Happy!!! Got my first batch of newborn dubias! Free beer inside!

[Cirith Ungol]

Common let's celebrate! Here: grab a beer!!

Gosh, I'm happy! I had already given up on my colony and thought I'd have to go buy a bunch more of those little things before I'd get some babies!

I was just checking on the colony and helping a large male off the lower edge of the tank when a tiny weeny little Mr. Roacher dashed away from underneath him! At first I didn't believe my eyes, as I said - I had given up, but when looking closer I saw a few of them running about in other parts of their home!

I have no idea how many I might have. I didn't wanna lift the eggcrates in fear of squashing a few of them wen putting it back down again. How many babies does one mum usually assemble? What's the survival rate of tiny dubia babies? Why do many dubia keepers sift out the small ones from the adults? Any special diet required now?

Questions I never thought I'd ask ever

Cirith

 

[Schlyne]

How many babies does one mum usually assemble? What's the survival rate of tiny dubia babies? Why do many dubia keepers sift out the small ones from the adults? Any special diet required now?
Cirith

I think the baby rate is somewhere between 10 and 15. Survival rate? I haven't seen any dubia babies die in my colony. I don't seperate my roach colony at all. If you've been leaving some of the frass in with the roaches, the babies will eat that at first. The whole predigested food thing seems to be easier on them.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Thanks! Yup, I left the frass in, aware of what kind of special treat it is for some

 

[ghost_tomb]

good to hear, getting that first batch is a real pain, with my mad hisser colony it took 4 months for the first lot.

But there doing great now, as are my lobster roachs, got more babies than adults

good thing i got some assassin bug eggs hatching


Good luck with your colony, how many you start with?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Thanks! Started with 50, fed off 4 of them, had about 6 die and just today i fed off another that was starting to behave weird and twitch. Now at last I hope the colony is on an incline again!

 

[Washout]

I'm starting to think it's going to take my B. dubya colony a darn long time before it's big enough to feed from. I have a heat wire under the tank and keep it at about 100 degrees, add lots of fresh vegetables etc and I see a fair number of babies. But it's taking a long time to get started.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

It sure does. You could always buy 50-100 more roaches and feed some of them at least. Eventho I got babies now I think I still have to order another 50 soon, just to make sure I have the numbers when my new Ts arrive. The ones I feed off at the moment are those roaches that look to have fallen ill i.e. which look weak and just crawl about uncoordinated.

 

[Schlyne]

I think i've fed/lost a grand total of 10 or so roaches. Fed off a couple to get pictures for james, and I recently reduced the number of mature males by 3. I've also had a few squashed or dead for some other reason.

Other than that though, the colony appears to be slowly taking off.

 

[reverendsterlin]

I think my female go around 20-30 babies at a time. Slow to get adult, my early nymphs are now maturing at about 8 months. But I'll say that my 50 have probably increased 8 fold not counting the ones I've fed off since I got them a year ago. They don't breed and grow like lobsters but they aren't near the headache.
Rev

 

[reptillian]

Cirth No Offence Or Anything But U R Sooo Tooooooo Over Protective Off Ur Lil Babies Coz Some Lil Eggcrates And Going To Hurt Them TheRE Roaches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!tought As Can B!!!! There Mini Tanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Yes, I am very protective of them, because I only have very few to start with and I want them all to grow and have more babies! And no, they are not mini tanks! I've found several mature dubias lodged between the bottom of the box and the underside of egg crates - they were completely flattened! Squashed! How they at all ended up there is a mystery to me, but they were all dead and gone. I don't even need to consider how badly tiny dubias would fare if they'd happen to end up under there.