Keeping an insectivore means keeping two animals: the pet, and its food.
The cost and hassle of the second one gets underestimated constantly β but it is also where the gap between adequate and good husbandry opens up.
1. Six feeders compared
| Feeder | Ca:P ratio | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubia roaches | Good | Balanced nutrition, silent, cannot climb smooth surfaces, breed reliably | Slow to establish, need heat, some people cannot get past the idea |
| Crickets | Fair | Easy to buy, active enough to trigger a feeding response | Noisy, smelly, escape-prone, cannibalistic, short-lived |
| Mealworms | Poor (high phosphorus) | Cheap, easy to store | Too fatty for a staple, tough exoskeleton |
| Superworms | Poor | Large, suits bigger animals | Even fattier, and they bite β use with care |
| Red runner roaches | Good | Breed very fast, small enough for juveniles | Climb glass, hard to eradicate if they escape |
| Flightless fruit flies | Needs heavy supplementation | The only viable feeder for dart frogs and similar | Must be cultured yourself, reseeded weekly |
The conclusion: use dubia or crickets as the staple, and treat mealworms and superworms as occasional snacks.
Mealworms are the classic beginner mistake β cheap, available, and eagerly eaten, but so calcium-poor and fat-rich that a mealworm-only diet leads to fatty liver and metabolic bone disease.
2. Gut-loading: feeding the feeder is feeding the pet
The most-skipped, best-value step in the whole process.
Gut-loading means feeding the insects high-quality food for 24-48 hours before offering them, so their digestive tracts are full of nutrition that gets eaten along with them.
What to feed the feeders:
- Carrot, squash, sweet potato (moisture plus beta-carotene)
- Dark leafy greens (kale, dandelion)
- Commercial gut-load powder or high-calcium feed
- Avoid: cabbage, spinach (oxalates block calcium absorption), potato
A cricket that has not eaten for three days is nutritionally close to worthless. The same cricket after 24 hours of carrot and greens is an entirely different food item.
3. Dusting: calcium and vitamins
Separate from gut-loading, you also dust:
- Put the feeders in a small bag or cup
- Add a little calcium or vitamin powder
- Shake gently until lightly coated
- Feed immediately β insects shed the powder quickly
Rough frequency (check the species page for specifics):
- Juveniles and growing animals: calcium with D3 at every feed
- Adults: calcium 2-3 times a week, multivitamin once a week
- Species with UVB: use calcium without D3 to avoid oversupplementation
See calcium and vitamin supplementation for detail.
4. Keeping dubia roaches
Dubia are the least troublesome long-term option and deserve their own section.
Why they are recommended:
- Cannot climb smooth plastic, so escapes are very unlikely
- Silent, and barely any odour
- Better calcium-to-phosphorus balance than crickets
- Long-lived (adults 1-2 years), unlike crickets which die off in batches
Basic setup:
- Container: a smooth-walled plastic bin with ventilation holes (metal mesh, not plastic)
- Temperature: 28-32 Β°C for fastest breeding; a heat mat on a side wall works
- Substrate: none needed β stacked egg crates provide the vertical space
- Food: wheat bran, oats or crushed dog kibble as dry feed, plus carrot or squash for moisture
- No water dish β fruit and vegetables supply enough, and dishes drown nymphs
Timeline: from starting a colony to reliable production usually takes 4-6 months. So start the colony early β do not wait until the animal is home.
5. Storing crickets
If you buy crickets rather than breeding:
- Tall smooth-walled bin, or smear petroleum jelly around the rim
- Egg crates for surface area, which cuts cannibalism
- 24-28 Β°C with good ventilation
- Remove dead ones daily β they are the main source of smell and bacteria
- Fruit and vegetables for moisture, never a water dish
High losses are normal. Buying only what you will use within a week is the efficient approach.
6. Fruit fly culture (mandatory for dart frogs)
Dart frogs have mouths too small for anything but flightless fruit flies, which are not reliably purchasable. You have to culture them.
The process:
- Buy culture medium and a starter culture
- Mix the medium with water, fill a culture cup, add a coffee filter for climbing surface
- Add starter flies and seal with a breathable foam plug
- At around 25 Β°C, first production in about two weeks
- Start a fresh cup every week to keep supply rolling
Watch out for:
- Mite contamination β stand culture cups on a shelf treated with petroleum jelly
- Retire each cup after 3-4 weeks rather than running it indefinitely
- A weekβs gap and the frogs lose condition. This is a job you cannot take a holiday from
7. The practical and psychological side
Worth saying plainly: keeping insects at home permanently is something the people you live with have to agree to.
- Crickets chirp, particularly at night
- Dubia are silent, but their appearance is a barrier for many people
- Escapees turn up in unexpected places
- You need dedicated, ventilated storage space, ideally not the bedroom
If those problems cannot be solved, the honest conclusion is that insectivores are not for you β look instead at corn snakes (frozen rodents), crested geckos (powdered diet) or herbivorous small mammals.