I have seen in the mid 20s come from one female, I dont know what the max is but I think maybe 15-20 is a good average. After a female has that maturing molt it does not take that long after for her to start reproducing, maybe 6 weeks at the most, total guess. Someone else might know a better guess.
1 female alone won't make any babies, she needs a boyfriend for that. But yeah, 4-6 weeks is about right, and anywhere from 15-25 I would say. Average batch of nymphs is 20ish though.
You can speed things up by raising the temperature a bit. Mine seem to produce best at around 86-88 degrees.
Higher temps definetely help to create a population explosion!
I put mine in the garage in the summer where it is easily in the nineties day and night.
Make sure they have a good source of water (I use wet paper towels)
Gestation is approx. 30 days.
I just finished doing a count on an aborted B. dubia ootheca a few minutes ago. I counted 35 but I think that's more than normal. About 1/5 or maybe 1/4 of the Rubbermaid tub I have mine in is on a heating pad set on low in an un-air-conditioned room, gets in the 90s. I put down a thin layer of coco fiber, barely enough to dig in. I have some oak leaves and bark from small trees that is concave for them to hide under. I was frustrated at first. I wasn't seeing any babies but like scorpdemon said, I think I started seeing babies between 4 and 6 weeks too. I get a steady supply from the colony now.
I'm not sure about keeping them in the dark all the time. They hide in the day and come out at night. A natural cycle I would think, that's what I'm doing. Maybe you would get more if you put them in the dark, anybody know?
Mine are in the dark most of the time.
Being dwellers of the forest floor, I don't imagine they would ever see much light in their natural environment.
At any rate they certainly don't seem to require light and do great in the
garage in the dark.
I keep all my roaches in rubbermaid tubs, the only light they get is from the vent holes I have drilled in the lid, and when I remove the lid for maintenance. They all scatter when I open the lid, but I think its the stimulus that triggers this because sometimes I forget to put the lid back on, or just leave it off while I feed my other inverts, and when I come back there are roaches on top of their climbing material everywhere.
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