# Is this enough to start a roach colony???



## Sambee (Jul 4, 2008)

I just wanted to check before I put my order through...

Is 25 small, 25 medium and 50 adult dubia roaches enough to start a breeding colony?

It's only for our beardie and 2 leo's so I didn't want to end up buying too many or more than I need.

Please help!


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## CWD (Feb 11, 2007)

Well dubia roaches are not easy 2 breed lobster roaches are easy as im doing well with my lobster roaches i bought 100 mixed sizes must have been only 20 adults if that my colony is breeding like mad and i have 300+ good luck


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## moonlight (Jun 30, 2007)

dubia roaches are slower to breed than lobster but I prefer dubia as they are meatier and cant escape lol. The trick with Dubia is warmth I started with 25 and it took me about 6 months to get an established colony I still dont take much out of it so its just growing and growing.


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## CWD (Feb 11, 2007)

moonlight said:


> dubia roaches are slower to breed than lobster but I prefer dubia as they are meatier and cant escape lol. The trick with Dubia is warmth I started with 25 and it took me about 6 months to get an established colony I still dont take much out of it so its just growing and growing.



The trick with lobster roaches is put a line of vaseline about 5inch from top of your box so they cant get out ! and lobster roaches need warmth as well ! and plus they breed fatser but dubia are my favs  (i have both)


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## moonlight (Jun 30, 2007)

I have done that with my dubias too just incase as they are in an open top fish tank


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## negri21 (Oct 8, 2007)

Elvis_The_Gecko said:


> I just wanted to check before I put my order through...
> 
> Is 25 small, 25 medium and 50 adult dubia roaches enough to start a breeding colony?
> 
> ...


why not just buy 100 adults , that way your not waiting on the others to grow into adults ,


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## CWD (Feb 11, 2007)

moonlight said:


> I have done that with my dubias too just incase as they are in an open top fish tank




they cant climb !


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

In theory you could start a breeding colony with just one adult of each sex............might take you a while though.....


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## darkblade666 (Mar 18, 2008)

Crownan said:


> In theory you could start a breeding colony with just one adult of each sex............might take you a while though.....


yes you could but it would lead to very poor genetics it is advised to add some more to a colony from a different one two change things up a bit 

i bought my from 2 different breeders but i keep them apart at first to make sure problems


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## moonlight (Jun 30, 2007)

CWD said:


> they cant climb !


 I know they say they cant but when I had them in the faunarium i always found little ones running round the viv I kept the faunarium in


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## zemanski (Jun 15, 2008)

you can use parcel tape instead of vaseline.

when I had a smaller container the packing boxes came too close to the top and some legged it


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

moonlight said:


> I know they say they cant but when I had them in the faunarium i always found little ones running round the viv I kept the faunarium in


 
Ive never had a problem with Dubia climbing, never had an escapee!

And as for genetics, they are insects, they dont seem to suffer the same kind of problems that animals do


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## darkblade666 (Mar 18, 2008)

its just recommended that you mix it up ever no and agin say 1-2 times a year

can seen colanys were over a very long time the size has gone small or the breed at a slower rate or get higher % males being born


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## Slofe (May 27, 2008)

negri21 said:


> why not just buy 100 adults , that way your not waiting on the others to grow into adults ,


^^This

I bought 100 adults and one baby, it somehow managed to sneak in there :lol2: within 3 weeks I had about 200 little babies scurrying about on the floor and i've seen at least 4 females that are gravid. Roaches are great, i'm so glad I chose them over crickets.


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## civic_girl (Sep 14, 2008)

Hey 

Get some piccies up of these things and their colonies. Im petrified but would love to see them, lol : )

Ashleigh


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## Sambee (Jul 4, 2008)

I'll take some pics tonight...in the end I got 35 adults, 60 mediums and 60 babies and we transferred them into a Tupperware box last night.

I cut out a square in the lid for ventilation and covered it with some taped on net curtain lol. 

Hopefully some of the females are already gravid and should give birth soon...we're not planning to start feeding the roaches to the reps for a few months yet, until the colony has got going.


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## Issa (Oct 13, 2006)

I gotta say I find them a lot easier to get on with than crix or locust, which I seem to kill whenever I try breeding them, plus crix smell really bad!. I've tried both lobster and dubia roaches and prefer dubias as they are bigger adults (the beardie appreciates that!) and I've found lobster roaches almost houdini like in their escape ability, although they do breed very fast. I started with round 30 or so mixed sized dubia roaches earlier this year that came free with a pair of boas I picked up (thanks again wrecexotics : victory, and the colony is just getting to the point now that I've recently started feeding sparingly off it.


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