Dubia roaches are a type of cockroaches which, unlike cockroaches, are not a nuisance. They don’t infest your home, nor do they produce foul-smelling waste. In fact, dubia roaches are one of the best sources of Bearded Dragon Diet or other such insectivorous reptiles and amphibians.

Dubia roaches are dimorphic insects, which means both male and female sexes can be found. They reproduce sexually and pretty quickly. Male roaches are larger in size, having well-developed wings while female roaches do not have wings as developed as the male. People breed these insects at home so that they don’t have to spend money on buying dubia roaches all the time for their pets!

Life Cycle

After 5 days of emergence, a female dubia roach can start mating. Dubia roaches reproduce sexually. Mating occurs when the male roach deposits its sperm packet into the female. As soon as the female receives a sperm packet, it is inhibited to mate with other male roaches.

After the process of mating, the female lays an ootheca, which is an egg case having segments. They pull the sack back into their body for incubation. Dubia roaches are ovoviviparous, which means that they keep the eggs inside their bodies till they hatch. The nymphs or young roaches are then released.  The nymphs are white in color with an extremely soft exoskeleton. In a span of a few hours, the color of these nymphs darkens into dark brown.

The gestation phase is about 28 days long. It takes nearly 28 additional days till the female roach can get impregnated again.

A female roach gives live birth to 20 to 40 nymphs at a time. These nymphs mature in a period of 4 to 6 months, depending upon the conditions provided. The more ideal the conditions are, the quicker the nymphs mature.

Nymphs of dubia roaches undergo 7 instars. The shell or pronotum grows by 25% in between each molting episode before the dubia roach finally matures. Young dubia roaches are bright white in color after they molt. They are extremely soft. The chitin hardens in just a few hours.

Lifespan

The average lifespan of dubia roaches is 1.5 to 2 years. Female roaches tend to live a few months longer than the males.

Dubia roaches are easy to maintain insects. Their breeding is easy, and their life cycle is quite simple. As long as the conditions are favorable, dubia roaches breed and grow rapidly. One thing that one should be careful about is that when the young roaches molt, they are extremely delicate and they shouldn’t be disturbed, or they may die.