Dubia research

[Stl_Greaser]

So I decided to start a long term Dubia research project. I am going to start with separating females when they look swollen and about to pop. This first part is going to be to see what the actual average production rate is of the females. After the females lay I will keep the female and her young in their own bin to grow. Each single female colony will receive a male to see how long the average is between clutches. Each single female colony will have different protein source to see if any food source helps them grow faster or produce faster. Like I said it is going to be a long term project so I will run it for at least 3 or 4 years. Hopefully I will be able to find out if females produce near the same sized clutches throughout their entire life span. What to feed for the fastest growing and the fastest production rates.

If anyone has any variables they would like me to test(with in reason) I will be happy to add them to the project.

The first female separated had a clutch of 37 nymphs on 08.18.2010 and placed a male with her on 08.20.2010

More results to follow when I receive them.

 

[wakeskate420]

great stuff man, this is going to be a great resource to us all, keep up the good work! :main_thumbsup:

 

[fuzzylogix]

possible factors could be temperature and humidity ranges

 

[Taquiq]

Keep us updated, this is very interesting. I agree with Shawn, you could test Temps and Humidity and see if that effects the clutch size.

 

[Elisa]

This sounds like an awesome project!

 

[Neill]

Cant wait for this info i myself have a nice size colony and I love them!

... I just said I loved a colony of cockroaches weird...

 

[Stl_Greaser]

That's funny! I don't love my roaches but my Herps sure do!


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[nicosgeckos]

Awesome! This'll be helpful! I don't yet raise them but am going to buy colony in the next few days. PS I heard from many people that orange speeds up the females prouduction rate by 24%.

 

[gumbii]

yes... oranges do work, but i've heard bad stuff before about them being gutloaded with citric acid for our herps... so i give them an orange once a week... and then give them all kinds of other stuff...

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Well one month in and I have collected clutches from 18 different females. So far the average clutch size has been 35 nymphs for me! A little higher than thought before. Still lots more to go. No variables in place yet, just trying to compile my control group first. More info to come!

 

[Pokersnake]

I can't believe this hasn't been done before. I like the idea of doing a long term project like this. So you have clutch size, time between clutches, protein source, temperature and humidity. This sounds like a daunting experiment already. How about the presence or absence of veggies in the diet. I know some people claim that the roach chow formula is all they need besides a water source.

I was just about to post a thread asking the average gestation period for a female. Maybe you know?

Now I'm tempted to join you.

 

[Stl_Greaser]

So there was something I have never seen before tonight. I opened up one of the bins with my research females and found a dropped near term egg sack. I can almost make out the nymphs in the eggs. And the female had what looked like a cooked chicken egg yolk hanging out of her vent!

First off I stuck the egg sack (since it was very recently dropped and still moist) in a small tupperware container that at close to 100% humidity and 90 degrees. I plan to see I there is a way to save dropped eggs, at least very near mature ones.

Next here are a few picks of the female.

 

[acpart]

I have been doing roach research for some caresheets I've written and read that sometimes the female will drop the egg sac before they hatch. Apparently it can happen more often if the husbandry conditions aren't ideal.

Aliza

 

[Insubordinate]

Cant wait for this info i myself have a nice size colony and I love them!

... I just said I loved a colony of cockroaches weird...

Before reading the second half, I said to myself "They just said they loved a colony of cockroaches...weird."

 

[Stl_Greaser]

Before reading the second half, I said to myself "They just said they loved a colony of cockroaches...weird."

What's not to love? My colonies save me a couple hundred bucks a month feeding all of the lizards in my household.

 

[Digby Rigby]

Dropped Sac

Blaptica dubia roaches always evert the egg case then turn it around and shove it back in. At which point it is kept until hatching. Technically the only live bearing roach is the Pacific beetle mimic roach. Blaptica dubia retain the egg case until it hatches. If an egg case is not reinserted by the female in at most half hour after being expelled it will not hatch. All egg cases of dubia that have hatched follow this. At some point in the pregnacy they expell the eggcase, turn it around, reinsert it, and then keep it inside until hatching. All cases that are expelled and not reinserted by the female in a short period of time will not hatch.