# Dubia roach colony help?!



## Diesel (Aug 8, 2011)

2 days ago i bought a roach colony! there are about 20 to 40 breeders... not sure and i have no idea but around 300 nymphs! However, i found these little worms in there. They are not the cleaner worms or whatever. I did some research and i found out they could be buffalo worms?! could they hurt my roach colony at all? I killed like 20 but im sure there are a lot more hiding around! should i clean out the entire thing or leave them be?... Also, i found 2 male adults dead in the 2 days? i am not worried because i already have too many males but i dont want my colony to start falling apart? How could they have died? one more...Is messing with their enclosure bad? will it keep them from breeding more. I have just been looking for the worms throughout and for any other dead ones. Should i leave them be for weeks so they can get there stuff on. 
The temp is about 95 i mist the walls and give them lettuce and collard greens to eat with carrots. Any help would be wonderful and appreciated thank you. Sorry its long.


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## dustintp (Aug 8, 2011)

I don't believe the worms are going to hurt your colony. I had all kinds of little extra bugs in mine, you are creating a good place for other bugs to live with the temp, humidity and food. Males are not very hardy and die easily and don't live as long as the females. If you have to many males the other males will eat their wings as well that can stress them out. It is best to try and keep your male numbers lower than half your females. I wouldn't worry unless you have a large number of females die off, they are the important ones. I always kept my nymphs and adults separate and transferred new adults into the adult tub and nymphs out. When it was a Male I would put the new one in and take an old one out and feed it off to my Tegu to keep their numbers in check. And yes, messing with the enclosure will keep them from breading as well as if you leave them alone for a while. is 95* the ambient temp or do use a heat pad? You do want to give them a bit of a gradient to cool off if needed.


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## got10 (Aug 8, 2011)

dustintp said:


> I don't believe the worms are going to hurt your colony. I had all kinds of little extra bugs in mine, you are creating a good place for other bugs to live with the temp, humidity and food. Males are not very hardy and die easily and don't live as long as the females. If you have to many males the other males will eat their wings as well that can stress them out. It is best to try and keep your male numbers lower than half your females. I wouldn't worry unless you have a large number of females die off, they are the important ones. I always kept my nymphs and adults separate and transferred new adults into the adult tub and nymphs out. When it was a Male I would put the new one in and take an old one out and feed it off to my Tegu to keep their numbers in check. And yes, messing with the enclosure will keep them from breading as well as if you leave them alone for a while. is 95* the ambient temp or do use a heat pad? You do want to give them a bit of a gradient to cool off if needed.



in agreement with you on that one . As I was told by a fella at the pet store "neglect is good for roaches", . Feed them keep em warm and they will THRIVE


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## Diesel (Aug 8, 2011)

alright i'll stop messing with them. and i have my heating pad on 3/4 of the cage and there are levels. one is 100 (most are at, thats the bottom of the tank) next is like 90, next is 85, and the top is about 80(where very little are at?. Is that good enough. I have a uth and was going to turn it down but i have different levels and most stay in the hottest area so i kept it there because if they do get hot they will leave. If i turn it down the coldest will drop below 80? is it worth it? the bottom will be about 92.


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