I recently got some Dubai roaches from Dubia.com, 50 to be exact, and was wondering if that’s enough to start a colony, while taking some from it every once in a while to feed one Leo. If it’s not enough roaches, how many should I get? Thanks!
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That should be enough to start a colony. I will say that as a personal preference, I would add some new roachs after some time to relieve some of the inbreeding that takes place in such environments. But I will tag our Leo people so that they can give their opinions.
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Lol 
, let me know if that helps.
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This is great!
You could start a colony with 2 roaches, but it would take a very long time. There are a ton of variables, bu for one leo that will be fine. Are they adults? If not you will need to take out some males to cull once they are adults or else there will be problems. I wouldn’t take any out of the colony until you see a lot of babies. I’m starting a colony right now and I added some dubias and I’m just going to leave it until it is producing enough for me to take out. There’s a super useful diagram in this article. The article is great but the diagram answers your question.
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Thanks a lot for the help will keep that in mind
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Appreciated!
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Lol , glad you liked it!
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I wanna make sure you know this, since I know many don’t. If you keep and breed dubia roaches, you will eventually become allergic to shellfish.
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I agree with above including becoming allergic to shellfish.
My dubia colony live in the snake room, however it doesn’t bother me as I don’t like shellfish & hubby is already allergic to it.
3-1 ratio is best, if too many males then the females are likely to die while giving birth and the babies are likely to not survive either. Had this happen to a few of mine & the beginning while I was colonising then, then I took a few males out and had no issues.
They like warmth & variety of foods. I don’t give mine water, but I rinse their food in water, I found they didn’t like humidity.
They are best left alone so I’d recommend not taking any out for the first month or so or you may find they won’t breed.
I have a massive colony now and I started with about 20 dubias. I only use nymphs and little ones as mine are for Crested Geckos so I bought them for about 2 months or so and any females that were starting to get too big, I’d pop them in the colony to up the ratio as more female the better.
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Wait what???
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Yes that is because of their poops. It is not an if but a when.
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Yep. So if you don’t want to become allergic, don’t keep em.
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Part of it is also their exoskeletons and dead bodies, it’s a mix of all three. I’ve noticed myself getting some minor allergies since when I sift around in a dubia container to feed, if it’s older and there’s a lot of frass, my face will start to swell. Over time I’m sure it will get a lot worse for me.
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Really, that sucks. I like my seafood too much.
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I’m vegetarian and I never liked seafood anyways, so I just don’t want too bad allergies to the roaches.
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Well, I guess that helps. I really hope that it doesn’t get too bad for you. It would be really bad if it did.
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I can’t afford to feed my geckos silkworms.
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Oh that’s a shame if I have 50 In a small container will that become a problem? I just don’t want to be allergic to shellfish because a lot of anesthetics will give you allergic reactions if you have a shellfish allergy. Thanks for the information I definitely won’t be starting a colony then.
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It takes a very long time to become allergic. Having some in a small container is fine but you would be much less likely to get allergies if you made sure very little of the frass got airborne. That could be done with things like not turning the fan on, keeping frass levels low, not sifting through the container or shaking it, etc. You could also wear a (high quality) mask and/or goggles when working around it. I don’t think it’s necessary but it would severely reduce the likelihood of getting allergies.
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Even with proper PPE, long-term exposure will always result in one becoming allergic however.
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Thanks for the help btw
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