# Dubia Roaches



## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

heyyya

thinking of breeding some roaches for my leos, chameleon and beardie.

were can i get them, and how much are they?


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## dragonboy08 (Aug 14, 2008)

xsmithx2 said:


> heyyya
> 
> thinking of breeding some roaches for my leos, chameleon and beardie.
> 
> were can i get them, and how much are they?


 
Quite a few place's online do them it depends on the size of the collany you want look in the feeder classifieds on here


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## BigBaz (Jan 12, 2007)

the Welcome to The Roach Shop is the best i have found brilliant quality


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## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

any1 has any pics of the little roaches
i mean like when the female give birth to her young
and one got a pic of the little ones, so i know what they look like?


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## PRS (Dec 31, 2007)

I have lots for sale if your interested 50 Adults for £10 inc postage, if you want more pm me and I will do you a deal.


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## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

which are better??

turkistan roaches?
or
dubia roaches?

and how long does the female give birth, from being mated. roughly??


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## madavies65 (Jan 21, 2009)

I would alwasy recommend Dubia Roaches for several reasons:

1. They dont fly
2. they cant climb smooth surfaces
3. easy to breed
4. Dont smell
5. Dont bite
6. Very nutritous with a low chittin count so no chance of impactation
7. they have small young and several degrees of sizes so no matter what size your dragon is they will be able to feed off them.


The only disadvantage is:

1. They take around 6 months to get a colony up and running.
2. Initially expensive


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## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

do they give birth to live young or eggs


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

xsmithx2 said:


> which are better??
> 
> turkistan roaches?
> or
> dubia roaches?


Dubia's, hands down.



> and how long does the female give birth, from being mated. roughly??


26-30 days.



madavies65 said:


> I would alwasy recommend Dubia Roaches for several reasons:
> 
> 1. They dont fly
> 2. they cant climb smooth surfaces
> ...


All true. 



xsmithx2 said:


> do they give birth to live young or eggs


Live. The females will lay an egg sack, then pull it back inside them and the babies will hatch inside the female. They will be about 1.5-2mm long and will mainly stay under egg crates/boxes/whatever you put in the tub, 10-40 eggs are produced in each clutch.


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## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

i heard that dubia roaches have harder shells than turkistan roaches??

is that true?
as i found on a care sheet


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

xsmithx2 said:


> i heard that dubia roaches have harder shells than turkistan roaches??
> 
> is that true?
> as i found on a care sheet


Not really, I would say they are about the same. But dubias have more meat to shell ratio. : victory:


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## Blackmelo (Jan 12, 2009)

I don't know why the Turkistan roach doesn't have a better reputation than the dubia. As far as I can see the main reason why dubia is the most popular roach is because it is the very least likely to escape however turkistans will only be able to escape if one does not take the right precautions with them. Odds are an inexperienced keeper will let them escape and thus for them I would recommend dubia.
However for the expereienced bug keeper I would most certainly recommend turkistans. 

I breed both Turkistan roaches and Dubia roaches btw.

Those pros listed for Dubia apply to Turkistans just as much and Turkistans have several other benefits too. Dubia's giving live birth makes things alot harder for me as I need to pick out the right size from a mix of all sizes instead of having tubs of varying sizes.

I suppose it depends on your preference. I still need to find a con for the Turkistan though, apart from males beeing quite fast and agile.. 

I don't particularly dislike the dubia, it is a great roach like all roaches are but it gets far too much hype for what it deserves. If you know Tarantula's then the dubia is the equivalent of the grammastola rosea, great beginner species but the most boring of them all.

Let me just ask you one question, in the past year how many people have you heard of giving up dubias because their pets won't eat them?

I've heard of several and you'll never hear that about the turkistan :2thumb:

I'm also interested about this supposed higher meat to shell ratio. They have a thicker shell and they have alot more shell than turkistans so I really can't see how they have a higher meat to shell ratio. Surely it should be higher shell to meat ratio. I'd be interested in any proof saying otherwise :whistling2:

Ps: Lewis, once you get yours, let us know what you think.


In conclusion I want to add my pro and con list, this reflects the differences between the two, when I say slow growing or slow breeding it is only in comparrison to the other species:

*Dubia Roach:*

Pro's:

- Least likely roach to escape
- Does not smell
- Slow breeding rates makes a colony very easy to look after as it does not need constant attention
- Very easy to catch roaches
- They grow quite big

Cons:

- some animals will not eat them
- very thick shell meaning again some animals will only eat them if they are really hungry
- they are very boring, most of the time they will just play dead when you check on them
- they don't move much when you feed them, again most of the time playing dead. Eventually your pet will spot it but I prefer watching my animals catch the roach...
- If one should ever escape, odds are you'll never find it again and they can live alot longer in a house than turkistans can

*Turkistan Roach:*

Pros:

- Very active roach, similar to watching ants just alot bigger
- Soft shell meaning they are easy to eat, especially by mantis
- This roach will not bury when you feed it to your animals, it will catch your pets attention straight away and never lasts long.
- they breed twice as fast as dubia
- they grow twice as fast as dubia
- they are half as expensive
- a colony will only take 6 months to establish. I find that is a very long time already. But I've had my dubia for over a year now and fair enough I started with babies but only recently have they started breeding so they are slower still.
- cannot climb smooth sides
- don't smell
- lay eggs which is great for controlling how many nymphs you want and how many egg cases you decide to freeze
- seperating sizes is alot easier as all you need to do is seperate the eggs from the adults
- If they should escape, they either go somewhere warm or humid and are usually found very easily in those two places in your house. They don't seem to survive too long out of their tank, 2 weeks max I'd say.

Cons:

- They are alot more nimble and alot more interested in escaping than dubia are. As such some sometimes get lucky if they find the opportunity
- males are especially agile and fast movers
- they only grow half the size of dubia's


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## blatta (May 21, 2008)

I still haven't quite worked out quite what the "shell to meat ratio" actually is and where it came from..

I agree that all species have pros and cons, though this so much depends on what youre feeding. For a fast, active species, fast active roaches are good. However, some herps (and people!!) may find it difficult to catch the faster species. Similarly, being small is only a disadvantage if you have large herps, and to a lesser extent, vice versa. 

I cant help but see a bit of bias in your pros and cons. Ive kept and bred both species for well over a year now. Both are fantastic feeders, but they are quite different. Ive found turkistan roaches are much more likely to escape, and do survive better than the dubia. I must emphasise that "survive" and "establish as a pest" are very different things. They are also much shorter lived, and the cultures smell quite a bit more than dubias. The turkistan roaches also bear quite a resemelence to some of the infamous pest species, which many people find disturbing, whereas the dubias are much more woodlice like.


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## xsmithx2 (Oct 24, 2007)

anyone got and turkistan roaches for sale

i need adults ones please
about 30-50 adults will do

thanks 
pm me


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Blackmelo said:


> *Turkistan Roach:*
> 
> Pros:
> 
> ...


If they are taking that long I suggest adding some cat food to the diet. : victory:

The "Meat to shell ratio" is how much meat there is compared to shell - so the Meat-To-Shell ratio for black crix is something like 45% Meat and 55% shell . Where as dubias are more like 75% meat and 25% shell.


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## Blackmelo (Jan 12, 2009)

Blatta, I'll agree, my pro and con list might be a bit biased. I think you pretty much added anything my bias left out lol. I just much prefer them but I can see how the resemblance to the german roach can be worrying.

PS LoveforLizards, thx I've been using dog food so far but I have been meaning to experiment between cat and dog food to see which one seems better. I wasn't heating them for a long time I have to admit which is why they will have been a bit slower but starting from babies to the point one has bred ones own adults takes a lifetime even with heat :banghead:


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Try keeping them in the dark, if your not already. I've found they breed much faster in total darkness 24/7.


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Blackmelo said:


> PS LoveforLizards, thx I've been using dog food so far but I have been meaning to experiment between cat and dog food to see which one seems better. I wasn't heating them for a long time I have to admit which is why they will have been a bit slower but starting from babies to the point one has bred ones own adults takes a lifetime even with heat :banghead:


Alot of breeding and growing problems come from too little protein so cat food makes a good part of the diet and yeah roaches take ages to grow on Lol.


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## doherty-666 (Jan 31, 2009)

so if i get myself 25 roaches were im gettin them from small/medium,
they will take ages to breed???
im goin 2 be puting them in a dark place and feedding them cat food and veggies.
is this the best way 2 do so??
thank you!!


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## InternetReptile (Aug 2, 2008)

Have a look on my site The Roach Farm - UK Feeder Roach Supplier for a care sheet and more info

I am always happy to answer specific questions via PM. If you want anything in particular that isn't on the website, let me know


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