Dubia Roach Info?

Im looking into starting a colony of dubia roaches and have a few questions.. How hard are they to breed; how fast do they breed? After having babies how long will it be before I can feed them to my adult Bearded Dragons? Is it worth it if i can get 10pairs?

Breeding Blaptica Dubia

Thanks for the attachment but it didnt really answer my questions about how fast the mature etc. Any other thoughts?

I've heard they breed pretty fast. I think the fewer pairs you get the longer you have to wait to start feeding them off! I don't know how long it will take

do you think 10 pairs would multiply quick enough?

It's worth keeping an eye on Craigslist or other classifieds. You might get lucky, people sometimes start breeding, then (for whatever reason) stop, and sell the colony.

As for getting the colony established sufficiently to provide feeders, I've read anywhere from 8-12 months. I've also read that 1 male to 3 females is a good ratio, this cuts down on competition and you're less likely to be feeding males that aren't contributing to the colony.

we were reading simalar info, we can get ten pairs for 14.99, i figure we could get those and make the ratio somewhat, and feed the left over males when we get them

If you start off with about 300 mixed nymphs with the 10 pairs, it should only take about 3 months. Thats what I was told by a friend of mine who just has too many because her bearded dragon goes into brumation for a couple of months.

dubias are very very worth it. the lower the number you start out with then the longer you have to wait to be able to feed them off. i started with 5 males and 20 females and waited 4 months before i felt they were established enough to feed off to my reptiles. at the time i had alot more lizards and have since thinned out my collection. that has made for a much better colony and i have probably got more males than i should at this point. i could take a male or two with some females and smaller guys and make a few bucks if i wanted to. i may just end up setting up a whole different colony and change the temps and locations just to see about maximizing my breeding project.

Dubia's are considered adults and sexually active at 6 months from birth. Each female lays approximately 35 nymphs at a time and can reproduce approximately 1 time every 6-8 weeks.

1 male/3 female is a good ratio. I started with 500 mixed and 10 breeding pairs. I kept having to replace the middle sizes (around 1") because that is what almost all my critters eat. I think I replenished that size at least 3 times.

Having a sustainable colony will depend on how many mouths you are feeding and what sizes. If you are like me and everyone eats the same size you will take longer to get the sustainable colony because you are constantly depleting the one size. In a short time I had a kazillion adults (male and female) and a kazillion babies - but those kazillion babies were all the same size at the same time. So I fed what I needed but then the roaches grew too big, and I had to wait until more babies grew to the right size.

As long as you keep the heat up (85ºf is good) and provide a water source (water crystals as opposed to a water dish) and food (carrots or other veggie and dry cereal) - they will reproduce and grow at a good rate for you.

Hope that helps.