male dubia deaths!
- Thread starter melly911
- Start date
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
Are you keeping them something like this:
Feeding crickets and roaches
Feed crickets/roaches food that provides no more than 20% protein and no more than 5% crude fat. Some choices are:
Chicken Laying Mash (from feed store): The label reads 16-18% minimum protein and 3% minimum fat.
Fluker Farms High Calcium Cricket Feed
Dry oatmeal
Alfalfa hay (for the 3 wo and older crix)
Collard greens (especially recommended for the high calcium-to-low phosphorous ratio)
Carrots (natural source of beta carotene)
A 6 ounce glass Pyrex (or competing model) custard cup makes an excellent feeding dish for teeny to small roaches. Medium dubia will escape. Try containers with perpendicular sides. For leos, use a 1 inch high x 3 inch diameter stepping stone for ease of access to this dish as well as to stabilize it.
For more information feeding the feeders, go to Maurice Pudlo's sticky in the Geckos Unlimited Feeders, Food & Nutrition subforum: Feeder Insect Diets & Gutload
Cricket Care:
Acheta domesticus, the softer brown cricket, is highly recommended over Gryllus assimilis, the Jamaican field cricket. For crickets I place an "assortment" of the above-mentioned food on the bottom of an extra large Kritter Keeper or a plastic 56 quart Sterilite container, add the crickets, add two layers of egg flats, and top with a paper towel. Keep these crickets at room temperature. Spray the paper towel about every other day for moisture or more frequently if the room is hot. Using these methods it is easy to keep crickets alive for a month or so post purchase.
Roach Care
I breed Blaptica dubia in a ten gallon tank with 5 vertically positioned egg flats. The above-mentioned food can be kept in shallow lids to one side of the egg flats. For moisture I dampen a clean medium-size sponge and occasionally spray the flats. In a room which ranges from 67 F/19.5 C upwards, I keep a 40 watt bulb in a reflector dome directly over the screened tank and on 24/7.
Feeding crickets and roaches
Feed crickets/roaches food that provides no more than 20% protein and no more than 5% crude fat. Some choices are:
Chicken Laying Mash (from feed store): The label reads 16-18% minimum protein and 3% minimum fat.
Fluker Farms High Calcium Cricket Feed
Dry oatmeal
Alfalfa hay (for the 3 wo and older crix)
Collard greens (especially recommended for the high calcium-to-low phosphorous ratio)
Carrots (natural source of beta carotene)
A 6 ounce glass Pyrex (or competing model) custard cup makes an excellent feeding dish for teeny to small roaches. Medium dubia will escape. Try containers with perpendicular sides. For leos, use a 1 inch high x 3 inch diameter stepping stone for ease of access to this dish as well as to stabilize it.
For more information feeding the feeders, go to Maurice Pudlo's sticky in the Geckos Unlimited Feeders, Food & Nutrition subforum: Feeder Insect Diets & Gutload
Cricket Care:
Acheta domesticus, the softer brown cricket, is highly recommended over Gryllus assimilis, the Jamaican field cricket. For crickets I place an "assortment" of the above-mentioned food on the bottom of an extra large Kritter Keeper or a plastic 56 quart Sterilite container, add the crickets, add two layers of egg flats, and top with a paper towel. Keep these crickets at room temperature. Spray the paper towel about every other day for moisture or more frequently if the room is hot. Using these methods it is easy to keep crickets alive for a month or so post purchase.
Roach Care
I breed Blaptica dubia in a ten gallon tank with 5 vertically positioned egg flats. The above-mentioned food can be kept in shallow lids to one side of the egg flats. For moisture I dampen a clean medium-size sponge and occasionally spray the flats. In a room which ranges from 67 F/19.5 C upwards, I keep a 40 watt bulb in a reflector dome directly over the screened tank and on 24/7.
SnowDragon
New member
That's what i use among other things. The plane dry oatmeal isn't there favorite but they do eat some, mine prefer wheat bran.
Ozymandias
New member
well off the top of my head i cant think of what would do that, manly because usually when people get die-off it happens in both male and females not just males. approximately how many males do you usually find dead in a week? also what do you feed them and what temp do you keep them at?
Ozymandias
New member
mmm well still no clue but it might be something in the Dog food, also if you are using the roaches as a feeder feeding them dog food can lead to health problems in your animals. even when i feed dog food to my non-feeder roaches i use a high quality dog food that is low on protein (no less 18%) and low on fat (no less than 5%). also baneful is known to contain food colorants and in general isn't the best dog food. here is a also a comparison of the dog food i use for my dogs and roaches (non-feeders) and Beneful.
please note that i feed wellness to my dogs any way so i always have a ready source of it and i stress i only feed dog food to my non-feeder roaches, my feeder roaches get a home made gutload.
please note that i feed wellness to my dogs any way so i always have a ready source of it and i stress i only feed dog food to my non-feeder roaches, my feeder roaches get a home made gutload.
Ozymandias
New member
i use variant of the one from the sticky Feeder Insect Diets & Gutload.
MauricesExoticPets
New member
If you purchased them as mixed sized nymphs I would suspect they are as you say not old enough to die.
Diet can be a factor, so can heat and humidity, population density, access to food is another issue (they need easy and secure access to the food container).
Dubia will not eat if they do not have access to hydration, this will result in die-offs of males first then followed by females, males keep less reserves.
Food directly under/over a heat source will heat the food to a point where the roaches will not be able to eat it.
Very high fat foods will also cause rapid die-offs, fat content should be close to 3%, just 5% higher can result in greatly reduced lifespan and slower development.
Lack of B vitamins can result in stunted development or early death.
High calcium to phosphorous ratios contribute to nurological issues 2:1 is optimal with 2% elemental calcium by weight of the entire diet being close to the maximum levels tolerated in a breeding type diet.
100% plant based diets lack some amino acids, so a diet containing only grains and greens is often lacking, brewers yeast is a complete protein, though powdered milk can be used to replace that ingredient at the slight risk of additional fat content. Adding legumes to grains helps fill in the amino acid profile of an insect diet, proper balance is sometimes hard to nail down though.
While this is the food and nutrition section, I suspect your issue is not 100% diet related, dubia do well on plain old low fat dog food, so look closely at your other components of care. Something is not correct.
Maurice Pudlo
Diet can be a factor, so can heat and humidity, population density, access to food is another issue (they need easy and secure access to the food container).
Dubia will not eat if they do not have access to hydration, this will result in die-offs of males first then followed by females, males keep less reserves.
Food directly under/over a heat source will heat the food to a point where the roaches will not be able to eat it.
Very high fat foods will also cause rapid die-offs, fat content should be close to 3%, just 5% higher can result in greatly reduced lifespan and slower development.
Lack of B vitamins can result in stunted development or early death.
High calcium to phosphorous ratios contribute to nurological issues 2:1 is optimal with 2% elemental calcium by weight of the entire diet being close to the maximum levels tolerated in a breeding type diet.
100% plant based diets lack some amino acids, so a diet containing only grains and greens is often lacking, brewers yeast is a complete protein, though powdered milk can be used to replace that ingredient at the slight risk of additional fat content. Adding legumes to grains helps fill in the amino acid profile of an insect diet, proper balance is sometimes hard to nail down though.
While this is the food and nutrition section, I suspect your issue is not 100% diet related, dubia do well on plain old low fat dog food, so look closely at your other components of care. Something is not correct.
Maurice Pudlo
Elizabeth Freer
Well-known member
Your UTH was my gut reaction to the problem...but my experience breeding Blaptica dubia is limited. I heat their 10 gallon tank with an overhead dome light resting on the tank's screen. Usually I have a 40 w incandescent bulb in the dome 24/7 within a room temperature bathroom.
I would not feed them any food source over 5% fat or 20% protein. I feed them the same diet that I feed my crickets.
What size is your dubia cage?