Ihaggerty1313 Posted September 24, 2008 Share Posted September 24, 2008 Alright since I'm new to this whole Roach board I've gotta say... There are a ton of fantastic looking roaches out there. I knew that there were many, many species of Roach but some of the photos are ridiculous. Awesome little dudes in my book. Too bad people focus on the few "bad apples" of this species of insect. Anyway I am a man of many questions and in all seriousness I believe that's why I've had the success w/ my 2 favorite hobbies. Reptile husbandry & Fish & Aquatic plant husbandry. My favorite tanks are saltwater and in my opinion nothing beats a thriving reef tank. However this is my first attempt w/ insects and though I know keeping B. Dubia is a simpler task than keeping other species I've had nothing less than a blast w/ them and best of all they are thriving and growing. So here's my "mathmatical question". BTW before that, I'm personally breeding these as feeders for the assortment of Lizards that my partner and I have/intend on breeding. However people within my own little community have inquired about the B. Dubia and we're quickly spreading the word about them. We are picking up clients rapidly but also telling them not to wait for us and to get on the internet since there are many reputable breeders out there. How do I go about properly breeding a self sustaining colony where I can rotate nymphs into adults and still have plenty for my lizards and other customers? I have 1,500 nymphs that are turning into adults daily. I'm guessing w/ a good amount of females there's a good turnover. Especially if they're having babies every 4-6 weeks like I've been reading about. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntsman Posted September 25, 2008 Share Posted September 25, 2008 I'm not sure I understand the question, but it seems your colony is thriving already? I would take another colony that I would not harvest from for the next 9 months, and a second that I would not harvest from for 6 months. This will give you constant rotational relief, so no colony is depleted. Have we established that the nymphs are produced every four to six weeks? How often will a female breed annually? What size clutch does B. dubia produce? Can the nymphs be removed from the adults immediately, and if not, when is it same to do so? I think if these questions can be answered by the experts here, you (and I!) will be up and running! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ihaggerty1313 Posted September 25, 2008 Author Share Posted September 25, 2008 I'm not sure I understand the question, but it seems your colony is thriving already? I would take another colony that I would not harvest from for the next 9 months, and a second that I would not harvest from for 6 months. This will give you constant rotational relief, so no colony is depleted. Have we established that the nymphs are produced every four to six weeks? How often will a female breed annually? What size clutch does B. dubia produce? Can the nymphs be removed from the adults immediately, and if not, when is it same to do so? I think if these questions can be answered by the experts here, you (and I!) will be up and running! You are right on track w/ my question and yes my colony is doing better than I planned for. I want to know when to save them & rotate them. I'm more concerned about getting them to a super colony over time. I know that I'll be selling some and feeding some but the key is going to be preserving the colony and not only that growing it to larger numbers as well. You've got my mind thinking on that math equation I'm talking about. I'm thinking that the first harvest of nymphs .... save. Then skip a month or two's harvest and save another batch. So on and so forth. W/ the amount of females I should have this should blow up quickly to big numbers. I'll take a stab at these questions just because I like quizzes on knowledge, so correct me if I'm wrong. How often will a female breed annually? If I've done my math right w/ how many times they breed in their lifetime than it's right around 7-9? How big are their clutches? 20-30 w/ some getting as many as 40 Can nymphs be removed from adults immediatly? Yes Hope that your colony is kickin' butt too. Thanks, -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntsman Posted September 26, 2008 Share Posted September 26, 2008 Hey Ian Sounds like you are a man with a mission! Perhaps the other lads can confirm the answers, as I am not sure, but it certainly looks like you're on the right track. I was tossing some math around myself, and based purely on anecdotal evidence, my calculations show that we are safe feeding off 10% max per month. This allows for temp and other fluctuations, like disease etc. Also, once my colonies grow a little larger, I will keep 30% in a separate building, just in case. Anyone concur? Disagree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ihaggerty1313 Posted September 28, 2008 Author Share Posted September 28, 2008 I've had my first 100 Dubia turn into adults (Actually 102). It took about 2 weeks as the nymphs are still growing w/ another 1,400 to wait on. The numbers came out to 61 males and 41 females which I'm happy about. Gonna feed off some of the males. But I found this number interesting. It's almost a 2/1 ratio of males to females. Gonna be interested on how the next couple hundred go because I have a theory. Unlike other lifeforms such as mammals which take a long time to reproduce, roaches reproduce astonishingly fast. Do you think that it's natures way to keep the populations under control? As for mammals I know that there are usually more females than males. I think humans are 3/1 ratio w/ girls to boys. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much but these kind of things really get me thinking. I like to try to figure stuff out and chuck my theories out there. -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntsman Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Certainly sounds feasible, but it might be nice if another member chipped in here with an answer for Ian?? I was also wondering if the species that breed fastest are also the shortest-lived? Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntsman Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Certainly sounds feasible, but it might be nice if another member chipped in here with an answer for Ian?? I was also wondering if the species that breed fastest are also the shortest-lived? Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntsman Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Certainly sounds feasible, but it might be nice if another member chipped in here with an answer for Ian?? I was also wondering if the species that breed fastest are also the shortest-lived? Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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