B. dubia questions

[climbingregalis]

I recently obtained a colony and had some questions and requests. How can I tell when the females are gravid and how do you sex the immature roaches? Pictures would be appreciated. I currently have 20 or so in a ten gallon that is kept at 82 degrees with a red bulb and they are eating baby cereal and veggies and have water gel for a water souce. They are eating the cereal great and didn't go for the crushed up dog food as well. Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[william]

b.dubia

hi i have had my roaches for about a year.i dont bother tring to sex till mature.i noticed that the females are gravid when abdoman has expanded.you can see the light stripes.i think you should spray mist the cage once a week.

 

[Xaranx]

Don't bother misting the cage, with veggies and water crystals they have all the moisture they need.

And for sexing juveniles, you can do so when they are about half an inch long, just flip them over and look at the segments on the bottom, the very last one by the ass will be twice as long on the female. That's the only way I know of sexing them at young ages. Just look at a few, you will see what I am referring to.

 

[Galapoheros]

What Xaranx is referring to is a sure fire way. Also the pre-adult males tend to be a little more triangular and the wing stubs are a little bigger.

 

[climbingregalis]

My adult females keep dying...not sure if it's old age or the way I'm taking care of them...all the others are doing fine....I've had them for about a month now and haven't seen any babies yet. I had about 8 adult females and 5 adult males in a 10 gallon aquarium set at 82 with a red bulb for a temp of 85 water gel and baby cereal for food and water.....like I said all the young ones are doing fine. Any thoughts??

 

[Xaranx]

Are you sure they are dead bodies and not old sheds you are seeing? I thought I had a couple deaths a while back which bothered me because with their long lifespam they shouldn't have had any deaths yet, but then I saw 2 freshly molted males and realized they were the old skins. The old sheds will be empty and like paper.

 

[climbingregalis]

I'm sure...they're heavy

 

[siliconthoughts]

It doesn't sound like there is anything obviously wrong with your setup. I'm not sure what you are using as veggies, but I've been very successful with apples, bananas and squash, combined with a protein source - (e.g. dog food) which they eat sparingly, but should have available so they can adjust their diet.

You could raise the temperature some but 82 should be fine. Is the humidity moderate? It shouldn't be condensing, but it should not be bone dry either. You may be drying them out with the bulb if the aquarium isn't covered with a solid lid - although I would think that would affect the nymphs first. You don't say how much shelter they have, but if they're in an aquarium they should have a dark hide to get away from the light.

If this is the group you got from me, the females were random draw from my bin, and I wouldn't expect many age-related fatalities. In my experience males die much younger than females, so if it were age related it would skew the other way. I have no evidence for it, but transit may be harder on adults than nymphs.

Colin

 

[Stylopidae]

I keep my mixed colony of discoids and dubia on eggcrates and dog food (21% protien) with an apple once a week for moisture. Very low mortality, and lots of roachlings.

I'd reccomend a bit more moisture than I give them, though. Mine started doing better when I gave them substrate. I keep mine on about 2 inches of cocobark.

 

[Galapoheros]

I keep mine on coco sub too, been working for me. Also getting CB pinhead crix in there living with the doobs. Anything that dies, which I rarely notice, looks like it just gets eaten. I think the crix and doobs are getting along, no smell and low mortality. But I really had bad luck last year with crix. Allot of curious interesting factors going on to figure out, that's how it looks like to me. I have a hunch. I'm suspicious that grain mites in the hypopus stage have some parasitic characteristics. There has to be studies on this that prove or disprove it. ....is there? In the area where the hypopus stage mites are on pedes that I've had, there is a dark brown/black residue that sometimes accumulates. I wonder if this is waste from the mites feeding from, on, or through the exo of the centipedes I've had. Or, is it waste expelled before they go into the hypopus stage? The pedes that get more mites don't seem more unhealthy because of the conditions that supports mites, they seem unhealthy because they have more mites. The only reason they get more mites is because there was a little more left-overs ...nothing else. So I get rid of the left-overs but the pedes still seem to suffer from too many hypopus stage mites. Pred mites eventually take care of it though from what I can tell. ..MAN! sorry, I got way off topic there, tried to delete but nothing happened. Well, if anything I said could be of any help or encouraging, it's good to raise you own feeders if you can to avoid the grain mites. Good luck!

 

[Rochelle]

We have outstanding luck with our colony of B. dubia:
*cheap kitten food (40% protein) dubia's are notorious wing biters if they don't get enough protein...
*occasional fish flakes
*occasional alfalfa hay - they absolutely MOB this!!
*occasional CITRUS fruit, squash, dark greens, melons, etc.
*fresh water
*keep temp around 85-90' - they like it very warm.
*cover 50% of lid w/ wax paper to retain humidity
*No misting
*Lots of hiding places (egg crates, cardboard tubes)

The trick to getting these guys to breed bigtime seems to be mainly the citrus and the heat.
You won't see much happening for a few months - and then Whammo! Everyone pops at once...
Be consistant and you'll have your very own plague, soon!
Good Luck!

 

[Rochelle]

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=103532
This is the thread that OldHag put up for sexing B.dubia nymphs. Hope it helps!

 

[ShawnH]

Is the roach colony dirty/moldy? If the mold level gets high your roaches may start to drop dead, just a thought.