No males in dubia colony?

[EightLeggedFrea]

My dubias just arrived, 50 of them, of different sizes. The prob however is there doesn't seem to be any males in there? I looked for the extreme dimorphism these roaches exhibit, the larger wings, but each of the adult ones I have seem to be females. I don't see any roaches with large wings. Or do they only develop wings when they mature? Sorry I'm new at this.

 

[radicaldementia]

The males only have the full wings when they mature. Same for females, they only get their little stubby wings when they mature. Chances are all your dubias are still nymphs, which look almost exactly the same for males and females. Nymphs have little wing-like things, but they are not the same as the small wings on the female. For me at least, all my initial males matured about 3 weeks earlier than my females.

From left to right, adult female, unsexed nymph, adult male

 

[EightLeggedFrea]

The males only have the full wings when they mature. Same for females, they only get their little stubby wings when they mature. Chances are all your dubias are still nymphs, which look almost exactly the same for males and females. Nymphs have little wing-like things, but they are not the same as the small wings on the female. For me at least, all my initial males matured about 3 weeks earlier than my females.

From left to right, adult female, unsexed nymph, adult male

Hmm. The biggest ones I have are more than an 1", but they don't have wings. I guess they still aren't mature. Thanx for the info.

 

[Xaranx]

They get to 2" When you see one mature you'l be able to tell the difference instantly. The females are shiny black with orange spots instead of brown like the nymphs.

 

[Dom]

The unsexed nymph is a male BTW .
The nymphs can be sexed at less than an inch long.

 

[reclusa]

The unsexed nymph is a male BTW .
The nymphs can be sexed at less than an inch long.

How do you sex them at that size? Wing pads??

 

[Xaranx]

No, the segments on the bottom, the males and the females look exactly alike in all other aspects until they hit maturity. Males have evenly spaced segments, but on the females, the last 2 segments are fused, so the last segment is twice the size. Most species of roach can be sexed this way. Just flip a few over and look at their undersides towards the rear and you will see what I am talking about.

 

[Dom]

No, the segments on the bottom, the males and the females look exactly alike in all other aspects until they hit maturity. Males have evenly spaced segments, but on the females, the last 2 segments are fused, so the last segment is twice the size. Most species of roach can be sexed this way. Just flip a few over and look at their undersides towards the rear and you will see what I am talking about.

The bolded part is incorrect. When they are small it's only possible to sex them by looking at the last tail segment. When they are a couple of molts away from adult hood they can easily be sexed by differences in the immature wings.

 

[Austin S.]

I don't mean to take over the post. This is a little off topic, but can you mix dubia/lobster roaches together?

I'm getting many adult dubia tomorrow of different sexes and was just curious if I could throw them into my lobster colony instead of putting them into a seperate tank..