Dubia Roach setup before/after

[Kreamcheese]

Copied the idea from a link that somebody posted on a previous thread of mine. Hopefully I get some breeding soon!

[MonsterPyxie]

VERY good information in here, and I mostly approve of your new set up.

Only thing I have a problem with is the egg crate.

FYI, I have around 1300-1400 dubia....... on 2 egg crates. haha. They love to be cramped. I have my egg crate flipped over to match each other, and glued together with a glue gun in a few places to create a "hotel" of sorts. Mainly to be sure the egg crate doesn't settle onto one another restricting space. I will have to take a picture probably to show you.


As per stated earlier about avocado. I heard from a insect forum about a guy that fed avocado for a while to his dubia, and they always ate it up. I have since fed mine avocado a few times with no issue. So I wouldn't hesitate to feed them it again.

Also I have been feeding them banana's this week. Wait until the banana is starting to brown, I pulled the stem out to give them a starting point, and 2-3 days later, there is nothing left but a few paper thin parts of the peel

you should feed a 1/4 or 1/8th of what I do, due to you having a small colony. So cut the banana, or avacoto in 1/4 or so, and drop it in there. Too much and it will go bad and mold, or such after a few days with that heat.


Mine bunch up on each other sometimes on the bottom. I open the top and they scurry over back to the egg crate.

I'll have to take a few pictures today. My males have been acting crazy, dancing/fighting, and in general just being unusual. dunno if its just heavy mating, or the banana's are fermented and there all drunk and routy. lol!

[steest]

NICE!!! I see you went with the blanket insulation! Wonder who post that idea haha... I am glad it works, that is so weird that your roaches are not going on the egg crates... Mine hardly leave them.. Cant wait for my 2,000 dubia to get here on thursday!

[Kreamcheese]

Monster thank you for that tip! I'm gonna go do the egg crate thing right now. I have about 350 large nymphs who will hopefully start molting into adults soon. Already noticed a few have. Probably have around 20 adult females and 15 or so adult males. Soon as those nymphs make it to adults I should be seeing loads of tiny ones! My temps are perfect ever since I re-did my set up.

Steest it seems now that most of the roaches crowd on the bottom of the egg crates now. I'm gonna do what monster said and I'm sure that will help the situation. And dang you bought 2,000?? Did you get nymphs or adults? or a mix? That probably cost a ton!

[MonsterPyxie]

heres how it sits as I open the top. little piece of egg crate is so they can climb onto the big bit. If you look at the bottom left, by the oranges, that black bit is all of whats left of two bananas, peels and all. just the stem's pulled out.



some stay under the little bit, as I put the oranges under there. The oranges where put in less then 24 hours ago



Heres how they are glued together, hard to see in there, but these two egg crates feel to be about 5lbs. they are absolutely jammed together in the bottom of it.



here are a few laying at the bottom.



Waiting just a bit longer, another week or two, then I will remove them all, clean up all the frass, shed exoskeletons, and such. then I will paint the clear bin black on the outside to block out more light. (clear plastic is said to have less pores in the plastics. Not even the babies can climb the sides of this container, so thats why I bought a clear one)


here is a picture from almost 2 weeks ago to show there numbers.

[steest]

Nice Monster, cool setup!

@Kream Yeah thats weird that they do that. I am sure it is nothing to worry about though.
I bought small nymphs, was $80 so not too bad.

[BG]

Good work fellas. That is a nice healthy amount. Keep it coming. We have hungry mouths to feed.lol

[steest]

My pyxie is only like 3.5 inches and I cannot believe how many roaches he eats. They definitely are always hungry haha.

[Kreamcheese]

Like the setup monster. I did the same with the egg crate and they seem to like it. They're crammed like crazy in there. The only problem i see with that is when I go to clean out the bin it will be hard to get them out of the egg crate. Guess I can just put the egg crates in another container while I'm cleaning it out.

[Sublime]

@Monster Damn, that last picture they're's a lot of adult nymphs ready to molt! Do you keep them in a dark place in that transparent bin?

@Andrew Yeah, that's what I'm going to do... I already have 2 bins setup; one for cleaning, one for a feeding bin.

@Steesy 2000 nymphs are a lot to start out with, nice. You're not going to wait for them to mature and breed though before feeding off or you'll just replenish?

I have a question... I've found these like tube looking isopods on the ground near the food. Are these the babies that the females take back in to give live birth? I know they give similar birth to mammals.

[Kreamcheese]

Mark did they look like this? This is the actual birth I'm not sure what they look like at the start when she takes them back in.

Blaptica Dubia roach giving birth - YouTube

[Sublime]

Yeah Andrew, I saw that video. That's a cool video demonstrating it; I like how they're ghost white at first and then just crawl away and do their business. I hope those weren't babies in the tube, because I threw one of them away thinking it was like food or something... Left the other 'tube' shaped pods in there.

[Kreamcheese]

Can't wait until most of my large nymphs molt into adults. Then I should start seeing the babies pour out.

[MonsterPyxie]

Like the setup monster. I did the same with the egg crate and they seem to like it. They're crammed like crazy in there. The only problem i see with that is when I go to clean out the bin it will be hard to get them out of the egg crate. Guess I can just put the egg crates in another container while I'm cleaning it out.

With the egg crate you can ether pry them apart, and have 2 more ready to go glued together, or just bang the egg crate on the side of the container, and they will come falling out. you will see just how poor these guys are at holding on to anything, as they will tumble right out. You will still need to probably pull the egg crate apart to get the babies out. but I would only replace the egg crate when its saturated with frass.

@Monster Damn, that last picture they're's a lot of adult nymphs ready to molt! Do you keep them in a dark place in that transparent bin?

@Andrew Yeah, that's what I'm going to do... I already have 2 bins setup; one for cleaning, one for a feeding bin.

@Steesy 2000 nymphs are a lot to start out with, nice. You're not going to wait for them to mature and breed though before feeding off or you'll just replenish?

I have a question... I've found these like tube looking isopods on the ground near the food. Are these the babies that the females take back in to give live birth? I know they give similar birth to mammals.

Mark,

I have seen a TON of molting since that picture. Seems like more males then anything that I can see. I am planning soon to take on the task of counting my male to female ratio. I fear I have way to many males, and thats why i have been seeing so many of them acting odd in the last week or so. I will then thin out the numbers of the males if I need too, by feeding them off.

I keep them in what there in. The egg crate stays pretty dark, plus with all them crammed in there its darker/warmer and such then my old set up with a bunch of egg crate and tubes. I will be painting the outside of the container black, leaving a small ring at the top to peak in, that should be more then enough to keep them happy. They should be fine with a day/night cycle, but the darker the better for them.

as far as the pods you are finding, its a sign that the females are dropping the pods from stress. Not a good sign. If It's just a few, I wouldn't sweat it, but if there are quite a few around, you should recheck everything about your set up to see if there is something simple stressing them out.

[Kreamcheese]

Love how active and knowledgeable people are on this forum. Thanks for the advice Monster. I bought a pack of 70 egg flats so I'll have some glued together for spares when I clean out my bin.

[MonsterPyxie]

Love how active and knowledgeable people are on this forum. Thanks for the advice Monster. I bought a pack of 70 egg flats so I'll have some glued together for spares when I clean out my bin.

sound's good, but don't waste too many. Once a month, or when they become saturated.

Remember the babies eat and hide in the poo/frass. So you don't want a bin/enclosure that is spotless. kinda gross, but its how they work. I find it pretty cool that they are that efficient. The roaches fascinate me more then any of my other critters, they are so much like a well oiled machine!

[Kreamcheese]

Yeah I know to only clean the bin rarely, like once every other month. But with my small numbers I may be able to go even longer. And the 70 flats only cost me $12 bucks so not that worried about the cost

[MonsterPyxie]

Yeah I know to only clean the bin rarely, like once every other month. But with my small numbers I may be able to go even longer. And the 70 flats only cost me $12 bucks so not that worried about the cost

Right, you might be able to go quite a while, just pick out the old fruit and such. With mine, I will probably clean once a month, but im not going to worry about every single bit of poo, I will leave a bit in there for the babies.

Where did you get your egg crate? I looked around alot and only found bundles of a dozen or so. I paid about $1.20 each I'm afraid

[Kreamcheese]

Egg Carton Art Classroom Pack ~ Egg Cartons ~ Craft Accessories

Found this site from a well known Tarantula keeper/breeder. Robc is his name so credit goes to him.
Do have to pay shipping, think mine was like $8 or something like that. Still a MUCH better deal than any other place that I saw.

[Sublime]

Cheapest egg flats you can buy: Egg Flats - Pkg. of 70, 12" x 12" ~ Egg Carton Art ~ Decorative Crafts