# Recommendation for heatmap for dubia roach colony? (and other questions)



## yatesco (May 28, 2013)

Howdy,

I am thinking of starting a colony to feed my two bearded dragons - both 4-5 months (9-10 inches) old. I have seen a bunch of very helpful articles and videos about setting them up, but I still have some outstanding questions.

I am in the UK and the house is way below the 90-95 degrees ideal breeding temp. I figure I need a heat pad, but I can't find any recommendations on make or wattage. Anyone want to suggest one?

Secondly, I imagine they would eat around 40? a day, so I figure I need 150 females and 30 males (does that sound about right)? 

I realise I need to leave this alone until the (hopefully soon to be born) babies to mature to adults and then start producing their own babies. I plan to jump start this by adding a few hundred smalls and mediums so figure a month or two should mean it is self sustaining. 

Any and all help is appreciated .


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## stokiereptile (Jun 21, 2011)

Zoomed or lucky reptile mats should be fine as long as its on a stat. 
You will need to give you colony a long time to get underway just make sure you keep back a lot of your females.
Also random tip I heard was that dubia s love orange peel. Apparently they go mental for it!


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## yatesco (May 28, 2013)

Ok - thanks a bunch.


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

they wont eat 40 a day - if you feed large or fully grown roaches they will probably eat about 3-5 max each -


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## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

I use a habistat heat mat that covers about two thirds of the bottom of the tub. You ideally want to leave them a good six months before feeding any off so the colony can become established which means feeding off should not cause too big a dent in the colony.

High vegetable protein food make them breed quicker. Many people will say use dry dog or cat biscuits but this is made of animal protein which isnt good for the bearded dragons it is fed to. They do go made for oranges but studies by a roach breeder showed they actually bred less when fed oranges compared to those who were not fed oranges and kept in exactly the same way. I tend to feed tortoise pellets with rocket and lambs lettuce with pieces of cucumber and carrot thrown in.

Make sure you have lots of ventilation in the tub too as condensation can soon build up in the warm conditions.


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## stokiereptile (Jun 21, 2011)

Bradley said:


> They do go made for oranges but studies by a roach breeder showed they actually bred less when fed oranges compared to those who were not fed oranges and kept in exactly the same way.


Very interesting!


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## Deano c (Jun 26, 2012)

stokiereptile said:


> Zoomed or lucky reptile mats should be fine as long as its on a stat.
> You will need to give you colony a long time to get underway just make sure you keep back a lot of your females.
> Also random tip I heard was that dubia s love orange peel. Apparently they go mental for it!


They love orange but leave the peel, make sure you get them up on temps and make sure they always have water crystal's or they won't eat or breed, hope this helps


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## Meefloaf (Mar 24, 2013)

these are worth a read

dubia roach + protein theory something every dubia breeder should know

B. Dubia for University Ecology Study

B. Dubia Theory 2 month results


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## yatesco (May 28, 2013)

Thanks all.

It is nigh on impossible to get a consistent answer about anything it seems to do with bearded dragons . Misting yes/no, bathing yes/no, solo/pair etc. 

In terms of how many they eat, mine are very voracious eaters and I realise they change their eating ration from 80/20 live/salad to 20/80 live/salad once they are 12-18 months but given how much they eat now I would surprised if they only ate 3 or 4 each a day. 

But I am a complete (17 days!) newbie at this - the only experience I have is from reading on the internet and watching the beardies for the past couple of weeks.

What do others think? How many adult dubia roaches do yours eat (and their age would be useful)?

Thanks all again.


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## sharpstrain (May 24, 2008)

yatesco said:


> Thanks all.
> 
> It is nigh on impossible to get a consistent answer about anything it seems to do with bearded dragons . Misting yes/no, bathing yes/no, solo/pair etc.
> 
> ...


 
consider the size of one adult dubia roach in comparison to a standard cricket. My adults beardies will take between 2 and five daily. I would say equivelant to probably 30 cricks - weigh one adult dubia and then weigh enough crickets to reach the same weight - I think you will be surprised


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## yatesco (May 28, 2013)

My two beardies (4-5 months) will consume 20-30 crickets a sitting! I realise these crickets are small, maybe just under an inch head to tail and that beardies reduce the amount of meat they eat but I expect to have to feed a similar number of nymphs because the adult roaches will be far too large for them.

Will be interesting to see .


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## tropicaljoey (Feb 27, 2013)

if i put a bulb inside my dubia roach colony to keep them warm would this effect them in anyway/ mine hid all day to get out of the light anyway?


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

Deano c said:


> They love orange but leave the peel, make sure you get them up on temps *and make sure they always have water crystal's or they won't eat or breed,* hope this helps


Do you have any theories as to how they survive in the wild without water crystals ?


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