# Thought dubias couldn't climb



## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Hi, I've started a roach colony after buying three tubs of various sizes from the pet shop. I've got them in a large plastic tub with lid and bugbed, one side humid and the other side on top of a heatmat. The trouble is, they keep scaling the walls of the tub and I'm finding adult roaches in various places in my house. I was told they were dubias, but surely the big advantage of dubias is they can't climb?? I've tried smearing vaseline inside the tub, which stops them climbing for about a day. I really don't want a roach infestation in my house!


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

How are they getting out if theres a lid?


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

You tell me lol. The lid is one of those flip open lids, split in half that joins in the middle. I close it as tight as it goes but there must be a very small gap and the roaches must be able to flatten themselves to nothing.


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## Punchfish (Jun 13, 2008)

Put a picture up, as I would be very surprised if they were really dubias. Maybe someone just said they were to get more money?


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## grumpyoldtrout (May 19, 2008)

Dubia young and male just out.










Male dubia








not long out, still darkening.


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

If the surface is smooth then dubias wouldn't be able to climb it.


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

The surface is smooth, I'm seriously doubting that they're dubias now! Will get a picture up later. I like your horned frog btw punchfish :flrt:


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## _simon_ (Nov 27, 2007)

I've kept Dubai's as feeders and they definetly couldn't climb the sides of the plastic tub they were in.


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

Is the box new? they only need a slightly rough surface (like an old rough surfaced box) to climb. When I used to sell mine i counted them out into an old tommy tank that was rough, they managed to climb the surface of that.


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Yes the box is new and seems smooth on the inside. Here are some pics:


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

I think they are surinam roaches. The adults & large instars can climb smooth surfaces the younger ones can't. Dubia wouldn't be able to climb that box UNLESS it was very very dirty on the inside.


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Thanks, I haven't heard of them before but they do look like the pictures on google. They def don't look like dubias  I wanted a dubia colony cos I tried my beardies with some dubias before and they loved them. Don't know what to do now, whether to start from scratch with some proper dubias or just keep these. Didn't really want escape artist roaches, but what would I do with them if I started a new colony? There's millions of babies!


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

If these are burrowing surinam roaches they will be underground most of the time, unlike Blaptica which stay above ground. Adults with wings (All of them will be females by the way) will only be around 2-2.5cm. Blaptica adults get a lot larger. I would get a refund from the person who mis-sold them and get Blaptica instead. I breed both species, blaptica are much better for beardies for many reasons. Mine love them.


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Yes the roaches are always buried, I had to disturb the soil to get a picture of them. And they're not that big, the dubias I gave my beardies before looked bigger and meatier. Are the surinam roaches any good for beardies though or are they better suited to other animals? I might sell this colony if someone else can make use of them, cos there's got to be at least 500 in there, and then start over with dubias. How much do you sell your dubias for? And what would be a good price for the surinams? At least I think they must be surinams, you said only the larger ones can climb but I've seen the tiny babies climb the box too, they're dotted over the inside. What makes dubias better than other types of roaches by the way? Sorry lots of questions :blush:


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

After writing what I said earlier, I thought maybe you should sell the surinams. They would suit somebody with smaller reptiles. There is nothing wrong with suris, but IMO Blaptica are 

1 easier to culture
2 less prone to mite infections
3 Possibly more productive (i think so)
4 A bigger meal
5 don't climb, so will stay in a feeder dish, unless a beardie puts its tail/leg in the dish. 
6 slower therefore less likely to hide away before being eaten. 
7 much,much less likely to escape into the house.


At the moment i am not selling Dubia because its expensive posting them from here,, and I am about to increase my Lizard collection with the addition of an extra 76 adult water dragons (i need to increase my cultures) ! But I have sold them in my London shop in the past for around £2.50 for 10 adults


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Cool thanks for being so helpful. I'll try to start a new colony of dubias. What sort of herps eat the surinams, geckos, frogs etc? I think there are a good few hundred of them, mostly babies though, how much do you think they are worth? Also this is probably a silly question but how do they breed if they're all females lol. Oh 76 water dragons is a lot of water dragons to feed :gasp:


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## Blaptica (Jun 26, 2008)

I think the suris would suit frogs/ toads and any other nocturnal reptiles. Maybe burrowing skinks would enjoy hunting them in the substrate ? I would have thought ok for spiders too ? I would sell the culture for around £5-10 I guess ?

There are several similiar species but if the are "suris" *Pycnoscelus surinamensis* then they are parthenogenic (correct spelling ?) which means that the females are fertile without mating, like some stick insects and some unusual lizards. See this site if you are interested in Roaches


.:www.schaben-spinnen.de - Jörg Bernhardt :. Shop


I have dealt with him and got some good starter colonies in the past.


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## Juzza12 (Jun 12, 2008)

I hope you didn't pay dubia prices for those roaches. Have you contacted the seller?


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

Blaptica said:


> I think the suris would suit frogs/ toads and any other nocturnal reptiles. Maybe burrowing skinks would enjoy hunting them in the substrate ? I would have thought ok for spiders too ? I would sell the culture for around £5-10 I guess ?
> 
> There are several similiar species but if the are "suris" *Pycnoscelus surinamensis* then they are parthenogenic (correct spelling ?) which means that the females are fertile without mating, like some stick insects and some unusual lizards. See this site if you are interested in Roaches
> 
> ...


I think I will keep them actually if they are good for spiders, there's so many of them I'll probably never have to buy livefood for my tarantulas again! I'll put them back in their original tubs though to stop any escapes and use the large box for a dubia colony.

That's really interesting about their reproduction, I've learnt something new there. Ironically the guy who sold them to me told me to take out only the males as feeders while the colony is growing, fine if they were dubias but a bit difficult for an all-female species lol :whistling2:



Juzza12 said:


> I hope you didn't pay dubia prices for those roaches. Have you contacted the seller?


I bought them from a pet shop, they said they'd order in dubias for me but I'm thinking they just ordered feeder roaches which is why I ended up with the suris. I could only see bits of them in the tubs cos they were buried in the soil, not enough to tell that they weren't dubias - obviously I know now that dubias don't need substrate, only the burrowing species do. I think I paid £12 for 3 tubs, which would probably be cheap if they were indeed dubias seeing as there's loads of them. Like I said, I'll just keep them for my tarantulas and start again with dubias for my beardies!


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