Dubia Roach Breeding Questions!

[GpBp]

I've been breeding dubias for about 5 years now and my advice is keep it simple.

1) Gut load with stuff you want your animal to eat. I use stuff like butternut squash, alfalfa pellets soaked in water, carrots, mustard greens, oranges, apples, pretty much any veggie or fruit will work.
2) Yes, i would still dust. Not sure the required amount needed for geckos but i would probably use calcium with D3 since geckos are nocturnal so wouldnt get the D3 from a UVB bulb like diurnal reptiles.
3) Again, the amount depends on the geckos requirement. I cant help there as i dont own geckos but for my beardie, i vary her stuff with dubias, hornworms, butterworms, silkworms, kingworms and veggies and fruit.
4) They personally dont but their food can. If you overfeed them on fruit, it can attract fruit flies. You will learn how fast your colony can eat. At the peak, my colony was polishing off 4+ apples in about 30 mins. They would literally pour out from the egg crates like a wave from a horror movie lol.
5) They have a unique odor but its not noticeable unless you shove your head in the bin. Some people are allergic to their frass though. But unless you are cleaning the tub, shouldnt be an issue.
6) My beardie doesnt eat adults. I used to just kill the males off by the tupperware container full or when i was selling off roaches, i would ask customers if they wanted adult males and if they did, i would just give them a tub full for free. I only feed the smaller ones. You want to constantly have them growing up so you can refresh your old breeder females and males. Dont need many males though as they will fight and basically just eat food for no gain.

The prices you listed arent bad but you can find better. Check your local reptile group FB page. I'm sure you could find someone selling dubias. I used to sell them locally to people and would just meet them in store parking lots. I also started my colony by buying surplus from a guy with too big of colony for dirt cheap. Picked up like 80 females for $40. Also you can sex dubias. Turn them over and look at the last scute on the end of their butt. If it is one big scute and is wide, it is a female. If it is narrow and small, it is a male.

Oh forgot to add, i would use no substrate. Let their frass become the substrate. I just use big tubs with a screened hole, egg crates, a dish with water crystals and a CHE for heat. Something simple like that works well and you will have thousands of roaches once your colony gets stabilized and going. generally if you start off with little roaches, you are looking at 6+ months before you can start feeding off the colony. With adult females, you can start sooner. You want to let enough little ones grow up to be big ones to replace breeders like i said. IIRC, one female will produce about 20 young a month, so depending how many your animal eats, you can figure out how many females you need to cover the animal, deaths and letting some grow up to be females for breeding.

Thank you so so much Sauzo!!
1. Thats great! I thought there were only certain things they should eat. I have guinea pigs and they eat A LOT of fruit/veggies, so feeding them shouldn't be a problem!
2. I'll still dust lightly then
3. I guess I'll just experiment. I think maybe twice a week would be good for the geckos! I'll just feed them however much they'd take.
4. Do you think if I put a lid on their tub it wouldn't attract anything? With mesh on top of course so they can breathe
5. Awesome! My cousin breeds crickets and... .
6. I'm not sure what I'll do for the males. Do you think they'd be safe if I cut them up? Bea will eat anything lol, I'm sure I could get him to eat a cut-up adult.

I'll be sure to check around FB and stuff! I'm hoping to get everything ordered by this weekend!
I heard 2/5-6 videos I watched say to use substrate. Just thought I'd ask
20 babies per female a month? Woahh! Awesome. I won't need many at all! Bea eats up to 8-9 per feeding, and Pocket eats 5-6, so honestly like 3 females would be okay!

Thanks again!!