Dubia Roaches: For Sale Joplin, MO

I have been breeding dubia roaches for a little over a year. My colony is large enough to support my primary use of feeding bearded dragons and to sell excess. I'm willing to match any online dubia roach dealer's price and the great thing about this opportunity is that I'm located here in Joplin, MO. If you are interested in placing an order for dubia roaches or have any questions, please feel free to contact me personally at  RadioactiveReptiles@gmail.com

I recommend starting your own colony if you take care of more than 3 animals who will eat them as a feeder insect. This option is much more cost effective than purchasing dozens of crickets or containers of feeder worms from other local dealers. It's simple to start your own colony. Here is a list of things that you'll need; 1) Large Tote opaque with smooth sides (the kind Wal-Mart sells) 2) glue gun 3) wire screen (approximately cut 9" x 4" 4) duct tape 5) 50 mixed roaches including 3 adult females to 1 adult male at the least 6) egg cartons 7) a dark dry place in your house that maintains a 70 degree minimum temperature (mine are in my closet). I add enough corn meal (yellow or white) to cover 3/4 of the bottom of my container. Then I build a structure out of egg cartons on top of that for them to colonize. I also provide water crystals made from mixing water and Soil Moist which you can buy on Amazon for much less than others sell it for. Depending on the size of your colony add a potato cut 4 ways into the container about twice a week. Make sure you remove any remains of vegetables or fruit as quickly as possible. Mold will kill your roaches! Below I've posted some pictures depicting my colony and lit set up.

There are several advantages to feeding dubia roaches; 1) they're more nutritious than other feeder insects 2) they don't stink 3) they're easy to care for 4) they breed easily 6) they're very cost effective The downside to dubia roaches is that they are roaches and the idea of having thousands of roaches colonizing in your closet tends to freak some people out. I'd say that most normal people are a little creeped out by this idea but who am I kidding. If you're reading this then you're probably a reptile keeper and you know that neither you or I are normal. I love exotic reptiles and wouldn't trade them for the world, maybe a winning Powerball ticket for $600 million?

My Dubia Colony

Lid Example

Golden Rule #1 Do not feed your bearded dragon anything larger than the diameter between it's eyes!

Female Desert Ball Python: Unproven Breeding

Desert Ball Pythons are beautiful visual morphs. Unfortunately as far as I've read there have been no confirmed successful clutches laid by female Desert Ball Pythons. Some breeders have speculation that if you're able to get the snakes weight over 3,000g that she will produce a successful clutch but there is no confirmed data to back this up. As far as I know, trusting the opinion of two guys I seek advice from quite frequently, Joe and Clark from Powerhouse Reptiles, the female Desert Ball Python's egg ducts are too small. This causes them to throw slugs and unfertilized eggs. I've seen beautiful 4 gene Desert's selling for under $500, once again this is just a beautiful pet and can't be put into a breeding program. I wouldn't mind having a pet like that but part of the fun is breeding them! If you do try to breed your female Desert you put her at risk of becoming egg bound which could lead to her demise. Now for the dirt and grime of the reptile industry. Several breeders have invested large amounts of money into their Desert breeding projects. How do you think they plan on making their money back? Well of course, selling their inventory. Now don't get me wrong you can make some beautiful morphs with the Desert gene but at what cost? Desert females are being sold without the disclaimer that they cannot be bred. Now who knows one day, someone might unlock the genetic secret to successfully breeding these wonderful morphs but until then we're at a stand still. Unfortunately, I've seen several Desert Ball females being sold at outlandish prices. Some breeders even describe their Desert Balls as dinkers, Ball Pythons with "unknown" genes. This will help them avoid being pinned as a con artist when they know what they're dealing with but this description is used as a disclaimer for unsuspecting customers. Then when the snake reaches breeding size, if she is bred without knowing what her genes are, she could die or be faced with a serious health risk. Ok, so what if she does lay a clutch, you've just produced 8 solid slugs. Who are you going to come looking for if you do your research after you all ready make the purchase, the breeder and guess what, "He didn't know what her gene's were." Be careful and don't make the mistake of buying into the Desert gene without knowing the consequences. Below I've listed some pictures and articles that will go in depth more than I have, probably from breeders with much more experience than I, check it out.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1458949

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?170524-Has-desert-female-breeding-got-anywhere

http://thereptilereport.com/breeding-desert-females/

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/python-regius/89914-question-about-desert-morph.html

Desert Ball

Desert Ball

Desert Spider

Desert Mojave

New Addition to the Family

I found my new female ball python, Cleopatra, on faunaclassifieds.com from Casey Dunham, his listing is amazing and he has some awesome prices if you're interested in buying any ball pythons. My wife and I drove roughly 7 hours from Joplin to Oklahoma City round trip. The new addition to our collection is roughly a 6ft long 7lb 10 year old female ball python. Check out the pictures I've listed below, she's a beauty and she's as big as a dinosaur but as timid as a cat! She has the possibility of being gravid after 5 confirmed locks with a male pastel champagne. It would be awesome if she was gravid because I'd love to own a pastel champagne but if she's not we plan on breeding her with one of our males this season. Our male bumblebee, Loki, has been restless and hasn't eaten much since the beginning of October. Also our male pastave, Perseus, has shown similar breeding characteristics. The only question now is, "Do we want to make bumblebees or pastaves?" We love getting out of town and this isn't the first trip we've made for our reptiles. Last year we drove roughly 8 hours one way to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to pick up a 4 stack of Boaphiles. Our next trip will be the OK Reptile Expo on December 9th in Broken Arrow, which just happens to be the Sunday before finals week, ahhhhhhhhh! If you get a chance, check out the OK Reptile Expo and maybe I'll see you there.

Cleopatra

I'm 6'2" to add a size ratio comparison

Do you think she looks gravid?

Bearded Dragon babies for sale, PRICES REDUCED!

1) Hypo Trans super citrus male 1.0, WICKED orange coloration, black eyes, 7". Breeder quality, no nips. $150

2) Trans citrus male 50% het hypo, 1.0 great coloration, black eyes, 8". Collector quality, no nips. $100

3) Hypo super citrus female poss. het trans 0.1, blue barring, 8". Collector quality, no nips. $75

4) Hypo super citrus female poss. het trans 0.1, blue barring, 8". Collector quality, no nips. $75

Hatch date: 08/19/12
Parents: 1.0 Xerxes hypo super citrus (southernBeardies) x
0.1 Nada super citrus het trans (sunshineDragons)
Diet: Dubia roaches, crickets, fresh greens.

Methods of Payment: Paypal preferred. Prices do not include shipping.

Trade list: Ball python morphs 

1) Hypo Trans Super Citrus Male

2) Trans Citrus Male

3) Hypo Super Citrus Female

4) Hypo Super Citrus Female

Egg Size Correlating to Genetics: Bearded Dragons

Is there a correlation to egg size and genetics in bearded dragon hatchlings? The 3 largest eggs I hatched out of my Nada x Xerxes clutch were translucent.





Nada

Xerxes

Halloween Costume Contest: Pet Warehouse Joplin, MO

Happy Halloween my friends! Here are some details about the upcoming Halloween Costume Contest: All entries must be turned in by October 29, 2012. Winner receives a $25.00 gift card to be used on any merchandise in the store! I found out about this contest last week when I was buying my feeder mice and rats for my ball pythons. Pet Warehouse has been great to me over the years and I plan on maintaining my regular status for years to come. A lightbulb went on and I decided to enter my male hypo super citrus bearded dragon, Xerxes, into the Halloween costume contest. Xerxes is sire to Nada in my available clutch located on Faunaclassifieds, Google+, Craigslist and eBay Classifieds. If Xerxes wins this contest you could own a bearded dragon from a prize winning blood line!

Pet Warehouse
2207 West 7th Street
Joplin, MO
(417)781-8100
Mon-Sat 10am-8pm
Sun 12pm-6pm



Xerxes (yes, he's dressed up as a pretty ballerina)

Dubia Roach separation anxiety, how do they sort the nymphs out?

Ok, this week I ran into a new obstacle. I have 13 bearded dragon hatchlings that eat like hummingbirds. Last week I dropped $50.00 on crickets from Armstrongs, wonderful crickets but they were gone in a week so now I need a new feeder. Luckily I happen to have about 6,000+ blaptica dubia aka: dubia roaches in my closet stashed away for safe keeping. I typically sort out about 100 of the baby dubia, nymphs, at a time but this is very time consuming. I could order 1,000 dubia nymphs from buydubiaroaches and drop another $50.00 or thanks to my loving wife, I chose to sort through my colony of 6,000+ dubia. Now, the question at hand is how to sort the nymphs out without eating away at ten years of my life? Well, there's a wonderful little invention, you might have heard about it, Microsoft offered 44.6 billion dollars for it, Google, which was known as Yahoo! for the old crusty people like myself who remember it that way. Apparently this "Google" on the "internet device" will help answer questions. My wife came up with this wonderful little site, ironically is also on blogger.com, here's the link: Dubia Roach Guide. I ended up spending $7.50 on 3 Walmart brand painters buckets, you know the kind you use to wash your car with, drilled about 3 million holes and voilà, 1,000 sorted dubia nymphs. Now my ravenous dragon hatchlings have about $50.00 worth of nymphs give or take a hundred and I only had to spend $7.50. I actually dropped a twenty but I netted Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and some antibacterial hand soap, the trilogy is complete! Below are some pics of our friend blaptica dubia, oh yeah check out this care sheet for optimal care, insert link here.



Top: Male (distuingishable by it's longer wings) Bottom: Female





Size ratio for dubia nymph




Solid Example of a Dubia Colony

Help Impaction?!?!?!?

I have been dealing with a 0.1 beardie (bearded dragon), named Ruby, that has lost her appetite gradually over the past few months. Her weight has dropped considerably, enough to the point where her tail is showing bones through her skin. After using the Google on the internet device I came up with some tactics. First I tried feeding her pedialyte through a syringe, then I skipped a day. She immediately starting looking more lively and her colors got brighter. Day 2 of feeding I mixed baby food and Pedialyte then administered it to Ruby and she loved the baby food. I skipped another day and mixed baby food with water, then later administered Pedialyte. Now I've run into another problem. Her symptoms are as follows; Ruby has lost skin pigment and looks almost completely white, she looks bloated and I have unfortunately found a hard mass on her right side if you're looking at her belly. I'm starting to think she is impacted as I have not seen signs of parasites in her feces. If she doesn't show any signs of improvement after giving her 2 warm baths, fiber mixed with water and olive oil administered through a syringe, daily stomach massages to try and break up the impaction and warmer cage temps I'm going to have to pay a visit to the local exotic animal veterinarian. Unfortunately I don't think he will perform surgery on Ruby, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully it won't come down to that.

Here is a helpful link if you're experiencing similar problems with your bearded dragon.




Larthagy is a symptom of impaction



X-ray of bearded dragon with sand impaction