Crickets Compared to Dubia Roaches

[koilover512]

I am considering changing Peg Legs diet from crickets to dubia roaches. How do the roaches compare to the crickets in a nutritional way? How many should I feed to him in one feeding? I feed Peg Leg crickets everyday.

 

[zackbeardieowner]

If he's doing well on crickets I don't find a reason to stop feeding

 

[koilover512]

Well another main reason i am wondering is.... I want to make a dubia roach colony. It seems fairly simple.

 

[Doublet74]

Dubia roaches have a better meat to shell ratio. Also they dont smell. They wont attack your lizard if you leave them in the cage. Very easy to breed. They give birth to live young. Every female has about 30 babies every 30 days. Almost no die off. There is really no comparison. I can't think of one aspect that a cricket would be better than a dubia. They are a GREAT feeder.

 

[sontron]

The only thing that I can think of that is better about crickets is that they are cheaper and more easily available. Dubia can be relatively expensive if you are not starting a colony, and are very difficult to find in stores; you have to order offline. But if you are starting a colony, neither of these will matter after a few months when they start reproducing.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

I've had my beardies for 6 months now, and I've never once fed them a cricket. A dubia colony is a great & easy way to save money in my opinion. I can't imagine dealing with crickets - blech!!

Anyway, from what I've read dubias are much more nutritious than crickets & much less likely to carry parasites. I'm not making a statement of fact, just conveying the info I've personally come across. You feed your dragon dubias the same way you would feed it crickets - as many as they can eat in 10-15 minutes. Just make sure the dubias are no bigger than the space between your dragon's eyes. Good luck!

 

[diamc]

Moved to Feeders from General Discussion forum.

 

[Flynnthedragon]

"Just make sure the dubias are no bigger than the space between your dragon's eyes. Good luck!" Some people I think mis-read this. They should be no wider then the space between your dragons eye's. Otherwise no beardie would ever beable to eat a adult dubia.
ANYWAYSS Dubia are better then Crickets in many ways, Less chitin and more meat, hardly smell and only need to be cleaned once every few months (depending on the size). I have a pretty good sized colony and i have only cleaned the tub out maybe 4 times in the last 8 months. Dubia are much more expensive though so unless you are wanting to breed your own colony stick with crickets. Crickets breed much faster but also die faster and can get smelly if not cleaned out often. Dubia take 1 month to give birth (they dont lay a eggsac like other roaches) and it takes them 4-6 months to hit adults, Heat is the major factor in breeding dubia. The hotter it is the faster they will breed and grow. IT all really comes down to what you are wanting to spend and how patient you are. Once you get a good colony of Dubia and you start selling what you dont need they really do pay for themselfs, but are pretty costly to start up. Crickets are cheap and breed much faster.
I have yet to buy any feeder other then the ocasional phoenix worm and supers, and I have never came close to running out of Dubia roaches. I have well over 130 females which is about 1400 dubia babies a month roughly.

Health wise Dubia is the choice due to more meat to shell ratio
Cost wise Crickets win this one.