Dubia Roaches?

[dannyisamazing]

So ive been thinking about getting roaches but im not sure.

Can anyone give me some suggestions why I should switch from crickets. I know that they are a lot healthier. But the idea of having them escape and crawling around my house freaks me out.

If i were to get some, should I breed them or keep buying some?
What should my feeding schedule be, would I also have to buy crickets?
If i were to get 100 nymphs, what should I store them in and how do I take care of them, like do they need heat or misting?
Etc.............

 

[d3s5]

There are plenty of resources you can search for online and here on the forums to learn how to keep roaches. I would definitely add them to your chams diet. I breed Dubia, Turkistan, and Green Banana roaches. I find them easy to keep. They don't smell, they aren't noisy, and they offer great variety for your cham. I am not worried about Dubia or the Green Bananas infesting my house. I am VERY careful with the Turkistan roaches however. I only cup feed them because I FR. I put the Green Bananas on the FR and just let my cham pick them off. They die in a few days without very high humidity. I cup feed and FR the Dubia, but I make sure he eats the Dubia, I don't leave them on the FR because they can live such a long time. I also cup feed crickets and FR horns, silks, and butterworms. Variety is great for your chameleon!

Deb

 

[KingJulian]

We got some dubias about a month ago from the guy we got our panther from...he's not a fan of them at all. He's eaten 2 since then. They honestly sit in a bin with holes in the top and we put carrots and apples in there for them to eat. They seem to be really easy to take care of, but my cham hates them

 

[Andee]

Dubias have more protein in them, crickets are like 18% and dubias are like 30%, and also are easier to digest than crickets. Crickets can carry parasites a lot easier especially if you aren't breeding them yourself. I love the roaches too, because they are less likely to live very long outside of the cage, my panther will eat just about anything that moves so he loves his dubias and his crickets along with hornworms (those are his fav) but I am also getting some green banana roaches soon. I can't wait for those, he'll love them.

Dubias need heat in order to breed and grow fast but its pretty easy to find just a heat mat and do it that way... Green banana need heat and humidity, substrate.

 

[dannyisamazing]

Thanks guys, it not only going to go to my chameleon its going to go to my bearded dragon, and leopard geckos.

 

[Andee]

So for breeding them I definitely would. If your lizards take to them that is. They are easy to breed they have a nymph stage of 3-5 months. And can live up to a year. They are live births so they don't need substrate. To keep them I would just get a large rubbermaid container with a lid drill some holes in the top and close them up. Egg crates are a must, or corkbark because they need to cluster on something. Your feeding schedule depends on whether you are getting rid of crickets completely or not. Roaches are more filling in my opinion so you shouldn't need to feed as many, and should only be cup fed or hand fed because they like to hide and burrow. They absolutely love citrus, oranges and tangerines ^^ some say it boosts breeding rate I'm not sure if it does but as long as they are happy.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I observed your post and saw you are going to feed dubias to your leopard geckos, make sure your leopard gecko can swallow one first. I only fed very small dubais to my leos because they don't really chew like chameleons and bearded dragons. They tend to chomp a couple of times to make it smaller and then swallow it whole. But Dubias are simply fantastic and breed at a great rate, you can have a huge colony in as little as three months with just heat and good gutload. Definitely one of the top feeders you can have. Much better than crickets and don't have the smell as well.

 

[Andee]

I agree about watching which you feed to your leos, very small and preferably freshly molted if you can, they turn white when freshly molted and are very soft, it's easier for them to chomp and swallow the softer ones.

 

[ISA my Veiled]

I agree about watching which you feed to your leos, very small and preferably freshly molted if you can, they turn white when freshly molted and are very soft, it's easier for them to chomp and swallow the softer ones.

Yeah definitely, but as for the Beardies and your chameleon they will be perfect. But again freshly molted would be great for the leos and make sure they are small. I've seen my friends leo almost choke on a non molted one that was a bit bigger than what he should have.

 

[dannyisamazing]

Thanks again guys. I think that this weekend I will buy some and see how it turns out.

 

[Norcal55]

Roaches will be great if your Chams will eat them. A trick that Pssh posted worked fantastic for me to turn my guys onto them. Get a plastic spoon and put a roach on its back into the spoon and try to hand feed. It will be real hard for the roach to turn over and the leg action will draw the Chams attention. I did this a few times now all I have to do is put a roach or two an the screen and they are all over them
I had beardies and they went to town on them. They are very easy to breed when you start with adults. Heat, egg crates, good food and your set! Dont forget the oranges

 

[Maksim]

I tried all the tricks and my Cham is not interested , I even tried a plate with a stick in the center for roaches to climb up.