# Help Dubia Roach Overload!



## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

How can I stop my Dubia breeding like crazy as I'm on overload. I have a problem with mites at the moment so can't sell them or even give them away until it is clear and I have waaaaay too many adults. They also smell which I know they shouldn't and I'm sure it's because there are so many and the frass that builds up is a lot and quickly. I have the thermostat on the heat mat set at about 30°F. If I take away the heat mat will it reduce breeding or kill them? Or should I turn it down and if so what to? I would like some of the adults to die off naturally and stop breeding so much lol. Please help.


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Iwantone said:


> How can I stop my Dubia breeding like crazy as I'm on overload. I have a problem with mites at the moment so can't sell them or even give them away until it is clear and I have waaaaay too many adults. They also smell which I know they shouldn't and I'm sure it's because there are so many and the frass that builds up is a lot and quickly. I have the thermostat on the heat mat set at about 30°F. If I take away the heat mat will it reduce breeding or kill them? Or should I turn it down and if so what to? I would like some of the adults to die off naturally and stop breeding so much lol. Please help.


yes drop temps to room temps, are they in your house. if so take mats away and it will reduce the breeding helping you sort them. there are other types of mites that will eat those mites and then die off search the net for them.

the smell may be down to mites but if ur overloaded with them then it could be down to ventilation try removing the lid, they wont get out

Tony


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## popitgoes (Oct 24, 2010)

Iwantone said:


> How can I stop my Dubia breeding like crazy as I'm on overload. I have a problem with mites at the moment so can't sell them or even give them away until it is clear and I have waaaaay too many adults. They also smell which I know they shouldn't and I'm sure it's because there are so many and the frass that builds up is a lot and quickly. I have the thermostat on the heat mat set at about 30°F. If I take away the heat mat will it reduce breeding or kill them? Or should I turn it down and if so what to? I would like some of the adults to die off naturally and stop breeding so much lol. Please help.


just clean the tub out and see how it goes n also the stat is on 30f? it should be on atleast 85-95°F well thats what mine is on also if you turned the heat off it wouldnt do nothing when i first started with dubia i didnt have no heat on them and they still bred but it will slow them down alot 

hope this helps


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

Thank you. Yes they are in the house. I've totally cleaned them out and put in new egg crate. I'll turn off the heat mat, the house doesn't get cold anyway. What about feeding? I've put in a couple of small bowls of dry food but I'm not sure what to do about the 'wet' gutload?

I've ordered the other mites that will sort them out (hopefully) so will add those when they arrive. My other half has also removed more of the lid and put a much bigger mesh in so about 60% ventilation.


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Iwantone said:


> Thank you. Yes they are in the house. I've totally cleaned them out and put in new egg crate. I'll turn off the heat mat, the house doesn't get cold anyway. What about feeding? I've put in a couple of small bowls of dry food but I'm not sure what to do about the 'wet' gutload?
> 
> I've ordered the other mites that will sort them out (hopefully) so will add those when they arrive. My other half has also removed more of the lid and put a much bigger mesh in so about 60% ventilation.


ok see how that goes if u get any condensation then you need more vent. need to recheck your husbandry to avoid the mites again. its possible you brought them in, if these are the only roaches you have then thats ok but if u have other colonies wash your hands before moving from tub to tub


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## St185 (Jun 28, 2011)

Sorry to hi jack.. Where can you get them mite eating mites?
I bought a colony of Turks and I think they have mites.
Thanks


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

The Roach Hut said:


> ok see how that goes if u get any condensation then you need more vent. need to recheck your husbandry to avoid the mites again. its possible you brought them in, if these are the only roaches you have then thats ok but if u have other colonies wash your hands before moving from tub to tub


Thanks. These are the only ones I have. I think my first mistake was introducing more roaches to my colony. How often should I give wet gutload? I use orange, butternut squash and sweet potato mainly with carrot or apple.



St185 said:


> Sorry to hi jack.. Where can you get them mite eating mites?
> I bought a colony of Turks and I think they have mites.
> Thanks


That's ok. On my phone at the moment but if you go on my profile and look at my last roach thread about mites there is a link and some advice on there. If you can't find it I'll send it later.


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Iwantone said:


> Thanks. These are the only ones I have. I think my first mistake was introducing more roaches to my colony. How often should I give wet gutload? I use orange, butternut squash and sweet potato mainly with carrot or apple.
> 
> 
> 
> That's ok. On my phone at the moment but if you go on my profile and look at my last roach thread about mites there is a link and some advice on there. If you can't find it I'll send it later.


2 to 3 times a week we give ours but we dont give orange. in our experience it cause us to many issues. but dry food and water crystals always available


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

The Roach Hut said:


> 2 to 3 times a week we give ours but we dont give orange. in our experience it cause us to many issues. but dry food and water crystals always available


Interesting thank you. I stopped giving the crystals as the mites accumulated around it. I'll try again once I put the other things in to kill them. What issues have you had with orange and what do you feed yours please?


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Iwantone said:


> Thanks. These are the only ones I have. I think my first mistake was introducing more roaches to my colony. How often should I give wet gutload? I use orange, butternut squash and sweet potato mainly with carrot or apple.
> 
> 
> 
> That's ok. On my phone at the moment but if you go on my profile and look at my last roach thread about mites there is a link and some advice on there. If you can't find it I'll send it later.


2 to 3 times a week we give ours but we dont give orange. in our experience it cause us to many issues. but dry food and water crystals always available


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Iwantone said:


> Interesting thank you. I stopped giving the crystals as the mites accumulated around it. I'll try again once I put the other things in to kill them. What issues have you had with orange and what do you feed yours please?


i feed our own blend of roach chow and mainly root veg and squashes, ocasionaly apples, but with fruit it turns and makes an issue in your tubs. oranges in our opinion slows production down. now many will argue at that, but over that past 10 years we done various trials with it and each time the breeding tub that had oranges seemed to produce about 10% less nymphs. have u checked out our site there are many videos and caresheets there that may be of interest to you

Tony


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

The Roach Hut said:


> i feed our own blend of roach chow and mainly root veg and squashes, ocasionaly apples, but with fruit it turns and makes an issue in your tubs. oranges in our opinion slows production down. now many will argue at that, but over that past 10 years we done various trials with it and each time the breeding tub that had oranges seemed to produce about 10% less nymphs. have u checked out our site there are many videos and caresheets there that may be of interest to you
> 
> Tony


Oh I see. I don't give apple much because I've noticed it goes bad quickly. I will have a read of your site thanks. I really appreciate your help.


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## kez30 (Jun 15, 2008)

I've found putting food on top of vertically stacked egg crate helps keep the humidity down, I put it on a plastic food tub lid/ice cream tub lid etc.

Firedragon, that's interesting never heard anyone say feeding oranges slows them down but can't argue the point if you've done trials. A lot of people say feeding it gets them breeding better but haven't seen anyone mention they've tested the idea, nor can i find any info as to why it would improve breeding.


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

kez30 said:


> I've found putting food on top of vertically stacked egg crate helps keep the humidity down, I put it on a plastic food tub lid/ice cream tub lid etc.
> 
> Firedragon, that's interesting never heard anyone say feeding oranges slows them down but can't argue the point if you've done trials. A lot of people say feeding it gets them breeding better but haven't seen anyone mention they've tested the idea, nor can i find any info as to why it would improve breeding.


yeah like i said a lot of people will prob argue with it, i dont know if u seen our videos? but those tubs we had 3 tubs we used with our adults and they were identical tubs 3 used for oranges and 3 without now its not a scientific test but we weighed the nymphs produced every month from all 6 tubs. the tubs without oranges yielded 10% more weight, but to ensure it wasnt a fluke we ran the experiment for 6 straight months and added the figure at the end, and it still showed a 10% decrease in the tubs that were given oranges.

It is of course only our opinion and many out there would disagree with us, i can only say what we found in our experience.

And god noone called us firedragon in a while, kinda nice to hear lol


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

kez30 said:


> I've found putting food on top of vertically stacked egg crate helps keep the humidity down, I put it on a plastic food tub lid/ice cream tub lid etc.
> 
> Firedragon, that's interesting never heard anyone say feeding oranges slows them down but can't argue the point if you've done trials. A lot of people say feeding it gets them breeding better but haven't seen anyone mention they've tested the idea, nor can i find any info as to why it would improve breeding.


and putting the food on top of crates is a valid point from kez, we do the same thing with our breeders using our 5 pot feeding tubs. it also allows more surface ares from the egg crates


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

The Roach Hut said:


> and putting the food on top of crates is a valid point from kez, we do the same thing with our breeders using our 5 pot feeding tubs. it also allows more surface ares from the egg crates


What are 5 pot feeding tubs?


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

kez30 said:


> I've found putting food on top of vertically stacked egg crate helps keep the humidity down, I put it on a plastic food tub lid/ice cream tub lid etc.


Thanks, I was putting it low down in the tub.


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## The Roach Hut (Mar 29, 2008)

Just a 5 compartment tub that we use check out the setup vids on our site


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

Iwantone said:


> What are 5 pot feeding tubs?


kinda like tool trays. Single tray with compartments. Available from most pound shops etc. Just scuff up all the edged so the roaches can climb it and youre done. Easy to use as you just lift out, wash and slap back in with more veg, dryfood, crystals etc.


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## Iwantone (Dec 2, 2010)

The Roach Hut said:


> Just a 5 compartment tub that we use check out the setup vids on our site


I just looked thanks. Great videos. :2thumb:



swift_wraith said:


> kinda like tool trays. Single tray with compartments. Available from most pound shops etc. Just scuff up all the edged so the roaches can climb it and youre done. Easy to use as you just lift out, wash and slap back in with more veg, dryfood, crystals etc.


Thank you.


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