We all want to give our animals the best when it comes to their diet and care. For my reptiles, that includes a constant supply of nutritious feeder insects. Although Dubia roaches are arguably one of the best staple feeders to offer your reptiles (or amphibians, tarantulas, etc.), they’re also fairly pricey. Restocking your feeder supply every couple of weeks could quickly put a strain on your wallet when a SINGLE adult roach can cost around $2. Anyone with a juvenile bearded dragon knows just how quickly an animal can demolish an order of bugs. Seriously, teenage beardies eat a LOT.
So, how do you balance the quality of your feeders with the added cost? Well, if you have the space for it, I would recommend breeding them yourself. Compared to other insects I’ve raised as feeders (crickets, mealworms, superworms, silkworms, and hornworms.. oh my!), these are by far the easiest to breed and care for. But before you are able to raise these lil’ buggers efficiently, you need to know more about their ideal habitat and what they need to thrive.
Dubia roaches (Blaptica dubia) are typically found in the wild in Central and South America. So as you might expect, they prefer tropical environments. They breed most efficiently in temperatures ranging from 80-90F, with an ambient humidity of around 40-60%. Dubias are partially ovoviviparous, which means that nymphs (baby roaches) develop inside an ootheca, or a long, segmented egg case that the female stores within her. Once the nymphs are ready to hatch, the female then gives live birth.
After the nymphs are born, they go through about seven instars, or stages between molts, until they reach sexual maturity. This can take anywhere from 4-6 months, depending on how optimal their living conditions are. This may sound like a long time to wait for them to mature into breeding adults, but keep in mind that each female can give birth to 20-30 nymphs at a time. Each female can also give birth to the next batch of nymphs about 70 days later. So, if you have at least 5-10 adult females to start with, your colony has the potential to grow exponentially as long as optimal conditions are met.
Adult dubia roaches are sexually dimorphic, which means that females and males look physically different from one another (in ways besides what’s under their skirts). The females tend to be bigger, and have short, stubby wing nubs. The males have longer, fully developed wings that cover their abdomen. Typically you want to make sure that you have more females than males in your colony (a 5:1 ratio is what I go with). This avoids a surplus of males that will end up becoming aggressive towards one another in their quest to get their freak on. The males are also known to cannibalize small nymphs if there’s too much competition for females in the area.
Bottom: Female Dubia Roach
In the wild, dubia roaches eat a variety of different items ranging from plant matter to some dead animals and insects. To raise a colony of your own, veggies and fruits will be the biggest staple in your roaches’ diet. To supplement other nutrients and protein, many also occasionally feed dog kibble, fish food, cereal, etc. So far I’ve had the best results with either fish food, or Mazuri Better Bug Blend as a protein and general nutritional supplement for my roaches- and they absolutely love the stuff.
Ok, now that you know more about Dubias, let’s get into some of the positives and negatives of raising a colony of these guys in your home.
Positive #1: They can’t climb or fly well.
Since dubias possess an underdeveloped arolium (it’s like a big suction cup between a bug’s toes), they can’t stick to and climb up smooth surfaces. This makes keeping them in a glass aquarium or plastic tote possible in the first place. If the tub you are keeping them in has a rough surface, you can always line the top few inches with smooth tape to keep them from getting out.
And although the males can glide with their long wings, I have yet to see any fly upwards or take off from anywhere. This makes life a lot easier when compared with the hornworm’s hawkmoth stage, or even crickets. Ugh. Crickets.
Positive #2: No smell.
If you’ve ever kept crickets, you know how much bugs can utterly reek. Not dubias. I’ve had a colony for the past 7 years and I’ve never had an issue with any bad smells. Their droppings barely even have a scent. It’s wonderful.
Positive #3: Easier clean up.
Along with being pretty neutral in terms of smell, dubia doo-doo is also easy to clean. Their frass (or waste) looks like tiny, dry pellets that collect at the bottom of the roach tank or tub. When I clean out my colony, I usually move all of the adults over to a new tub, and then use a metal sifter to separate the frass from the nymphs. Their turds are even great fertilizer for your garden.
Positive #4: Great protein source with less fat and fiber.
Dubias are not only the easiest feeders to care for, they’re one of the best staple insects as far as their protein and calcium content. These nutrients are essential for the health of your pet, so this is definitely one of the most important positive aspects of raising dubias. Superworms and mealworms don’t offer the same nutrition due to their higher levels of fat and chitin (fiber), respectively.
Positive #5: They won’t bite your pet.
Unlike other insects that will nibble on your reptile friends if left unattended in their enclosure (*cough* CRICKETS *cough*), dubia roaches are totally harmless. I have no issue picking up an adult dubia with my bare hands. I can’t say the same about superworms, mealworms, or crickets. Eck.. crickets.
Positive #6: No separation at different developmental stages.
For bugs like silkworms, hornworms, and superworms, it’s important to separate your bugs into different setups depending on their developmental stage. Many insects have a larval, pupal, and imaginal stage as they progress into adulthood. If you were to keep your superworms in their larval stage with the superworms in their beetle and pupa stage, you’ll find that the worms and beetles will cannibalize the defenseless pupae. And the setup you’d have for a silkworm or hornworm would not be the same setup needed for their mature, moth forms. Dubias make things less complicated by having everything contained within one setup- from birth to death.
Positive #7: They live pretty long.
Dubias can live approximately 1-2 years. That’s a lot longer than silkworms (6-8 weeks), crickets (8-10 weeks), hornworms (1-2 months), and superworms (6-12 months). Mealworms have the potential to live pretty long in colder temps, but remember that they’re best used as a feeder during their larval stage, whereas dubias are a great feeder in every stage of their life cycle.
Positive #8: They won’t settle down in your home if they get loose.
This point only applies if you live in a non-tropical climate or region. If you live somewhere like the Northeastern United States, these roaches would not be able to survive outside of their carefully maintained setups. Even if they do survive long enough to find shelter and food, they will not breed unless it is extremely hot and humid. And once colder temperatures kick in, they’ll simply keel over and die.
Ok, on to the negatives.
Negative #1: They’re not legal everywhere.
Dubia roaches are illegal to own or buy in some states (like Florida) and countries (like Canada). Usually when a state bans them, it’s because dubia roaches could potentially thrive in the wild if released in that region. So if someone dumped their entire colony outside in the middle of Miami, there’s a good chance they could carve a niche for themselves in that tropical environment. Florida has become very critical of non-native species being released and becoming invasive, and so they crack down on animals that pose too high of a risk of roughing it in the Florida wilds.
Negative #2: Some people develop allergic reactions to the roaches.
It’s a widely known fact that you can develop allergies to different feeder insects by exposing yourself to them and their frass on a frequent basis. This is especially true for dubia roaches. I’m actually allergic to them myself. The allergies usually start as a small, itchy rash where a roach walked on your skin or where their frass touched you (I’m more allergic to the poop than the roaches themselves). But with continued exposure, this could potentially develop into respiratory issues. This is why it’s necessary to wear at least gloves when working with feeder insects. Since I know I’m allergic, I usually wear gloves and a mask. When you clean their tubs, it’s important to do so in a well-ventilated area to limit your exposure to their frass. You don’t want to be breathing that stuff in.
Negative #3: Roaches like to burrow.
If you leave a roach in your animal’s enclosure with any substrate, they will tend to hide and burrow out of view, which may take your pet a long time to find it. This is the same with many other insects, though. Except for crickets. But that’s about the only good thing about them. Crickets suck.
Negative #4: Dubias will drown in an open water source.
Dubias are horrible swimmers. To make sure they still get their necessary hydration, you either have to put a moist paper towel on one side of their enclosure, or use water crystals in a container with rough edges for them to climb in and out of. You can also supplement their water by giving them fresh fruit, but having a water source is still a good practice. You’ll notice that they make quick work of fruit and it’ll be a dry husk in no time.
Negative #5: They need consistent temps.
As we learned before, these bugs thrive between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit, so your job is to make sure their home stays within that range. Personally I use a heat mat on a thermostat to regulate my colony’s temperature. The heat mat is placed under the tub, and rests on raised tile instead of the floor (to avoid heating the carpet/flooring and lessen the risk of an electrical fire). The heat source MUST be regulated with a thermostat or rheostat. You should NEVER use a heat mat/heat tape without regulating the output with another device. That’s how you fry your roaches, melt your plastic bin, and burn your entire house down. Don’t do it.
Negative #6: They have a higher start up cost.
Dubias are expensive as far as feeder bugs go, so buying the initial bugs and setup may run you anywhere from $60-100. The more elaborate your setup is, the more money it’ll cost you (aka more bugs, multiple colonies in different tubs, fancy thermostats instead of cheaper ones). Even though the cost may be higher than starting a colony of other feeder insects, if you keep these roaches happy they’ll give you limitless value over the span of many years. I’ve never run out of dubias in the 7 years that I’ve raised them, and they’ve paid for themselves a bunch of times over.
Well, there are the pros and cons of raising these amazing arthropods. If you have weighed your options and would like to go ahead with starting your first dubia colony, check out my next post “How to Start a Dubia Colony”.