Dubia roaches (Blaptica dubia) are a popular feeder insect for insect-eating pets like reptiles, amphibians, and birds. Their nutritional profile, ease of care, and ability to be gut-loaded make them an excellent choice for feeding your pets. However, their diet directly impacts their health and the nutrition they provide to your pets. Proper nutrition is crucial for maintaining healthy Dubia roaches, whether they are kept as feeders or for breeding purposes. This article delves into the intricacies of Dubia roach diet and nutrition, covering everything from essential nutrients to harmful foods and best feeding practices.
The Importance of a Well-Rounded Diet
Many people underestimate the importance of feeding their feeder insects. Don't be one of them! What your feeder insects eat strongly affects the nutrition that they will be able to offer to your pet. Well-fed feeders offer lots of nutrition. Dubia roaches are scavengers and can consume a wide variety of foods. Their diet should be well-rounded to provide the best nutrition for them, which translates to optimal nutrition for your pets. Dubia roaches thrive on a diet rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Essential Nutrients for Dubia Roaches
Dubia roaches thrive on a balanced diet with 15-25% protein as part of their total nutritional intake. Protein is an essential component of a dubia roach's diet, especially for breeding colonies.
High-Quality Roach Chow
A high-quality roach chow is the foundation of a good dubia roach diet. Choose a chow specifically formulated for dubia roaches, such as Dubi Deli's Roach Chow , which has been refined over 15 years to optimize roach health and nutrition. Many different recipes online, and you can also purchase Premium Chow from ABDragons. We offer both dry food and gel. Whether you make your own chow or order from ABDragons, make sure your roaches have a constant supply of the food source. Put a medium-sized bowl in your roach colony, and keep it filled. If you have a lot of roaches, consider two smaller bowls, spaced out for easy access.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits are an excellent source of hydration and natural sugars, which provide energy. Offer them sparingly to prevent overloading on sugar. Vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, making them a staple for gut-loading dubia roaches. The best foods for dubia roaches include fresh fruits like apples and bananas, and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and leafy greens (e.g., kale, collards).
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Grains
Grains provide a stable energy source and fiber.
The Dubia Roach Food Diary
Monday: Bananas. Ripe bananas make great Dubia food. And the riper, the better. Bananas are relatively inexpensive, they’re available year-round in the United States, and they’re high in the sugars Dubia roaches love. Their natural diet includes fruit, but often only if they’re lucky. There is little doubt that fruit contributes to good roach health. In fact, the more fruit the better - to a point, of course. Dubia roaches don’t reach their full potential on fruit alone, but we don’t think they reach it without it either. More on that below.
Tuesday: Potatoes. Raw potatoes (particularly sweet potatoes) make excellent roach food. Potatoes (particularly sweet potatoes) are a nutritious source of calories for humans and animals alike. Roaches are no exception. If sweet potatoes are good enough for NASA (external link), they’re good enough for our roaches! Even plain white potatoes are themselves nearly a “complete” food, believe it or not. They have most of the nutrients both humans and Dubia roaches need to not just survive, but thrive.
Wednesday: Beets & Carrots. Carrots and beets contain a range of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, fiber, sugars, and moisture. They are an important staple of our Dubia roach diet for several reasons. First, our roaches like them. Second, they’re among the foods that may support Dubia roach health and vitality, according to our experience. We have tested dozens of foods over the years to find the best diet for Dubia roaches. In the fresh produce section, beets and carrots are strong favorites.
Thursday: Apples. Apples contain many of the nutrients Dubia roaches need for good health. Natural sugars, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients are among them. Like much of the fresh produce we feed our Dubia, apples are convenient roach cuisine because they’re available year-round. Peel them before feeding them to your roaches.
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Friday: Super Secret Roach Chow AKA: This is where the magic happens. OK, so fruits and vegetables are important parts of the Dubia roach diet, but we’ve found that they do better with more. And by “more”, we mean other foods. Dubia roaches love it. They eat up the entire batch in just minutes.
Saturday: Aaaaand….nothing. Giving our roaches a break from eating… It’s OK to skip feedings.
Sunday: Oranges and Greens (tangerines, actually). Dubia roaches love citrus fruit, and greens are good for them. We usually feed our roaches oranges, but on this day, we got a great deal on tangerines. Organic tangerines, no less. We also picked up some mixed greens because that’s just how we roll! Dubia roaches love oranges specifically, but they are often picky about citrus generally. They like it sweet, not sour, and some citrus fruits more than others. Our general rule is to feed citrus no more than twice a week. This is probably a good rule for most feeder insects because some reptiles get upset stomachs after eating roaches and other insects loaded with citrus fruit. Once a week is fine. Any more and you should keep a close eye on your animals for ill effects-especially the sensitive ones.
Foods to Avoid
While dubia roaches are hardy, certain foods can be harmful or even fatal. It is important that you avoid harmful foods like citrus, processed items, and pesticide-laden produce.
Processed Foods
No, processed foods should be avoided. They contain preservatives, sugars, and salts that are harmful to roaches and reduce their nutritional value. Processed foods are often loaded with preservatives, salt, and sugar, which are detrimental to dubia roaches.
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Produce Treated with Pesticides
Fruits and vegetables treated with pesticides or chemicals can harm your roaches and, consequently, your pets. For those breeding Dubia roaches, removing these risks is especially important. For gut-loading, provide nutrient-rich foods like carrots, leafy greens, and high-quality roach chow.
Citrus Fruits
No, citrus fruits should be avoided. The inclusion of citrus fruits in the diet of Dubia roaches (Blaptica dubia) is a topic of debate among enthusiasts and experts. While some sources suggest that Dubia roaches enjoy citrus fruits like oranges and tangerines. No matter how you slice it, best to avoid it as they can get plenty of nutrition from other food. Their high acidity can disrupt the digestive systems of dubia roaches and may harm pets that consume them. Digestive Sensitivity in Reptiles: Some reptiles may experience digestive issues when consuming prey that has been gut-loaded with citrus fruits.
Onions and Garlic
Onions and garlic contain several compounds that make them harmful to dubia roaches and many other insects. These compounds can interfere with the health and function of roaches' bodies and even have toxic effects.
- Allicin (found in garlic): This compound is produced when garlic is crushed or chopped.
- Thiosulfates (found in onions and garlic): These compounds are known to be toxic to insects, as well as to some animals like dogs and cats.
Onions and garlic are slightly acidic, and while dubia roaches are hardy, their digestive systems are not well-suited to handle acidic foods. Both onions and garlic have natural antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. While these are beneficial for humans, they can harm the beneficial gut bacteria in dubia roaches.
Avocado
No, avocado contains persin, a compound that is toxic to dubia roaches. Avocado, and by extension persin, is harmful to dubia roaches and other feeder insects. To keep your feeder insects and pets healthy, avoid feeding dubia roaches any part of the avocado. Persin is a natural fungicidal toxin found in avocados, specifically in the leaves, bark, skin, and pits of the fruit.
Persin is toxic to many animals, including birds, horses, cattle, goats, rabbits, and rodents.
Meats and Dairy
While dubia roaches need protein, meats and dairy are inappropriate because they can spoil quickly, leading to mold and bacteria growth.
Gut-Loading Dubia Roaches
Gut-loading is the process of feeding your dubia roaches a nutrient-rich diet 24-48 hours before offering them to your pets. This ensures that the roaches themselves are highly nutritious. For gut-loading, provide nutrient-rich foods like carrots, leafy greens, and high-quality roach chow.
What do dubia roaches eat in the wild?
Wild dubia roaches are frugivores, which means they prefer to get their nutrition from fruits and semisweet vegetables. Interestingly, dubia roaches can digest cellulose fiber to turn it into protein, so even though their natural diet seems extremely low-protein, they’re able to “magically” turn fruits and veggies into a protein source!
The goal of gutloading is to maximize your feeder insects’ nutritional value.
A dubia roach gutload should be low in protein. Too much protein in a gutload can lead to excess protein consumption for reptiles, leading to gout, which is a very painful disease where a reptile’s kidneys lose the ability to process protein properly, resulting in uric acid crystals getting deposited in the joints. This is a particular concern for insectivorous reptiles like leopard geckos or young bearded dragons.
According to this study, a low protein diet is suggested to encourage long life in roaches, but hinders reproduction. This means that a low-protein gutload is the perfect way to help maintain feeders. A low-protein diet is also likely to slow growth, which means that if you need a certain size of roach, they will stay that size longer.
A good dubia roach gutload should be plant-based. This is best for reptile health because plant-based diets tend to be low in protein, but they also tend to be rich in vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids. Carotenoids are a bonus, because aside from acting as antioxidants, they also help brighten your pet’s natural coloring!
As with your pet reptile, it’s best to offer a variety of high quality foods to your dubia roaches. This creates a more balanced diet for the roaches, since they tend to self-select for nutrition.
Dubia roaches take 2-3 days to fully digest their food, so roaches should be gutloaded for a minimum of 24 hours before feeding to your reptile, especially if they come from a source where they may not have been well fed, like a pet store. If the roaches don’t seem to like your gutload, add a little sugar and/or yeast - just a little bit! This improves palatability, which means the roaches will eat more of the gutload.
What do young or breeding dubia roaches eat?
Feeding dubia roaches for breeding and rapid growth is a little different from gutloading. The processes of growth and reproduction in dubia roaches requires a higher-protein diet than is acceptable for gutloading. Of course, growing and breeding dubia roaches requires more than just protein. Young roaches that don’t have an adequately balanced diet will grow more slowly or fail to grow altogether. Adult females with a poor diet reproduce less and produce weaker offspring.
It’s also important to consider that particularly young dubia roaches need access to the adults’ frass (droppings). As with gutloading, it’s best to provide a varied, plant-based diet to help prevent nutrient deficiencies and encourage self-selection. The foods that you can use are more or less the same as are appropriate for gutloading, but increase the protein by using high-protein cooked grains like brown rice, wheat, and oats.
Water and Hydration
Dubia roaches need a clean water source to stay hydrated. You can provide water to your dubia roaches via water crystals like Dubia Dew, or fresh fruits and vegetables. If you use a powdered dubia diet, you can mix it with water to form a thin paste. However, do note that fresh foods tend to mold quickly, so be prepared to replace these daily or every other day at most.
Dubia roaches can go a long time without water, but this is probably not very healthy for them. If you don’t give your roaches a constant supply of fresh fruits or vegetables, they will need supplemental water. This can be tricky because Dubia roaches are notoriously prone to drowning. It would be nice to be able to give them a saucer or dish of plain water, but you can’t because some will drown. Sometimes, Dubia roaches drown in water so shallow they could walk out if they tried. This is just a weird thing they do. If necessary, provide access to water in one of the following ways. Common Dubia roach watering methods include water crystals, paper towels, and sponges. These methods absorb water, allowing roaches to wick it from the material.
Once you have chosen a hydration method that all your roaches can use, set your water dish inside the enclosure on the floor. Do not place it where it can tip over or where substrate or harborage can come in contact with it. A spot on the floor with some space around it is usually best. Clean and replace the water dish every few days to prevent it from drying out or before mold grows.
Water quality is not critical if you feed the roaches off within a few weeks. However, if you keep them longer, consider distilled rather than tap water. There are a lot of chemicals in tap water (external link) that persist for a very long time (external link), and we know little about the long-term effects they have on us, let alone insects, reptiles, amphibians, and the like. The chemicals present in your water depend on your location, but a few common chemicals include chlorine, fluoride, pesticides, copper, lead, fertilizers, and prescription drugs.
Water quality is often unknown, so we avoid the potential risks to our roaches and animals by using distilled water in our colonies. You don’t have to worry about this when you meet their hydration needs with fruits and vegetables.
Maintaining a Healthy Environment
Preventing Mold and Bacterial Growth
Moldy or spoiled food can lead to diseases in your colony. To prevent mold or bacterial growth. Mold can be a significant threat to the health and well-being of a dubia roach colony. As a fungus, mold thrives in warm, humid environments, which are also ideal conditions for breeding dubia roaches. While dubia roaches are generally hardy, mold poses both direct and indirect risks to their health and the productivity of the colony. Bacteria are a natural part of the environment, but harmful or uncontrolled bacterial growth in a dubia roach colony can lead to serious health issues for the roaches and compromise the safety of the pets that consume them.
Proper Feeding Practices
Overfeeding can lead to uneaten food spoiling and mold growth. A good rule of thumb is to provide just enough food to be consumed within 24-48 hours.
Housing and Environment
To thrive, Dubia need the usual tropical roach accommodations: proper heat, humidity, and darkness. These elements are straightforward-roaches either have them, or they don’t.
Temperature
Keep Dubia roach feeders between 50ºF and 80ºF. They can survive higher and lower temperatures, but may become stressed if those temperatures persist for too long. A temperature range of 50ºF-80ºF is safe and supports the health and longevity of Dubia roaches. A dark, quiet spot in your home that maintains a temperature between 62ºF and 72ºF for most of the day and night will suffice. If the roaches reach a temperature of 80ºF during the day, allow them time to cool down at night.
Keep your roaches between 70ºF and 90ºF if you want them to grow larger. To a point, the higher the temperature, the faster they grow. However, many people buy the biggest Dubia their animal(s) can handle and don’t want the roaches to grow any larger. In this case, keep them between 50ºF and 70ºF. Dubia roaches kept at 60ºF can take up to 10 times longer to complete an instar (growth cycle) than those exposed to higher temperatures.
Choosing a Staple Feeder
Choosing a staple feeder for your reptile is an important, multi factor decision. Based on the research that went into composing this article, Dubia Roaches are somewhat more nutritious than crickets. *Finke MD. 2002. Complete nutrient composition of commercially raised invertebrates used as food for insectivores.
Housing for Dubia Roaches
Naturally, you will need a secure place to house your Dubia roaches. As feeders, they don’t need much. You can keep them in any container that is:
- unaffected by moisture
- provides you with easy access
- is slick-sided
- and opaque
Many different types of plastic storage containers are suitable for roach housing, but jars, buckets, aquariums, and similar items can also serve this purpose. There are many options for temporary storage. Perhaps the top two most important things to consider when choosing housing for your feeders are escape and air circulation.
Container size
Dubia roaches favor small spaces. They will survive in large enclosures, but Dubia roaches do better in tight quarters surrounded by other roaches. You will find that they seek these conditions when placed in large, open spaces. Keep this in mind when choosing a container. A group of 50 Dubia will do better in a shoebox-size enclosure than a 40-gallon tub, for example. Since these are feeders, there is no need for a large container. Determine a suitable enclosure based on the number of roaches you currently have. If you end up with a larger colony in the future, you can upgrade to a larger size at that time.
Harborage
To accommodate their need for darkness and physical contact, put harborage material in their enclosure. This will ideally be something they can crawl on and hide inside. It could be paper egg cartons, crumpled newspaper, or cardboard tubes from a used paper towel roll. You can use anything that provides small, dark spaces where roaches can gather together and hide. This probably isn’t necessary if you feed them off in a few days or a week, but if you keep them longer, consider giving them a place to hide.
Lids
Lids are often unnecessary because Dubia roaches can’t climb smooth surfaces. However, in addition to keeping things in, lids also keep things out. This may come in handy if you have pets or people who want to check out your roaches. Also, remember that Dubia roaches can climb lightly scuffed surfaces. With any new enclosure, make sure the sides are smooth enough to prevent escape before going lidless. Keep in mind that small nymphs are smaller and lighter than larger ones, which means they can climb smoother surfaces. Sometimes, all it takes is a little dust or dirt on an otherwise smooth surface for tiny nymphs to climb right up. A container with smooth, clean sides will discourage the roaches from climbing out.
If you use a lid, ensure the roaches have sufficient air. You can cut ventilation holes and secure them with a window screen and hot glue or tape. Dubia roaches can chew through fiberglass screens, so if they can reach it, use metal. If you aren’t trying to keep anything out, open ventilation holes may work.
If you have a container with walls that roaches can climb and you don’t have a lid, you can prevent escape by spreading a two to three-inch-wide band of petroleum jelly around the interior walls. Apply it very thin, using only enough to coat the surface. Petroleum jelly loses its thick viscosity at high temperatures and tends to run when applied too thickly. This won’t be an issue for those who keep their roaches at room temperature.
Alternatively, you can apply a strip of clear packing tape to the upper inside surface instead of petroleum jelly. Both work equally well. All things equal, packing tape is less messy than petroleum jelly and would probably be our recommendation.
However, the best solution is a container with slick sides that the roaches cannot climb and a lid with vent holes to keep roaches in and curious animals and people out.