# Starting a small dubia colony



## Zeph (Jul 12, 2012)

I've used the search function and have found several threads on breeding and keeping dubia, and I'd like to start a colony of my own.  Although I think I have the general care down, I have a specific question regarding the breakdown of sizes, genders that I need to purchase.

For a collection of 12 slings (all currently feeding on small dubia, maybe one or two of which could go medium soon), how many starter dubia would you recommend?  The plan is to always keep my T collection down to about 15, so it shouldn't expand too much.

I was thinking 50 small dubia nypmhs, three breeding pairs of adults, and 25 large dubia nymphs?  This would give me some feeders to start off with (while supplementing the T's diets with mealworms, the occasional cricket) while allowing time for the breeding pair to get busy and the large nymphs to eventually mature and do the same.  I'm probably way off the estimation of dubia I will need, my T's are small for now so it's hard for me to account for their growth and the rate at which dubia multiply I'm a little fuzzy on.  I plan to keep them in a large sterile tub, standard setup with egg crates and such.  If I breed too many, I can always feed my fish with them.

Anyone know who's selling dubia in bulk at a reasonable rate?


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## catfishrod69 (Jul 12, 2012)

Your best to just check the classifieds. There are always lots of dubia for sale. Most the time there is around 250-300 assorted sizes for around $30 shipped. I dont think it would be worth bothering trying to get certain sizes, but you can let the seller know which ones you prefer, and if they are cool about it, im sure they will hook you up. Good luck.


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## Taysha (Jul 12, 2012)

I have had a colony for about four months, about two months since I've had adult males and females.Still no babies. Dont expexpect young quickly.

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## catfishrod69 (Jul 12, 2012)

Well what are the temps and humidity you are keeping them at? I keep mine in my tarantula room, which stays about 80. As far as humidity, i just keep a large plastic dish full of watergel crystals. I keep them in a sterilite tub with 1/8" holes drilled into the ends for ventilation.


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## jayefbe (Jul 13, 2012)

Taysha said:


> I have had a colony for about four months, about two months since I've had adult males and females.Still no babies. Dont expexpect young quickly.


To add to what catfishrod69 said, if temperatures aren't high enough you'll get very diminished or no production. At room temperature I wasn't getting any babies from my colony.


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## rockhopper (Jul 13, 2012)

I was a bit worried about temp when I started, but I keep mine at room temp (about mid 70s) and they reproduce fine for me.  I keep them in a dark closet in a large plastic tub with some egg crates and throw some food in there once a week and they are good to go.  Every time I go in there to grab some feeders there are more babies scurrying around.  They might reproduce at a more rapid rate with higher temps, but I'm currently satisfied with their rate or reproduction at this temp.


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## scuba113 (Jul 13, 2012)

I keep mine at room temp and they also do fine I don't even check on them much anymore and I still find babies my colony is going alittle crazy right now I usually have two different containers for adults and babies but now their all mixed up in each container now.


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## twentyeggs (Jul 13, 2012)

the biggest mistake people make when starting a colony is not getting enough and after they see nothing happening they give up and money is lost. This is a slow process and takes about 5-6 months for a steady supply of roaches to establish a replenishing supply of feeders. You should really consider about 30-50 adult female breeders and 15-20 adult male breeders for starters. And more like 200-500 small medium to last you until the breeders starts generating. 

Now you have the idea down. I have been breeding dubia roaches for a pretty long time and i can't tell you how much money i have saved with them, its priceless because its continuously saving me money and eliminating weekly trips to the store. Its also eliminated having to deal with nasty crickets. Crickets stink and die and make huge messes, i tried breeding them and after 3 months i gassed the whole set up with Raid and tossed them in the dumpster because the smell they started to create was horrendous (like rotting flesh) and i wasn't about to replace the cost of buying crickets with the cost of replacing egg crates every week to keep the smell down. You can't go wrong with Dubia, they don't smell bad, and they don't die like crickets.

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## DeidraDisaster (Jul 13, 2012)

twentyeggs said:


> the biggest mistake people make when starting a colony is not getting enough and after they see nothing happening they give up and money is lost. This is a slow process and takes about 5-6 months for a steady supply of roaches to establish a replenishing supply of feeders. You should really consider about 30-50 adult female breeders and 15-20 adult male breeders for starters. And more like 200-500 small medium to last you until the breeders starts generating.
> 
> Now you have the idea down. I have been breeding dubia roaches for a pretty long time and i can't tell you how much money i have saved with them, its priceless because its continuously saving me money and eliminating weekly trips to the store. Its also eliminated having to deal with nasty crickets. Crickets stink and die and make huge messes, i tried breeding them and after 3 months i gassed the whole set up with Raid and tossed them in the dumpster because the smell they started to create was horrendous (like rotting flesh) and i wasn't about to replace the cost of buying crickets with the cost of replacing egg crates every week to keep the smell down. You can't go wrong with Dubia, they don't smell bad, and they don't die like crickets.



Great advice!  I am hoping to start a colony soon.  I am sick of smelly, dying crickets.  I am bookmarking this thread.


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## twentyeggs (Jul 15, 2012)

IF anyone who wants dubias lives in Southern California hit me up, I will beat anyone price anywhere or your order is free.


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## Zman181 (Jul 15, 2012)

twentyeggs said:


> the biggest mistake people make when starting a colony is not getting enough and after they see nothing happening they give up and money is lost. This is a slow process and takes about 5-6 months for a steady supply of roaches to establish a replenishing supply of feeders. You should really consider about 30-50 adult female breeders and 15-20 adult male breeders for starters. And more like 200-500 small medium to last you until the breeders starts generating.
> 
> Now you have the idea down. I have been breeding dubia roaches for a pretty long time and i can't tell you how much money i have saved with them, its priceless because its continuously saving me money and eliminating weekly trips to the store. Its also eliminated having to deal with nasty crickets. Crickets stink and die and make huge messes, i tried breeding them and after 3 months i gassed the whole set up with Raid and tossed them in the dumpster because the smell they started to create was horrendous (like rotting flesh) and i wasn't about to replace the cost of buying crickets with the cost of replacing egg crates every week to keep the smell down. You can't go wrong with Dubia, they don't smell bad, and they don't die like crickets.


Excellent Advice!  Roaches are the way to go.

I have a colony of the following species
*Blaptica dubia
*Blaberus fusca
*Blaberus giganteus 
*Eublaberus prosticus
*Gromphadorhina portentosa

I find that Eublaberus prosticus and  Blaberus fusca breed the fastest.


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## bravesfan (Mar 14, 2013)

So I got what was called a starter colony for free at a reptile show but after reading this thread I'm not sure I have enough to start a breeding them. Please let me know if I can start one and what is the best way to go about it.  I have 4 males and about 8 females with about 5 little ones mixed in.


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## iPippin (Mar 14, 2013)

bravesfan said:


> So I got what was called a starter colony for free at a reptile show but after reading this thread I'm not sure I have enough to start a breeding them. Please let me know if I can start one and what is the best way to go about it.  I have 4 males and about 8 females with about 5 little ones mixed in.


Not even close to being enough. Buy 200 at least. 100 (60 nymphs and 40 for the size you urgently need. )for the food sizes you need for your ts, 20 adukt males and 80 adult females. If you don't have enough of the sizes you need, you're gonna end up cutting the cockroaches just to be able to give it as food. Personally, i'd buy 300 or 400 roaches to be safe. The monry you used to buy them won't be a waste anyways.

---------- Post added 03-14-2013 at 05:51 AM ----------

Buy 500. 15 is a lot of Ts. Make sure you only feed them once a week. 
200 (150 nymphs and 150 for the sizes you urgently need)
40 adults males
160 adult females

The problem with dubias is that they don't let go of their oothecas. They eat it right back so that makes one ootheca every 1-4 months for each female. It's better to get a lot of females so by the time the oothecas are due to hatch, lots of females have oothecas in their bodies that will hatch which will cause an explosion in the population of nymphs.

By 5 months.. That would be.. 300 dead roaches because they were fed

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## bravesfan (Mar 14, 2013)

^^^ I was just planning on using meal worms and crickets until it got started good.  If I'm not feeding them to my Ts can I get them to.start breeding when it is a 2:1 ratio of female to male r should I get rid of some.  Do I not have enough or can I do it with the ones I have and it will just take a long time?


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## Marijan2 (Mar 14, 2013)

it will take loooooong time with this few. in 4 months you can expect 20 little ones from every female, and they will mature in another 4 months, so add another 4 on that when they start reproducing... if you can afford 1 year feeding mealies/crickets go on, but i would personally just buy more adults.

f:m ratio is fine even at 5:1. once male fertilize female she will have babies for life and do not need another pairing.

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## bravesfan (Mar 14, 2013)

Marijan2 said:


> it will take loooooong time with this few. in 4 months you can expect 20 little ones from every female, and they will mature in another 4 months, so add another 4 on that when they start reproducing... if you can afford 1 year feeding mealies/crickets go on, but i would personally just buy more adults.
> 
> f:m ratio is fine even at 5:1. once male fertilize female she will have babies for life and do not need another pairing.


Thanks...about how long do they live and do ever find yourself attached to any because I have found them very interesting and may ultimately find it hard to use them as food.


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## Marijan2 (Mar 14, 2013)

bravesfan said:


> Thanks...about how long do they live and do ever find yourself attached to any because I have found them very interesting and may ultimately find it hard to use them as food.


they can live up to 2 years, but 1-1,5 years are more reasonable. i do not have any problems giving them away as food, for the pet part i have hissers and halloween hissers

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## bravesfan (Mar 15, 2013)

Also when I feed the few I have they don't seem to eat although I give them cat food and fish food what else should I try.  .


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## Marijan2 (Mar 15, 2013)

just keep cat food inside all the time, and every few days put a slice of fruit inside. they don't eat much cat food because of high protein % in it. dog food is arguably more suitable for roaches just because of that. their main food source is fruit/veggies, and dry food comes as snack.


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## bravesfan (Mar 19, 2013)

Also what temp and humidity should I keep it.  And how so I know when they are about to lay eggs?


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## Marijan2 (Mar 19, 2013)

bravesfan said:


> Also what temp and humidity should I keep it.  And how so I know when they are about to lay eggs?


They don't lay eggs, females keep oothecas in themselves and give borth to live young. Humidity should be 60-70% and temp the higher the better, but not more than 95. Let's say 85 for coolspot and 95 for hotspot should do the trick.

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## bravesfan (Mar 20, 2013)

What's the best way to raise humidity its at 20 and I have a jar of water in the cage and can't figure out how to raise it.


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## Mello (Mar 20, 2013)

I just checked my Dubai's and after 1.5 months of having them, I finally had one female have babies!!! They are sooo cute it'll be hard to feed them to my slings lol.


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## Marijan2 (Mar 20, 2013)

bravesfan said:


> What's the best way to raise humidity its at 20 and I have a jar of water in the cage and can't figure out how to raise it.


try covering most holes, if there is good ventilation the humidity escapes

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## bravesfan (Mar 26, 2013)

So I check my small colony tonight and there are 15-20 babies in there and they are cute but I digress.  So do I have to feed them anything different or as I assume the dog food will be ok.  Also how do you tell when the other females are about to give "birth".  A few of the other females look a little more plump


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## Marijan2 (Mar 26, 2013)

If they look plump, they are probably gravid and drop babies soon. Little ones can feed on poop for first few meals so no need for any special diet for them, just don't clean up everything(leave half of poop behind) and they should be fine.


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## bugmankeith (Mar 26, 2013)

I had one female live nearly 3 years and males about 2 years. I keep a few as pets, especially the females some are beautifully colored/patterned.


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## catfishrod69 (Mar 26, 2013)

This might help you out.   http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?236495-Dubia-setup

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