B dubia cleaning question

[Salamanderhead]

My cousin who lives in a different country and has no access to Internet asked me to find out how to clean a Dubia colony tub out easily. She said there is hundreds of tiny babies running around and lots of poop which is like a substrate.

She said she got all the big ones out fairly easy but she's wondering how to get all the babies out since they're all basically hiding in the giant pile of poop and other garbage.

 

[Midknight xrs]

The easiest way would be a screen with small holes, but as stated, they use the poop as substrate. It doesn't really cause much of an issue IME, but i would just use one of those screen tops that you use on a glass tank. it's small enough to filter out the poop and allow there to be enough room that the nymphs won't fall through. i have mine in a small container and i just keep a small enough hole to empty out the poop and keep most of the roaches in the container.

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

A plastic food colander might also work, but I mostly just prefer to leave them in the tank until they are big enough to grab. Maybe she can just keep feeding them for a while in that tank and leave the older ones in a separate tank. As the young ones grow, they'll be easier to grab or gradually feed off to whatever she's (likely) breeding them for.

Another alternative would be to add an egg crate and occasionally pull it out and bang it like a tambourine against the wall of the new enclosure. Repeat a couple times each day until there are so few left it almost doesn't matter. I suppose it would be helpful for her to remove the other "trash" so they are more likely to use the egg crate.