Could someone please assist me in trying to figure this out,
i have a pretty decent dubia colony and i decided to start a new smaller one for my girlfriends panther chameleon.. i took about 2 douzen females and 3 males, one male has since died so the current MF:MM ratio is 12:1.
is this alright or should i be adding a few more males?

Thanks for the help!

For a breeding colony a ratio of 1 male - 3 females are perfect. But for a feeder colony where we feed off the males. Erm 1 male for each female or more depending on how many mouths you have to feed

I've been told and i did some research on the internet that for a breeding colony one male to 50 females is a good ratio. My colony has maybe 1 male to 20 females or more and they are breeding pretty dam fast. Also if there are too many males they fight for females to often and therefore they cant mate as much. I've read on other forums that breeding rates increase once males are removed to increase the difference in numbers between males and females. The males are definitely capable of mating with a large amount of females.

Lucky males at least they will have a few days of fame before they are some other animals food

I would say add 6 more males, so it will take you to 8 males.
It also does not matter if you have 30 males with 24 females, they will still do what they programmed to do!.

You also have to look at the bigger picture of breeding, a females gestation time is 28 days so call it a month, if all the females are mated they will take one month to give you some nymphs.

You have to take this into mind, males shelf life is not that long, especially with all the mating going on between the 2 males and 24 females. But on the other hand, a male needs to stay alive for 28days or longer to be able to keep the roaches flowing.

The reason I say this is, if all females are mated and gravid at the same time(Don't think that should happen) then the male will have nothing to do with them selves for 28 days, and like I said the males seem to die off