# who said dubias die if it gets cold



## *stu* (Oct 27, 2010)

when i got my new backgrounds or my vivs i removed all the old logs etc from the viv's, i bagged them up and put them in the shed. that was at the begining of Jan, i have just got them back in from the shed and found a coupld of dubia's on one of the logs, STILL ALIVE

now since being outsiode, we have had temperatures as low as -3 (thats what i have seen on the car temp) 

now how can this be, if people say they die if the rubs we breed them in are not near 30c


any idea's


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## toad650 (Feb 9, 2009)

mine have been in my porch since about november along with my turks with just a heat mat under the tub and there thriving, the turks have completly slowed down making numbers but the dubs are still going strong.


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## *stu* (Oct 27, 2010)

i was always under the impression that even at normal room temp they would die after a few weeks. this cant be the case, unless i just have some double hard dubia's in the colony, 

i did find one in the garen the other day, but just asumed that the dog had got it during feeding time and tookm it out there.


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## OrigamiB (Feb 19, 2008)

Some form of hibernation? I doubt they'd breed in that situation at any rate!


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## spencerburgo (Dec 1, 2010)

*stu* said:


> when i got my new backgrounds or my vivs i removed all the old logs etc from the viv's, i bagged them up and put them in the shed. that was at the begining of Jan, i have just got them back in from the shed and found a coupld of dubia's on one of the logs, STILL ALIVE
> 
> now since being outsiode, we have had temperatures as low as -3 (thats what i have seen on the car temp)
> 
> ...


dont no about dying i think they just need heat to breed but that is amazing being out side for that long and surviving they must be tougher than we thought 

cheers spencer...............


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

I have escaped dubias that survive in outdoor cages here every winter. The cages are NOT covered so get ther full effects of the natural weather. We get around 30 frosts each winter including temps down to Minus 7c. Every spring there are plenty of overwintering dubia of all ages in these cages.


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## madavies65 (Jan 21, 2009)

i have had a tub unheated in a 70F room and they dont breed at those temps as far as I can tell (4 months of being adults).

I find that lack of moisture kills them quicker though as at 30% humidity they are dried shells after a week. 

If your worried about them infesting your house, its a lot less likely than crickets. Someone on here was creating an experiment for uni on the effects of temp of dubia roaches but I never heard of the results.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I kept mine at cool room temp all winter and they survived fine, but didn't breed. I've just put their RUB on top of the snake viv to give them a kick start, and there's loads of babies now.


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## dickjeffrey (Oct 26, 2009)

I've got a colony that appears to be breeding pretty well at a constant temperature of 23C and there have been a few odd escapees that have survived a good while running around under the sofa in my pretty cold house! Had a weird thing happen recently though, 1 of the adults managed to drown itself in the glass of water that's in their tank to keep humidity up. Due to laziness on my part it was in the water for a couple of days before being removed so was very much dead, but after being left to dry out over the weekend (was going to be donated to a young boy who likes to collect creepy crawlies!) it started moving and trying to turn over - 2 hours after being put back in the tank it was up and about as though nothing had happened!!!


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

Iirc one of the Argentinian guys who posts on the invert forums stated that _B. dubia_ hit a cool winter in the far south of their range, if the culture stock is from such a part of their range that would go some way to explaining the frost tolerance, iv also been told _A. tesselata_ have survived unheated sheds outside.


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

Yes cold winters are the norm in the south of Argentina. Tegus from there can be hibernated for six months of the year in captivity, which is probably what they do in the wild. 


I wonder how many people will be reading this thread thinking what is Argentina got to do with roaches that come from the middle east !


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