Care & Guide

Complete care & guide
to keep your Dubia Roaches healthy.

ENCLOSURE

Dubia Roaches need to be housed in a container with a smooth side to prevent climbing. A plastic storage box with a 1.5 feet height and around 45L size is recommended.

Cover the enclosure to prevent foreign bugs, pests, or pets from entering.

Ventilate the storage box with holes or mosquito net/wire mesh (3:2 or 4:3 ratio, drilled by a 5mm drill bit, mosquito net/wire mesh best with 6×6 or larger).

Dubia Roaches Enclsoure

Provide a standing ground and dark hiding spot using cardboard egg crate flats, stacked vertically. Leave at least a 3-inch gap between the bin and lids. Cut the egg crate in half for neat arrangement.

No need for substrate at the bottom. Place crystal gel on top of the egg crate to avoid contamination.

Wire Mesh Setup (Advance)

5mm Hole Setup (Basic)

Cut the egg crate in the middle to divide it into halves and arrange it in a neat and appealing manner (refer to the photo in the Food Section).

There is no need to use any substrate or bedding at the bottom of the enclosure. Adding substrate will only make it more challenging to keep the enclosure clean.

Tips: To prevent any frass from getting into the crystal gel, place it on top of the egg crate.

TEMPERATURE

In Malaysia, room temperature (around 26°C) is suitable with 60% humidity.
No heating source is required. During the hot season, crystal gel maintains humidity.
On higher ground levels, monitor temperature (Dubia roach wouldn’t breed below 23°C).

FOOD AND WATER

Ensure proper nutrition with dry fruit, grain, or Roach Chow. Low moisture vegetables can be added. Crystal Gel serves as a water source, preventing dehydration.

Arrange food in microwave Tupperware lids or a shallow bowl. Remove leftover food every 24 hours to avoid mold. Avoid high protein foods.

Here’s an example of food you can feed to Dubia Roaches :

– BDRM Premium Roach Chow
– Orange
– Apple 
– Banana
– Papaya
– Corn
– Carrot
– Pumpkin
– Mustard Green (sawi)
– Chinese Turnip (Sengkuang)

Besides, we do sell Crystal Gel as a water source for your Dubia Roaches, Crystal Gel provides water always and would avoid dehydration in the colony.

Plus, you don’t need to worry about your nymph from drowning again, plus Crystal Gel lasts up 3 to 12 days per serving (depend on serving size)

roach chow malaysia

Food arrangement inside the colony

You may also need microwave Tupperware or a shallow bowl to put the foods. Refer to the photo on how we place the food in our colony.

Be sure to remove any leftover vegetables or fruit every 24 hours before they get moldy. Mold is a colony’s biggest enemy.

Avoid high protein foods such as dog or cat food & fish pellet since Dubia roaches convert excess protein into uric acid, which may harm the reptiles in long term. 

CLEANING

Clean enclosures every 1-2 weeks to reduce frass buildup & remove any perished roaches. Use an extra enclosure when cleaning. Buffalo Beetles help in cleaning but manual frass scooping is still required. (With Buffalo Beetle, cleaning can be postponed until 4 weeks).

Dubia Colony Setup

Temporarily remove the egg crate with the Dubia Roaches, along with the food and water dishes (which may also contain roaches), to the spare enclosure.

Scoop up what remains at the bottom of the enclosure and sift out the frass. The roaches that reside there can then be transferred to the other enclosure or put back into the original enclosure with the other materials.

Add Buffalo Beetles (known as lesser mealworms) as a natural method to keep your Dubia roach colony clean; they will eat away any decaying organic material.
They prevent the colony from developing mold, fungi, mites, flies, and help minimize odors.

Buffalo Beetles won’t compete for other food resources. However, frass scooping still requires manual intervention.

BREEDING

The difference between the male and female is shown in the attached photo. Since a single male can mate with multiple females, the breeding Dubia roach colony should have more females than males.

Lipas Dubia Induk Betina

Adult Female

Induk Jantan Lipas Dubia

Adult Male

Maintain a ratio of one male to every 3-5 females for breeding. Keep temperatures at 28°C – 32°C. Adult females reach breeding age in 3-5 months, producing 20-40 nymphs every 4-6 weeks. Monitor hatching rate and adjust breeding strategy accordingly.

Dubia Roach Mating Ternak

For the optimal management of your breeding roach colony, maintain a ratio of approximately one male to every 3-5 females.

Keep temperatures between 28°C – 32°C and monitor the hatching rate.
If the rate significantly decreases despite proper husbandry, it may be that most of the females are older and producing fewer young.

In such cases, ensure to allow more females to mature and reproduce.

Maintainance

Daily (alternating days are acceptable):
– Check every 24 hours and replace wet food such as fruits and vegetables. Top up water gel if necessary.
– Remove any dead roaches and check for any foreign bugs.
– Ensure there is no unusual smell coming from the colony.

Weekly
– Scoop out frass (poop) if required, keeping it no deeper than 5mm.
– Check the condition of the egg crate; replace if necessary.
– Reapply cooking oil or Vaseline to prevent ants from entering the colony.
– Remove any uneaten food from the colony.

Monthly:
– Conduct a thorough spring cleaning of the entire colony using water only (no soap).
– Check the adult ratio and add adult roaches to balance it if necessary.
– Separate the babies if overcrowded (they can be left with adults).
– Repeat daily and weekly maintenance tasks.

Dubia Roach Size Chart

Instructions

Step-by-step guide on how to prepare Roach Chow and Crystal Gel before serving to your roaches.

BDRM Premium Roach Chow

  1. Cut the seal of the plastic, then prepare a flat plate or Tupperware lid.
  2. Serve 3 tablespoons of BDRM Premium Roach Chow on top of the flat plate or Tupperware lid.
  3. Keep the remaining and additional Roach Chow in the fridge (non-frozen).
dubia roach chow food

BDRM Crystal Gel

  1. Prepare 600ml of water, then take 1 pack of 5g Crystal Gel.
  2. Put 1 pack of Crystal Gel into 600ml of water. Stir it and leave it for 30 minutes.
  3. Take a flat plate or Tupperware lid, serve 3 tablespoons of Crystal Gel.
  4. Replace any discolored or shrinking Crystal Gel
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