Dubia cockroach

Blaptica dubia has long-winged adult males and broad females with short wing buds. The illustration depicts a female.

Choose whether this is a display colony or a managed feeder culture; breeding output is not automatically a welfare goal.

Arrange dependable holiday care and keep money available for food, replacement equipment and appropriate veterinary help. Test the habitat before the animal arrives.

Use a secure ventilated culture vessel with stable vertical shelters and room to separate food from waste. A smooth wall does not remove the need for a lid or escape checks.

Measure usable internal space after substrate, guards and furnishings. Check ventilation, cable holes and access against the smallest occupant. Fix heavy furnishings independently of loose substrate.

Use secure containment; no lid-free arrangement is established here.

The keeper account’s 27–35°C range is explicitly associated with breeding. Do not apply its upper end as an unreviewed display target; confirm a controlled colony regime and cooler refuge.

Record the warm and cool locations, overnight minimum and daytime maximum. Air, surface and substrate readings are different measurements. Any added heater needs compatible thermostatic control and safe separation from the animal; assess summer cooling as well as winter heating.

Agree a thermal plan for display or breeding as appropriate.

Use a day/night rhythm with dark shelter. No mandatory UVB target was established.

Keep the night dark and provide retreat from daytime light. Lamp percentage, electrical wattage and a product name cannot establish the exposure reaching an animal. Check the finished installation after changes to mesh, branches or lamp position.

Maintain ventilation and safe hydration without deep open water or persistently wet shelters. Clean damp frass before mould develops.

Inspect the occupied refuge and substrate as well as the air reading. Adjust water provision and ventilation together, and clean contaminated drinking surfaces. A single humidity number cannot describe every microclimate.

Confirm safe hydration for the animals and life stages.

Use an appropriate varied dry food and fresh produce, with a safe hydration method. Remove spoiled food and avoid unsupported high-protein feeding formulas.

Record what is actually eaten and follow changes in growth and body condition. Food size, life stage and the full diet matter. Supplement products require an individual plan; do not combine calcium, vitamin D and multivitamins by guesswork.

Avoid overcrowding and disturbance around moulting. Minimise dust exposure when cleaning a mature colony.

Make necessary maintenance predictable and allow voluntary retreat. Prepare a secure transfer container before essential moves. Observation should not repeatedly interrupt feeding, rest or moulting.

Inspect abnormal deaths, failed moults and contamination; review food, heat, moisture and cleaning before replacing animals.

Keep dated observations of appetite, activity and condition. A sudden decline, injury, abnormal breathing or repeated failed moults needs appropriate professional assessment. This guide does not provide a diagnosis or medicine dose.

Keep source and colony records and prevent release of live animals with waste.

Ask for a dated source record, scientific identity, life stage and established care history. Keep new arrivals and their equipment separate while an appropriate quarantine plan is agreed. Check current official rules for the exact animal, route and transaction before importing or buying; this page does not establish legal clearance. Never release animals or viable eggs outdoors.

Check safe hydration, fresh-food condition and lid security. Review shelter density, population and dust-controlled cleaning. Keep a dated record of measurements and observations, and revisit the full advice when conditions or life stage change.