# How many dubia roaches needed to start a colony?



## jojothefirst (Nov 13, 2009)

I have had a look but there seems to be a mixed answer to this question.

Some say 300 isnt enough, some say 20 is!

I have 2 adult veiled chameleon's and im expecting babies to hatch in march so want to start breeding dubia's now ready for then.

I was thinking 50 adults at a ratio of 1 male to 3 females (+ I already have approx 150 small) would be enough, does that sound like a good amount?

Also, were do people buy egg crates from?


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## swift_wraith (Jan 4, 2009)

I started with 20 and I now have about 500. The hardest part is getting the colony established. If you start small then be prepared to leave them alone for about 3-4 months while the colony grows. If you have a larger colony you could feed from it straight away (feed the males off until you get a 3:1 female to male)

Your 50 adults added to your 150 smalls should be ok, just make sure theyre kept warm (matted one one end of the tub/tank) and well fed and they should breed pretty quickly.

As for the crates, just pop to your local butchers as they usually also sell eggs and are more than willing to give you a load for free.


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## imginy (Jun 14, 2009)

I would go with 200 adults then you will have to wait about 7 months before you can start pulling them out. I went with 100 adults 6 months ago and I now have 900 but most of them are really small and I will have to wait another few months for these one to get big and if I had chance to do it all over I would have started with 200. Hope this helps Giny


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