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Dubia Roach Colonies
The dubia roach (Blaptica dubia, for the science-minded) is a soft-shelled, flightless roach with a lazy attitude and great nutritional value. Dubia roaches are an ideal food source for bearded dragons, geckos, tegus, and collared lizards. And they also work great for tarantulas and amphibians. They’re nutritious, easy to keep, and cheap to maintain.
So if your pet needs feeder insects, why go to the store to buy crickets when you could just start a self-sustaining colony of feeder bugs at home? You’ll save yourself a couple hundred trips to the store and a ton of money. Even better, your scaly friend will thank you.
If you’re looking for a simple, cheap, stress-free way to keep your pet stocked with food forever, look no further. Dubia roaches are the number one feeder insect out there. Here’s how to get an at-home bug farm going.
Why Dubia are the Best Feeder Roaches
If you’re squeamish, the thought of keeping roaches in your house probably sounds like a nightmare. But fret not! Dubia roaches are some of the most stress-free feeder insects out there.
Why, exactly? For starters, dubia roaches are almost totally flightless– only males have wings, and even they have been rarely documented to fly.
More than that, dubia roaches are bad climbers. Any kind of slick surface (like the sides of a plastic storage tub) is way too much of a challenge for them. Their temperament is very mellow, bordering on what a biologist might call “sessile”, or immobile.
But this is the most important part. Dubia roaches are biologically dependent on warmth and humidity. They need temperatures of 80-95°F to survive. So even if one did manage to escape to a room temperature place (like behind your fridge), it would die of cold.
Beyond that, dubia are ideal feeders for their nutritional content. Here are the basic nutrition facts for dubia roaches:
Protein: 22%
Fat: 7.7%
Ash: 1.7%
Water: 60%
Calcium to Phosphorus ratio: 2:3
What most reptiles need is lean protein, which dubia roaches have in spades. They also have a good calcium to phosphorus ratio, which you can supplement by dusting. At full size, they measure around 1.75”, which is suitable for lots of different reptile species.
It’s like they were designed to be kept as feeder insects. So, now you know the benefits, how do you set up a roach colony?
Supplies for Building a Roach Colony
Roaches (unlike some reptiles) aren’t too picky. You can build a roach colony with a small (10-20 gallon) storage container. You want something dark, because dubias don’t like light. High walls will discourage escape attempts.
Dubia don’t really need substrate, but they need hiding places. Egg flats are perfect for this. You can stack a few on top of each other and give them places to tuck into.
To keep the temp up, you’ll need a heat source like a heat lamp or pad. Ideally, you want the internal temperature higher than 85° to stimulate breeding.
It’s wise to put a basic thermometer inside to keep an eye on this. Humidity should be around 60%, which you can produce by spraying the enclosure once a day.
You also need roach food. Roaches eat just about anything, including each other. This can actually help you control the population if you have too many roaches, but in general you want to discourage it.
Dubia do well with semisweet grains and love tropical fruits. A cheap, homogenous breakfast cereal like cheerios does just fine in general. You can supplement that with pieces of apple, mango, banana, or orange. Water-rich food like iceberg lettuce are also important to keep them hydrated.
Last, you need roaches . This is the easy part, we’ve got you covered. We sell starter colonies of varying sizes, depending on your needs. Remember that you want a high ratio of females to males (anywhere from 2:1 to 4:1), as the females control population growth.
Setting Up a Roach Colony
You’ve got your supplies, you’ve got your roaches. Time to put it all together.
Step one: cut a 2-4” hole in the lid of your storage container. Keeping the lid on is a good idea– in case it gets tipped over, for example.
But you need air exchange to keep your roaches alive. If you’re worried about them crawling out (trust us, they won’t), you can glue some fine mesh over the hole.
Next, add your egg flats. You can rip them up a little to create more places for them to hide. Now add your heat source and thermometer.
Once the enclosure is ready, drop your roaches in and let them do their thing. They will start eating and reproducing right away. Females give birth every two months or so.
Long-term Maintenance
The only maintenance you’ll have to do for your roaches is feeding and cleaning. Given the proper conditions, they will go on producing healthy feeders for your pet forever.
You can feed your dubia roaches once every day or so. Sprinkle in some breakfast cereal to cover the basics, and garnish with some iceberg lettuce for water. If you feel like giving them a treat, you can always add a piece of fruit.
Be sure to toss out whatever they don’t eat the next day, or you’ll attract other bugs.
Last, you’ll have to clean out their frass (bug poop). Frass is great plant fertilizer, and you can add it to potted plants to give them a boost.
Once every month or so, just move the roaches to a different container and change out any ruined egg flats. Then you can shake out your roaches’ frass and give their container a wipe-down.
It’s just that easy. All you need to get started is a container, a heat source, some basic hides, and of course, a colony of starter roaches . Soon enough you’ll have your own roach farm cranking out healthy snacks for your reptile pal.