Dubia colony questions

[JeffreH]

Yay for Roach enthusiasts! = )

What temperature do you keep you colonies Jeff? And how many adult runners or Dubia would I need to have approximately 400-500 nymphs a month to feed to my frogs? Feeding supplemented with flies, wood lice and other stuff. I have tried to calculate this and have come up with 25 female Dubia and 20 female runners with extras from these numbers if they are breeding properly.

You calculations are correct. As unkempt said, you can expect about 20 nymphs per month from each adult female dubia and closer to 25-30 per month per female lateralis. These are pretty conservative values, and in optimal conditions you may see slightly more productivity (especially from the lats).

The flaw to this calculation and biggest issue for most new roach keepers is not accounting for nymphs that need to be fed and for nymphs that need to be held back to reach adulthood in order to replace current breeders. Thankfully, females will live and reproduce for many months after reaching maturity...upwards to a year or more. But maturity can take several months for either species... and factoring in "feeder size nymphs" is also important. For example, while you may produce 500 nymphs monthly from 25 females, they will all be newborn nymphs that you may only be able to feed a limited amount of herps until they gain some size. I would personally wait a couple of months AFTER you have your adult females so that a nice mix of nymphs is available as replacements to the colony and as feeders. You can never have too many roaches, and having too large a colony is always better than having too few and having to backtrack. I always shot for 1.5x-2x the recommended females when starting my colonies to err in the side of caution.

Cockroaches will thermoregulate much like a reptile or amphibian as unkempt suggested - I personally keep my heat tape under the entire bin and allow for an upwards gradient with egg flats. The roaches will travel toward the bottom for warmth and to the top to cool down. This is probably the most practical heating method for a large quantity of roaches in a single bin as you can completely pack the bin with egg flats. More egg flats = more surface area. More surface area means larger population per bin. The added surface area s particularly important for species who rather dislike crowding (i.e. Eublaberus sp.)

I have all of my bins set so that the inside bottom surface of the bin reads ~90. This is true for most of my feeder species, B. dubia and the lateralis included. Insect's function purely on enzyme kinetics driven by the environment....warmer temps mean faster growth to a certain point, but too much heat can have adverse effects. Given their natural range, I would imagine B. dubia would have an optimal temperature range of about 85-90 degrees F... but this is purely speculation from average temperatures in the neotropics where they reside in nature.

[fish4all]

Unkept, all advice is wanted for me. The more people that say it the more that I believe it when they back each other up. That and sometimes something will not work for me that will for others and having options to try is always a good thing. Fruit flies taught me this, adding active yeast crashed my cultures after just 2 weeks. I use brewers yeast now and have never had more production form longer lasting cultures.

I figure that my frogs will eat the roaches up to about 3/4 inch at most. Once a crickets gets an ovipositor longer than about 1/8 inch they are pretty much too big for all except my largest frog. I think the hard part may be finding what to do with the extra adults when I don't feed off enough at a small enough size. Good problem to have I would think.

I will see how big the heat pad is and decide how I will try and heat the bins. Might leave a cool side for food and water with crates on the heated side in both.

What is the smallest bin you would say would work for my needs? I have two 24 quart ones I was thinking of using. Really straight up ad down walls with good flat lids and easy to modify for mesh. I can put them in a larger bin to keep them contained. Do you think that a second bin will ruin a temperature gradient and make the entire smaller bins an equal temperature or is this unlikely?

[unkempt1]

Those should work fine. I think I use a 10 gallon sterilite tub and it works no problem. You still will want to put duct tape around the sides, because the smaller nymphs will climb the walls. Another thing: are the walls see-through or a solid color?

Do you think that a second bin will ruin a temperature gradient and make the entire smaller bins an equal temperature or is this unlikely?

I think I understand the question. Do you mean do you think the heating pad will spread the temps out too far? I don't think it will, but I will say that the heat transfer from the pad to the tub is pretty terrible.

[fish4all]

The tubs are clear, I may try using them and putting them in the dark or a solid bin or finding some the same size or there about. I could tape them up to make them opaque or do something like that.

I was thinking the 2 smaller bins in a large one would make the temperature equal throughout the smaller ones but that doesn't like it would be a problem.

As for Duct tape, I would think that would make it easier, don't I need a clear slick tape around the rim to prevent them climbing too high? Or is there a clear slick duct tape out there?

[unkempt1]

One thing I have noticed is that roaches hate light more than sounds. It really disrupts them, which means less time breeding, eating, and birthing (if they are bothered too much they won't give birth, and may event 'abort' the egg casing). It's not easy, but you really have to leave them alone. If you plan on keeping it in a dark place like a closet you won't have any issues with a clear tub. However, if that isn't feasible, the bin I got was only $6 at Walmart and is a solid color.

As far as tape, you should be able to use any type of duct tape (I used mustache duct tape ). You're going to need duct tape anyways when you rig the top to have a screen on it to allow ventilation. The clear bins are slicker than the opaque ones, so they may not be able to climb them. But I can confirm that the opaque ones have enough of a rough surface for really small nymphs to climb. They can't climb the duct tape though. I can't count the number of times I've opened the bin, only to see a couple babies trying their hardest to get past the tape.

[fish4all]

I use hot glue to put the screens on mine. Will get a picture if I can find my camera after chasing the frogs around their tank last night.

[JeffreH]

Hey unkempt - I've had a similar dilemma with newborn nymphs climbing in bins - I think the problem is actually with specific brands. Rubbermaid for example makes these "Roughneck" totes that have the SLIGHTEST texture on the inside. The newborn dubia can climb these bins no problem. I currently use a brand that is opaque that was purchased from Home Depot years ago and have never had another climbing incident with the smoother plastic (the brand name eludes me...Home...something...). Sterilite makes a quality smooth plastic bin, but their bins tend to be clear. The texture is almost untangible, however, so shopping for the right bin can be a challenge. Be sure to compare and use a clear standard sterilte tote as a reference for comparison when feeling the inside sides of the bin. This puzzled me for the longest time when I was finding dozens of newborn dubia dead outside of the bins, lol.