# A Beginner's Guide to Small-Scale Dubia Breeding



## HeatherN (Aug 31, 2012)

as a few may know, i recently started a small blaptica dubia colony to supplement Tarot's, my extreme giant tegu, diet. there have been some hiccups, but im am unreasonably proud to say i am now successfully breeding one of the easiest feeders to produce! Tarot loves the little guys, and i am slowly expanding to meet his demands. he gets super excited whenever i bring down the colony to feed from, and hes usually a apprehensive critter. i would like to share my methods and mistakes that eventually morphed into a nice, healthy, cost-effective culture.

_*Blaptica Dubia:*_
referred to as dubia roaches, or dubias, blaptica dubia are closely related to discoid roaches and make wonderful prey items for any insect eating pet. with a high flesh to exoskeleton ratio, these big guys are an excellent source of protein and vital vitamins and nutrients with low fat content.

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Darwin, my bullfrog, has gotten fat off them

Dubia roaches are tropical roaches and scavengers. they will naturally gutload themselves as effectively as possible when provided a varied diet. poor climbers and easy breeders, dubias are simple and more hygienic to keep than crickets, supers, or mealworms. they dont even need substrate!
it's easy to tell male and females apart from one another. females are plump, shiny, and wingless. males tend to be skinnier and have wings that they can use to fly with rarely. (mine love to fly at night) females give live birth after incubating their oothecae internally for about a month. their offspring emerge as pill-bug-like nymphs, and are fully independent. 

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one of my females

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one of my males (w/ chewed wings)

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a young baby i produced

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a large nymph that will soon morph into a mature adult!

most people are apprehensive to try culturing dubias for the first time, after all, they are roaches! what if they escape and infest your house?? not to worry. first of all, they're terrible climbers. if you accidentally conveniently drop a pair of adult dubia and they get lost, odds are they wont mate without 85+ temps. and unless your leaving out food on the ground, they most likely wont live long enough to mate or give birth, let alone have babies mature enough to infest. most places also lack the humidity for dubias to thrive in your house as well. though, they are illegal in Florida. after awhile, the handsome (for roaches) little fellas become like pets.

the only thing i paid for to start this colony was the roaches themselves. even if i were to go out and buy all the peripheral things, it's cheaper than buying roaches as needed. heres a list!

*Materials:*
-totes/bins/buckets/aquariums/anything with smooth sides that you can clean and house the roaches in

-egg crates

-window screening (optional)

-roach chow/water crystals and/or a source of leftover food

-ummmm.. oh yeah! roaches!

*Setting up:*
- put the egg crates in the housing for the colony. some like to glue them together and/or stack them vertically so they stay put and have the poop drain out, respectively. (i just placed them whichever way fit in my little containers loosely)

-for any bins with adult males in them, provide ventilation by replacing around 50% of the cover with screen to prevent escape

-theres no need for bowls or anything like that unless you want to, it can make it easier to clean, i didnt though and i have no issues

-purchase or obtain your roaches! an easy and cheap place to get them is a local show. theres no shortage of deals online though, some even sell starter colonies. for me, dubideli and thedubiaroach websites gave me good deals, and i can vouch for the quality. id suggest a ratio of male to females of 1:3, less can cause stress.

my nymph bin, then my adult bin (so i can measure production. they dont need to be separate)
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*Care/Maintenance:*
-feeding the roaches is easy; provide dry food and a source of moisture and protein. always remove old food to prevent mold.

-dry food can include roach chow, various grains or cereal, and nuts
-sources of moisture include water crystals, vegetables, and fruit
-protein is important from proper growth. roach chow has protein, but i use almonds and other nuts, which they seem to love.

the average daily food i put in (carrots, whole grain bread, and almonds)
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-cleaning is easy too! babies will munch on adult poop, but a layer of poop is no problem unless its wet. just remove the droppings once and awhile and prevent mold as much as possible. remove any dead roaches when you see them, they putrefy quickly in humidity.

-dubia roaches need relatively high heat to reproduce, i find anything above 85 degrees Fahrenheit works. above 95 degrees is too high! i keep my roaches on top of my tegu's cage next to the heat lamp. that keeps it hot enough without using a heat emitter, uth, or heat tape.

- being tropical roaches, they also need relatively high humidity. if keeping in a large tote, water crystals or misting can keep the humidity high enough. if your roaches are molting improperly, you may need to mist!

a good molt
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-one of my mistakes was not providing enough dry food. i fed them mostly carrots and similar veges for awhile, and their waste was too moist. the excess moisture in their systems caused a moldy smell, but no actual visible mold. it is possible to have too moist of a colony, mold kills!

-too much trauma or stress to the pregnant females can cause them to drop their oothecas. try to minimize rough handling. if there are lots of dropped ooths (they look like really big poops) there is a problem with your colony, perhaps overcrowding.

*Signs of Success or Failure:*

- a thriving colony will have no large scale deaths and lots of bouncing baby roaches around after a month or two

-examine the dead roaches you find. are they deformed? moldy? desiccated? chewed to bits?
-deformities and incomplete sheds are signs of too low of humidity. mist!
-mold means too much! feed more dry food, wipe the sides, or stop misting so much.
-desiccation or skinniness may mean your not feeding enough, usually not enough moisture. make sure theres fresh food at all times.
-sometimes chewing on live or freshly dead roaches is a sign of either protein deficiency or overcrowding. its hard to overcrowd roaches if theyre provided with plenty of hiding spaces, but it is a possibility. for me though, it was usually a need for more protein/dry foods.


that about sums up all ive learned on the journey through establishing a dubia colony. id like to thank the legendofcharlie, he helped me a ton with his wealth of invert knowledge!


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