Depends upon the age. If your bearded dragon is an adult, it can eat dubia roaches.
If your bearded dragon is a baby (one-year-old) or younger, then no, you should not feed it dubia roaches. Indeed, young beardies are still growing, and their bodies need different nutrients than adults do.
The mature roaches can give them too much protein and not enough calcium.
Why can adults eat dubia roaches?
Bearded dragons need more protein as they age than when they were younger.
They usually get all of their nutrients and proteins from insects. But since most insects contain a lot of chitin their gut needs an easier way to get to the proteins it needs.
Since mature roaches offer less chitin than most insects, they are an excellent source of protein for adult beardies.
Are there any adverse effects to feeding my adult bearded dragon dubia roaches?
If your adult dragon is not accustomed to eating roaches and you try and switch it too quickly, you may see a problem with its stool.
This can cause loose stool/diarrhea, caused by the roach having more fiber than what the dragon is accustomed to.
To help combat this problem, make sure your dragon is eating a lot of greens and vegetables (which also have fiber), and slowly introduce the roaches into their regular feedings over some time until they are completely switched over.
This typically takes about 3-4 weeks, and you might see stool changes during that time.
Why are the slow-moving adult dubia roaches easier for dragons to catch?
Bearded dragons are carnivores, which means they are hunters. They need the mental stimulation that comes with hunting to be happy and healthy, so offering your dragon live prey is a vital part of its regular diet.
Live prey also offers better nutrition in the sense that your dragon must process it before it can be digested, which means more nutrients for your dragon.
With the slow-moving dubia roaches (easy for your dragon to catch), you offer both mental stimulation and nutrition, thus making it even healthier than if you were feeding it live prey.
Summary
Bearded dragons must eat insects with less chitin because they can’t digest it.
This is why young beardies should not be fed dubia roaches. Adult beardies don’t have this same problem and can eat them without any issues.
Dubia roaches have less chitin than most other insects. This makes them an excellent source of protein for adult bearded dragons.
If your adult dragon is not accustomed to eating roaches and you try and switch it too quickly, you may see a problem with its stool.
This can cause loose stool/diarrhea, caused by the roach having more fiber than what the dragon is accustomed to.
To help combat this problem, make sure your dragon is eating a lot of greens and vegetables. You can then slowly introduce the roaches into their regular feedings over some time until they are completely switched over.
You may also want to check if your beardie can eat nightcrawlers in this article.
Related Posts:
Can bearded dragons eat islander roaches?
My name is Brad and I am the main editor of BeardieZilla.com.
The only goal of this site is quite simply to be able to help you. To help you by the means of my experiment, of the relation which I maintain with my bearded dragon as well as some of my knowledge about beardies.
I hope that you will find answers to some of your most pressing questions here.
Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the blog!
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