Dubia issues with growth

So I bought dubia from someone on here that offered high quality feed.
But, I think it’s dog food, IMO. Smells just like it.
I bought the dubia about 7-8 months ago.
My dubia are still not mature. Has anyone had the same issue
with the food from KFC feeders. I took 100 out of the 384/7 from a 500 count to try a different high quality food. The 100 have all matured and are breeding.
Both totes are 82 degrees and around 55% humidity.

Next question. Have you bought dubia that gets weighed and then are 100 plus short on what they say rough count is? Is this normal to be so short on the count when people use weighing?

Ok bcr. Better? If not, I’ll rephrase it again.
Worse thing rich did was remove the boi. Too bad this site is changed so much.
Am I not allowed to say where I bought the feed and dubia from??
This isn’t a boi report. Simple questions about the feed and feeders from a specific seller.
I need to use the sellers name to get comparisons about his feed compared to others feed. Dog food has its own smell!! Easy to tell.

Originally Posted by allreptiles1966

So I bought dubia from someone on here that offered high quality feed.
But, I think it’s dog food, IMO. Smells just like it.
I bought the dubia about 7-8 months ago.
My dubia are still not mature. Has anyone had the same issue
with the food from KFC feeders. I took 100 out of the 384/7 from a 500 count to try a different high quality food. The 100 have all matured and are breeding.
Both totes are 82 degrees and around 55% humidity.

Next question. Have you bought dubia that gets weighed and then are 100 plus short on what they say rough count is? Is this normal to be so short on the count when people use weighing?

Ok bcr. Better? If not, I’ll rephrase it again.
Worse thing rich did was remove the boi. Too bad this site is changed so much.
Am I not allowed to say where I bought the feed and dubia from??
This isn’t a boi report. Simple questions about the feed and feeders from a specific seller.
I need to use the sellers name to get comparisons about his feed compared to others feed. Dog food has its own smell!! Easy to tell.

If you had had any input when this was being discussed you could have taken part in the discussion here -> http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=680507 You can STILL discuss this in that very same forum, if you are so inclined. But otherwise, please don't complain all over this site about the decision made because of loss of support from the membership. My moderators are enforcing this change as best they can, regardless of who may not like it. Honestly I don't like the change, and neither do they, but no one has been able to dispute my reasons for the change nor come up with a better plan.

Sorry, but with the BOI gone, it would make no sense at all to allow BOI style conversations to take place all over this site. Mentioning a person's name or a name of a business in relation to the quality of the merchandise they offer most certainly is a BOI style posting. That is not even open to debate. IMHO.

Since this thread is open, I'll assume it OK to respond with a non-vendor-review sort of comment. I'm going to phrase the first paragraph of it in a way that I believe would be permitted in the product review forum:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...play.php?f=470

If this post should be there instead, I kindly ask that a mod move it there.

Without making any claims as to the quality or service of the vendor, I use the roach food that is sold by KFC (KFC brand roach food, I suppose), and have for five years or so. I get good growth and reproduction from dubias with it, and I will continue to use it. I also feed fresh veggie scraps and occasional fruit.

This comment is general, and applies to any vendor of any product:

Regarding weight vs count: if I get the right count but the roaches are smaller than the listed size, I feel gypped because I am getting less mass of feeder -- which is kind of what I paid for: number times size of each unit. Example: If I paid for 5 ice cream cones each 3 (standard sized) scoops big, but each of the five was only two (standard sized) scoops big, I got ripped off.

If I order by weight and get the correct weight but fewer roaches than the average/normal/typical/usual number, I'm a bit displeased but don't feel as if I got ripped off. Example: If I order a gallon of ice cream divided into two-scoop portions, but I got a gallon divided into three-scoop portions, I didn't exactly get it how I wanted it, but I did get the correct amount of ice cream.

If I order 100 roaches I want 100 roaches. Not 125 smaller roaches or 75 larger roaches

If I order 100 roaches and you "count" your roaches by weight I still expect 100 roaches. It is your responsibility to adjust your measure to account for smaller or larger roaches so that I get the number I order.

If I order 100 per week and I get 75 one week and 125 the next that is not acceptable even though it averages out to 100 per week. Some will say why did you complain when you got 75 one week but not the next when you got 125 and my response would be I didn't order 125. If you want to send me extra because you are too lazy to recalibrate your weighing methods that's on you. I didn't ask for extra and I didn't expect extra I asked for 100 and expected 100 same for when I asked for 100 but you sent me 75.

I used to have the problem with a pet store that sold crickets like this. I ordered 100 because I needed 100 to feed my animals. If I get 75 larger ones that still means some of my animals go hungry because I can't cut a cricket into pieces. They tell you you aren't buying 100 you are buying 1 measure but its still listed as 100 on their price menu board. The problem is that the size will vary and they use the same counting scoop all the time so one week you get more the next week you get less. The wholesaler I used was on a regular cycle. One week the crickets were on the small side, the next week they were the advertised size and the next week they were a bit larger then they went to smaller again and the cycle repeated itself so that only about 1 week in 4 they were the advertised size. Of course they didn't advertise them in lengths they said small medium large etc. This week the mediums were simply smaller than they were last week. I knew this and so did my customers. Even though this was the case I never got less than 1000 crickets in the box so they were obviously either adjusting their counts or their scoops/weights were set so that you were getting the advertised number with the largest possible size crickets and if they ran small you simply got more. My customers always got 100 when they ordered 100 as well because I counted them. Actually I counted their legs and divided by six but hey, we all have our methods.

Another problem arises when your bugs are not consistently sized within each batch. If a large takes up 10 times more space or weighs 10 times more than a small and you get several larges mixed in you are going to get fewer bugs. This can add up if you are counting 100 and then multiplying by 10 to get a weight for 1000.

Lastly, I seem to recall reading that the level of hydration plays a big role in weighing roaches. One day your bugs may be well hydrated and it won't take so many to weigh out to 1000 but the next day they are a bit dehydrated and it will take more. If you use the count/weight from one day your counts may be off the next so depending on when your order is packed you may be getting more or less.

I only rarely sell things in 1000 counts so I don't really worry about it too much. I count out 100 each time, multiply by 10 then add a good 10-15%. The thing is I count the 100 each time. I didn't think last time a hundred weighed this much so that's what I will use this time as well. There are far too many variables that could throw this off.

The best sellers will take all these variables into account. They will either adjust their counting/weighing methods to account for the variables or they will take steps in their rearing methods to ensure that the variables are minimized or they just simply make sure that you have the number of bugs you order every time by whatever means they deem necessary.

There are a lot of roach breeders out there. Some will be better than others and some will be flat out bad. Hopefully those will be weeded out fairly quickly but there will always be others to take their place because roaches breed like...well they breed like freaking roaches for crying out loud (Roach shortage...yeah right) . It is unfortunate that we no longer have the BOI but no one can fault Rich for making his decision. We just have to find other ways of passing on the information.

As far as the food is concerned high quality can mean different things to different people. If the seller says his food is high quality he may think it is. Lots of people use dog food even though we now know it may not be the best. Again all we can do is pass the word the best we can. I don't want to speak for Rich and he will certainly correct me if I am wrong but I don't think he would mind if someone started up another site similar to the BOI. He might even give you a some tips. High on his list I'm guessing would be DON'T DO IT. Maybe someone in Maryland is a herp enthusiast with an extra few hundred million laying around and might be willing to take up the cause.

I had a similar issue. Bought some that smelt like dog food. I actually called and talked to them about and they gave me my money back and said it was supposed to smell like this

Well, I would be upset if I was 20%+ short on an order... I just traded in 1,100 Discoids this week, and I counted out every single one & then threw in another handful! Counting them out is the worst part! Lol I just deal with a local shop & not with individuals. It should be win / win... it supplements my frozen feeders ;-) I’ve been going into the shop for 14 yrs & I hope to be going in there for 14 more... I’ve heard / seen people counting by weight. Yes, it can be done. Too iffy for me, but I’m small time...

As for food, just make your own... for approx. $80 you can buy the ingredients to make 100 lbs of good quality food... lots of recipes on the internet... worst part is blending it up... takes time.... it might take an hour to blend 15 lbs up...

People want roaches for next to nothing, but they don’t consider the work that goes into having consistent quality feeders... getting breeders up to size, good quality feed (not dog food), tending colonies, counting out, etc... that’s why I just trade for feeders ;-) make a fraction of their worth, but far less hassle...