Dubia Roach Sortying (Nymphs from frass)

[Mikey]

Would first like to say that I will be done with my 4th year of college after my test at 1pm, only 2 more years to go... woot woot

Now that thats out of the way, I am long over due to clean my dubia roach colonie which has been BOOMING to say the least.

My question:::

I am interested in using a colander to seperate the nymphs from the frass... Where can I get the right size colander, and what is the right size colander. I'm assuming walmart should have a nice selection, just not sure on the right size! Any help would be greatly appreciated, although I'm not sure how someone is going to describe to me the correct size unless they have an item number or name! thanks so much in advance

cheers

[JeffreH]

Hey there Mikey, congrats on your progress through school = )

I would recommend something larger than a colander, depending on the number you wish to sort. In addition, you will find that colanders with many holes that run along the entire inner surface will make sorting the larger nymphs and adults a pain in the rear, as they will simply climb up the sides and fall down into or onto whatever surface lies below.

Try a bucket - you can pick up a 5 gallon (or smaller) bucket from a store fora few bucks, and drill holes in the bottom only. This will contain all of the roaches and allow the frass to fall through while keeping the roaches contained. You an buy a couple of buckets and increase the hole size with a larger drill bit to sort larger sizes of nymphs from one another, etc.

A 1/8" bit should do the trick for separating frass from roaches... larger bits (3/8", 1/4" etc) can then be used on other buckets if you actually want to monitor specific sizes of nymphs....and obviously the largest adults can generally be sorted by hand. But a 1/8" bit should do the job for frass.