Jump to content

arachyd

Members
  • Posts

    75
  • Joined

  • Last visited

arachyd's Achievements

Nymph

Nymph (2/7)

0

Reputation

  1. I've found my Dubias love bananas, as long as they are ripe. They also seem to really enjoy curly and regular varieties of dock leaves (Rumex crispus and related).
  2. My dubia enjoy an occasional stillborn rabbit. They eat everything but the bones and leave the fragile skeleton intact. I also learned recently that they will eat the assorted fresh greens I give my rabbits as a treat every day (pesticide-free lawn clippings, mulberry leaves, raspberry leaves, apple leaves, clover and assorted lawn weeds).
  3. I have some ideas but I don't have the capability to create them. Do ideas count?
  4. They definitely helped. I think the combination of H. miles, isopods and periods of dryness was what finally worked to keep the mites in check.
  5. I believe they are a type of grain mite. The only damage they have done is to the food I give the roaches. They used to swarm over it and turn it to dust. I bought some predatory mites, H. miles, to control them and added a colony of isopods to clean up leftover food and mite eggs. I also started letting the enclosure dry out more with a small water dish for the roaches. Instead of misting the entire enclosure I just water the plants enough to keep them alive. It has worked very well.
  6. Hello! Welcome to the forum I've had problems with mites in my roach enclosures in the past. Lots of people are looking for information about mites but it is not always easy to find good information.
  7. If you can't find a nice, green invert you might look into the tree boas. Some of them are a lovely green.
  8. Sorry I can't be more detailed. I was hoping someone more experienced would chime in. I haven't been keeping dubia very long but I have spent a lot of time watching them while I've had them. When the females molt and finally look like adult females they are highly attractive to the males and will begin mating. I assume the males are ready as soon as they get their wings. I have never seen the males bothering the immature females so I doubt they mature already pregnant. I don't know how long from mating to birth but I do know the frequency of "litters" is strongly affected by the temperature and in my opinion, the variety of foods offered to them. I've had them not produce babies at all for a while when everything appears fine to me and I gave them a grapefruit segment and they began popping out nymphs like little factories after that. Later someone told me they do require some citrus in their diet. I can't prove it but it seems right to me.
  9. ""the easiest way to distinguish the Blattellidae from the Blattidae are: Underside of middle and hind femora always entirely and similarly spined on both sides (exception the Archiblattinae), pulvilli and arolia usually present. Male: Subgenital plate symmetrical (at most weakly asymmetrical), bearing two widely separated cylindrical styles at the postereolateral margins Female Subgenital plate symmetrical (valvular), bearing a pair of valve, divided by a longitudinal groove."" Nice, detailed description. Maybe I missed something but which ones were you describing?
  10. As soon as they firm up and darken. A new colony can take a while for the roaches to get comfy in but when they do they will start having plenty of babies if you feed them well, have a moisture source and keep them warm.
  11. You can tell them that if they live in the tropics (or a warm climate) and the species of roach lives in houses then yes, the tropical roaches will infest their house. Otherwise, the northeastern US is too cold for dubia in the winter. They like it very warm and they are not a species that naturally likes to infest houses.
  12. I'm always Arachyd except on 2 forums where they made changes and people couldn't log in under their original user name or delete their old one . I don't use those forums much.
  13. A nice, cheap dog food contains plenty of grains for them and fish flakes contain a good amount of protein. If you give a variety of foods they will eat what they need. Mine also really swarm out for a chunk of carrot or a piece of grapefruit. A leaf of romaine lettuce will be devoured quickly too. I've noticed that when I divide my colonies the ones in the new enclosure take a while to start eating well and just hide or sit doing nothing. Once they get settled and used to the new home they start eating and breeding like a switch was turned on so don't be surprised if your apparently slow-growing colony suddenly takes off and you see more nymphs than you thought you'd have.
  14. That is indeed a special one to have. Are you the one who originally collected her?
×
×
  • Create New...