Dubia roaches for juvenile leo?

[Drawberry]

So I am seriously thinking of getting a small bunch of super small dubia roaches for my baby gecko, it was estimated he's around 8-12 weeks and is around 4 inches long from snout to to the end of his tail. He was raised on cricket's and eat's them with a little help from some tongs and doesn't seem opposed to mealworms.
I've been told that dubia's have a hard carapace that may not be appropriate for such a young gecko, but have also been told that they're the best source of food I could give him.

Is it appropriate to give dubia's sized at 1/4th of an inch to a juvenile leo of this size or would they simply be too hard for him to consume?

If so, would it appropriate to house them (under an inch in size) in a critter keeper like container as I do with crickets?
I cannot raise or maintain a colony as I live in a rental property so I would be purchasing only small quantities (20-50 count) of the smallest size available.

 

[rob.kolm]

My Leo eats Dubias and does real well with them. Shells on small ones are really soft. All it takes to raise them is a plastic tub and no one would ever know. Here is my colony on a shelf in my shop. It's heated by a 100 watt ceramic. If you ever get the landlord coming through just put it in a closet and no one would ever know. Buying roaches would get expensive real fast.

 

[Drawberry]

Thank's Rob!
I should clarify more that I am not renting a home, but an apartment ^^' it's four units to an apartment and they're all 1 bedroom with no extra space for such a set up *sigh* I will look into it as sneakily as I can tho ;P!

 

[rob.kolm]

If you can't keep a colony I would still recommend buying in bigger quantities. Rather than a critter keeper get a small plastic tote and put some paper towel and toilet paper tubes in it. Roaches like living close together all over each other. Feed them like you would crickets (water crystals, food scraps, chicken feed, dog food, cat food etc.) They take months to grow to adulthood so you could buy 500 and not worry about them getting to big. The great thing about Dubias is they can't climb smooth surfaces. That means you can put some in a small ramekin in your enclosure and you Leo could walk over and pick them out at night. In the picture in the right you can see my Leo's white roach dish. I put it next to something he can climb on so he just dips his head in to grab a roach. They hold dusting well also.

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[indyana]

While roaches do indeed take a while to reach adulthood, they will quickly become too large for 2-3 month old gecko. I'd start with a smaller batch and see how fast he can eat them before ordering a huge batch.

 

[Drawberry]

Thank you for the recommendations !

 

[rothsauce]

I'd start with a smaller batch too. I'd switched over a young leo from crickets to dubia's when it was still very tiny. Had no problem with feedings or the switch, and the leo has since grown quite a bit and is quite chubby. He (i think a he) can now eat med sized dubia without any issues.