Discoid Roach Care

Name: Discoid Roach.

Scientific name: Blaberus Discoidalis

Lifespan: 18-22 months for males, females live longer, usually reaching 24-26 months.

Discoid Roach Care. As Feeder Insects For Bearded Dragons and other Pets.

Discoid Roaches are easily digestible as Feeder Roaches, high in meat to shell ratio for a high protein and nutritious meal. The various life cycles of the discoid roach offers a wide and varied sizes of roaches to use as feeders for your reptiles & amphibians.

Discoid Roaches and a Discoid Roach Starter Colony Are a Florida Legal Dubia Roach Alternative.  Discoid vs Dubia are similar protein and nutrition profile. Learn More On Florida Legal Roaches by reading our Bioactive Guides and Articles online. 

A Discoid Roach Breeding Kit is easily maintained, cannot climb smooth surfaces or fly, they eat almost anything and are silent and smell free compared to other insects like crickets.We have Discoid Roach for Sale.

Discoid Roach ladies are in high demand In Florida as Dubia Roach Alternative.

Housing Setup For Discoid Roach & Discoid Roach Care Sheet

Discoid Roach Care will be described here.  Colonies Can Be Housed in a ventilated plastic tub, (we recommend 14-20 gallon totes) or aquarium tank with a large surface area. Surface area is increased with the addition of Egg Flats For Discoids to hide in and nestle.

Discoid Roaches do not climb well on smooth surfaces, so as long as the sides of the enclosure are smooth there is little chance of escape. A standard plastic storage tub (Sterilite or Rubbermaid ) type bin works well.

Punch holes in the lid for ventilation or better yet cut out and install screen mesh in the top and or sides of the tub for optimal ventilation. No substrate is needed as this makes removal, separation and maintenance easier.

A Discoid Roach Prefers Living in Dark Conditions so using a dark tub or storing it in a dark place is preferable. Discoid roach care includes providing places to hide, so cardboard tubes or eggflats provide additional real estate and places to raise babies making them feel secure. Discoid roaches like nestling and living in close quarters.

                              Feeding Your Discoid Roach Colony Discoid Roach Care 

A Discoid Roach Will Eat Just About Anything

After all they are roaches. This makes for easy feeding. Make sure that they have access to High Protein Grains at all times like oats, wheat, wheat bran. They also need some protein, some feed roaches dog or cat food, or fish food for protein.

Alternatively a lot of people will use a Balanced Protein All Natural Roach Chow that is formulated to have the correct protein percentage as dog or cat food can be too high in protein and lead to uric acid accumulation and death in your reptiles & amphibians.

Roaches should periodically 2-3x a week be fed produce that has been cleaned thoroughly of pesticides or that is organic.

Any food that you give For Discoid Roach Care

Will be passed along to your reptiles & amphibians so it is best to keep the Discoid Gut-Loaded with optimum nutrition to be passed along as you feed the discoids off. Feed Fresh fruits like apples, bananas.  Use these fruits as a staple food.

They are best as they are sweet and nutritious and are readily consumed. Feed the amount that the discoid will consume within 24 hours.

Remove, the remains to eliminate the growth of mold.  Mold wipes out entire discoid colonies.  Use Fresh produce like carrots, leafy greens and other root vegetables provide a well rounded diet for not only the roaches but the pets that you feed them to.

Water Discoid Roaches With Water Gel Crystals.  Use them as they Work Best.  Water Crystals ae a crystal that swells up when you add it to water.  It provides a high surface area gel for the discoid to extract water without fouling it or drowning.

Water gel Crystals are much better than other methods such as cotton or sponges as they last longer. A single Tablespoon of crystals will make more than a gallon of water gel crystals to water your roaches or feeder insect colony.

Temp and Humidity For Your Discoid Roach Colony Care

Please Note: Discoid Are A Tropical Species

And do best at higher humidity levels 40-50% is sufficient. Maintain humidity levels at these levels.  If not, you may experience a die off as nymphs molt skins or as they are giving birth. Place a temperature gauge with humidity level indicator in the bin you house your roaches in. 

Increase Humidity levels by offering fruits and vegetables. Include a screened or covered water container.  Lower the heat.  Finally, simply place more Water Crystal Gel (Prevents Drowning)

Discoid Roaches Live In Tropical Conditions

Put Discoids in High Temps. Keep them optimally in temperatures around (82- 88°F ). They can survive at lower temperatures, but will not breed as quickly. Increase  temps to 88-95°F.  Doing so, will greatly increase breeding cycles. 

Increase temps and produce more Discoid roaches as Feeders.  As well, increase the life cycle of your colony. Make humidity levels to be at least 40%

Breeding Colony temperature and humidity & Breeding Cycle 

Discoid Roaches Become Sexually Mature Around 6 months of age, so a successful discoid breeding & feeding colony will not take very long to establish.

Once sexually mature, females will give birth to up to 35 baby discoid nymphs every 30-45 days, if you have to feed off use males as feeders and keep the female to male ratio at about 3-5 females per 1 male.

Adult Discoid Roaches Are harder to Sex as the females & males both have wings.  The female wing length is usually shorter than the body with the males wings being slightly longer than the body.  The adult Discoid Roach cannot fly. 

Sexing nymphs is more difficult as there are variations during their lifestyle and must mature only being identifiable at their last molt.

Additional Tips For Successful Breeding Of Discoid Colony

Many Customers Wonder How Good Roach Cleaner Crews Work For Your Roach Colony Setup.  Use a Cleaner Crew for Discoid Roaches.  Use Cleaner Crews, they are a special species of small larvae and beetles. 

They consume excess grains and process the roach waste or frass. Put them in your enclosure.  They do not bother the discoid roaches and they act as a great Clean-Up Crew.  Use them for your roach bins and enclosures. Source

Feed Oranges to Discoid Roaches.  In numerous experiences Discoid Roaches Bred Faster when fed oranges.  As a result, they also gave birth to babies quicker when fed oranges.  Increase the breeding rate of Discoid roaches.  A great secret is to feed them oranges once a week or so.

Put Discoid Roaches in High Temperatures. In studies, Discoids Did Best In High Heat Temperatures. Therefore, use high temps. In case of escape no worry is needed as they will not infest your home or neighborhood.

As a result, They will most likely die if not found right away.  Due to this, Escapees are usually found motionless. Check to see if they revive by adding them back to heated environment and allow them to re-hydrate. Prevent Escape of Roaches With CONTAIN Super Slick Roach Barrier