Photos: Blaptica Dubia - Orange Spotted Roaches

[lucky]

i think the dubia are a good feeder. my geckos, beardie. pacman frog, and chameleons love em. the chameleons do only eat them sometimes tho... i got a small colony from a friend and they are just reproducing constantly.

 

[Dave Weldon]

I have a few questions Dave. How fast do the roaches grow and how old should your cham be before you start feeding him/her roaches?

Howdy,

Good question about Dubia growth rate . So much can depend on how much you feed them and what temp you keep them at. If you need to slow them down, shut-off the heat and reduce the food to maybe once a week or less. Otherwise, I think I read that they will produce a batch of nymphs every 60 days or was it 30 days . As hallenhe said, the small ones are a nice size for the typical 3-4 month-old Veiled or Panther or anything in that size bracket. My adult Leopard Geckos almost never pass-up a Dubia .

I had Lobster roaches for a few years but I wasn't a big fan of them since they smell like dirty socks, climb glass, the babies are super small, and they seem to be able to survive cold to the point that I think they might do well if they got out in my house .

Lobsters:

Although this is a photo of a batch of Hisser nymphs (I don't keep them anymore either), you'll get the idea of what 10 minute-old Dubia nymphs look like:

(See page 90 of "The Chameleon Handbook" 2009. Yep, that's my hand ).

I think it's a Hisser... Neat looking anyway .

 

[Nosybe]

Dave, which roaches do you think are more worth the effort, Lobsters or Hissers? Don't say dubias because I already have some!

 

[Digby Rigby]

Friends dont let friends get lobster roaches

Hissers are pretty much shell and fat, do not reproduce as fast as other roaches more suitable as feeders, and the nymphs can be hard to contain even with some of the roach barriers available such as vaseline, among others.

When cockroaches were first starting to be used as feeders, hissers nd lobster roaches were about the only ones available, then came Blaberus discoidales, then came Blaptica dubia. There are other cockroaches that breed fast and arent the glass climbing pain that lobster roaches are. Lobster roaches are also the only ones we have known to actually infest peoples houses. Not even Blatta lateralis have done that. Although rare the lobster cockroaches are the only ones we know of that have done that here in the States. These days there are more suitable species that are easier to deal with than lobster cockroaches, such as Blatta lateralis among others.

Digby Rigby

 

[Montium]

I have a few questions Dave. How fast do the roaches grow and how old should your cham be before you start feeding him/her roaches?

I know you asked Dave but I feed even young chams the dubia. The nymphs can be quite small.

 

[pssh]

My smallest nymphs are 1/8-1/4 of an inch big, so you can feed them to pretty young chameleons, but of course it depends on what kind of cham you have.