How many nymphs to expect?

[shealy]

I am getting ready to take delivery of about 5000 Dubia roaches to start two breeding colonies. Once the nymphs hit adulthood and nature takes its course I will begin to thin out the ranks and keep a ratio of females to males in each tub. Is it better to go with a 3-1 or a 5-1 ratio?

My tubs are large and should be able to comfortably hold several thousand.

Another question, then, approximately how many nymphs should I expect to be produced from let's say 2000 females and 500 males each week? I know not every female is going to be kicking out young each week but I would expect to see new young weekly though. I would like to seperate the nymphs out of the breeding tub on a weekly basis so I can better track their age and growth through instars in smaller tubs. I always want to have easy access to whatever size I need.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[roachboy]

5 to 1 would be best alkl though i'd try to 7 to 10 to one.I'd want to have 4 large bins for them.You need to try to keep them 80 to 90 degrees to keep up fast breeding.humidity of around 50 will do nicely.You will have thosands in no time.

[shealy]

...I'd want to have 4 large bins for them...

Would all 4 bins be breeder bins or would you have one breeder bin and 3 nymph bins? If it is the later, how do you decide what nymph goes where and for how long?

Thanks for your advice.

[roachboy]

They just breed super fast if everything right and you want to probly have two bins of adults depending on how many males you are given.Then take the baby roaches out and put them in a other bin s you are less likely to have any males eating them.I like to try to do everything to keep dramatic things from happening.like if something dramatic happen in one bin you'll stll have a other bin of breeders to turn too and the more femals the more liklely everything will go so i try to keep males separated as much as possible so a small number of adults with babys in a 4th bin wouldn't be a bad idea.Just the more males together the more liklely they will fight and turn to cannibalism also the more likely your females will get nocked up.

[shealy]

So taking the 7-1 ratio into account, my new breeder bin numbers would be 2 breeder bins each with 2100 females and 300 males. Then 2 smaller bins to "harvest" the babies into. Then two more bins to ugrade the larger nymphs into, and finally, 2 more larger bins to keep "extra" females and males that mature in separately. How does this sound?

[roachboy]

good thinking.Just make to hae hat matts if you live in a cold area.Yo can never have enough bins for them is kinda they way i feel about it.So that sounds great

[shealy]

The question of how often I should "harvest" the babies is still foggy to me. Once a week? Every two weeks? Less often?

[shealy]

The question of how often I should "harvest" the babies is still foggy to me. Once a week? Every two weeks? Less often?

Bump

[roachboy]

I look around once a week.Anything more then that may disturb them and start stressing out the adults.

[shealy]

I look around once a week.Anything more then that may disturb them and start stressing out the adults.

I was thinking once a week too, but when I asked this question on other forum sites, I was told not to do more than twice a month as that would disrupt breeding too much. Disrupting breeding? If once a week, I shake down the colony into separation tubs (taking about 10 minutes) would that seriously effect breeding?

Is once a week okay or too much?

Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but I would like to have others weigh in also. Either to confirm what I was orginally thinking (and roachboy's answer) or to dissuade that thought and offer a more conservative time table.

Thanx roachboy for weighing in, though.

[roachboy]

I don't hae any problems doing it weekly.