a good substrate for B. dubia?

[hamfoto]

I'm trying to figure out what it going to be the best "substrate" for a B. dubia tub...
I'd like to hear your views. I've tried the bedding I use for my T's, shredded paper and now shredded newspaper. The bedding was alright, but a pain in the butt to get all the babies out when changing it...the paper was o.k. but didn't seem to last long...same as the newspaper. It works good for a couple weeks but then seems to become so "wet" from their excretions that it just mats down. It seems that they have a lot of clear fluid waste, coming from the fruits and veggies.

What do you guys use that you like?

thanks,
Chris

 

[jbrd]

I dont use any substrate for our colony and they seem to do just fine.

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

I put in some coconut fiber as a substrate in my colony, the nymphs hide in it, and seem to eat some of it too, they really don't need any though, just food and moisture and they'll do fine.

 

[Pyst]

I do the same as jbrd. No substrate whatsoever and they do fine as well.

 

[Aquanut]

I don't normally use substrate. The Disoids i use seem to like to hide in the frass etc so i don't have to dig through the egg cartons to find small ones. I just scoop out some frass and pick through to find small ones. Because of this i am trying some bran as substrate. Because of its fineness it falls though my sieve along with the frass when i clean. I have heard they will eat some of the bran, but i don't know, it doesn't seem like it would be very tasty.

 

[siliconthoughts]

I don't normally use substrate. The Disoids i use seem to like to hide in the frass etc so i don't have to dig through the egg cartons to find small ones. I just scoop out some frass and pick through to find small ones. Because of this i am trying some bran as substrate. Because of its fineness it falls though my sieve along with the frass when i clean. I have heard they will eat some of the bran, but i don't know, it doesn't seem like it would be very tasty.

I use bran in a bowl as a way to keep the nymphs separate from the breeders, every week or so I just run it through 1/8" mesh that the nymphs can't quite fit through. I transfer the nymphs into a growout bin. This avoids disturbing the breeders and still lets me keep a pretty good handle on the breeder population so it doesn't get out of hand. They don't seem to eat much bran.