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How Many Babies Do Dubia Roaches Have? 

Dubia Roach Basics

Dubia roaches are some of the best feeder insects out there. They’re nutritious for your pets and very easy to keep. If you have a pet like a bearded dragon, who is going to need a staple source of protein for a long time, it’s a good idea to start a roach colony. 

This sounds like a lot of work at first, but it really isn’t. Dubia roaches are one of the easiest insects to breed and raise for pet food. But if you’re just getting started, you probably have a lot of questions about how to keep them. Here, we’ll cover some of the main questions beginners have about farming dubia roaches on a small scale. 

Why keep dubia roaches? How do you keep them in your house? Do dubia roaches ever escape? And most importantly for the purpose of breeding them long-term, how many babies do dubia roaches have? 

Why Keep Dubia Roaches? 

For starters, why are dubia roaches so popular? Well, they’re highly nutritious, having a very good protein to fat ratio. Here are some quick facts on dubia roach nutritional value: 

• Protein: 22%
• Fat: 7.7%
• Ash: 1.7%
• Water: 60%
• Calcium to Phosphorus ratio: 2:3

For carnivorous and omnivorous lizards like bearded dragons and leopard geckos, dubias provide a great source of protein without being too fatty. They’re not very high in calcium, but you can always supplement that by dusting them and gut loading them. 

In addition to their nutritional value, dubia are very easy to keep in captivity. They can’t fly, and can barely climb. So keeping them in a basic plastic storage tub is plenty. In addition, they’re very dependent on the heat of their enclosure, so if any do manage to escape, they’ll probably die within a day or so. 

Starting a colony of dubia roaches long-term is very easy. Dubia mature very slowly, meaning it’s easy to control their populations. Their biological needs are simple, and easy to cater to. There really isn’t a better feeder insect to farm indoors if you have a pet reptile to feed. 

Dubia Roach Life Cycle

The dubia roach (Blaptica dubia) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaptica_dubia ], also called the Guyana spotted roach or Argentinian wood roach, is a largely flightless insect reaching a maximum of around 1.75 inches long. 

Which gender has the wings?

Males have fully developed wings, but are incapable of true powered flight. They’re horrible climbers, as we mentioned already, and require a stable climate that is both hot (80-95°F) and humid. 

How often do dubias have babies?

Dubia roaches reproduce once every two months or so (usually a little longer) and give birth to between 20 and 40 nymphs. Interestingly, dubia roaches give live birth. The female will carry the eggs inside her body, which then hatch and partially develop. 

When will dubia offspring have babies?

These newborn offspring will mature four about seven or eight months before reproducing themselves. Before long, you’ll have multiple generations of dubia roaches in your enclosure. Dubia live one to two years at a maximum. 

Keeping and Breeding Dubia Roaches

Habitat Set Up

In order to keep dubia roaches, you’re going to need a few things. First is a medium-to-large plastic storage tub with a lid. As long as the walls are smooth and the lid snaps on firmly, the roaches inside should be unable to escape. Add a few slits in the lid for air, but make sure they’re not too wide as this may allow humidity to escape. 

We created this video that reviews how to set up a temporary habitat for your dubias.  But this habitat can also be used to start a breeding bin:

Heat

Next, you need a heat source. A standard heating pad should be sufficient. You want the temperature inside the enclosure to be between 80 and 95°F. Lower than 70°F or so, and the roaches will not reproduce. 

Humidity

Dubia roaches also need moderate to high humidity (40-60% minimum). Higher is okay. Unless it’s very dry where you live, the ambient humidity in the container should be sufficient to keep this up. The roaches will produce some humidity just by way of living, digesting, and moving around inside the enclosure. 

Hiding Places

Next, you need to create some places for the roaches to live, hide, and reproduce. Roaches like dark, tight spaces. Most people will cut up cardboard egg flats, stacked on top of each other to replicate this. It’s a cheap solution, and works perfectly to meet the roaches’ needs. 

Food and Hydration

Last, you need to feed and water them. Dubia roaches will eat almost anything. You can give them off-brand breakfast cereal, oats, stale bread, or cheap cat food. Whatever is easiest works just fine. They also need some moisture, but they don’t drink liquid water. You can give them some fruit or vegetables to make sure they stay hydrated. Something like iceberg lettuce is perfect for this. 

And you’re set to go! Once your roaches get comfortable, they’ll start their life cycle rolling. Keep your mature dubia around until the offspring start to get big enough to use as feeders. Eventually the original breeders will die, and you’ll need to let some of the younger ones mature enough to reproduce. It’s as easy as that. All you need now are some live dubia roaches to get started!