Dubia Roaches vs. Crickets

Halley · Jun 12, 2008

Okay I have heard, that roaches, don't stink, don't climb, and they breed easier. I did get in 5,500 crickets today, though, and luckily all the geckos took to them (I’m glad about that, I was hoping the transition from mealworms, to crickets would be this easy) But I think my next order will be roaches. However can these be kept in bowls, or do they run lose, in the cage, like crickets? I really have no idea; I’ve never seen them in person. How big are they?

Thanks everybody.

gothra · Jun 13, 2008

The adult dubias are around 4-5cm length. I feed the nymphs that are around 2 cm long to my adults. I don't like leaving the roaches run free in my tanks, so I tweezer feed them. Usually, 1-2 nymphs are enough to fill them up per feed. I also like to pick the freshly molted ones to feed to my geckos, they love these softer ones.

wings2fly · Jun 13, 2008

I would much rather have dubia roaches than crickets any day. I keep mine in the garage where it is warm... and they breed better.
When it comes to feeding, I just put the nymphs in the tank and let them run around like you would crickets. I feed them to my juv and adult geckos... picking out the roaches that are just a bit smaller than the gecko's head. I usually feed 2 per gecko.

Carin

clear · Jun 27, 2008

Dubia IMO are the best feeder insect. They can get large enough to feed just about anything, slow moving, dont climb, no smell and dont fly! What else can you ask for?

Boopster · Mar 25, 2009

clear said:
Dubia IMO are the best feeder insect. They can get large enough to feed just about anything, slow moving, dont climb, no smell and dont fly! What else can you ask for?

Well from your list I miss two things. Small enough to feed hatchling crested geckos with and silent....

wait! The faboulus roach Blaptica dubia is those as well!

Nevermore will a cricket enter my premises.

fOOlsgOld · Mar 26, 2009

I'll warn you now this is Picture heavy. The males don't exactly like to cooperate so I don't have the best picture of one of them. I put a match box car in for a reference size, most people know about how big those are. Roaches are crazy easy to take care of and breed: Dark space(keep the lid on), warmth (I use a heating pad from the pharmacy), water (water crystals and fruits/veggies), food (roach chow, scraps, bread, anything that may get dropped on your kitchen floor and make its way to the trash lol). So here goes! ENjoy!!

My roach motel

With the lid off.

The cartons taken out of the way.

MMMMMM Cockamroaches!!!

AAWWWW.... look at my babies!!!

:main_laugh:

Chewbecca · Mar 26, 2009

oh good god!!!!
How can you just hold those things in your hands???
ACK!!!!

GAH!!!

Ours should be arriving sometime this week.
My husband will be a busy man feeding those to 7 geckos and babies to a crested.

I won't touch them.
:main_laugh:

fOOlsgOld · Mar 26, 2009

LoL if someone had told me this time last year that I would have a thousand-\+ roaches in my basement BY CHOICE I would have told them they were nuts! but tbh they aren't that bad, about the same as meal worms and WAY BETTER then crickets!!!! I hate crickets almost as much as I hate the devil cat I have.

Bugs in general don't bother me at all, neither do reptiles or any of the normal 'creepy crawlies' that freak people out. One thing you will NEVER find as a pet in my house though is rats!!! not mice but RATS *shiver* THOSE are disgusting!!!

Chewbecca · Mar 26, 2009

oooh, god, I HATE crickets.

EWEWEWEWEW!

Nasty little boogers, I LOATHE them.

And I have to feed small ones to my baby crested right now.

fOOlsgOld · Mar 26, 2009

I just don't like crickets because they are stinky, noisy, stinky, filthy and nasty lol. The whole bug thing doesn't bother me.

Chewbecca · Mar 26, 2009

fOOlsgOld said:
I just don't like crickets because they are stinky, noisy, stinky, filthy and nasty lol. The whole bug thing doesn't bother me.

It bothers me!:main_laugh:
I'm sure I'll get used to it, though.

hoppslover · Mar 27, 2009

I will tell you that I got in to breeding the mealworms as soon as I got into Leopards. It’s been easy and a great food source for my leos. Easier than easy. I started my roach colony last august. It is growing and if I could stop feeding off of the colony it would probably be a lot bigger. I recently bought a bearded dragon. I read a lot about them and some places said yes to mealworms and some said no, but when I bought this girl the breeder said no feeding of mealworms. So I got another sterilite tub and bought 1000 crixs. WHAT a mistake. I had a hard time keeping them alive. They smelt really bad and I will never have them again. So I washed out my tub and put some of my Dubias in there to start another colony. I couldn’t get the smell of those crixs out. LOL So in my opinion its mealies and Dubias that are the best for me.

LizMarie · May 3, 2009

Nick did you ever decide on those roaches? Uggh I noticed this post just popped up at the top after I dunno how long, lol

im faster · Aug 30, 2011

Well..
dubias are pretty good..
but they are not slow.. and they hide to well..

i feed crickets and supers mostly i have to many to feed out of my colony.. but its growing nicely...

Desdemona · Sep 26, 2011

Mealies and superworms in smaller Dragons (mealies in all sizes) are known for causing impaction. They don't seem to digest as well as the Leos.

For the Dubais toilet/paper towel rolls and egg cartons are a serious help. They will cling to them like they are the key to their existence. I use them to transport when I do a cage cleaning and also put the egg crates in the baby cage so when I need to feed them I just put a dish under and tap them into the dish. Much easier than chasing them.
Sent from my DROID PRO using Tapatalk

Dimidiata · Nov 13, 2011

Its threads like these that make me continplate a illegal roach coloney....seriously. I actually decided today that im DONE with crickets as a whole. They honestly just suck. Stinky, diease ridden and die in a snap. I woudl much rather feed mealies,supers and such. I am very much so contimplating a native roach coloney setup but i have NO idea where to start and how to sterilize the roaches so that their safe for gecko consumption.

JeffDenver · Nov 17, 2011

I voted crickets...for no other reason than Roaches are gross. Seriously. I dont even like touching the crickets.

theCREECH · Nov 17, 2011

JeffDenver said:
I voted crickets...for no other reason than Roaches are gross. Seriously. I dont even like touching the crickets.

actually I find the Roaches to be less grouse than the cricket, probably because the roaches don't jump.

I voted Roaches... I will never buy another cricket. My roach colony would be busting out the seems and easily support a gang of Leos if it weren't for the beardies I own.

I put my Dubias in bowls but the larger ones alway get out. But they can't escape the cage so I just put them back in later.

ReptileWorld · Nov 21, 2011

I say Dubia are by far the best feeders out right now. They dont smell as bad as crickets or worm bins, they dont chirp all hours of the day/night much easier to keep contained. Takes less dubia to feed then crickets and the geckos love them. Way easier to breed almost no effort. Very little maintenance. The only thing i hate and i think someone else mentioned is that the dubia go right into hiding the min they hit the tank. most of my geckos are on news paper which is pretty well put down so the dubia cant get under it. In some of my other tanks that have soil based substrate I pack the substrate down very tightly and the dubia dont seem to be able to burrow before being eaten. The mulch however the Dubia is gone within seconds. every other week or so i put a slice of apple in the tanks to lure out any dubia that might have been able to hide and sure enough they come out and get eaten that same evening. :main_thumbsup:

grboxa · Nov 21, 2011

you guys are lucky. illegal for me to own these guys:main_thumbsdown:. I only feed crickets one night out of the week...there disgusting.

Dubia Roaches vs. Crickets

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