If you are planning on starting a colony of Blaptica dubia there are several things you will need to understand. First off you need to be able to identify your dubia. Blaptica dubia are also referred to as the Guyana orange spotted roach, because of their dark brown shade and light orange spots. Grownup dubia typically reach 1 to 2 inches in length and live up to 12 months. Male dubia have wings, and the female dubia have wing stubs but neither can fly. Dubia are also very slow movers, so you should have no trouble catching them if one happens to escape. Dubia also do not burrow and can not climb smooth surfaces. Now that you have learned a little about identifying dubia you need to know how to care for your colony. Click here for more.
Blaptica dubia's diets consist of fresh fruit and vegetables supplemented with dry dog food, grain cereal, infant cereal and fish flakes. Roach diet can be found by you online if this looks like to much work or expensive. Before feeding your dubia it is important for you to look over the food and remove anything that may be molded. Your colony will be hurt by molded food. Your dubia will also need water. Using water crystals enables your dubia to get the water they need but is also not as disorganized as liquid water. Make sure the water crystals are put by you in a little dish so that your dubia still have a place to move around.
Now that you know how to feed your dubia lets talk about their environment. Since dubia are a non climbing species a great home will be made by any smooth sided container. Make sure that your container has lots of egg crates so that they are able to breed and keep your colony going. Make sure that your dubia have a higher then normal humidity (above 40%) in their container, you can achieve this by using a heat mat or a heat lamp. To get the correct humidity you may also need to mist the container with water, but make sure that your container never gets mould in it or your colony will die. Temperature wise you should have your container between 95 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping your dubia's environment at these specifications will ensure that you will have a substantial and healthy colony.
Blaptica dubia makes marvelous feeder roaches for many reasons. First off roaches are 36% protein as opposed to crickets which are simply 18.5% protein. Dubia have a softer outer shell which make them easier to digest for your pets. Also roaches have little to no odor and do not make any sound making it much easier to raise a colony in your home. It is important to use any additional man dubia you have in your colony to feed your pets. You should have 1 man to 3 females in your colony. Because dubia have more protein subsequently crickets your pet will eat less allowing you to save money and to have a healthy happy pet plus you can check more information here - dubiaroachguide.com.
