Dubia Roaches

[TAD]

I would like to try feeding dubia roaches to my one crestie and my one gargoyle. The minimum I have seen to be sold is 50. That's going to last a looooong time, if I only give 3 or 4 a week. The pet store dubias are usually in containers where most of them are dead or dying, so I don't want to go that route. I could order from Josh's Frogs or similar, but how do I keep them safely for several weeks without breeding them, or having them die off?

[Mechanical8Dragon]

If you're going to be feeding them on a regular basis, I honestly would just start a colony.

I ordered all my roachies from:
https://dubiaroaches.com/collections...aches-for-sale

honestly they're the cheapest I've seen in prices for dubias than any other seller. and they can sell you 25 for 4$ of their smallest size if you just want them as a 'treat'

My colony was mainly started up for my fiance's bearded dragon, but a couple times a month I throw some small ones in deli cups and plop them in my gecko tanks and they LOooove em.

If you're interested in starting a colony let me know we can talk. I've had great success with mine. But if you just want a few to try out and feed once in awhile. Go for dubiaroaches.com and buy their smalls (honestly the extra smalls are a bit TOO tiny lol).


I have a video on my instagram (ok 4 of them LOL cus 1min video limits suuuuuuuck) where I talk about my roaches and how I set them up. Granted it's on a bigger scale, but you could easily downsize it, and as long as your house doesn't get too chilly you don't need to worry about the heat source if you don't wanna breed em. If you don't get adults, you don't have to worry about them breeding. Babies take some months to get to a breeding size.
https://www.instagram.com/sovereignreptiles/

[TAD]

I would like to try just a few first, to see if they like them. I only have two geckos, so even 25 dubias are going to last probably at least a month. I'll go watch your video (thank you!) and learn some more. Our house gets down to about 67-70 in the winter. Thank you for the link! I'll go there to buy once I figure out exactly what I want. I tried the Phoenix worms, but they didn't show any interest in those. They ended up pupating and I had a whole bunch of flies I couldn't do anything with.

You guys are so helpful with everything!

[Lucia]

I got my Dubia from west coast roaches. They have good prices, though they are sometimes a bit slow with the delivery. If you buy more roaches than you need, I recommend buying the very small ones, or mixed xtra small - small roaches, so that they do not get too big for your geckos too soon. They grow slowly if you do not heat the tub. I keep mine at room temperature (~ 77 degrees in the summer, and 70 - 75 now) and only heat the tub to ~ 85 F if I want more offspring.

The roaches are super easy to keep. I have mine in a plastic tub with some egg carton and a screen lid. They either get fed Pangea insect grub or dry Pangea that is slightly over it's best-before date. If I feed dry food, I give them water crystals for hydration. Otherwise, a Dubia colony is also great for disposing of leftover veggie scraps, and they also get the hydration they need from the fresh food. I only feed them organic fruit and vegetable bits that are gecko-safe, though. No meat or any other kitchen waste. Carrots and apples work great.

[TAD]

I did buy some dubias and they were well received by both Hygge and TBD. But now I have a question on housing the roaches. Currently I have them in a shoebox sized plastic tub. I put a slightly damp sponge in it for humidity, and a paper towel folded in half on the other end. They get soaked dehydrated fruit, changed out every other day, and some bread and oatmeal once in a while.

I was putting cut-up egg cartons in there for them to hide in, but I am finding that they hold too much moisture and start to mold pretty quickly. The roaches don't seem to be able to stick to the styrofoam cartons at all. Is there anything else you can suggest for me to try besides the egg cartons, that won't mold with a little humidity? It's pretty dry in our house in winter, and there are air holes in the tub, but when spring and summer finally hit, it will be pretty sticky. (We will run an air conditioner in summer.) If I'm already having trouble with too much humidity there, I'm afraid it's going to get worse.

I am ordering a breeding box that is like a longer, flatter Kritter Keeper, that has more ventilation, and maybe that will help. But I'd still like to replace the cardboard egg cartons. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

(The sponge I am using is a regular kitchen-size sponge, about 3x4" - maybe I should cut that in half?)

[Mechanical8Dragon]

don't worry about humidity love <3 I'd take the sponge out and put the cartons back in. As long as you feed them water-rich foods, they don't need humidity.

My roaches get the pangea PIG gel cubes and have never once had any applications of humidity raises in their tub. They are breeding like rabbits.

Honestly all my roaches get is the PIG stuff, and then when our bearded dragon's greens are beginning to go bad, we'll toss em in. I'll buy a small orange once in awhile for em but it's rare.

I have vids of my bin on my isntagram. there a bit out of order but you'llg et the gist:
https://www.instagram.com/sovereignreptiles/