catcubus
New member
I have two large plastic storage tubs for my dubias. What started off as some mixed size and sex dubias (probably 30-40 in count) I got off Craigslist earlier this year, has now exploded! I have more than any of my three reptiles and arachnids could ever eat, but I still breed them. My local reptile shop takes the excess females I have in trade for discounts on tarantulas or other things. 
Plus they are SO EASY to care for! The trick is to make sure their containers stay at the proper temperatures, otherwise they will not breed. It is also a good idea to separate the adults from the babies, and pull the babies out when the females birth them.
I keep them in two Sterilite 56Qt containers with heating pads on the bottom set to medium. Not the most energy-saving way to heat your feeders, but it works for now. I don't have any substrate for either of them, but provide many egg crates (actual egg cartons along with softdrink holders work just fine for me) so they have places to hide and feel secure in. I have two plastic containers placed inside, one for their water crystals and the other for the food. The container I'm using for their food is divided down the middle, so one half has bran and oatmeal in it while the other side has a few Cuties (clementine oranges) sliced in half and some romaine or red leaf lettuce thrown in.
Either I or my husband check on the food and water to make sure both are topped off and if the fruit or veggies look nasty (or moldy) they get tossed out for fresher stuff. Once a week we both check the adult bin for babies and remove them to the baby bin. Then we check the baby bin for adults to separate either into breeding pairs for our own or trade/barter. We almost always have excess of adult males, so much that they now have their own little "bachelor pad" bin. They're stored in a Sterilite 16qrt bin with the same layout as the adults and baby bins, with a small unused reptile heating mat under them.
Every other week (sometimes later), we will sift through the frass to pluck out the babies and any hide beetles/larva (aka our cleaner crew) we find and toss out the poop. It varies depending on how much frass there is and how much the bin stinks. If it stinks to us, we can only imagine how much it must stink to them.
You just gotta be patient with the guys. TBH, we didn't start feeding any of the dubias off to our critters until we hit the 4 month mark, and even then we were -very- sparing with them. Now, we have more than we know what to do with! Good thing our reptile shop likes to take them!
Plus they are SO EASY to care for! The trick is to make sure their containers stay at the proper temperatures, otherwise they will not breed. It is also a good idea to separate the adults from the babies, and pull the babies out when the females birth them.I keep them in two Sterilite 56Qt containers with heating pads on the bottom set to medium. Not the most energy-saving way to heat your feeders, but it works for now.
I don't have any substrate for either of them, but provide many egg crates (actual egg cartons along with softdrink holders work just fine for me) so they have places to hide and feel secure in. I have two plastic containers placed inside, one for their water crystals and the other for the food. The container I'm using for their food is divided down the middle, so one half has bran and oatmeal in it while the other side has a few Cuties (clementine oranges) sliced in half and some romaine or red leaf lettuce thrown in. Either I or my husband check on the food and water to make sure both are topped off and if the fruit or veggies look nasty (or moldy) they get tossed out for fresher stuff. Once a week we both check the adult bin for babies and remove them to the baby bin. Then we check the baby bin for adults to separate either into breeding pairs for our own or trade/barter. We almost always have excess of adult males, so much that they now have their own little "bachelor pad" bin. They're stored in a Sterilite 16qrt bin with the same layout as the adults and baby bins, with a small unused reptile heating mat under them.
Every other week (sometimes later), we will sift through the frass to pluck out the babies and any hide beetles/larva (aka our cleaner crew) we find and toss out the poop. It varies depending on how much frass there is and how much the bin stinks. If it stinks to us, we can only imagine how much it must stink to them.
You just gotta be patient with the guys. TBH, we didn't start feeding any of the dubias off to our critters until we hit the 4 month mark, and even then we were -very- sparing with them. Now, we have more than we know what to do with!
Good thing our reptile shop likes to take them!