will help them reproduce faster, but oranges and citrus are not good fruits to gutload with. If you have a smaller bin to keep the feeder dubia in, you can feed them better gutloading foods and give your main colony different items. For my gutloading feeding bin, I feed organic shredded veggies and fruits. I avoid anything that is not good to gutload with. I also give them a dry premium gutloading diet that is too expensive to feed the main colony.

Also, you will need a heat source for your dubia colony bin. I use a heat pad taped to the side that is plugged into a thermostat. I keep mine set at 90f, which does a good job. Dubia will not reproduce or will reproduce very slowly if not given extra heat. I think anything below 80f will cause them to cease reproducing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by artgecko

No UVB, the calcium with D3 is enough for them.

For the dubia, you want to start your colony with as many adults (ratio of 1:3-6 male:female) and you also want many nymphs of different sizes.

It takes months for a colony to establish, so you will need to order enough extra feeders to provide for your geckos while you wait for your colony to take off. I let my colony grow for ~3-4 months before I fed off it. Once the colony is producing, I'd suggest keeping a separate smaller bin to keep your dubia to be fed off. This will prevent higher stress on the main colony and help them breed more quickly.

You will need a dark bin with a lot of ventilation (cut out the whole top and cover with mesh). Vertically placed cardboard egg flats for them to live on, and a dish for water crystals (or veggies) and a dish for dry food (I use organic chicken layer crumbles). Do not allow fresh food to sit for more than 2 days...Try to provide pieces small enough that they can finish them before you have to remove them. Also, avoid putting the dry food close to the source of water (water crystals or veggies) you don't want to risk mold and mold will kill the colony quickly. Feeding oranges will help them reproduce faster, but oranges and citrus are not good fruits to gutload with. If you have a smaller bin to keep the feeder dubia in, you can feed them better gutloading foods and give your main colony different items. For my gutloading feeding bin, I feed organic shredded veggies and fruits. I avoid anything that is not good to gutload with. I also give them a dry premium gutloading diet that is too expensive to feed the main colony.

Also, you will need a heat source for your dubia colony bin. I use a heat pad taped to the side that is plugged into a thermostat. I keep mine set at 90f, which does a good job. Dubia will not reproduce or will reproduce very slowly if not given extra heat. I think anything below 80f will cause them to cease reproducing.

---

Awesome tips to starting a dubia colony. But I might not start one because I will only have 1 or 2 geckos.

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

I also bought this calcium for dusting the insects but I am not sure if it constains D3. This is tempory and I will find a product that contains D3.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c84d45d193.jpg

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

William- If you don't want the hassle of a colony, then you may want to stick to mainly feeding mealworms. Dubia are expensive to buy, which is why most people just start a colony.

The packaging should say if the calcium has D3 added to it. If it doesn't say that, then it probably does not have it in it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by artgecko

William- If you don't want the hassle of a colony, then you may want to stick to mainly feeding mealworms. Dubia are expensive to buy, which is why most people just start a colony.

The packaging should say if the calcium has D3 added to it. If it doesn't say that, then it probably does not have it in it.

---

Ok thanks for the help. So I'll stick with mealworms, superworms and wax worms as an occassional treat

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

Hi everyone, tomorow I am getting my leopard gecko. I am sooo Stoked!!![emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]

He is a baby super snow leo.

He looks a bit thin to me. Or am I just imagining things. He is +- 6weeks oldhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...adc0e84b50.jpg

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by William Snakespeare

Hi everyone, tomorow I am getting my leopard gecko. I am sooo Stoked!!![emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]

He is a baby super snow leo.

He looks a bit thin to me. Or am I just imagining things. He is +- 6weeks oldhttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...adc0e84b50.jpg

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

---

I would not get that, that would fall under rescue in my book, it's thin and the cage is just NASTY

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deborah

I would not get that, that would fall under rescue in my book, it's thin and the cage is just NASTY

---

We will see first . I know the cage looks nasty.

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

The breeder seems to know what he's talking about.

I would be very concerned if the leo looked like thishttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...089bde16bc.jpg

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by William Snakespeare

The breeder seems to know what he's talking about.

I would be very concerned if the leo looked like thishttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...089bde16bc.jpg

Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk

---

Apparently does not know when a cage is dirty though, but hey if you want to spend your money with someone that keep them in dirty cage like that why not, your call I know I wouldn't.