Self cleaning Dubia roach set up

kholtme

New member
For those who already have Dubia Roach colonies, you may find cleaning the waste a pain, at least I know I did. Having to make sure no dubias escape while transferring them to a different container. So I came up with a bin that makes cleaning so much easier. I started off by going to walmart, picking out a tote that would work good. Smooth edges on the inside are good so the babies cant climb the walls. Buy two of the same tote, dont forget the lids. Also if you dont have any window screen, or some sort of screen, picking up some would be a good idea, but not absolutely necessary. The first thing you want to do is take one of your totes, and get a drill with a 1/8th inch drill bit. Drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of one of the totes, make sure to get holes in the low points of the totes. After you covered the bottom of the tote in 1/8th holes, some of the plastic will be stuck to the holes. They dont drill very clean and leave plastic shreds in most of the holes. I took a razor blade and scraped all the plastic shreds off that i could. Once i got it all nice and clean, I cut a square out of one of the lids and hot glued a screen over it to get proper air flow. I dont think you need as big of a square in the lid as i did, but I dont think it matters that much. If I did anything different to my set up, i would have glued the screen on the bottom of the lid so you cant see the hot glue. Not really anything that matters, but it would look better. Also be careful when cutting the lid, some plastics are hard and crack before cutting, this also is the same for drilling, I used a razor blade to cut the lid. Just take it slow if it is a harder/brittle plastic. If you dont have any screen, you can drill a bunch of holes in the lid instead for air flow. If you crack the lid, you can start over on the second lid, because you wont need it. So after you drilled your holes and made your lid, simply place the container with the holes in the bottom inside the second container. Put in egg crates, paper towels rolls, or drink carries for hiding and added space for your dubias. Add your dubias and you are good to go! When the dubias poop or molt, it all falls down into the holes. As the dubias crawl on the bottom of the container, they kick the waste and help it fall down the holes. Ive had this container for about 3 months and it has worked great. Whenever you want to clean out the container, simply remove the top tote and dump the bottom one. My dubias have had babies while in this set up and none of them have fit through the 1/8th inch holes. I wouldnt go any bigger than 1/8 inch. Here are some pictures.
 

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kholtme

New member
17 x 12 x 9 height, It's kinda small, but works for my colony at the moment. This design would work for any size totes.
 

CWilson13

New member
Thanks to Kyle I have a very similar set-up. He even sold me my starter Adults :)

I normally find the nymphs right near the food or up at the top of the egg crates with an adult or two. I would imagine the young do though. Everything I have read points to dubias eating anything that is readily available.
 
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kholtme

New member
Ive never heard that but I imagine they do. It hasnt been a problem for me yet, just as long as you feed your roaches often and give them a good diet I imagine they will be fine. Trying to sort the little dubias out of the frass is one of the biggest pains when it comes to breeding dubias, so this cage makes it 100 times easier. Also, there is usually piles of frass on the egg crates especially when leaning one way or another, so it isnt 100% clean. The roaches can still access small amounts of frass if they really need it.
 

JessJohnson87

New member
Kyle, do you ever notice yours eating their molted exo-skeleton? I've seen mine disappear if I forget to get it out of the tub.
 

kholtme

New member
Ive seen babies inside the exoskeleton before, so if you remove them make sure to check that you dont have any roaches inside lol. I dont notice if they eat it or not, but it does somehow get broken up and shoved through the 1/8th holes, because I dont clean my bin out at all and everything goes down the holes. I did however, while making this video, notice that one roach that was molting was getting eaten by other roaches after he came out of his exoskeleton. Has anyone noticed freshly molted dubias being attacked? There were about 10 dubias attacking him, and when i picked him up he was missing a leg and part of the folds to his back. Idk if they were sucking the moisture off his skin, or eating him, but it was strange.
 

JessJohnson87

New member
I have not noticed that, I just notice they are master hoarders when it comes to food and water sources. The bottle caps I use for food and water usually end up right by the egg crate and I always see pellets underneath the egg crate. I'm trying to leave mine alone so they will make babies.
 

kholtme

New member
Adding heat helps with breading! Im sure you know... I see dubias grab chunks of chicken food and run away and hide! Also if i place an apple slice on top of a plastic lid, it will end up getting moved and the apple slice will fall between the egg crates. They go crazy during feeding time! Its cool to watch.
 

JessJohnson87

New member
I have added heat but I've read they need to be left alone except for feeding, thought about playing them some Barry White or Marvin Gaye to help the process :coverlaugh:. I placed one baby carrot in there last night and within a minute there was about 10 roaches on it, so I added 2 more. Now the carrots are gone. I have my egg crates away from the food so they usually walk under the caps and cart them off closer to the egg crate.
 

kholtme

New member
I sort my males and females about once a month, and grab feeders out of my bin every monday, wednesday, and saturday and they are breeding fine for me. I feed them the same days i feed Gaz. My girlfriend enjoys digging through the colony and watching them so she disturbs them some too.
 

Elizabeth Freer

Well-known member
I sort my males and females about once a month, and grab feeders out of my bin every monday, wednesday, and saturday and they are breeding fine for me. I feed them the same days i feed Gaz. My girlfriend enjoys digging through the colony and watching them so she disturbs them some too.

Are you feeding the dubia 24/7?
 
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