Dubia breeding - housing sizes

rothsauce · Oct 8, 2014

I've just been out to pick p a few Dubia from a local shop. While I had no intention of breeding them, it seems like it would be well worth the effort knowing that all the leo's love them.

I don't need a large colony, or really want one for the time being. Has anyone kept a smaller colony in a 5 gal. tub before?

DrCarrotTail · Oct 8, 2014

I have mine in a tub thats probably about 20 gallons. I found that smaller tubs were too short for me to prevent them from crawling out or to provide a proper heat gradient. I started out with about 15 sub-adult roaches and it took me about 6 months to get them eating and breeding well. In the meantime I kept buying roaches and adding them so not sure how many I have from the original 15...haha. They are doing awesome and my geckos go nuts for them! I'd say the 50 or so adults I kept for a year fed about 5-10 leopard geckos comfortably. I now feed about 1000-2000 a month and have about 800 adult roaches to supply that amount. I still need to be kind of thrifty with my use of them since they reproduce kind of slowly and take a while to grow to the size I need.

rothsauce · Oct 8, 2014

I've read of a few people being able to hold a colony in a 10 gal, but bigger would be better.

Might just have to clear out some room and get a large bin. My main concern is the juvi I've taken in. Loves crickets, and doesn't seem like it will be an issue getting it to switch to Dubias, but it is not terribly interested in mealworms.
Is a UTH a must have? Our apartment stays in the 70's currently, and for storage they'd likely be near the baseboard. Is the higher heat just to induce breeding specifically?

DrCarrotTail · Oct 8, 2014

My bin might be closer to 10 gallons. It's fairly small and fits on my bathroom counter. I have a bigger one now for the adults and use the smaller to grow the babies and feed from. The adults don't seem to appreciate being bothered regularly. Dubia won't breed unless they're kept 85 degrees or higher so heat is usually a must. At 70-75 they'll live just fine but they probably won't grow or breed. I tried a heat lamp for the first 4 months or so I had my colony and saw no production at all. Switched to a heat mat and they started popping out babies within a month.

Tongue Flicker · Oct 8, 2014

I've had stable colonies in 5 gal tanks but i usually remove the adults to feed them off

Dinosaur! · Oct 8, 2014

I keep my colony in a spare 20g long tank. I covered the sides of the tank in black posterboard so it was relitively dark. I am actually successfully using a heat lamp (i dont know why it only seems to work for me, but it does lol

) and I have a decent colony going. I started with 4 males, and 10 females, and I now have over 100 roaches! Now I'm just waiting for my colony to get bigger so that I can start feeding them off! I only have 13 adults right now though ....

rothsauce · Oct 8, 2014

Thanks for all of the input everyone!

For now I'll likely end up feeding more than breeding, at least until I can rearrange a few things for more ideal space.
Does anyone have a preference for tub vs. tank? Does one conduct heat better than the other or make maintenance easier?
I've also hear rumors that the dubia nymphs can (slowly) climb the sealant of tanks. Anyone have this experience before?

indyana · Oct 11, 2014

I have only used a tub because it's are already opaque to block light and because, yes, the little babies would be able to grab on to silicone in the tank corners. For example, they can climb the temperature probe cable in my bin (I stop them from reaching the top by wrapping slick packaging tape around the upper half of the cord).

StellarExotics · Oct 16, 2014

@Dinosaur Do your baby dubia not climb the silicone in your 20long? I would think tubs would be safer... and cheaper... you can use the 20 for a new pet

Redleg · Oct 18, 2014

Dark tub with proper humidity, air vent and heat are key ingredient to BUILDING and maintaining a healthy colony.

Have TWO containers: smaller on for your breeders and another bigger one to feed off.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

rothsauce · Oct 21, 2014

Heat mats - underside or side of the tub? Have seen different setups but is there a difference in production (if anyones has experience/heard either way).

Dinosaur! · Oct 21, 2014

StellarExotics said:
@Dinosaur Do your baby dubia not climb the silicone in your 20long? I would think tubs would be safer... and cheaper... you can use the 20 for a new pet

none of the babies have climbed the silicon in the tank as of yet. The only escapee i had was becuse i accidentally flicked it across the room

And they kind of are like a bunch of pets in their own way lol

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