# General Topics > Food, Feeders, Live, Frozen, Culturing, etc >  Roach breeding.

## Jack

I have just setup a tank for breeding roaches in. It is my brothers Breaded Dragons old tank since he just got a new one. I don't know how big it is but I plan to breed Turkistan, Dubia, Madagascan Hissing and Lobster roaches in it because they will all breed in the warmth but have a few questions. There is a heat mat underneath 2/3 of the tank and a heat bulb which is keeping the air temp at about 31 to 34 degrees Celsius (89 to 93) out in the open but it think it is cooler under all the egg crates if they get to hot.

1. Non of these roaches will fight or eat other species will they?

2. Which of these species breeds the fastest?

3. Can I just feed them on dog food, oranges, apples, potatoes and other veggies or do they need more? This is what I have fed my Dubias on before.

4. Is the temp ok?

5. Which is the most nutritious or are they all pretty much the same?

I will be adding more egg crates and paper towel tubes for hiding spots. The background is only there because I didn't take it off when I got the tank.

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## Daniel

1)They all fight but hissers fight the worst and often kill each other. 

2)Turkistan in my experience (never had lobsters)

3) Dog food is a poor diet for roaches. Keep in mind these roaches will be going to your animal as feeders.

4)temps seem fine. 

5) blatta lateralis are the most nutritious out of the ones you have listed but they are not so big. 

do you plan on mixing species?

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## demon amphibians

Your temps in that range should be fine, dont worry about different temps under the egg crates unless they seem to gather to the warmer areas. 

1. It is always good to keep them seperated unless you are keeping them as display pets. They will be to hard to sort. Some people believe they will fight. I personnally think that they will co-exist perfectly fine (not sure about the Turkistan) as long as you keep the moisture right and feed them well.

2. They all breed roughly at the same pace. Hisser may be slightly slower.
3. You can things such as lettuce, squash, carrots, melon, Oranges and may other fruits and veggis, But do not feed Dog, food, cat food or items high in protein. It will slow breeding and your death rate will be much higher.
4. your temps will do fine.
5. They all have the same nutrional value. 


Be sure to keep them in a dark place. If to much light is introduced the breeding will be poor.

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## Jack

> 1)They all fight but hissers fight the worst and often kill each other. 
> 
> 2)Turkistan in my experience (never had lobsters)
> 
> 3) Dog food is a poor diet for roaches. Keep in mind these roaches will be going to your animal as feeders.
> 
> 4)temps seem fine. 
> 
> 5) blatta lateralis are the most nutritious out of the ones you have listed but they are not so big. 
> ...


I was going to mix species but if that's a bad idea then I won't. Surely if they are all well fed and have plenty of space these non aggressive, scavengers won't fight.

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## Jack

> Your temps in that range should be fine, dont worry about different temps under the egg crates unless they seem to gather to the warmer areas. 
> 
> 1. It is always good to keep them seperated unless you are keeping them as display pets. They will be to hard to sort. Some people believe they will fight. I personnally think that they will co-exist perfectly fine (not sure about the Turkistan) as long as you keep the moisture right and feed them well.
> 
> 2. They all breed roughly at the same pace. Hisser may be slightly slower.
> 3. You can things such as lettuce, squash, carrots, melon, Oranges and may other fruits and veggis, But do not feed Dog, food, cat food or items high in protein. It will slow breeding and your death rate will be much higher.
> 4. your temps will do fine.
> 5. They all have the same nutrional value. 
> 
> ...


Are you sure? I have read in lots of places to give them dog or cat food as well as fruits and veggies.

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## Daniel

> I was going to mix species but if that's a bad idea then I won't. Surely if they are all well fed and have plenty of space these non aggressive, scavengers won't fight.


Hissers will fight no matter how much space or food you give them. When males find each other they will headbutt each other.

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## Jack

> Hissers will fight no matter how much space or food you give them. When males find each other they will headbutt each other.


Will they fight all other roaches or can they tell if its a male hisser? I was going to mix the different species. If a hisser came across a dubia would it attack or just wander by?

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## Daniel

Males give off a musky odor so they only attack the males. Not sure if they would attack other species though.

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## demon amphibians

> Are you sure? I have read in lots of places to give them dog or cat food as well as fruits and veggies.


Yes, i know it is on care sheets all over the place but i have more than enough evidence to prove that high protien is bad. even though they do seem to like these items. There is a long discusion about this topic named dubia+protien. Lots of good info in it. But keep that a secret because it gives me an edge on all other dubia selling competitors. he he.

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## demon amphibians

> Males give off a musky odor so they only attack the males. Not sure if they would attack other species though.


Absolutly. Male dubias and hissers fight like cats and dogs. That is why you have the 1 male 3 females rule. It reduces the fighting suggnificantly. But you will always have the male compitition with both species. That is just part of there nature. But I didnt think that the two species would compete with each other because they do not cross breed. Nymphs however will not fight or compete. I have only kept nymphs of both spieces together.

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## Jack

> Absolutly. Male dubias and hissers fight like cats and dogs. That is why you have the 1 male 3 females rule. It reduces the fighting suggnificantly. But you will always have the male compitition with both species. That is just part of there nature.


Roaches fighting is natural so I presume I can mix these species with lots of females and not many males.

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## demon amphibians

> Roaches fighting is natural so I presume I can mix these species with lots of females and not many males.


It would be your best bet. Just keep in mind dubia and hissers will not cannibalize if conditions are right if they do it will be some little you will not even notice. BUT other spieces will cannibalize. And other speices will be more aggressive. Poison may be able to give you better info on the various other speices. Now you can successfully keep these speices together. you may have fighting here and there but it will not be a full out war. The point Poison and I are trying to get to is they will do just fine together but breeding will not be optimal. Just like the protien diet your colony will flourish even if fed cat and dog food. But breeding will be 4 times higher if you do not feed protien. And you will have less random deaths. It is really hard to go wrong with roaches so long as you provide the proper temps, humidty and food. We just want you to get the full potential out of your bugs. 
And finally to answer your question yes you want at least 1 male to every 3 females. The larger your colony the less the ratio. for example A 500 adult female colony will only require 100 males maybe even less then that. Right now i have my colony about 1 male to 8 females and they are breeding faster then i can get rid of them.

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## Jack

Ok thanks guys. In case you were wondering the reason I want each of these species is because Dubias are the most common and nutritious, Turkistan are fast and draw lots of attention to them selves, lobsters breed really fast and hisses are big.

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## Daniel

Blatta lateralis will definitely cannibalize if not kept feed. These guy eat a LOT. They only species of roach that I have that actually runs away with their food lol. But if kept well feed then not much to worry about. I was gone for a couple days to come back to several half eaten nymphs.

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## Daniel

And yes I agree, keeping these species together will slow down breeding. Hell I even seperate the nymphs from my adult hissers and dubia and they breed much faster this way.

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## demon amphibians

> And yes I agree, keeping these species together will slow down breeding. Hell I even seperate the nymphs from my adult hissers and dubia and they breed much faster this way.


I do the same and it makes a huge difference when you have a large colony. It is better for the nymphs and the adults to do this.

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## Jack

Do roaches need to have a heat ma or can they breed if the air temp is 32 degrees. My roach room is really warm at 32 degrees celcius and it would be more expensive to use more heat mats. I am going to breed the different species in different containers like you guys suggested.

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## Daniel

having a high ambient temp works just fine  :Smile:

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## Jack

What species of cockroach have you bred before?

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## Daniel

Dubia, hissers, blatta lateralis and just started on bananas and red heads

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## Jack

In your experience which breeds the fastest?

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## Daniel

Blatta lateralis for sure. Seems like the females pop out eggs every day lol.

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## Jack

Good I bought a really small starter colony of them.

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## Jack

Whats the gestation period of turks and how long after the eggs are laid will she be ready to mate again?

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## Daniel

Not sure on the gestation period but the eggs hatch about 3 weeks after they are laid. The roaches breed right after they lay it seems.

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## Jack

And none of the other roaches eat them in that time?

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## Jeff

You may have difficulty with oothecae hatching properly using the setup you have. There are a lot of contributing factors, but one complaint that pops up on lats is ooths desiccating before having an opportunity to hatch. Once you have them hatching, you'll have roaches out your ears. 

See what the ooths do for you - you may want to separate out oothecae into their own "incubator" bin kept with coir or peat. I always had the best success with this species keeping them on some kind of substrate. You don't want it moist, but it shouldn't be bone dry. Even covering some of the screen at the top and adding a small container/glass of water to the bin may help.

Other than that... I would agree that lats breed the fastest. And all roaches have roughly the same general nutritional qualities but each will have its own set of unique micronutrients makeup. Be sure to offer as much variety to your pet as possible to encourage a healthy and balanced diet. Also, Turkistan roaches and lobster roaches seem to have far better meat:shell ratios than say, Malagasy hissers or _Blaberus_ nymphs.

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## Jack

Will paper towels not be fine? I have a thick layer of dry paper towels as substrate.

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## Jeff

The paper towels might help - I've not used them personally so I don't feel qualified to give you a yes or no answer. You might have to go through some trial and error yourself. 

Don't be discouraged by my last post; the majority seem to have no problem breeding these guys without any special attention given. From my experience in working with the species and receiving inquiries from hobbyists, desiccation seems to  be the primary culprit if issues do arise. As such, preventing them from getting _too_ dry is usually my first recommendation. If these guys were live-bearers I think they would probably be a lot more popular as they are essentially effortless unless you have ooth hatching issues.

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## Jack

Is this the same for all roaches or just Turkistan ones? I have Dubias, turkistans, lobster and Madagascar hisser. Some give birth to live young though so it shouldn't be a problem with them.

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## Daniel

Only the Turk's will lay eggs. If the others do it then they will not hatch.

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## Jack

My hisses and lobsters have arrived. About 7 of the hisses are fully grown and the rest are nymphs and about 30 of the lobster roaches are fully grown and the rest are nymphs. How long should I be expecting to wait before babies? Also how do you sex Lobster roaches, Turkistan roaches and hissers? I presume with hissers it's that one sex has those horn things and the other sex doesn't correct?

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## Jack

A few more questions.

1. How can I tell if a roach is pregnant not just fat or is there no way?

2. Can they eat oranges, tangerines and satsumas? I read in a few places that giving dubias citrus fruits will make them breed faster. Is this the same with lobsters, turkistans and hissers?

3. I have dubias in one tank, hissers in another and Turkistan and lobsters mixed in another since they are exactly the same size. The temp in the Turks and lobsters is sometimes reaching 35 in the day at the max. Is this too hot or will they be fine?

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## Jack

I know you keep them poison so do you know?

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## Daniel

With gravid hissers and dubia you can see white flesh on their sides.

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## Daniel

Or if you see this 



then you will soon see this 


Sorry just like to show off pics  :Stick Out Tongue:

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## Jack

Do you know if they can eat oranges? I heard somewhere oranges are bad but in other places they're good.

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## Daniel

I use oranges and other fresh fruits as a water source sometimes. It has not been proven to help breeding so everthing you hear about it is just opinions.

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## Jack

Ok thanks.

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## demon amphibians

> Do you know if they can eat oranges? I heard somewhere oranges are bad but in other places they're good.




I have done several experiments and oranges do increase breeding. I am talking around 20-25 percent. many factors do come into play when considering this. The amount of moisture they get is very important and is a huge factor. My roaches also love watermelon and they get it frequently and i have also included this in my experiments as well but every time i get more babies out of the orange experiments. I have no idea why. It may be the calcium in the oranges or something else. the amount of water in the oranges have a big influence but I completely believe there is more to it. Some people have there doubts. But i understand that because these experiments do take large amounts of time. But my advice is to always feed oranges to your breeders. It cant hurt and they are cheaper then most fruit with that amount of moisture.

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## Jack

Ill give them oranges more regularly now I know it does work. What else have you noticed that can incrrase breeding.

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## demon amphibians

Have i mentioned a no protein diet? This is by far the biggest factor i have come across. I went from getting 10,000 babies every two months to well over 40,000 after switching them to a pure vegetarian diet. sorry i may have already mentioned this in this thread already its getting pretty long. ha ha.

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## Jack

> Have i mentioned a no protein diet? This is by far the biggest factor i have come across. I went from getting 10,000 babies every two months to well over 40,000 after switching them to a pure vegetarian diet. sorry i may have already mentioned this in this thread already its getting pretty long. ha ha.


*40000!!!* I feed them dog food so do you recommend stopping that? Poison already told me not to but I wasn't sure. What is everything you feed them? Could you make a list if that's not too much to ask? I really want to get 40000 every two months to. :Big Grin:

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## demon amphibians

> *40000!!!* I feed them dog food so do you recommend stopping that? Poison already told me not to but I wasn't sure. What is everything you feed them? Could you make a list if that's not too much to ask? I really want to get 40000 every two months to.


Yes and my random death count has also reduced 10X what i had before i stopped feeding dog food. I did a very detailed experiment and the difference was indisputable. Jeff one of the mods on this site also gave me very helpful information on the subject which lead me to my experiments. Many breeders i have met in person dispute my argument by saying protein is essential for reproduction but i let them think that because my breeding is 4x what they are getting so i can mark my prices much lower making me the unbeatable competition when i sell. ha ha  so lets keep this secret for us frog  peeps. lol
I make a blend of carrots, romaine lettuce. broccoli stems, cilantro stems, and steamed rice, when i blend them all together i use organic oats to turn the mixture into a paste so to speak. I tell you what they love this wet diet. You may also give them corn flakes and cheerios or just plain oats as a dry food. No animal product what so ever. Then of course I also feed oranges and apples. watermelon has a low nutritional value but the moisture it is worth using not to mention the roaches love the sugar. I use all these veggies whole not blended as well. they will eat just about anything. Just remember in nature they eat from forest floors such as leaves other small plans and even wood. so any produce you give them from your fridge is going to be more then enough nutrition. no need to be picky. 
my breeding colony is around 1500 adult females last time i counted was 2 months ago. so of course my number of babies is going to be through the roof. I started with 1,000 and about 13 months later i had over 100,000 ish no way to really count i am sure i have much more then that. you have to be patient with them but when you keep them vegetarians and give them the right humidity, temps, and plenty of dark space they will breed endlessly in no time.

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## Jack

What type of roach did you experiment with? 

Also what types of roaches do you breed?

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## demon amphibians

I have bred lobster and dubia, I conducted the experiments on the dubia.  Jeff posted some very interesting information showing the many similarities of all species of roaches and their needs. so the protein does not only influence Dubia but more then likely all species. when i start my different species i will conduct the same studies on them and figure out if Jeffs info is true, which so far has been. Poison breeds many different species so he may have much more info on them then i do.

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## Jack

Try Madagascar Hissers next. I breed them aswell as Turkistan, Lobster and Dubia.

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## Cap10Squirty

> With gravid hissers and dubia you can see white flesh on their sides.


Daniel, are any of your Madagascar hissers reaching 3"? 

*Edit* I guess I should ask this to Jack as well since you breed Hissers.

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## MatthewM1

> I make a blend of carrots, romaine lettuce. broccoli stems, cilantro stems, and steamed rice, when i blend them all together i use organic oats to turn the mixture into a paste so to speak.


Does this hold up well in the fridge/freezer? 

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

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## demon amphibians

> Does this hold up well in the fridge/freezer? 
> 
> Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2


yes i make a weeks worth and it does just fine in the fridge. but remember i have a lot of roaches. they will eat at least 8 lbs of food in one week. so this stuff doesn't stick around long. I wouldnt exceed a week storage in the fridge just to be on the safe side.

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MatthewM1

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## Jack

What do the Red Runner egg cases look like. I found this in their tank but am not sure what it is.

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## Daniel

Thats an egg case  :Smile:

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## Jack

Good they're breeding. Hard to believe about 30 babies can come out of that tiny thing.

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## Jeff

The babies are very tiny... the oothecae usually tend to be more elongate than what you have pictured but I think what you are holding probably is an egg case.

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## Jack

So do you think it will still hatch?

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## Jeff

I'm not sure. Keep it around and see what happens! The good news is more ooths are sure to follow, so you will have your babies soon enough even if it doesn't hatch out.

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## Jack

I used a blender and made a mix of oranges, romain lettuce and bread. It was the most disgusting thing ever. What else could I add to help the roaches breed and give them more nutrients?

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## demon amphibians

> I used a blender and made a mix of oranges, romain lettuce and bread. It was the most disgusting thing ever. What else could I add to help the roaches breed and give them more nutrients?


I would feed bread speratly not blended. but you can use banna's, oats,any green leave like kale, callards, broclli, carrots. they love all this stuff.

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## Cap10Squirty

> I would feed bread speratly not blended. but you can use banna's, oats,any green leave like kale, callards, broclli, carrots. they love all this stuff.


I blended up carrots and squash and added enough oats to make a thick paste as described above and I do not think my dubia roaches are taking to it as readily as their dry food mix. I'll check later today to see if anymore of it has been eaten. I too am going to try to switch my roaches to a vegetarian diet.

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## sajane

i noticed the dubias do not smell anymore since i stopped feeding cat food....

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## Jack

I got 100 egg flats/trays today. Each one holds 30 eggs so they are pretty big. This should give the roaches some extra room. I also found another egg case from the red runners and this one is more elongated and its the normal shape so this one will hopefully hatch.

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## demon amphibians

> I blended up carrots and squash and added enough oats to make a thick paste as described above and I do not think my dubia roaches are taking to it as readily as their dry food mix. I'll check later today to see if anymore of it has been eaten. I too am going to try to switch my roaches to a vegetarian diet.


I will admit they do prefer cat, dog and fish food over almost anything. so it may be frustrating to get something else that they will readily stick to. But remember they are built to survive so they will adapt. my roaches wouldnt touch water melon for the longest time. But when i went on a trip i put a huge slice of it mainly for moisture control and that was all they had. they ate it all not to mention now they will clean up an entire water melon in a week. this will also apply to a wet blend. the benefits for me using this is they get a large variety of nutrients through the blend and it helps with moisture after all i use heat lamps for heat so it can dry out quickly without close attention. the wet blend eliminates all those problems i came upon. keep in mind it is always good to have a dry meal for them to. It really all depends on their moisture needs. my roaches to this day will eat a lettuce leaf or an orange before they even touch the wet blend i provide. none the less they will eat about 5-8lbs a week of the wet blend.

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## COREY

Demon,

If all your roaches are this well fed with such good nutrients. How about we eat some for dinna =)  Oh and btw...call me we have to make breeding boxes and what about poison?

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## demon amphibians

oh i would eat one if i had to. ha ha nom nom.

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## Jack

Just a quick update.

The lobsters, dubias and red runners have all had babies so are very fast breeders. The hissers haven't done anything yet though. I just bought 20 Madagascar hissers for only £1.00, best deal ever. :Big Grin:

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## Cap10Squirty

Not bad, I started my Madagascar colony of 300 for $40 USD. I don't plan on feeding from it for close to a year :P I do like the madagascar hissers better than the dubias as they are easier to handle. Ideally, in a year or so I will have a colony large enough to feed "buckets" of roaches from each day to my ever growing beast(s).

My B. dubia colonies are doing well. Breeder bin 500+ females, and grow-out/feeder bin of no telling how many thousands.

Have any of you noticed that the nymphs gut load better than the adult male roaches? I fed my Monitor lizard 50 large dubia nymphs after gut loading for 24 hours and they weighed much more than the adult males resulting in a happier and fatter lizard.

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## Jack

I have noticed that too. Males are pathetic feeders compared to females. Another thing I have noticed is that although care sheets say male dubias can't fly some that I have held have jumped managed to fly. Not just flutter but fly across the room while going up at the same time. Don't know if I have made super roaches or if they all can do it.

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## sajane

what is your opinion on feeding dubias a complete cereal diet. vitamin fortified cereal and rolled oats mixed with baby cereal also. waters crystals for moisture

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## COREY

sojane,

A mixed diet is best.  They will not get all the nutrients just based of cereal and oats.  Throw veggie and fruit scraps in as well and take them out within a day or two to prevent MOLD which will kill your colony.  I have no experience with baby cereal.  Sorry.  But the preservatives in baby cereal may eventually have a negative effect.  (not sure though)
 :Frog Surprise:  https://www.airexotics.com/dubia-roach-care-sheet.html

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## COREY

> I have noticed that too. Males are pathetic feeders compared to females. Another thing I have noticed is that although care sheets say male dubias can't fly some that I have held have jumped managed to fly. Not just flutter but fly across the room while going up at the same time. Don't know if I have made super roaches or if they all can do it.



Just a note:  if you feed the males off clip the wings off.  There no nutritional value in those darn wings and just a hassle for them to digest.

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## demon amphibians

> what is your opinion on feeding dubias a complete cereal diet. vitamin fortified cereal and rolled oats mixed with baby cereal also. waters crystals for moisture


a cereal diet would make a good dry diet. but as corey said a diverse diet is best. cheerios is a good option as well as cornflakes. also feed oranges, apples and lettuce. they seem to love carrots as well.

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## demon amphibians

> I have noticed that too. Males are pathetic feeders compared to females. Another thing I have noticed is that although care sheets say male dubias can't fly some that I have held have jumped managed to fly. Not just flutter but fly across the room while going up at the same time. Don't know if I have made super roaches or if they all can do it.


I have been raising dubia for about 2 years now and i have yet to see one do that. I mean i have thrown them at friends and they can flutter a good distance but i have never seen one take off and gain height on its own. sounds like you have some talented roaches.

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## COREY

> I have been raising dubia for about 2 years now and i have yet to see one do that. I mean i have thrown them at friends and they can flutter a good distance but i have never seen one take off and gain height on its own. sounds like you have some talented roaches.


Maybe because you threw it?   LOL just saying

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## demon amphibians

well true. ha ha but none the less i have never seen one do that kind of flying on its own.

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## Jeff

The males probably fly in nature, but probably not very well and I doubt they do it often or without some kind of stimulus. I think their wings and body-plan are better developed for fluttering short distances to evade predators from tips of foliage and/or safely land from falls. 

I think there are some other examples of captive insects that do not fly as frequently/at all in captivity despite having some flight ability in nature.

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