Dubia colony

JoshDM020

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
356
Aaaalrighty-roo ladies and gents its time for another question. Im lookin to start a colony of dubia roaches because quite frankly, im tired of buying crickets. Partly because they stink, partly because theyre loud, mostly because i kinda have become just as fascinated with the roaches i got at the store as i am with tarantulas :banghead:.
Anyways, ive got the plastic box, ive got the egg flats (no thanks to YOU, Wafflehouse!:mad:), but now im largely clueless. Im not worried about having too many roaches, my mom has two bearded dragons that im sure wouldnt mind a change of food.
Ive got food down: fish flakes/chick feed/cat food (or was it dog? I imagine either) with some occasional orange slices. I'll consider water crystals food.
Whats got me is ventilation. Do they need it? If they do, how much? Also, i know they cant breed below a certain temp (85-95 range?) But if i stick a heat mat to the thing, and it gets hotter than that (i dont really think it will, but hey, never know) is that going to have any negative effects on reproduction/living in general?
Thats pretty much all ive got. If you guys think i missed something i need to know or shouldve asked, let me know.
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
My roaches adore all sorts of healthy veggies and fruits (though I remove any uneaten fruit soon -- don't want fruit flies!) I also offer catfood and some cereal grains.
Re: ventilation -- assuming tall sides -- I've heard of folks keeping dubias with no lid. No first hand experience with dubias (I raise B lats) -- but someone else may read my comment and correct me if I'm mistaken.
Fish flakes are fine -- but... stink worse than crickets, imo. lol

Good luck - hope you end up with a very successful colony! :)
 

Walker253

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 12, 2016
Messages
554
Seems like you have it. Ventilation, I keep making me in a Rubbermaid tub. I cut a big hole in the top and glued a metal screen on the inside. It might be a little big, but it work and I have tons of Dubia. I've seen the circle vents. Every time ve seen a container the vents are on top. But they need them imo.
You want them to breed, keep them warm. I use a big seedling mat. I haven't worried about it getting too hot. They are on the egg flats anyway. Also, citrus really gets the adults breeding.
I've never worried abou separating nymphs. The lady I got my first batch of adults from said they won't breed if you bug them. Mine have been fine. One thing if you are feeding instead of letting the adults establish their breeding, buy a bunch of extra nymphs to feed while the adults do their business.
I think that's all
 

carterxwr

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Messages
26
In terms of ventilation, most setups that I've seen just use open bins with no top since they can't climb something like steralite.
 

Walker253

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 12, 2016
Messages
554
Re: ventilation -- assuming tall sides -- I've heard of folks keeping dubias with no lid. No first hand experience with dubias (I raise B lats) -- but someone else may read my comment and correct me if I'm mistaken.
Why take the chance with no lid? Not worth it, even if they won't breed in a cooler house. I have a good friend who left the lid off. He had a heat cable in the tub. All the Dubia walked up the heat cable and out of the tub. He ended up bug bombing his house because there were Dubia everywhere. Another friend had to keep his T's and reptiles while the whole bombing went down.
Another thing that could go wrong, the tub could get tipped. I'll use a lid thanks.
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
Why take the chance with no lid? Not worth it, even if they won't breed in a cooler house. I have a good friend who left the lid off. He had a heat cable in the tub. All the Dubia walked up the heat cable and out of the tub. He ended up bug bombing his house because there were Dubia everywhere. Another friend had to keep his T's and reptiles while the whole bombing went down.
Another thing that could go wrong, the tub could get tipped. I'll use a lid thanks.
Ugh -- what a horrible story. I heat mine from below, so no cables or anything to climb. Sorry that happened to your friend. Sheeesh!

I wish I could remember the 2 members here who commented about leaving lid off for ventilation purposes -- since these burrow and don't climb -- I only remember the enclosure had very tall sides....
I don't keep a lid on my mealies (or supers) for better ventilation reasons.

Since I have B lats -- I just bored holes all over lid for ventilation. I put smaller holes over part covering their egg crates, and larger holes over empty side.
I would never not keep a lid on B lats no matter what! Sometimes, I even debate putting a lock on their lid. lol
 

JoshDM020

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
356
Looks like i chose the wrong subforum. Figured since it was about feeders for my tarantulas it was in the right place. Sorry mods!

Anyways, it sounds like i wasnt too far off at all. I wont be doing the no lid thing. I feel like other people in my house would be not happy if one or more of the males decided he was unhappy and put the wings to use. Actually, I'd probably get kicked out. Lots of holes sounds good to me.
Now all i need is to talk to the bearded dragon guy at the LPS about possibly setting me up with a starter colony....
 

Walker253

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 12, 2016
Messages
554
Ugh -- what a horrible story. I heat mine from below, so no cables or anything to climb. Sorry that happened to your friend. Sheeesh!

I wish I could remember the 2 members here who commented about leaving lid off for ventilation purposes -- since these burrow and don't climb -- I only remember the enclosure had very tall sides....
I don't keep a lid on my mealies (or supers) for better ventilation reasons.

Since I have B lats -- I just bored holes all over lid for ventilation. I put smaller holes over part covering their egg crates, and larger holes over empty side.
I would never not keep a lid on B lats no matter what! Sometimes, I even debate putting a lock on their lid. lol
Dubia burrow in the soil, but they climb egg flats just fine. If the egg flat hangs up on another egg flat and it's near the top, up and out they can go. If the edge of the tub gets a bit dirty, the nymphs can scale up the side. Why risk it?

Lateralis, keep them in. I have another friend that recently discovered a new colony of lats in the mechanisms of her refrigerator
 

carterxwr

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Messages
26
Why take the chance with no lid? Not worth it, even if they won't breed in a cooler house. I have a good friend who left the lid off. He had a heat cable in the tub. All the Dubia walked up the heat cable and out of the tub. He ended up bug bombing his house because there were Dubia everywhere. Another friend had to keep his T's and reptiles while the whole bombing went down.
Another thing that could go wrong, the tub could get tipped. I'll use a lid thanks.
I wasn't saying it was the best idea. I certainly wouldn't do it lidless but most that I've seen are.
 

AphonopelmaTX

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
1,816
I'm one of those that doesn't use a lid for dubia. Well, sort of anyway. I have a decent sized colony in a 36 gallon container and I just put the lid on top at an angle for ventilation so it isn't fastened on. To Walker's point though, if the colony is in a busy area prone to be bumped into, or if one is putting cables and other decorations in the container than yes, use a lid with a screen glued on. I have a very basic setup for my dubia. Just the container and egg flats.

There is so much basic care information out there so I will only make some pointers from my experience with them.

- Use an opaque container to house them. My container is purple. :) Dubia are very skittish and will run to seek shelter when the lights come on or when there is movement around the container. They hate the light and they are frightened by movement. Keep them out of a busy area in your house. You could probably get away with a clear container if you pack egg flats tightly and put a textured food tray or bowl on top of the egg flats.

- The container will start to stink if you don't keep it clean. Any fruit or vegetables need to be removed from the container after 24 hours. If you use egg flats, that paper will absorb any liquid and smells produced by the food and even the roaches themselves. It's easily remedied by occasionally replacing the egg flats and wiping up any food mess with a damp paper towel. Dubia when frightened, will release a liquid musk that can be quite offensive.

- When you choose a container, be absolutely sure the inside doesn't have any texture whatsoever. I almost had a disaster on my hands when I bought a new container but decided to use the new one for crickets. I thought the inside was smooth until I noticed a bunch of crickets walking around my living room. Escaped crickets are fine to me because I never have too many at one time, but all of my roaches would have been gone and all over the place if I decided to use it for them. As I said, I don't fasten the lid on my container. Given how skittish they can be, I wouldn't want to open the lid and have a bunch of dubia babies making a break for it anyhow.

- Dubia roaches can most certainly reproduce at temperatures lower than 85 degrees F. Just very slowly. I have had the same colony for years and I haven't had an explosion of babies at any time. My colony has been growing steadily over the years, but not at an unmanageable rate. I don't use any kind of climate control in my spider/ bug room so it can get as high as 90 degrees or as low as 65 degrees (F) depending on the year. My dubia bin is on the floor so it is always cooler than anything on a shelf. Speaking of which, one or more females just had babies and it has been around 75 - 80 degrees in my bug room lately.

And one last warning. You may very well have trouble feeding the dubia roaches to anything. :) I got dubias as food for my spiders but then I started liking them too much and now I have a hard time throwing them in with the hungry spiders. I never thought I could see a roach as "cute" until I got them. They all have this behavior where they will poke their heads out from under an egg flat and scurry back under if there is the slightest disturbance. Mine also run around in circles sometimes when I feed them. I don't what it is, but it is adorable.
 

Ellenantula

Arachnoking
Joined
Sep 14, 2014
Messages
2,009
Dubia burrow in the soil, but they climb egg flats just fine. If the egg flat hangs up on another egg flat and it's near the top, up and out they can go. If the edge of the tub gets a bit dirty, the nymphs can scale up the side. Why risk it?
Yeah, I use super tall enclosure so the egg crates aren't near top. My males aren't amazing flyers or anything, but still -- don't want enough liftoff to reach lid (though males are way too big to fit in vent holes I made). I keep the inside walls wiped clean (plus, I think we ought to emphasize this more -- I use a NEW enclosure -- old rubbermaid containers can have tiny scratches that will give these guys a foothold). For B lats -- those sides must be super slick!
I don't use substrate (since I don't have burrowers) and I think this goes a long way to keeping sides clean too.

I'm always happy when someone decides to start a roach colony. My Ts enjoy a meatier meal, and it's nice to have a supply on hand and not keep needing to visit petstore or place online orders.
 

Walker253

Arachnobaron
Joined
Jun 12, 2016
Messages
554
I'm really not debating or piushing one to use a lid. I keep my Dubia the same as the rest of you, with the exception of a lid. I think it's smart to use a lid, but whatever floats your boat.
I do like the Dubia like @AphonopelmaTX. I seem to get a lot of males and don't think they're cute at all, so I have no problem feeding them. I have a lateralis colony too. They get fed the most to my T's. I feel no that my T's like them better anyway.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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Joined
May 7, 2004
Messages
1,816
I'm really not debating or piushing one to use a lid. I keep my Dubia the same as the rest of you, with the exception of a lid. I think it's smart to use a lid, but whatever floats your boat.
I do like the Dubia like @AphonopelmaTX. I seem to get a lot of males and don't think they're cute at all, so I have no problem feeding them. I have a lateralis colony too. They get fed the most to my T's. I feel no that my T's like them better anyway.
I share the same sentiment about male dubia. I'm incredibly low on males because I have to use them to feed my adult male Theraphosa stirmi. The tarantula stopped using its hide/ burrow upon maturity and is so skittish I have to use male dubia to feed it since they explore more. Last week I tried using a large immature dubia to feed the monster male T. stirmi and it struggled to hold onto the roach, freaked out, and made a dash away to the opposite side of its container. That scared the crap out of me since I wasn't expecting it. The spider eventually ate it, but other attempts to feed immature dubia resulted in the dubia playing dead, partially burrowing itself in the soil, or otherwise staying away from the spider. When the dubia roaches are not immediately eaten I start to feel bad because it just looks like the roach knows something dangerous is near it.
 
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