# Dubia Roaches



## RandSReptiles (Mar 20, 2014)

Hello fellow reptile lovers!

I've not been on this forum for months! I hope everyone and everyone's reptiles are doing just dandy!

I've recently changed one of my leos (the female) to Dubias and she LOVES them, but there is only one problem, Where I live, There is only one Reptile shop that sells them, and they're quite pricey, £3.30 for like 7, which is normally one sitting, so I'm considering starting a colony so I don't run out as much and don't need to fork out 3 pound odd every 2 days everytime it's Lola's feeding time.

but as I'm a complete novice at the whole colony thing, (I tried with hoopers once but failed)
I was hoping someone could help me out? like a idiots guide or something? aha

It would be very much appreciated.

Thankyou for all of you guys time.


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## Khonsu (May 20, 2009)

I don't personaly breeed them but a good friend of mine does, his breed like there's no tomorrow so i nick a tub off him every couple of weeks for my rep's.

He has them in two large plastic tubs, say 30" x 15" x 18" high, inside the tub are egg crates vertically lined up over the length of the tub (the egg crates when stood up like this are about 4" below the top of the tub - helps to stop the little blighters escaping) he used to keep them in the tubs without a lid but with vasaline around the rim as it supposedly stopped them climbing out ! Unsuprisingly there are now lids on the tubs but the lid id peppered with small, say 1mm, holes for ventilation, The tubs sit on top of a viv stack with a heat mat under three quarters of the box.

A couple of times a week he takes the lid off & wipes off the condensation plus leraqves it off for half an hour or so to give them plenty of breathing space.

They get fed on scraps form th kitchen plus uneaten food from his viv's, apart from that they do their own thing. they do pong a bit & they are buggers for getting out of the viv's you put them in.

When ie them as food I feed them individually to my lizrds to ensure they don't make a bid fro freedom.

Hope this helps & good luck


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## popitgoes (Oct 24, 2010)

when i use to breed roaches before giving them all away

i stuck to 40ltr rub = 150 adults (5/1 ratio = female/male)

80ltr = 300 adults etc

vertical egg crates all the way across the rub cut down if needed to be lower than 4/5 inches from top also can cut out even lower in parts of them to store your food pots (try to do this below the mesh so humidity from the salad can escape)

cut a squared hole in the lid and glue mesh which you can get from harrods for £1.99

use foods such as poultry feed,sugar puffs,dried alfalfa,digestive biscuits,dried banana, also all the salad and fruit you have spare

also use water crystals as water source 

hope this helps if you need anymore help feel free to private message and il help if i can


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## Fizz (Jan 18, 2014)

what heating do you guys use with the rub's? and how is it stated (if it is)? Im concerned about the box melting


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## anni (Aug 15, 2010)

Dubias will breed like mad !.BUT they need to be HOT HOT HOT mine are at about 85f. Don't worry about the plastic melting it has a much higher melting point than that.They do well as already said on general food scraps etc.and vented lid .Carry on like that and you will be selling them at 3quid a pop.Best of luck
Terry
Heating I have a heat mat on the wall and stand the box against it controlled by a pulse stat. Never run any heat source without some form of control I know people do but it is not to be advised


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

my dubia's are kept at room temp (room is no lower than 23C), and they breed like crazy. bumping the temp up to 24 or 26C will increase their breeding rate of course, but unless you have allot of animals to feed, this probably isn't necessary, my colony feeds a very hungry Sav and a Leo, and also stocks my freezer with looooads of frozen ones, and I still have far to many left over..and that's at room temp.

I don't do anything special with mine, just a plastic box with egg cartons inside, cereal on the bottom, and fresh veg every couple of days; clean the whole thing out every 4-5 weeks, egg cartons should last 2-3 clean outs


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## anni (Aug 15, 2010)

I defer to cloud forests last post. My experience was that they would not breed at those temps and searching out info.infomed me to up the temps significantly which worked for me .They are now very prolific.Have not attempted to see if they continue their breeding if I drop the temperature 
Terry


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## anni (Aug 15, 2010)

CloudForest said:


> my dubia's are kept at room temp (room is no lower than 23C), and they breed like crazy. bumping the temp up to 24 or 26C will increase their breeding rate of course, but unless you have allot of animals to feed, this probably isn't necessary, my colony feeds a very hungry Sav and a Leo, and also stocks my freezer with looooads of frozen ones, and I still have far to many left over..and that's at room temp.
> 
> I don't do anything special with mine, just a plastic box with egg cartons inside, cereal on the bottom, and fresh veg every couple of days; clean the whole thing out every 4-5 weeks, egg cartons should last 2-3 clean outs


Hi cloud forest just wondered what you feed the frozen ones to.I use mine for my wifes chamelion and Phylobates terribilis but only live 
Terry


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## CloudForest (Nov 27, 2013)

anni said:


> Hi cloud forest just wondered what you feed the frozen ones to.I use mine for my wifes chamelion and Phylobates terribilis but only live
> Terry


they are a backup food source for my Savannah monitor, she'll eat anything, dead or alive lol most lizards will only eat live though


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## TheBeardedOne (Feb 24, 2015)

You should try hoppers again. I failed, well thought I failed. I had everything set up to exactly what they needed, Heat (small oil rad) 2 x 35lt tubs with 8 ish 5th gen, feeding dish, water gel dish, egg crates, small branches/twigs and an egg laying tub which was half the size of the mail container and about 5-6" deep with a sand soil mix (50 50). All set up in the under the stairs cupboard. Fresh greens and water gel every day. 

The moulted into adults within 2 days. 

Mating constantly and laying eggs. 

No holes where visible in laying tub except 1 maybe 2. I did keep it fairly damp but due to locusts not be able to live in high humidity I was very curious. 

After about 15 ish days I took egg laying tubs out replaced them with fresh 1s and moved the egg layed 1s to a separate container in the same cupboard. 

Kept damping down the soil, not too much because I know hoppers/locust cant live in high humidity. . 1 day. 2 day 3 day... nothing! So I started adding my water to soil.. 4 day. 5 day... nothing, this went on for a few more days when I stared to think id failed! Was there any eggs? After all there is no visible holes with the white stuff people talk about.. the could be eggs but my unfertilised.. I dont know.. so... I read a scientific sheet on desert locust  where I learnt alot.. alot of what I already know including new hatchlings are born when it rain to feed on the new fresh shoots... so I soaked the tubs.. with almost a puddle on top of the soil.....

The next morning we had babys! About 50 ish... I kept the soil very moist and the next more baby's! To the point of there being hundreds... too many for us to be able feed.

Now its an easy process of keeping some for breeding and some for feeding. 

So in short.. soak the soil  

My apologies for bad spelling and grammar but writing this much on a phone 1st thing in the morning isn't easy 
Hope this might help some people out!


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