When Your Roaches Arrive

DO NOT REFRIGERATE YOUR ROACHES! Dubia roaches are a tropical species; they will suffer and eventually die if kept in your refrigerator. Room temperature, and up to 85ºF, is ideal. Also, keep your roaches out of direct sunlight or artificial lights. They need a quiet, dark place to rest. Constant light is stressful to roaches.

Our roaches are shipped with enough food and water crystals to last about a week. If you don’t plan to feed them all to your pets immediately upon arrival, please provide them with food and water to keep them healthy. This will ensure that they remain a healthy food source for your pets. It’s also kind to your roaches, since they’re living beings with needs too! Your roaches will enjoy an orange wedge, carrot slices, or a piece of apple or banana. This will provide them with both nourishment and moisture. Replace these foods after a day or two, since decaying food will allow bacteria and/or mold to grow, which is harmful to both the roaches and your pets who consume the roaches.

Unlike crickets, roaches live a long time. Under ideal conditions, females will live about two years and males about 18 months. If you plan to keep your roaches for more than a week or two, you should provide them with a more varied diet to ensure that they remain a healthy food source for your pets. They will eat pretty much anything, but don’t feed them dog or cat food, meat or dairy products of any kind. They are vegetarians and will get all the protein and other nutrients they need on a diet of grains or whole-grain bread plus fresh fruits and vegetables. They will need a source of water also. A small piece of wet sponge in a low-rimmed dish or jar lid works well. Keep in mind that roaches can’t climb smooth surfaces, so a dish with a high rim will be inaccessible to small roaches. They can drown in standing water, which is the reason for using a sponge. Be sure to keep the water source clean and fresh, and provide only water suitable for human consumption. Tap water quality varies greatly. If you wouldn’t drink your tap water, don’t give it to your roaches either!

If you transfer your roaches to another container, please be sure it is free of chemicals and cleaning agents, and has adequate air ventilation. Your roaches will need a surface to rest upon with dark areas, such as crumpled paper towels or newspaper or toilet paper tubes. If you ordered tiny nymphs, you will notice that we included some frass (roach poop and pieces of moulted exoskeletons) in their container. This is because the young nymphs need to eat this to obtain gut bacteria and some vital nutrients. Include this frass when transferring tiny nymphs to another container.

If you have any questions about your Dubia roaches, please call or email us.