Care and Breeding of Dubia Cockroaches
Dubia make a great feeder insect and have become a very popular feeder. This is mainly because of their shell to meat ratio. They are 36% protein while Crickets are only 18.5%. It would take about 7 crickets to compare to 1 dubia. They have a softer shell that makes it easier to digest. It is always good to feed these roaches 24 hours before feeding them to your pets, doing this will give your pets a good amount of protein. Roaches overall are a better feeder insect than most of the other insects for your pets.
Diet
A diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables supplemented with dry dog food, grain cereal, baby cereal, and fish flakes will provide a suitable diet. Just make sure you remove any old fruits or vegetables, mold can and will harm your colony. These items can be rotated through, or mixed together. There are also roach diets that can be purchased online. These are prefabricated mixtures that just need to be served to the roaches. Watering water crystals are a good source of water, and not messy. Provide a shallow water dish for your colony. They also provide a surface area that the roaches can walk on so no more drowned insects in the water dish!
Housing
Housing dubia is very simple. Any glass tank or smooth sided plastic container would work since this is a non-climbing species. Provide a lot of egg crates for your feeder insects to breed, provide a good source of food (vegetables, dog food, etc.). Substrate is not required for this roach, and it is highly recommended that you do not use substrate. This will make your life much easier and you won’t have to clean as much. Adequate humidity would be above 40%. You may need to mist the enclosure occasionally to maintain these levels. Always keep mold out of the dubia’s cage, mold can destroy a colony of roaches. This feeder insect does not require as much humidity as other species. They do however need an above average humidity level. If you notice bad molts then you may need to bump the humidity up just a little, you can do this by misting the enclosure. The higher the temperature, the more your dubia will breed. A heat mat can be placed under the container or a heat lamp on the top of the cage will also work. They need a temperature that falls between 80°-95° Fahrenheit. These are some other ways for heating your roaches such as a pre-heated reptile room, a nocturnal light bulb with reflector, heat tape, a human heating pad, a reptile under tank heater, a ceramic heat emitter, or heat cable.
Food & Hydration:
omnivorous, therefore a diet supplemented high in protein is a must because of potential canabalilsm within the dubia colony.
Fresh, ORGANIC, fruits and vegetables which HAVE NOT been subjected to pesticides, herbicides, etc., etc., etc.
Stay away from foods high in oxylic acid based on the following research
it appears that this substance binds with vital nutrients inside the reptiles body such as calcium and iron preventing uptake, and instead depositing the metals / minerals, etc. in the liver and kidneys… …thus, bypassing any potential benefits, and potentially causing serious injury.
perhaps even being a caustic agent of Metabolic Bone Desease in young, quickly growing reptiles needing a good deal of Calcium.
Some foods rich in oxylic acid: rhubarb, buckwheat, sorrel, star fruit, black pepper, parsley, poppy seed, amaranth, spinach, chard, beets, cocoa, chocolate, most nuts, most berries, and beans. If you’re using B. dubia as a feeder, just remember that what you feed your roaches is what you feed your lizards.
Hydration
as far as hydration goes most water uptake is accomplished via feeding fruits and vegetables which have a heavy volume of water.
Although this species seems to handle the lack of moisture better than many, it is essential (especially for molting, breeding, as well as juvenile development ) to have an adequate amount of liquid available. I also use water crystals which are jelly-like and absorb huge amounts of water for their size, as well as mist the enclosure once every other day.
Other possible alternatives are using a sponge or cotton balls to hold the water ( you typically don’t want to use open water as nymphs and sometimes adults will drown. ) another consideration when using a sponge or cotton balls is the fact that they make perfect little petri dishes for bacteria to grow inside of…. I would not recommend the latter method, as it excludes possible negative factors.
Be sure that you’re using dechlorinated water! If you must use tap then there are water conditioners available to deactivate the chloramines and chlorines, and if that is not a possibility then you can leave the water – uncovered – for 48 -72 hrs. to allow said chemicals to evaporate.
Life cycle:
after copulation, and an accompanying 30 days of gestation, females give live birth to around 30 or so nymphs. Metamorphosis is simple, and it takes between 3- 5 months until maturity is reached. Adults live between 1.5 to 2 years, with the females outliving the males considerably.
gutloading your dubia
if you want to make your own bug grub theres a lot of things that can be used,
I use a mix of dry cat food and a good fish flake, they love sweet things so i add a digestive biscuit or 2 into the mix also a handfull of koi carp food pellets and a bit of either nutrabol or calcium powder ,,,theres a few dried bugs that can be added to the mix if you wanted
Dried Waterfly is high in protein and can be mixed in the blender with it all or Dried Daphnia altho it contains caroteen you dont use a lot but is good stuff mixed with the rest another is a dried fruit beetle
dubia make a great feeder insect for you and for your pet. They are easy to care for and easy to breed. They have all the nutrition your pet needs to be healthy and happy. Your pet will fill up on dubia instead of being hungry after eating crickets therefore saving you money..
these trully are the best all round feeder bug and my favorite for breeding and looking after ,,theres no biting no climbing no noise and most of all no smell
Dubia make a great feeder insect and have become a very popular feeder. This is mainly because of their shell to meat ratio. They are 36% protein while Crickets are only 18.5%. It would take about 7 crickets to compare to 1 dubia. They have a softer shell that makes it easier to digest. It is always good to feed these roaches 24 hours before feeding them to your pets, doing this will give your pets a good amount of protein. Roaches overall are a better feeder insect than most of the other insects for your pets.
Diet
A diet consisting of fresh fruits and vegetables supplemented with dry dog food, grain cereal, baby cereal, and fish flakes will provide a suitable diet. Just make sure you remove any old fruits or vegetables, mold can and will harm your colony. These items can be rotated through, or mixed together. There are also roach diets that can be purchased online. These are prefabricated mixtures that just need to be served to the roaches. Watering water crystals are a good source of water, and not messy. Provide a shallow water dish for your colony. They also provide a surface area that the roaches can walk on so no more drowned insects in the water dish!
Housing
Housing dubia is very simple. Any glass tank or smooth sided plastic container would work since this is a non-climbing species. Provide a lot of egg crates for your feeder insects to breed, provide a good source of food (vegetables, dog food, etc.). Substrate is not required for this roach, and it is highly recommended that you do not use substrate. This will make your life much easier and you won’t have to clean as much. Adequate humidity would be above 40%. You may need to mist the enclosure occasionally to maintain these levels. Always keep mold out of the dubia’s cage, mold can destroy a colony of roaches. This feeder insect does not require as much humidity as other species. They do however need an above average humidity level. If you notice bad molts then you may need to bump the humidity up just a little, you can do this by misting the enclosure. The higher the temperature, the more your dubia will breed. A heat mat can be placed under the container or a heat lamp on the top of the cage will also work. They need a temperature that falls between 80°-95° Fahrenheit. These are some other ways for heating your roaches such as a pre-heated reptile room, a nocturnal light bulb with reflector, heat tape, a human heating pad, a reptile under tank heater, a ceramic heat emitter, or heat cable.
Food & Hydration:
omnivorous, therefore a diet supplemented high in protein is a must because of potential canabalilsm within the dubia colony.
Fresh, ORGANIC, fruits and vegetables which HAVE NOT been subjected to pesticides, herbicides, etc., etc., etc.
Stay away from foods high in oxylic acid based on the following research
it appears that this substance binds with vital nutrients inside the reptiles body such as calcium and iron preventing uptake, and instead depositing the metals / minerals, etc. in the liver and kidneys… …thus, bypassing any potential benefits, and potentially causing serious injury.
perhaps even being a caustic agent of Metabolic Bone Desease in young, quickly growing reptiles needing a good deal of Calcium.
Some foods rich in oxylic acid: rhubarb, buckwheat, sorrel, star fruit, black pepper, parsley, poppy seed, amaranth, spinach, chard, beets, cocoa, chocolate, most nuts, most berries, and beans. If you’re using B. dubia as a feeder, just remember that what you feed your roaches is what you feed your lizards.
Hydration
as far as hydration goes most water uptake is accomplished via feeding fruits and vegetables which have a heavy volume of water.
Although this species seems to handle the lack of moisture better than many, it is essential (especially for molting, breeding, as well as juvenile development ) to have an adequate amount of liquid available. I also use water crystals which are jelly-like and absorb huge amounts of water for their size, as well as mist the enclosure once every other day.
Other possible alternatives are using a sponge or cotton balls to hold the water ( you typically don’t want to use open water as nymphs and sometimes adults will drown. ) another consideration when using a sponge or cotton balls is the fact that they make perfect little petri dishes for bacteria to grow inside of…. I would not recommend the latter method, as it excludes possible negative factors.
Be sure that you’re using dechlorinated water! If you must use tap then there are water conditioners available to deactivate the chloramines and chlorines, and if that is not a possibility then you can leave the water – uncovered – for 48 -72 hrs. to allow said chemicals to evaporate.
Life cycle:
after copulation, and an accompanying 30 days of gestation, females give live birth to around 30 or so nymphs. Metamorphosis is simple, and it takes between 3- 5 months until maturity is reached. Adults live between 1.5 to 2 years, with the females outliving the males considerably.
gutloading your dubia
if you want to make your own bug grub theres a lot of things that can be used,
I use a mix of dry cat food and a good fish flake, they love sweet things so i add a digestive biscuit or 2 into the mix also a handfull of koi carp food pellets and a bit of either nutrabol or calcium powder ,,,theres a few dried bugs that can be added to the mix if you wanted
Dried Waterfly is high in protein and can be mixed in the blender with it all or Dried Daphnia altho it contains caroteen you dont use a lot but is good stuff mixed with the rest another is a dried fruit beetle
dubia make a great feeder insect for you and for your pet. They are easy to care for and easy to breed. They have all the nutrition your pet needs to be healthy and happy. Your pet will fill up on dubia instead of being hungry after eating crickets therefore saving you money..
these trully are the best all round feeder bug and my favorite for breeding and looking after ,,theres no biting no climbing no noise and most of all no smell