# Water for roaches?



## KarlW (Oct 6, 2009)

Hi everyone,

For dubia roaches, is it better for them to have gel or a water bowl?

Obviously they cant drown in gel, but the gel wont increase the humidity.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Karl


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## don5999 (Oct 15, 2007)

I don't bother with either. I was using gel, but I found that they walked it around the tub and made more of a mess so now I just supply lots of veg and they get their water from that.


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

Never had water or bug gel in my colonies, they got all their moisture from the veg I gave them.


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## KarlW (Oct 6, 2009)

Thanks guys.

Ill go with the veg option, but i will need to also decide which veg i will be giving them.

Anybody have any recommendations?

Karl


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

I fed mine cheap cat biscuits (poundshop) and veg; mainly butternut squash & carrot, occasionaly leafy stuff but they didnt take much notice of it


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## Paulusworm (Jan 26, 2009)

Not saying that it will be suitable for roaches, because my wife won't have them in the house, but what I do with my locusts is give them veg from the fridge. The cold veg warms quickly and creates humidity which makes them think it has rained and it's time to get it on :2thumb:.


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## KarlW (Oct 6, 2009)

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the advice.

I was planning on keeping the veg in the fridgeanyway - ive got a spare section for all of my beardies veg : victory:


Karl


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## grumpyoldtrout (May 19, 2008)

I use bug gel in a milk bottle top, pics in my album.

Reptile Forums UK - grumpyoldtrout's Album: Cockroaches and other Inverts


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

the only problem with not supplying any water is that the air will be quite dry. the moisture from the veg will quickly find its way into the air so then youre going to be relying on condensation to provide a drink. also it may prove tricky to keep humidity sufficiently high.

i use water gel at present. ive probably got about 3000 roaches in my colony now and they get through about 6-10 normal sized jar lids of gel per week. its probably easier to just use a water bowl with cotton wool in it though. roaches are pretty good swimmers in my experience, and can submerge for quite a while. ive seen Dubias literally running upside down on a branch 2" below the water line in my CWD viv like there wasnt any water there!


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## Pleco07 (Aug 15, 2007)

Jim2109 said:


> the only problem with not supplying any water is that the air will be quite dry. the moisture from the veg will quickly find its way into the air so then youre going to be relying on condensation to provide a drink. also it may prove tricky to keep humidity sufficiently high.


Hmmm interesting, I kept my dubias bone dry


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## grumpyoldtrout (May 19, 2008)

Mine are kept just about bone dry, but you do get some that get their egg sac stuck outside, but easily replaced by others that are growing.

like this one,


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## Rico (Jan 5, 2007)

grumpyoldtrout said:


> Mine are kept just about bone dry, but you do get some that get their egg sac stuck outside, but easily replaced by others that are growing.
> 
> like this one,
> 
> image


I feed my roaches cat biscuits oranges and carrots mostly. I dont give them water or gel.


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

Pleco07 said:


> Hmmm interesting, I kept my dubias bone dry


if it works for you then theres probably no reason why not to keep them dry. i keep my food Dubias dry simply because humidity would be a pain to maintain in a kricket keeper. Dubias carry their eggs so its probably not as much of a problem as with Turkistans. they drop their egg cases and without humidity they either dont hatch, or take forever, so i keep my Turkistans high in humidity. in the wild Dubias live in the tropics in rainforest areas, so humidity is in the 70's and upward though.


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