# 800 adult dubias escaped. just spent 3 hours catching them!



## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

unbelievable sight. there i am, thinking shall i check my dubias tonight? i stand there pondering. im tired, i cant be bothered, but then that nagging guilt kicks in. oh poo, ill just check they got water me thinks.

i go out into my garden to the shed where i keep them. i see somthing move on the door. sh*t i shout a mouse is trying to get in! i then notice several moving objects on the outside of the door. 

OMG! THE DOOR IS COVERED WITH ADULT DUBIAS! IVE NEVER MOVED SO FAST IN MY LIFE! 

i ran inside and grabbed gloves and the biggest plastic box to hand. scooped as many as i can see into the tub, and some that i can see on the patio. 

then i opened the door!!!! the ceiling, the walls, the floor COVERED!! i swear the first thing i thought of was it was like a biblical plague! 

i have insulation in the shed which i had to tear up in places as they got under it. 

the cause?? a piece of netting had come loose in one corner and fallen down into there container making a perfect ramp for them to climb up and out.

and its a warm night tonight! i know some escaped into the garden. please dont infest my neighbours. 

im so tired i just talking rubbish now.

anyone got any ideas on their chances of survival in this weather? i might upload a pic of all the dubias i collected that escaped. you wont believe it!


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## MrGaz (Jun 6, 2010)

Lol gutted mate , please post photos


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## starfox (Nov 21, 2010)

LOL, ahh i can just imagine it.

I would be running for the hills too! I know this isn't really related, but the other day a HUGE house spider came in through my window, you know the ones that are so big, you can see little hairs on their legs? eugh, freaked me out! lol 

Good luck catching them all, not sure if they will survive, but i pray for you (and your neighbours sake) the unfound escapee's don't!


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## snakeeyes21 (Nov 23, 2008)

jonnyboy86 said:


> *anyone got any ideas on their chances of survival in this weather?* i might upload a pic of all the dubias i collected that escaped. you wont believe it!


The chance of survival is very good :lol2: some other people have posted that dubias have braved the snow, the cold climate of canada, even being in a shed for months over winter with no heating or food... if they find a little cubby hole where its warm enough to breed you may have a bit of a problem on your hands :whistling2:


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

oh man just what i wanted to hear! lol i took some pics of the damage ill upload later tonight or tomorrow. found another 80 or so in the shed today. ive gone right off roaches ....


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## saxon (Feb 26, 2007)

I'd get a bug blaster in there before they do start to breed.
Much rather kill the escapees than pay the bill for the damage when they get into your neighbours houses!

I'd also have the house done.


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

could try putting a heatmat on the floor with some egg crate over it. Hopefully they will be attracted to the heat and hide under the crate. Leave for a day or so then check.

if this works I claim commission!!!!!


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## excession (Apr 11, 2009)

Ahh man, we've had a few escapees but I cannot imagine what that must have looked like....

Oh yeah, i dont think they would die off now, its fairly mild out now.


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

pics as promised


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

thats some of the damage to the shed. much worse now as i had to take all the ceiling insulation off as they where up there.

pic 2 is some of the tubs of roaches i had to take out

pic 3 is those little :censor: who i collected that first night at 12am! i collected about 80 yesterday and there are still some in the walls that im hoping will get caught in the traps i put out.

i have no idea how many escaped into the garden. at least 20 went uner the shed when i was scooping them off the door.

i noticed they are 90% males that escaped but the tub is mostly females.... us guys are such trouble makers lol


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## madavies65 (Jan 21, 2009)

jonnyboy86 said:


> thats some of the damage to the shed. much worse now as i had to take all the ceiling insulation off as they where up there.
> 
> pic 2 is some of the tubs of roaches i had to take out
> 
> ...


Definitely the males are the little gits of this roach species... They roam in the wild and so always love to try and escape in captivity.

When I clean the crates there is always one male that jumps from the highest point in a bid to escape!


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

I would get your self some of this raid cockroach killer it rapes any escapees Raid ® : Ant & Roach Killer


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

Id just cry :lol2:
(Sorry)


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## Iguanaquinn (Nov 13, 2010)

Two things would happen to me... First I would soil myself, then cry......

Action..... I would be getting rid of them and calling the EHO to get some serious fire power against them and deny all knowledge of where they came from....


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

i bought a tub of raid earlier! great minds think alive. gonna use just outside the shed though. dont want it effecting the inside roaches

and you other guys are funny :lol2:


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## phoenixwoof (Aug 23, 2007)

As horrified as i would be to see that sight i did have to giggle! Imagining creepy music as you got near the shed door and then all the roaches climbing together to create one GIANT roach shouting 'you cant take away my FREEDOM'!!! hahaha! kudos to them being in your shed tho! at least they didnt escape straight into the house!


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

phoenixwoof said:


> As horrified as i would be to see that sight i did have to giggle! Imagining creepy music as you got near the shed door and then all the roaches climbing together to create one GIANT roach shouting 'you cant take away my FREEDOM'!!! hahaha! kudos to them being in your shed tho! at least they didnt escape straight into the house!


:lol2: i was thinking the same thing how much worse it coud have been, imagine waking up in the middle of the night with them crawling all over your bed! ive caught about 6 more in the shed with traps so not to bad :2thumb:


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## Mrhardware (Aug 15, 2010)

Thats got to make you popular with the neighbours :lol2:.
Lets hope non are on RFUK


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## Roysy (Jun 9, 2007)

*Update?*

Would love an update on this one, did everything sort itself out. I heard that Dubias do not tend to breed well unless you live in hot climates.
:whistling2:


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Lol!
They breed extremely well in a warm room or garden shed especially over the summer months.


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

Roysy said:


> Would love an update on this one, did everything sort itself out. I heard that Dubias do not tend to breed well unless you live in hot climates.
> :whistling2:


im still finding the odd one or 2 a day, but nothing to serious! only males ive found so far so im less worried now about them breeding. havent caught, seen or heard of any that escaped into the garden! god only knows what they are up to:lol2:


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## lee b (Nov 5, 2008)

htis is my worst nightmare as the mrs would kill me,so i wont be showing her this thread :lol2:


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## CreepyCrawler (Jul 11, 2010)

Lol, makes me glad I only breed mealworms. Hopefully the escapees have made a nice snack for any garden wildlife you've got about.


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Just be glad it was in the shed rather than the house I recon you would still be finding them months later if not years! Lobster roaches are a pain. I was given some but when I found one in the bedroom I got rid if them.


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## annsimpson1 (Mar 23, 2008)

I've never posted in here before as I'm always in shelled but my dad used to be a keen fisherman and when I was younger and came downstairs one morning the whole kitchen and front room was alive with his fishing maggots!. They were on the ceiling/walls everywhere and I can't stand anything that wiggles or crawls it took my dad ages to catch them and we kept finding the odd one climbing your leg when we were sitting down, cos those that didn't get caught turned into fly's. It was a full tub that the lid had been left slightley open, I had nightmares for days about maggots.:mf_dribble:We also tried feeding our turtles some crickets which promptly lept out of the tank and it sounded like the jungle for weeks as we couldn't find them.


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## Dykie (Sep 4, 2009)

Oh that sounds bad, i would be a dead man if that happened to me. At least it wasn't in the house. 

Im off to check my Roaches now :whistling2:


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

annsimpson1 said:


> I've never posted in here before as I'm always in shelled but my dad used to be a keen fisherman and when I was younger and came downstairs one morning the whole kitchen and front room was alive with his fishing maggots!. They were on the ceiling/walls everywhere and I can't stand anything that wiggles or crawls it took my dad ages to catch them and we kept finding the odd one climbing your leg when we were sitting down, cos those that didn't get caught turned into fly's. It was a full tub that the lid had been left slightley open, I had nightmares for days about maggots.:mf_dribble:We also tried feeding our turtles some crickets which promptly lept out of the tank and it sounded like the jungle for weeks as we couldn't find them.


I had some similar experiences, lol.
I had a bag of meal worms in the cupboard when I was at Uni. I came home late one night and found they had eaten their way out and were all over the floor, under the bed, everywhere, I hope I found them all, land lady never said anything so I guess so! 
Years later I had bought a bag of squats (small maggots of the house fly) to feed spiderlings. (much better and safer than crickets). Dawn and I came home late one night and for some reason she didn't turn the front room light on and stepped in something squishy. Light went on and there they were all over the laminate floor! They had wriggles about, up through the knot in the plastic bag and out all over!
I've had a few hissers escape in the rep room and found them again with a bit of fruit left on the floor. Leave it dark and a few hours later, bingo!
It took me 3 days to locate a cricket that had decided to keep me awake each night chirping! Everytime unturned the light on the damn thing stopped. Found it finally one morning as I went to put my shoe on.
I got rid of the lobsters I was given after finding a little one on the floor! Luckily I've not seen another one. 
Is your other half giving you loads of grief? Does she know or have you kept it quiet? :lol2:


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## Nix (Jan 23, 2008)

I dropped a bag of 1000 african banded crickets once. Managed to get about 800 of them back in the bag, my house was sounds of the jungle for weeks but fortunately it was winter and they had no water source so found quite a few dead ones over the coming months. No complaints from the neighbours at least.


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## alan1 (Nov 11, 2008)

*OP*

please set up a video camera, and repeat said escape

to include ALL screams and facial contortions


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

is it bad that i find other peoples stories of mass livefood escape slightly comforting? :lol2: somthing else for sunday confession! 

ive only found 1 more in the shed over the last couple of days so thats a good sign! 

the ones free in the garden are still on the loose.... got alot of fat frogs in the pond so they better be doing somthing!


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

I've had 500 crickets eat their way out the the bag they had been sent in a few times. Open the box and crickets everywhere. just a shame they didn't eat their way out the box and end up all over the sorting office. It would teach royal mail to delivery my live foods on time instead of holding on to it for the bloody week like they do sometimes. I have heard of excapees at the sorti g office though.


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## 12843 (Nov 16, 2007)

alan1 said:


> please set up a video camera, and repeat said escape
> 
> to include ALL screams and facial contortions


:lol2:


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## mattsdragons (Jul 6, 2009)

i had 350 crickets escape in my house when i had my beardie. we were finding them till about a year after it all happened. one cam up through the plug a year and a half after it all happened and i washed him back down straight away and he was not seen since


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

When the adults get under the fridge and sit on the motor chirping all night. :bash:


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## Scottish_Reps (Mar 13, 2011)

Best one i had was living in a housing block ( 8 Flats/houses ) and lost 800 Crickets in the stair lol for over a month i hear screams and stamping lol glad no one new it was me lol.


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## andy140365 (Jul 26, 2010)

Scottish_Reps said:


> Best one i had was living in a housing block ( 8 Flats/houses ) and lost 800 Crickets in the stair lol for over a month i hear screams and stamping lol glad no one new it was me lol.


 ooooo that gives me an idea:whistling2:


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## xxx-dztini-xxx (May 12, 2009)

ahhh my god i feel for you, made me go and check my roaches now and mine are in my bedroom!

i had the post man come to my door once with my parcel of locusts held at arms lenght away from him and they had escaped and there was a hole in the box and the postie was horrified! his face! :lol2:


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

OP are you still finding them? Lol.


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## Dee_Williams (Aug 15, 2010)

:lol2: our postmen think i am nuts. i have had quite a few odd things come thorugh the post. 
escaping locusts sat on the box, chirping crickets, i posted newts down south to someone too. as well as sending and receiving bird eggs off ebay. :lol2:

We live in a fairly small area so i try to use the local post office as much as possible, helps keep it open, even if they do all think i completely nuts. lmao. :flrt::blush:


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## phelsumaman (Aug 14, 2008)

Hope you aren't in rented accommodation - all you need now is a house inspection :gasp:


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

sorry for the late update, havent found any recently! been trying to sell off thousands of them as they are costing a fortune in food. bought some sainsburys own brand dog food food but their not to keen on cheap stuff! lol


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## ginna (Jun 2, 2009)

jonnyboy86 said:


> sorry for the late update, havent found any recently! been trying to sell off thousands of them as they are costing a fortune in food. bought some sainsburys own brand dog food food but their not to keen on cheap stuff! lol


it dont cost that much , use fish food or koi pelletsor old fruit you dont want, ours get a lovely shine with the fishfood 


also our cat once knocked a full tub of adult locusts off of the shelf and about 100 locusts were flying up the cellar stairs ... mum was not happy.

then the full bag of black crickets got nocked over and they bred in the cellar and then my dad fly sprayed the ceiling and a curtain of dead crickets fell from the roof on ya head ... yet again mum was not impressed


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## jonnyboy86 (Jul 7, 2009)

lol cant imagine my dad being that brave to go into a cellar full of crickets.

he found a hissing cockroach once on the shower curtain whilst in the shower. never seen a human go that pale with fright! lol

ive tried fish food but its much more expensive than dog food. i usually get dog food in big bags 25kg and i works out at £1.30 a kg.

sainsburys own brand is 50p a kg i think.

they eat about 25kg every 6 to 8 weeks, now its summer it even more.


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