Dubia Colony Questions

[Neon Aurora]

This is my first Dubai colony and I have some questions.

I began with several hundred nymphs of various sizes. It was cheaper that way and I didn't mind waiting for them to mature and establish.

Firstly, as my roaches become sexually mature, I am noticing WAY more males than females. I have 3 sexually mature females and 15 sexually mature males. Do the males mature faster than the females, or do I really just have that many males?

Secondly, I have been taking everything out of my bin every week or two to examine my colony and try to count the sexually mature ones. Am I disturbing them too often? I think I must already have some reproduction going on because there are some awfully small ones for how long I've had them (several months).

But anyways, should I disturb them less often? Will the heightened male:female ratio cause breeding issues? Should I be actively removing the males, or should I wait to see how many females mature?

 

[indyana]

Yes, disturb as little as possible. Worst case, the females drop their egg sacs and have to start over. I try to gather up nymphs to feed in batches and house them separately so I don't have to shake down the colony all the time. Just give them food, heat, and water as necessary and let them do their thing.

I routinely cull adult males in my colony. All they do when they get overpopulated is harass the females, fight with one another, and eat all the food. :\ It's pretty easy to pick them out.

 

[Alceste]

Though I have only been breeding these guys for a year I would agree with you that the males mature faster than the females. I had a super productive colony this year to the point where I fed off all the adult males and isolated the females. 4 months without males and the females are still giving birth, though thankfully they are slowing down. I keep 2-3 males with 20-25 adult females. I don't have a rule of thumb other than this is what has worked for me. I find that sexing the nymphs when they're around 1-1.5" and then choosing what too allow to grow to adulthood works really well for keeping your male to female ratio. Here's a good article on how to do so.

Bearded Dragon's Den ? View topic - Sexing Dubia Roaches- The other "other" white meat

 

[crazylizardlady]

The ratio Ive always heard is one male for every 3-5 females. You can buy adult already mature females I got mine from KFC feeders for a decent price, but if you already have 15 males and only 3 females Id probably cull some of those or at least separate them for the time being incase you end up needing that many males. I clean mine out usually once every 2 months before that if I need feeders, the less they are disturbed the more they'll produce. They dont get a smell so long as you are maintaining their food and water making sure it doesnt get moldy or gross, I usually switch mine out every 2-3 days. I feed my breeders oranges apparently its like an aphrodisiac for them.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Thanks for the replies. I'll definitely stop harassing them so much, and start getting rid of some males. I notice a lot of people saying they cull them. Is their a reason to cull them and not feed them off? Seeing as some people feed their geckos pinkies (I don't), I can't imagine the roaches would be too big for an adult leopard gecko to swallow okay?

Thanks for the info on sexing the nymphs. I had seen the differences in body shape, but didn't know about the extra segment! That could make things easier.

I know you can buy mature females, but they seem to run $2 a roach. I figured since we need a big colony, it would be cheaper in the long run to just buy several hundred mixed

I feel like my colony is kind of a mess. It's bigger than many people's because my friend wants roaches for his birds, so we decided to just have one big colony to feed everything. But it's just several hundred mixed gender, mixed size. Should I go through my colony and sex the sizable nymphs and separate them into "breeding" and "feeding" so that it's more organized and hopefully more productive? Or should I just leave them alone and get rid of males as I see them mature?

 

[crazylizardlady]

I would just leave them be and let them mature. I personally have never fed adult roaches to any of my leos. They just seem way too big to me but I suppose its possible to feed them off instead of culling. Check Kfc feeders if you do want females I just ordered a bunch from them and they werent that expensive $22 for 30 adult females.

 

[indyana]

Most of my geckos are too small to handle an adult male dubia. My skink sometimes eats them, but I have way too many to feed off that way. I don't like feeding them too often because of the wings (difficult to digest).

You can certainly do separate breeding and feeding colonies if you want, but of course, it will be more work because you have to maintain both and make sure your feeders don't turn into breeders.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Hmm. I really don't feel good about just killing them. What a waste. Too bad my friend won't have birds until spring because that will easily solve that problem. I think maybe I'll try cutting them in half and feeding them to my geckos that way. I'm torn between thinking that they surely eat sizable prey in nature and thinking that I wouldn't want to injure them.

Thanks for the info on KFC feeders. That is definitely cheaper than the place that I used. For now, though, I think I'll wait and see how many females mature. I still have several hundred that are nymphs and if the females mature slower, than I'm sure I'll have plenty in a little while.

 

[telliott4]

I feed adult male roaches to adult leopard geckos, mostly big males. The male roaches really arent that big but the wings make them look bigger. You could trim the wings before feeding.

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[indyana]

Are you able to feed wildlife in your area? That's what I do with my cullings of any insect colonies. I freeze them for a few days to make sure none are alive, then thaw and put outside at our bird feeders. The squirrels also enjoy them. That way, at least someone is eating them.

 

[Neon Aurora]

Oops, forgot about this thread. That's a good idea, I definitely have access to lots of wildlife where I live. I also have been feeding off the smaller males to my larger leopard geckos with no problems.