BLAPTICA DUBIA Roaches

[jason79]

Hi,
I was Thinking about getting leopard geckos and from what I have been reading BLAPTICA DUBIA Roaches are a really good food source and easy to breed. So I'm thinking of starting a colony a few months before I purchase any geckos to give them time to start producing. I have a few questions any help would be appreciated.
first : does anyone know where I can get these around Houston Texas area?

Second : How many would I need to get to feed a 1.4 group of geckos if I got them a month or two ahead of time to give them a chance to get going.

Third : What do you use for water? If its the water crystal stuff how much should I buy? How long does it last?

Fourth : Should I buy the gut laod feed and if so how much should I buy ? How long does it last for a "small colony" of roaches I only need enough for four geckos or so probly 1.4 group is all I will get.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Jason

 

[fOOlsgOld]

1st: www.theroachguy.com or try www.bestroach.com I've ordered roaches from both and was very pleased with what I got and the service. The ones I got from RoachGuy actually came to me through a winter storm and 10*-20* weather and were fine w/ 2 days in the mail.

2nd: RoachGuy is currently running an offer of 400 roaches (+ 10 adult pair), crates, screen (for your tank), chow and water crystals for $130 shipped. That's what I just got and there are a TON of babies in there. From what I've seen of the ones I have it takes them a few months to go from babies to full grown so you defiantly want to make sure to get breeders and not just small/medium/pre-adult roaches. Bestroach also lets you buy as many adult pair as you want to. If you want to use them contact me and I will give you a bit more information about them.

3rd: I use crystals and fruit/veggies. The crystals I got w/ the roaches is going to last me a LONG time. I used about 1 1/2 Tps. to make about a pint of crystals back in October and just make sure to keep the container in the roach bin topped off w/ water and just use new crystals if the ones in the bin look like they have stuff in it and I still haven't had to make up more crystals yet.

4th: Most starter kits come with a 1/4 - 1/2 lb of roach feed. Again as with the water crystals I think the feed is going to last me a LONG time as I use a lot of veggies and fruit to feed my roaches. They DO eat the chow but a 1/4cup of it seems to last me over a month in their bin (about what my feed dish holds).

Hope this helps you out some. I love my roaches :main_yes: Almost to cute to feed to the geckos...... almost lol

 

[jmlslayer]

PM clear on here he breeds Dubia i ordered 50 from him to test and my geckos loved them so i ordered 100 tonight i recommend him to everyone

 

[shadowx362]

^ clear has good prices and ships very nicely, highly recommended as well.

 

[clear]

Thanks guys!

One adult female dubia has about 20ish babies a month. Figure out how many you should be feeding off each day and then you can figure out how many you need to start with.

 

[thestack510]

I'm considering Dubias also. I switched to meal worms from crickets this week because I can't stand the noise or the smell of crickets. Do Dubais have a strong scent? The switch to meal worms went off without a hitch. I'm pretty sure my little pork butts will eat whatever type of feeder they're offered.

 

[jason79]

Thanks so much for all the help everyone I do appreciate it. So if I'm understanding this correctly I have read that 2 roaches a day per gecko or 4 every other day with a 1.4 group that would come out to 10 roaches per day and 30ish days per month so I would need 300ish roaches per month which equals 15 females right? for 15 females how many males would I need for that? and do you think 2 roaches a day is enough or should I figure in more?

 

[clear]

Dubia do not have much of a scent if any! I dont know the proper amount to feed gecko's but I would assume its all they will eat.

 

[fOOlsgOld]

Roaches have little/no smell to their tank set up. When you pick them up they do let off an odor that isn't that strong but doesn't smell to good either. The tub I have mine in has no smell to it though.

 

[LeapinLizards]

Shenandoah is right. It's like a smell they put off when distressed or something. Very odd...almost iron smelling like our blood. I'm with her though, the tub itself doesn't smell a bit.

 

[OhioGecko]

I have some Dubias but they are not thriving

Will some of you take some pics of your setup and post them, thanks.

 

[Brewster320]

I've been thining about starting a colony but I'm affraid of getting more than I can handle or feed off because thes adult to large for leos, or are the males small enough for them, I'm afraid of having to many adult male roaches because I've heard that can mess up a colony and increase compition for the females.

 

[fOOlsgOld]

I feed the males to my adult gecko when ever I have to many. If you are worried about the wings and impaction just take some scissors and cut the wings off. All my geckos LOVE the roaches, I've got one girl that was on a hunger strike for some reason that the first night after I got my new shipment of roaches she ate 4 sub adult roaches lol.

 

[clear]

Roaches are very easy to maintain the qty you need, if you have extras feed off the males or give the males away, thats it.

Roaches need to be in the 80's with decent humidty, food and water to breed, nothing else. If you have your setup like this and having trouble with them breeding you might be disturbing them to much. How long have you had them and how many adults do you have?

 

[Brewster320]

I feed the males to my adult gecko when ever I have to many. If you are worried about the wings and impaction just take some scissors and cut the wings off. All my geckos LOVE the roaches, I've got one girl that was on a hunger strike for some reason that the first night after I got my new shipment of roaches she ate 4 sub adult roaches lol.

Oh thanks for the info!

 

[shawn119]

Never heard of them.

 

[Nigel4less]

Never heard of them.

If don't know anything about Dubia roaches, then whats the post on posting on a thread about them?

 

[Nigel4less]

Roaches are very easy to maintain the qty you need, if you have extras feed off the males or give the males away, thats it.

Roaches need to be in the 80's with decent humidty, food and water to breed, nothing else. If you have your setup like this and having trouble with them breeding you might be disturbing them to much. How long have you had them and how many adults do you have?

I personally have had better results keeping them up closer to 90.

 

[clear]

Nigel, me and you keep roaches for different reasons than just feeding off, we need rapid reproduction. I keep some species in the mid 90's to make them breed faster, but in the 80's is fine, they breed pretty decent at that temp.