Premium Feeders (Blaptica dubia)
Dubia roaches have quickly become the gold standard in the reptile hobby. Compared to crickets, they contain significantly more protein, less chitin (exoskeleton), and live much longer. Furthermore, they do not smell, make zero noise, and cannot climb smooth surfaces or jump, making escapes virtually impossible. Here is your comprehensive guide to housing, feeding, and breeding Dubia roaches.
1. Setup and Environment Dubia roaches require a dark, warm environment with plenty of surface area to thrive and breed. Enclosure: A dark or opaque plastic storage tote is ideal. Because they cannot climb clean, smooth plastic, you can leave the lid off for maximum ventilation or modify the lid by cutting a large hole and hot-gluing aluminum screen mesh over it. Surface Area: Stack cardboard egg crates vertically inside the tote. This provides the roaches with plenty of dark places to hide, reducing stress and giving nymphs (babies) a place to molt safely away from adults. Temperature: To simply keep them alive, room temperature is fine. However, to trigger
breeding, they need heat. Maintain temperatures between 85°F and 90°F. Use a thermostat- controlled reptile heat mat placed under one side of the enclosure.
Humidity: Keep ambient humidity around 40-60%. While they are tropical insects, extreme moisture inside a plastic tote will quickly lead to mold and bacterial growth, which can crash your colony.
2. Diet and Hydration (Gut-Loading)
The Golden Rule of Hydration Never provide an open bowl of water! Roaches are incredibly clumsy and nymphs will drown instantly. Always use water polymer crystals or moisture-rich vegetables.
Dry Diet: Provide a high-quality roach chow, ground high-protein chicken mash, or specialized insect diet as their staple. Place the dry food in a shallow dish to keep it separate from the waste at the bottom of the tub. Fresh Food (Gut-Loading): Offer fresh fruits and vegetables daily or every other day. Oranges are a massive favorite and are known to help trigger breeding. Carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes are also excellent. Mold Prevention: Only feed as much fresh food as they can consume in 24 to 48 hours. Remove any uneaten fresh food promptly to prevent mold and fruit flies.
3. Daily Care and Maintenance Dubia roaches are exceptionally clean insects, making maintenance surprisingly easy. Frass Accumulation: Roach droppings are called "frass." Over time, frass will accumulate at the bottom of the tub. Unlike cricket waste, dry frass does not smell bad (it smells somewhat like rich, earthy soil). Cleaning Schedule: Depending on the size of your colony, you only need to clean the tub every 1 to 3 months. Transfer the egg crates and roaches to a temporary bin, sift the frass out (many people keep a colony of "cleaner crew" dermestid beetles to help manage waste), wipe down the tub, and replace any soiled egg crates.
4. Breeding Dynamics If you keep them hot and well-fed, Dubias will breed easily, though the life cycle is quite slow. Sexing Adults: Males have full wings that cover their entire back, though they are poor flyers and generally only flutter to break a fall. Females are larger, bulkier, and have only tiny stubby wing pads.
Breeding Ratio: For an optimal breeding colony, maintain a ratio of 1 male for every 3 to 5 females. Too many males will result in fighting and stress, which decreases breeding output. Feed off excess adult males to your reptiles. Live Bearers: Unlike crickets, Dubia roaches do not lay eggs in the soil. The female produces an egg sac (ootheca) which she incubates internally. After roughly 28 days, she gives birth to 20-40 live nymphs.
Patience is Key: It takes a newborn nymph about 4 to 6 months to grow into an adult capable of breeding. Do not over-feed from a new colony until it is fully established!