Hoping to breed Dubias

[Desdemona]

So, I have read around a little. I don't want to end up with a thousand of them, since I currently only have one gecko (though want to get at least one more).

It sounds like I just keep everyone in the same cage, is that correct? Also, what kind of container do you use? Does it have to be large?

 

[tastyworms]

So, I have read around a little. I don't want to end up with a thousand of them, since I currently only have one gecko (though want to get at least one more).

It sounds like I just keep everyone in the same cage, is that correct? Also, what kind of container do you use? Does it have to be large?

When you breed insects, you will eventually end up with more than you can handle. That's why there are so many people selling live feeders on the internets .

So each female can give birth to 40 roaches a month, and each roach can live up to 2 years. You'd probably want to start off with a very small colony, and you'd have to sex and separate the roaches into separate containers so they do not get out of control. Just keeping a small breeding colony of maybe 5 - 10 females and a few males. Of course you'd need to tweak those numbers depending on how much your gecko can eat.

Dubia are pretty easy to sex. The males have small wings, and the females don't.

Male Dubia roaches can fly, just not very well. So you'd want a high smooth sided container, probably sterilite. I usually reccomend a screen top - not only to prevent escapes, but to prevent invading insects.

If you choose to use just one container, your population will probably get out of hand eventually. Unless you cull the excess when need be.

 

[TigerHoods]

Please let me know how that goes. I want to do the same thing and i only have two leo mouths to feed. I noticed your from the bay area too...where about?

 

[serialzombie]

B. Dubia are very easy to breed. They are my staple feeder, and my colony sustainably feeds about 25 leopard gecko mouths.

I would say that a female gives live birth to a little under 30 nymphs per month. I figure each female you've got provides 7 nymphs per week. Since my geckos eat about 70 nymphs a week, I figure 15-20 females and a handful of males would be more than adequate for your one gecko.

Mine are just in a large rubbermaid bin with a lid, with egg crates inside, and a heat pad under half of it. I feed them oranges and kitten food, primarily. One thing you want to make sure of is that their bin not get humid, or you can get a disgusting mite infection.

 

[goReptiles]

With just one gecko, I think you will have many extras. Dubia breed pretty fast, but they are a good feeder.

 

[sablebeauty]

Not to thread hijack here -- but does anyone just sell adult females? I think I need more for my colony to boost than I do.

 

[Troy L]

I just started a B. Dubia colony. I have about 6-7 females and 4 or 5 males. I just put a uth on a 10gallon to get them warmed up and ready to start breeding. No babies yet. I have like 3 paper tubes in there with 1 egg creat. We will see how fast they grown and multiply. Feed then ground up cat food. I was doing dog food but read they need more protien to multiply and grow fast.

Troy

 

[RAlbrecht]

I have a couple Dubia Colonies currently going... I use the 18gal rubber maid totes. They are a fairly basic set-up but it isn't too hard, just a heat source and a sponge attached to the top for humidity since they are a tropical roach. When I get too many adult males, I call up a friend who has monitors and beardies, he gets the males feeds them off to his animals. I'll keep the girls around to make more, but try not to deplete the colonies too much at a time. But if you only have 1 gecko, I would say getting a couple pairs of dubias to start would get you more then enough food for that gecko.

 

[Desdemona]

Hey Tiger, I am in the East Bay area. Do you want some mealies and wax worms? Now that I have these guys I need to get rid of the bugs she won't eat.

Thanks for the info. The only concern I have now is knowing rather or not the heat source will damage the plastic bin. I don't want fumes. I guess if that was a problem then you guys would have it figured out by now. If I take the 30 gal tank off my friends (it has a algea issue so undecided still) than I guess I could put the adults in my extra 20 and keep the nymps in the plastic. I might just buy a cheap 10 gal instead. I could pull the babies out as needed, though it seems like it would be simpler to just move the adults around. I have either 4 or 5 pairs, I forget what was in the "kit" and - haven't counted them yet. Everyone showed up alive so I was happy with that. I ordered 120 nymps (or whatever the little ones are). Some of them seem to be growing pretty fast though. I was thinking that maybe my next will be an adult already so she could eat the bigger ones, hehe.