Baby Dubias

[rock]

Hooray! Went to feed my dubias and when i moved the water dish a few dozen nymphs ran out. Years ago I had a substantial colony, sold them by weight to a local pet store, but had to sell them all when i went on a two month hike. I've tried to get another one going without much luck until now, so I'm totally stoked! I've been hesitant to breed my girls without a steady supply of prey items for the slings so now I just need to find some MMs and my next surprise will hopefully be a nice fat sac

 

[l4nsky]

You should try a lateralis colony. The nymphs are really small and perfect for slings, they don't burrow like dubia, and they don't freeze up when dropped in an enclosure. Only down side I've found is it takes a lot of adults to feed more than one T over 6". Those do get dubia in my collection.

 

[rock]

You should try a lateralis colony. The nymphs are really small and perfect for slings, they don't burrow like dubia, and they don't freeze up when dropped in an enclosure. Only down side I've found is it takes a lot of adults to feed more than one T over 6". Those do get dubia in my collection.

Cool, I'll have to look into those. I've only kept hissing cockroaches and green banana roaches besides the dubias. Greens are good for arboreal Ts and I imagine a couple hissers would satiate any mature T- although I've always treated the hissing roaches more like pets than prey. Do you know a good source for lateralis?

 

[l4nsky]

A lot of people sell them as they are one of the more popular species for feeders. I got my starter colony of 500 from ebay maybe 8 months back. I have a few hissers that came as hitchhikers with the lateralis colony. At this point, they're just pets as well. I'd be hesitant to feed them off due to their thick exoskeletons, especially when a few big dubia females would work just as well with less of a risk.

 

[Sterls]

Just be aware lateralis can infest your house, so you have to be mindful to not let any escape

 

[l4nsky]

Just be aware lateralis can infest your house, so you have to be mindful to not let any escape

I've heard mixed answers whenever I asked about that. I lean more towards they won't in most cases personally, but I still treat them like they would. I keep my colony in a 10g with a mesh screen lid and the 10g is kept in a gasketed, latched tote with screen vent inserts on the top. The inside of the 10g and the inside of ths tote have 4" of clear packing tape around the top as well. I also never feed off adult females, only adult males. That way an ootheca never has the potential to be laid in one of my moist Asian enclosures. When I downsize the colony, I just give the females to my friend that keeps beardies.

 

[Sterls]

I've heard mixed answers whenever I asked about that. I lean more towards they won't in most cases personally, but I still treat them like they would. I keep my colony in a 10g with a mesh screen lid and the 10g is kept in a gasketed, latched tote with screen vent inserts on the top. The inside of the 10g and the inside of ths tote have 4" of clear packing tape around the top as well. I also never feed off adult females, only adult males. That way an ootheca never has the potential to be laid in one of my moist Asian enclosures. When I downsize the colony, I just give the females to my friend that keeps beardies.

Yeah I think if it was a guarantee there'd be a lot more word of infestations - I have a hard time believing everyone that uses them is perfect about never losing one. Still good to take precautions though, sounds like you have a good system.

 

[RoachCoach]

Red runners will not "infest" your home unless you live like a hoarder and have available heat and food everywhere. They do survive for a very long time without food and water. Hardiness+10. But they absolutely will not breed if they don't have favorable conditions. Sometimes I think they are smarter than humans.