The dubias didn’t bother the pothos except it didn’t do well due to the lack of light, the leaves fell off and eventually it was just a leafless stem.
Overall, the colony didn’t do great, I didn’t see any babies, the adults died off (likely from age, I didn’t have any larger dubias to replace them), and started to stink (not terrible and only when I was in it). I moved them to a double tub system and the first tub had holes in the bottom so hopefully only the frass would fall through and it would be easy to clean. That idea isn’t working too great either. If I were going to try this idea again I would use a better substrate (like ABG mix).
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Would putting compost worms like red worms in the substrate potentially work? They should eat and break down the frass into compost soil I would think. I have been debating trying that with my colony for even less maintenance then I already do, but I have not hear of anyone trying it yet so I have been hesitant.
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I’ve never thought about trying that but I guess it could work. If it were me I would try it in a smaller bin first to make sure it doesn’t cause problems.
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I’m going to try this again. I’m only going to use a couple inches of substrate and water crystals instead of misting. I’m going to use the egg crates again but keep the food off of the substrate (by using a plate or petri dish). Instead of using buffalo beetles I will use dermestid beetles. I’m going to replace the substrate monthly.
@rdurha1 I emailed someone about dubias and they said that it was best to avoid too moist of substrate and it wouldn’t be the best environment for the worms.
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Do you think springtails would help? I don’t have any experience with bioactive setups yet, but I hear springtails mentioned often to help with mold.
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I used springtails before but I don’t think they helped with the mold on the egg crates. Even after I replaced the egg crates the mold came back so it must have also been other places where the springtails didn’t help. I think avoiding misting (instead adding water to the substrate) will help.
Edit: After checking multiple sources I’m going to keep a bone-dry substrate. So mold won’t be possible and I won’t add springtails.
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I have springtails in mine, they were doing great, but they kept getting to the food plate and I accidently threw a lot of them away 🤦 I keep a plant that requires minimal water, but seemed enough for the Springtails to survive and not too much to make the box humid
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How much substrate moisture do you have in your colony? I’ve found conflicting information on whether it should be bone dry or damp.
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Bone dry, it was moisture to start with and the colony didn’t do well. I give them water through their food.
Maybe set up 2 colonies differently to see which does better?
But I do water the plant occasionally. I think it’s a snake plant
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I checked a few more sources and about 3-4/5-6 recommend having it bone dry. Since when I tried a humid setup it didn’t work I’ll keep it dry this time.
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We had ours dry when we had them. Though in the end fed them all to the Cham as I read about the allergies they can cause and thought ‘nope’! 
Plus cresties wouldn’t touch them so was pointless having them in the end🤦🏻♀️
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I added 30 roaches (5.25) and about 150 babies. So, hopefully it works better this time. The only problem is that it’s about 30% humidity where I live. Can the dubias live and breed at that humidity or do I need to raise it somehow?
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I’d add more egg crates (or what ever they are called). The more hiding spaces, the more dubias you are likely to get (they don’t like light).
My dubias have humidity around 30% and they are doing well. When I first started I had higher humidity and they didn’t do well at all.
They destroyed my plant, but it was trial. Only water I put in is rinsing the food before I feed them and watering the plant on occasion
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I’ll add some more egg crates when I get home. Good idea!
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