# starting a colony of dubia roaches??



## 13rainbeau (Oct 12, 2009)

Hi there everybody 
I have recently ventured into the Bearded dragon game and im loving it! 
I would like to start a colony of Dubia roaches for him and dont really know where to start??:blush:
I know they wont climb so im guessing a RUB will be fine to house them in? I know they need to be heated, i have a heatmat spare, the real question is what numbers will i need to get started? Should i have a large number of mixed size bugs? How big an RUB will i need for them? And finally what sort of price should i expect to pay? The prices i have seen have varied hugely!! 
Thanks in advance guys :2thumb: :2thumb: :2thumb:


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## LovLight (Apr 14, 2012)

You can generally get one going for around £20. I'm going to start mine up again this month and I've been given the web address of a good supplier so I'll go scout it off my messages and post it up if you like?  Roaches don't require much just a decent sized underbed storage box with a bit of ventalation, heat and some food and that's about it really. They are an excellent feeder to use to. I don't have a beardie but my geckos love them. I'm actually considering trying some of the turkastan roaches I think they are called? Bit smaller which I gues you wouldn't want with a beardie lol. Bout £20 should do it though 

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## 118-118 (Dec 16, 2008)

I had a colony a while ago and just set up a new one. This one I got 100 adults for £20, 50/50 sex split. I seperated and fed off 30 of the males. The colony went in a 40 litre lidless box with tights over the top and sat it ontop of my afrock tanks warm end.. After 8 weeks it looked overcrowded so upgraded to an 80 litre tub with lid. I counted 1600+ young roaches when I moved them. (counted out of curiosity) I wont feed any more off until I have more adult males in there. It's alot easier than I remembered, they thrive on neglect. I just fill a gerbil bowl with dry catfood weekly, put half a bowl of fish food in 3 days later and put fruit in as I have it available. For water i have a gerbip bowl with a sponge in, i soak the sponge everyother night, thats it. I wouldn't pay more for extra adults, just got to wait 3-4 month then you're set for life.


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## 13rainbeau (Oct 12, 2009)

LovLight said:


> You can generally get one going for around £20. I'm going to start mine up again this month and I've been given the web address of a good supplier so I'll go scout it off my messages and post it up if you like?  Roaches don't require much just a decent sized underbed storage box with a bit of ventalation, heat and some food and that's about it really. They are an excellent feeder to use to. I don't have a beardie but my geckos love them. I'm actually considering trying some of the turkastan roaches I think they are called? Bit smaller which I gues you wouldn't want with a beardie lol. Bout £20 should do it though
> 
> Sent from my U8180 using Tapatalk 2


Hi thanks for your reply, yes please do let me know the details, i have asked a couple of people on here but no joy as yet. Oh and thanks for the advice


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## 13rainbeau (Oct 12, 2009)

118-118 said:


> I had a colony a while ago and just set up a new one. This one I got 100 adults for £20, 50/50 sex split. I seperated and fed off 30 of the males. The colony went in a 40 litre lidless box with tights over the top and sat it ontop of my afrock tanks warm end.. After 8 weeks it looked overcrowded so upgraded to an 80 litre tub with lid. I counted 1600+ young roaches when I moved them. (counted out of curiosity) I wont feed any more off until I have more adult males in there. It's alot easier than I remembered, they thrive on neglect. I just fill a gerbil bowl with dry catfood weekly, put half a bowl of fish food in 3 days later and put fruit in as I have it available. For water i have a gerbip bowl with a sponge in, i soak the sponge everyother night, thats it. I wouldn't pay more for extra adults, just got to wait 3-4 month then you're set for life.


Hi thanks for the reply. WOW! 1600 thats a lot!


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## LovLight (Apr 14, 2012)

Ermm I haven't quite figured out how to add a link properly yet but you can get them at 
www.theroachhut.co.uk 

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## LovLight (Apr 14, 2012)

LovLight said:


> Ermm I haven't quite figured out how to add a link properly yet but you can get them at
> www.theroachhut.co.uk
> 
> Sent from my U8180 using Tapatalk 2


Forgot to add there is lots of good info and how to vids on the site too to give you a helping hand 

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## 118-118 (Dec 16, 2008)

13rainbeau said:


> Hi thanks for the reply. WOW! 1600 thats a lot!


If you think about it 1600 from 50 females is only 32 each and they can pop out 32 a time easily once a month so think what 800 females will do (assuming the babies are 50/50) that's 25600 per month. I think they will calm down once it gets crammed. I only counted them out of curiosity as I guessed I would have 12-1500 but was surprised, they breed like crazy if given enough heat, luckily my afrock tank gets hot on top as there is no reflector in it, once i have upgraded him to a 6foot tank i will use a mat, probably unstated.


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## daniel-james (Jan 10, 2012)

u starting a colony to feed 1 reptile? if so you might want to try and minimise the breeding unless your looking at buying more reptile that will eat dubia in the future or looking at selling off excess roaches as you will have way to many to feed one Beardie. as already said they breed very well given lots of heat and food and dark spaces. If I'm not wrong the newly born babies take 5/6 months to reach maturity where they can then breed themselves so if you buy only adults they will lay babies and then it will be 6 months before you get new babies from your own fresh dubia. 

Obviously in that 6 months your current (bought) adults will still keep breeding and having babies but will also die off and slow down at re producing and you will also be feeding some off. 

buying mixed sizes is the best way forward. unless you can buy adults and not touch them for 6 months apart from opening them to check there's no humidity or mouldy food. bu hep can resist the temptation of giving your rep a fat juicy roach or 2 I couldn't! 

Personally due to tr number of reps I now have to feed and how muchthey eat inhale had to buy a couple of thousand dubia to allow for me to feed some off and nt damage the breeding capability of the colony.


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