Dubia idea.......

[Lankyrob]

Currently my roaches are sat on their own heat mat in our utility room, i am thinking about putting them on top of my monitor viv to save running another heater - questions to follow!! :)

The monitors heat bulb is switched off overnight will the dubia be affected by the overnight drop in temps? They will still be on top of a stack containing snakes so there will still be some heat leaching up to them - i estimate the temps to be no lower than low 80'sf

Light cycles - do you give your roaches a light cycle? In the utility room they would get some natural light during the day but as soon as it is dark outside they would be in darkness - in our living room they would get light for longer as whilst i am awake the living room light is on.

Just wondering what you guys do - especially in terms of lighting.... :)

[youngster]

I'm pretty sure Wayne does something like this, he might be able to help.

[stephanbakir]

Roaches do NOT like light at all, keeping them in the dark helps breeding a TON, keeping them in a dark silent place is best.
Keeping them on the monitor cage is fine, as long as it doesn't get too hot, I tried it with mine and forgot that the temps up there get to 125-145.... turned it into a bunch of roach toffy (srsly.. it was a bar of roach and sauce...)

[Kayla90]

Just make sure it doesn't get too humid in their.. steph killed off our previous colony that way..

[stephanbakir]

Just make sure it doesn't get too humid in their.. steph killed off our previous colony that way..
It was the heat, not humidity, lol. But yeah, too much humidity will do it too.

[Lankyrob]

If the light is an issue then i may well just leave them where they are and chuck a blanket over the box too!

Wife is against having them in the living room anyway :rolleyes: so they are probably better off where they are!

[stephanbakir]

Watch out with a blanket insulating them and restricting air flow, if they aren't ventilated its easy to get mold, and with the added insulation you will need to monitor your temps and humidity more.

[Jay]

Wife is against having them in the living room anyway :rolleyes: so they are probably better off where they are!

"Happy wife, happy life!"

[stephanbakir]

"Happy wife, happy life!"

One of the few truths in life rofl.

[Lankyrob]

There is only one small window in the room so the blanket will just cover one side - leaving plenty of airflow but very little light :) should be all good!

[Jay]

Maybe curtains or blinds to reduce the light?