Dubia: When should I add new blood?

I have a Dubia colony that is probably nearing a year old and about 1000 roaches, maybe a little less. They all appear healthy, but when should I add new blood? Should I burn off all these roaches and start with a new colony or should I just supplement, and if so, how many? Just males, females, or mix of gender and sizes? Thanks.

I've got a colony that is five years old and have yet to add new blood.

Thanks Don! I always hear the expression "New Blood" and it has had me wondering.

We have had ours for almost 4 years and have never added new. >.>

Mine has been up for about a year. Everything has been running smoothly so I wouldn't want to change anything around, but if you want to add some new ones into your mix, I'm happy to give you some from my colony to see if it makes any difference. I'm in Virginia Beach, so not too far from you.

Thanks for the offer Debbie! I did end up mixing some new blood in not to long ago just to be safe.

I think that with the rapid generation turn over, dubias can evolve new traits pretty quickly so adding new blood is a good idea if you want to keep basic stock. Kind of on the opposite track, I'm thinking of starting a new colony for only the biggest adults and works towards creating a large size strain over the next few years. I'd like do the same with the fastest too maturity growers but that would be a lot more work. They would make a great combination though.

Nick, if you ever want new blood again, just let me know and your welcome to as much as you want. I started the new colonies from about 6 different sources.

some one share the dubia gold...

Thanks Brian! That's funny that you mentioned size because I have recently noticed a difference in that a majority of my new breeder females are smaller than the first ones I acquired. I thought they would play catch up but after a few months, still smaller. I may isolate the large ones like you said and see what happens.