It is definitely not diet related as all of mine eat the same thing.
It is genetics as I had a male with a particular pattern that seemed to have gone to almost all of its offspring. I believe that all of my males who came from him have the same prothorax pattern, a very light cross with reduced black to the point that there is almost no black. The females that I believe came from him are bright orange with reduced black and they all have the same pattern between their wing stubs. As soon as I buy a camera I will take pictures of them.
I also isolated a select few of these dubias to breed. I have one container with bright coloured dubias and the other with almost solid black dubias. So far I have plenty of offspring in both containers, and to ensure that my one solid black female has offspring, I just put her and my male together in a separate container last week. These dubias have been separated from the rest of my colony for quite a few months and none of my females looked pregnant when I first separated them, so hopefully it's all the genetics of the males I selected for them.
It is genetics as I had a male with a particular pattern that seemed to have gone to almost all of its offspring. I believe that all of my males who came from him have the same prothorax pattern, a very light cross with reduced black to the point that there is almost no black. The females that I believe came from him are bright orange with reduced black and they all have the same pattern between their wing stubs. As soon as I buy a camera I will take pictures of them.
I also isolated a select few of these dubias to breed. I have one container with bright coloured dubias and the other with almost solid black dubias. So far I have plenty of offspring in both containers, and to ensure that my one solid black female has offspring, I just put her and my male together in a separate container last week. These dubias have been separated from the rest of my colony for quite a few months and none of my females looked pregnant when I first separated them, so hopefully it's all the genetics of the males I selected for them.