Dubia Male to Female Ratio Explained!

Believe it or not there is a method behind the madness of our dubia male to female ratios. Most breeders will recommend 1 male to anywhere from 5 to 10 females. We sell our adults in a 1 male to 2 or 3 female ratio and below we will tell you why. Adult dubias can be purchased by clicking on the link here and breeder kits can be purchased by clicking on the link here!

If you are an experienced dubia breeder you have probably noticed that your male dubias die off faster than your female dubias. If you're new to breeding dubias you will soon notice this. Males die 2-3 times more often than female dubias! We never fully understood why male dubias die at a faster rate than females but through the years of data we collected we know its true. Our best guesses were that males died earlier due to fighting or stressing out easier.

Without a doubt a male to female ratio of 1 to 5 even up to 1 to 10 will produce a good number of dubias. The catch is sustaining that ratio! Most breeders let their colonies sit for anywhere from 1 to 3 months before sorting them, including us! After this time passes and the colony is sorted we typically notice a third to half of the males have died off. This means that if you started with a 1 male to 10 female ratio, you will now have a 1 male to 15 or 20 female ratio. This is too many females for each male to breed and they will start to die off more rapidly through breeding exhaustion (who would've guessed, right!). There are still several different actions that you can take to create the ideal ratio.

The first and easiest option is to start with a 1 male to 2-3 female ratio when creating the colony or re-filling the colony after sorting. By the time the colony is sorted again you will be down to a 1 male to 4-6 female ratio which is fairly ideal. The benefit of this is that you know there will always be enough males in the colony and you will have an ideal ratio for majority of the time. The drawback is that depending on the size of the tub, this many males may crowd and could start to die through fighting over females. There's also more dubias you have to feed in the colony initially which costs more money.

Another option is to start the colony with a 1 male to 4-6 female ratio and at half way before you sort the colony add a third or half of the number of males you started with too the colony. This method will ensure that the tub never quite has too many males or not enough males. The drawback is ensuring you have extra males for the tub at the half way point! This is part of why we also offer just male dubias so you do not have to stress about having enough male dubias at the half way point.

Regardless of which method you choose our breeding kits and adult male/female mix dubia options have a 1 male to 2 female ratio. As stated earlier, the males stress out and die easier than females, especially during shipping! The amount of stress that shipping has on adult dubias is the ultimate reason we sell adults in 1 male to 2 female ratios. That way even if a few males die during shipping (which almost always happens) you will still have a good ratio of adults to start your colony! Nothing is worse than buying 10 females with only 2 or 3 males, and having 1-2 of those males die during shipping and hoping the other 1-2 males don't die before your next colony sorting!