Figuring out what to feed to keep your bearded dragon healthy can be tricky. There’s a lot of information out there to sort through! Today, we thought we’d make it easier for you by breaking down why the dubia roach is our top choice for bearded dragon health.
1. Nutritional Powerhouse
The dubia roach has excellent nutrition! Compared to crickets, another popular feeder insect, dubias have higher protein and calcium, and a better calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.
While dubias are often a bit higher in fat than crickets, their fat content is still fairly low. In other words, a healthy bearded dragon will not become overweight from regularly consuming dubias. From a nutritional standpoint, the dubia roach is looking pretty good!
2. No Parasite Worries
All insects can carry parasites, there’s almost no avoiding it. But can they infect reptiles?
This is a tricky question. Most parasites that insects carry are completely harmless to bearded dragons and other reptiles. However, crickets have been known to carry parasites that can be harmful to reptiles. While crickets raised in hygienic facilities are not likely to cause problems, there’s still a slight chance they could be carrying intestinal parasites.
The dubia roach, on the other hand, has never been found to carry any parasites that can cause harm to your reptiles.
3. Dubia Roach: Perfect Boredom Buster
Mental health is important not just for you, but also to keep your bearded dragon healthy. Feeding live insects is a great way to entertain your beardie by activating their natural prey drive.
Of course, just about any live insect will do this – not just dubia roaches. What sets dubias apart from crickets is the fact that they don’t bite or jump. This makes them fun to catch without danger of escaping the enclosure or biting you or your reptiles.
Additionally, you can easily adjust the speed of your feeder dubias prior to feeding. If your beardie struggles to catch fast insects, refrigerate the dubias for a few minutes before feeding to slow them down. It’s that easy!
4. Gut Load-ability
If you don’t gut load your feeder insects, you should! Gut loading is an excellent way to increase the nutritional value of your feeder insects and is especially helpful when dealing with picky eaters—and dubias are the ideal insect for gut loading.
If you’re new to gut loading, check out our gut loading article to learn exactly what gut loading is, why you should consider doing it, and exactly how to gut load dubia roaches. But here’s the basics: dubia roach digestive tracts are perfectly designed to hold nutrition for your beardies for up to 3 days! On top of that, the way they digest their food makes certain nutrients more bioavailable for your reptiles. What a clever—and easy—way to keep your bearded dragon healthy!
5. Easy to Digest
Chitin, the material that makes up the outer shell of most feeder insects, can be tricky to navigate. It’s generally recommended to avoid feeding insects high in chitin, especially for young bearded dragons. This is because it is indigestible and can cause impaction.
If your dragon is young, elderly, or has digestion issues, feeding a low chitin insect such as dubia roaches will help keep your bearded dragon healthy.
Feed Dubias to Keep Your Bearded Dragon Healthy
When it comes to keeping your bearded dragon healthy, dubia roaches are a great – if not the best – way to go. They are packed with nutrition, easy to digest, and have excellent entertainment value as well. Find quality, nutritious dubia roaches for bearded dragons of all ages in our shop!
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