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.
Attachments
Last edited: