Dawn

I give them the sweet potato and chicken flavor, they love that stuff!

Chris, these are not fresh molts. The majority of the roaches I removed and put in the new tank are still very light, a month later. Fresh molts look different, more white, less yellow.

Well, new development here. After putting the light dubia in their own tank, I kinda forgot about them. They haven't had any heat or food (which I knew was ok, because I kept some without heat for months before I started breeding and they didn't eat much, and didn't grow). So I checked on them today, and several have turned dark, like really dark. They seem to be newly molted ones (but not white anymore, of course). I removed the dark ones and I am going to feed the remaining with non-orange food and see what happens. Maybe it is diet. There seem to be more and more in the main bin that are light like this. The new tank also has less humidity than the bin.

Heat and neglect work for me . I feed them every few days and ignore them the rest of the time. Keep them heated. I don't know how hot mine are, I gave them an old reptile heat rock I found at goodwill. Pretty sure it is the kind that will cook your gecko because it gets very hot to the touch, roaches love it though. Their diet is very varied. I give them oranges, apples, pears, berries, chicken bones, meat scraps, baby food, oatmeal, powdered milk, veggies. The other day my neighbor gave me some pasta in a spicy meat sauce. It wasn't very good, but it was too spicy to feed the dogs, so I figured it wouldn't hurt the roaches so I threw it in there. They went NUTS.

I would use the freezer. I think people don't recommend it for larger animals (mice, etc) because it takes longer the bigger the animal is.

That's what I'm thinking, wouldn't they all be like that if it were diet? I don't feed a specific diet, it's very random (for variety), they just get whatever I feel like giving them. I took a new photo, this is when I first put them in their new tank. In the cup are some of their "siblings", of the normal color variety.

This probably makes up 1/5 of my nymph population, most are dark brown like yours. I'm very curious to see what will happen with this group.

Here is the foundation for my new breeding program of light colored dubias. Judging by the chewed up wings on the male, I'd say these are from my original big group that came from one breeder. The adults here are over a year old, I think I might just take them out and see what the nymphs do. I am going to keep them in a 5 gallon acrylic fish tank with a light on them. The light is for observation and heat, because I can't feasibly set up a heating pad where I want them. And who knows, maybe I'll end up breeding a strain of less light sensitive dubias (I know how unlikely this is, I am not actually expecting it). The light will be off at night, and I'll give them dark places to hide.

I just separated a bunch (50-100) from my colony, plus the three most colorful females (with very prominent orange), and the brightest male I could find. I am sure some of the nymphs I gathered are just not finished molting, so I'll check on them in a couple days and put those ones back. I have no idea where they originated, I wanted as healthy a colony as I could get so I bought them from 4 different sources so I'd have genetic diversity. I'll attempt to get a colony going with just these ones, and see what happens. No pics for now, since I seem to have forgotten my camera .

I have several like that in my colony, maybe I should give them their own colony and see what happens.

I think the reason there are so many options for feeding roaches is that they can thrive on pretty much anything. I have heard lately that cat and dog food could harm my geckos if they get passed along, so I don't feed those. All else is fair game. I think in the last week they have had oranges, lettuce, carrots, chicken bones, bread, dry oatmeal, and powdered milk. Next week will probably be a different menu. Occasionally, I'll get them a jar of chicken and sweet potatoes baby food, they love that stuff. My point is, I tend to believe there is no such thing as the perfect roach chow, just feed them food. If they are just nibbling, you're feeding too much or too often. Fast them for a day, then they'll eat, I bet.

Mine breed better with substrate. Right now they have an inch or so of plain clay cat litter, then maple leaves, then egg crates. For heat I have an old reptile heat rock that gets very hot. I feed oranges and whatever other fruit I have along with dry oatmeal mixed with powdered milk. I have a ratio of 1:4 males to females. I do nothing for humidity, but I don't have very much ventilation either, so it doesn't get dry or anything. They are breeding better than ever.

I had the brilliant idea one day that I should separate the babies and so the breeders wouldn't get disturbed every time I went in to get some nymphs. Well, production absolutely stopped for about a month. Every time I change their environment, it takes them a while to get going again. But they don't seem to mind if I bug them daily. The majority of mine are 8+ months old and are still going strong.

I found my first babies last night. They're just dubias, and I know they have lots and lots and lots and lots of babies, but these are my first. So Yay!

Yup, ebay. I've gotten lobster roaches and superworms there too. The lobsters didn't work out, too fast and skittery, and my gecko wouldn't eat them. I fed them off real quick to my sisters beardie. I love the dubias .