Dubia Roach Breeding Diet

[Mothcarthy]

Recently I've been looking into revamping my dubia roach colonies. Currently, I have two tubs, one as a breeding colony and one as a feed-out tub. I have been feeding both tubs the same diet of sweet potatoes, oranges, apples, zucchini, and Collard greens. But I have also read that increasing the protein by a small amount for the breeding-only colony can really boost numbers. I wanted to see if anyone else has heard similarly. The article in particular is from Dubiaroaches.com and is called "What do Dubia Roaches Eat?" I would also then set up a transition tub to avoid any Uric acid build-up. I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[fingerlakefeeders]

It is likely your diet has more than enough protein. Commercial breeders often bump the protein to expedite grow out. It is not better for the roaches or the animals they are feeding.

 

[NMTs]

I feed my dubia colony dry oatmeal, veggie scraps (spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, etc., mashed up) and Repashy Bug Burger as an occasional supplement, and they produce more offspring than I'll ever need - and I'm feeding 50+ T's! Your diet seems pretty good to me. I've had more luck increasing their production by increasing the temperature more than anything else.

 

[fingerlakefeeders]

My big 5

 

[jbooth]

My roaches are jealous, but they eat better than I do with veggies still lol. Mine are on a staple of chicken feed, but they do get whatever veggies I happen to have, often carrots, and bug burger about every other night. Mine always have water via wick method, and grow like gangbusters kept at 85-89 degrees. As @NMTs said, temperature is far more important, in fact absolutely necessary, for breeding dubia. There is a great paper here: https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/110/2/546/2971450?login=false

Be careful with quaker oats, they killed a bunch of my red runners last week.

 

[fingerlakefeeders]

I have fed oats for the better part of 20 years without a single issue. Perhaps the ones you used may have been contaminated with some type of mycotoxin.

 

[jbooth]

I have fed oats for the better part of 20 years without a single issue. Perhaps the ones you used may have been contaminated with some type of mycotoxin.

I'm not dissing oats in general, just these, and maybe just this batch. I doordashed some on a whim to use as substrate for my runners, ordered generic and got quaker, then the twitching started... It might not even be seen in dubia, although I didn't give them any, runners are very sensitive / thin-exoskeletoned. I definitely will try to find something organic and labeled pesticide free next time, personally.

 

[Jack III]

Temp was always a bigger factor than diet for me when I bred these for several years. If anything, you could add a quality sourced grain to boost protein and see if you have any noticeable difference. I suspect it would be minimal.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

I use Quaker Oats as sun for my dubia colony and have had no issues so far. Though I should probably find pesticide free organic lol. Idk if I can justify the cost to my partner though lmao

 

[jbooth]

I use Quaker Oats as sun for my dubia colony and have had no issues so far. Though I should probably find pesticide free organic lol. Idk if I can justify the cost to my partner though lmao

Maybe just cheap bags from the feed store for horses... theory being they have less to spend on all the pesticides, preservatives, and crap.. just like cheap soil doesn't add a bunch of fertilizers and stuff. Plus that would be the cheapest by far, been meaning to go get a bag at some point, maybe test it with a few runners first. They seem to make great testers.

 

[Dry Desert]

Maybe just cheap bags from the feed store for horses... theory being they have less to spend on all the pesticides, preservatives, and crap.. just like cheap soil doesn't add a bunch of fertilizers and stuff. Plus that would be the cheapest by far, been meaning to go get a bag at some point, maybe test it with a few runners first. They seem to make great testers.

Quaker Oats are a brand name, not the type of oat.
If you purchase Quaker Oats as written on the Quaker Oat box you will have no issues.
Once again cutting corners, then blaming the product.
You'll be lucky if Quaker Oats don't sue for liable.

 

[jbooth]

Quaker Oats are a brand name, not the type of oat.
If you purchase Quaker Oats as written on the Quaker Oat box you will have no issues.
Once again cutting corners, then blaming the product.
You'll be lucky if Quaker Oats don't sue for liable.

Here, I'll capitalize it. Quaker Oats

 

[fingerlakefeeders]

If you are liable for libel, they may be liable to sue for libel.

 

[jbooth]

If you are liable for libel, they may be liable to sue for libel.

I'd be lying if I said this was a liability I was liable to worry about...