Crested Gecko diarrhea from Dubia roaches

[GirlZilla]

I fed my cresties dubia roaches for the first time--from babies to adults, and ALL of them got diarrhea. It went away in a couple of days...tried again about a week later, MORE diarrhea. I fed the roaches the food they came with, a pre-made gut loading formula of which I would assume is mostly some kind of wheat bran, looks like what mealworms come in. I have also fed this same mixture to gut load crickets, and they did NOT have diarrhea from the crix. What gives??

[that_girl]

That seems really weird. I usually start feeding dubia when my cresteds are about a month old, and I've never noticed diarrhea with them, or anyone else. The food they came with sounds a little fishy to me, I've not seen bug food that looks like that. Is it made by a certain company or person?

[GirlZilla]

Yes it is really weird!! And I'd rather not say who makes the food because I don't think that's it. I don't want to feel like I'm bashing them or anything...lots of other people I know feed the same thing.

[Spyral]

I've heard that roaches have a longer digestive tract than crickets, so it's possible that the roaches are holding more of the commercial gutload than crickets and that's what is causing the diarrhea. If it's bran fiber, it's possible the geckos are reacting to it. Or perhaps it is past the expiration date? That's the only thing I can think of, as dubias are used by many folks without reporting runny poops.