Dubia.....slow start

[Redleg]

After a much agonizing slow start and concern.......my dubia colony is starting to reproduce :main_yes:

Turns out it was temperature was the key for me to get them going. Had them in the garage and it was too cold. Even though the heat tape was set at 88 degrees, but the air temp was the problem.

So I brought the tub inside and left them alone and checked on them very only when I had to and whaalaa....... after about three week........I just checked and found little dubias running around

Of course its now where near the quantity that I need to start feeding my leos, but its a start.....a slow one at that

 

[GLantern]

Good to hear i had been following your thread i was having a similair problem with my colony i just started. The crates floor temp was good but the air temp was much too low. Glad you got it sorted and i hope we all can learn from this.

 

[Alusdra]

Temperature is super important for breeding (or even keeping them alive). Which is actually really comforting when I have a nightmare they have all escaped and wake up to the house being 60 degrees.

 

[LizMarie]

Redleg congrats. I had similar issues it took me about 2months to get everything right and now each time I open my bin I have a tons of babies! It's so weird that little roaches can make you so happy, lol. Since then my bin has constantly had babies because once they start they don't seem to stop.

 

[Syris71]

Just started my Dubia colony a couple weeks ago.
Not sure if I can handle having roaches:main_no: Still sketches me out.:main_laugh:

 

[Kristi23]

We had the same problem. Once we bumped up the heat, they really took off.

 

[Redleg]

Yeah the entire time, I had the proper temp set on the heat tape....but it was the air temp that needed to get up. Once I got that, the dubias did their thing.

Only thing now is trying to figure out what food drives them crazy. I keep hearing about dubias appetite......but have not seen my colony do much to the food pile....at least not to the degree that I was hoping to see........maybe I need to switch to a cheaper brand of cat/dog food.

i do feed my dog and cat some expensive food....none of that Supermarket brand or any 'box store' type food

 

[robin]

i swear the best way to get your colony going is to make sure they are warm enough of course but just throw all kinds of food in there leave them alone for a couple of months and i swear you will look in there and have LOADS of them lol i have kept three different kinds of roaches and if you keep them like that they go great. do not get all worrysome about making sure the bin is clean all the time. it's kinda funny but i tell everyone to abuse them (not torture) but kinda forget them and put food in every now and then and the next thing you will have many many many

 

[Redleg]

Now that I have the heat for the dubias dialed in, it was also the air temp.......now comes the food.

They don't seem to make much of a dent in the food pile. I currently have dog/cat food piled in one corner of the container along with some cricket gut load. Maybe I am putting in too much for them......

Should I grind down the dog/cat food? They are currently in the same kibble form.