Dubia Roaches

[Greenskeeper]

The babies

Next size up.

Almost adults...

My faithful breeders!

The breeding colony home!

I find that if go to the local breakfast store, they will save me egg flats for a week. The stack then last six months! Changing them every two weeks. They love my marshmellows too! Just not as much as my silkies love them!

 

[Pico de Gallo]

'Dubies' are awesome. I've maintained a few colonies at work for about 4 yrs now, for use as feeders, gonad donors for a genetics lab, and subjects for various behavioral and physiology experiments. No flying or climbing, very little odor, fast breeders, and hardy as can be.

If/when I get back into breeding chameleons, I cannot wait to NOT deal with crickets. B dubia's truly a one-stop grocery shop for all kinds of critters!

 

[seminolewind]

In a state (Florida) where the bugs can get to be as big as some of my little mini chickens I don't understand why it is illegal for me to buy or own dubia roaches. I wanted so bad to get some for my Beardie and the Chooks. Crickets are ok but they STINK so I buy them in small numbers and therefore spend way more $$$$ on them then I would if I could tolerate the smell better. Good luck with them!!! You could use an insect tube like what they have in cricket keepers, they sell them seperately sometimes. The bugs climb in the tube then you just tap it and they fall out into the cage They come in handy for people who are squeamish around bugs.

If they allowed other kinds of roaches in Florida, they might out grow the numbers of roaches natural to Florida.
Those things do look alot like our wood roaches. Maybe you can use them?

 

[kellyjo8437]

If they allowed other kinds of roaches in Florida, they might out grow the numbers of roaches natural to Florida.
Those things do look alot like our wood roaches. Maybe you can use them?

I understand the "WHY" I just find it sorta ironic... The trouble with wild roaches is they could of been walking through pesticides and all sorts of nasty things. They can also have bacteria and molds on them. Whereas generally speaking store bought colonies are "clean". Trust me every now and then the chickens get a nice big fat nasty roach or eight when I turn on the porch lights at night. Some of them come shooting out of there boxes and chase the palmeto roaches for a good 3-5 minutes lol. But I wouldn't feed wild ones to the Beardie cause he's so much smaller and that tiny dusting of poison could end his life prematurely. It's just not worth the risk. I did have two pet Hissing roaches before I ever knew they were illegal. Bought em online. Once they got a bit too big and nasty for my comfort they became chicken food lol Expensive, noisy chicken food.

 

[Christie Rhae]

wow...super gross.
We have those huge cadillac size cockroaches here. Chickens love them. I hate them.

Just could not breed them...even for my girls.. no way Jose. lol

 

[seminolewind]

I guess Hawaii has bigger roaches than Florida? I think the biggest Palmetto /American cockroach I've seen here is 2 inches, maybe 2.5. I've gotten real good at smashing them.

 

[kellyjo8437]

I have seen some of those huge beetle looking ones that get to be about 3". Thankfully they don't fly though!! Nothing worse then one of those nasties flying in while you let the dog out to go potty at night

 

[seminolewind]

Those beetle looking ones are wood roaches, I don't really mind them too much. The other ones are yucky. Good thing is that they get tired real fast. If you chase one around for a few minutes, you can smash him cause he's exhausted.

 

[Pico de Gallo]

I understand the "WHY" I just find it sorta ironic... The trouble with wild roaches is they could of been walking through pesticides and all sorts of nasty things. They can also have bacteria and molds on them. Whereas generally speaking store bought colonies are "clean". Trust me every now and then the chickens get a nice big fat nasty roach or eight when I turn on the porch lights at night. Some of them come shooting out of there boxes and chase the palmeto roaches for a good 3-5 minutes lol. But I wouldn't feed wild ones to the Beardie cause he's so much smaller and that tiny dusting of poison could end his life prematurely. It's just not worth the risk. I did have two pet Hissing roaches before I ever knew they were illegal. Bought em online. Once they got a bit too big and nasty for my comfort they became chicken food lol Expensive, noisy chicken food.

Every semester I swab random objects around the lab, seed some petri dishes and incubate: doorknobs, drinking fountains, fridge racks...and always both a B dubia, and a wild roach. Every semester, two petri dishes are always astoundingly free of microbial colonies: the friggin roaches! My last swab session, the B dubia dish came out totally clean whereas even my Control gained a spot of mold! Incidentally, the nastiest dish is usually the nozzle of the hallway RO-filtered water dispenser...

I'm actually about to swab this week, I'll try to remember to post a few pics next week.

Pesticide contamination is a real concern with wild roaches, but disease, not so much. Think about where roaches chill, and the density with which they typically congregate. They'd never survive (and thrive) in such conditions if not for their innate resistance to disease.

 

[seminolewind]

I would also think that roaches would carry less colonies because they clean themselves (?)