dubia roach + protein theory something every dubia breeder should know

[JeffreH]

Unfortunately, we rely on information from the general web and from books for most of our research on these topics. Primary literature in peer-review journals offers some of the best information, and the topic of protein has been studied on Blattella germanica. These sources aren't as readily available to the general public without accounts through universities or some full-text prints available via Google Scholar. You'd be surprised how long it can take information from these sources to leak into the general public; I've met people who to this day believe a particular python complex is still considered subspecies of one another when a paper in 1998 raised each to full species status. 14 years, and people are still following the old nomenclature.

If you are interested in insect nutritional studies, I would review some literature by Mark D. Finke.

In addition to the paper on effects of protein on growth and reproduction of the German Roach (article I linked to you earlier), here is another paper of interest:
Jones, S. A., Raubenheimer, D. (2001). Nutritional regulation in nymphs of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica
Journal of Insect Physiology, Vol 47, Issue 10, September 2001, p 1169-1180.

1) Depends on the nitrogen concentration of the food item being offered. Grain products tend to be higher in protein, and are fine to add to the diet. Nitrogen is often a limiting nutrient in many insect diets and is often obtained through the digestion of amino acids. Plant material as a general rule is often high in carbon (i.e. cellulose and other complex carbohydrates) and lower in nitrogen. Some insects have evolved to thrive on high cellulose diets (termites) and termites and cockroaches are both within the same Order, Blattodea. Some cockroaches are known to contain protozoans to assist in cellulose digestion, so plant matter is undoubtedly a part of the natural diet. They are decomposers, they likely feed on detritus and other junk that falls to the forest floor in the neotropics (B. dubia).

2) Yes. It can influence them negatively in high concentrations. The type of protein is also an important consideration. I briefly talked this over with Kyle Kandilian at RoachCrossing and he too beleives that moisture is likely the bigger contributor to palatability of the food source. Other considerations are things like carotenoid concentration, which may very likely explain why oranges seems to yield better reproduction for some individuals.

3) Yes. But not in high concentrations like most people seem to think is essential in a good gutload.

[demon amphibians]

Jeff you are a smart man that is exactly the direction i am heading in. Also i read through the article you sent and i learned in fact much more then I was already headed towards to begin with.

[demon amphibians]

I have a good friend that is going to school for biology and well i started asking him questions. And he filled me in on a few key points on plant eating insects as well as mammals. What i gained from it is exactly what Jeff is talking about. So to better understand a decomposers and how they digest there food is some what similar to a herbivore such as a cow. It has bacteria like us that breaks down the cellulose in the plant matter that they eat. Just as such how a banana starts to turn brown after time. (which is a good clue as to why roaches prefer brown bananas over a banana that isn't brown or is not ripe). Even a roach has billions of these bacteria to digest there food. In order to break down things such as grass and wood roaches have a more powerful digestive system then us by far as well as some herbivore animals such as a cow. Now for the protein part (and i am simplifying the explanation i am sure Jeff can go much further in depth) when the bacteria breaks down the cellulose it goes through a change. when it does the roach digest the bacteria itself and use it as a living protein source. kinda like when we eat a steak. Thus providing the roach with a sufficient source of protein.

[demon amphibians]

Part 2
Say Jeff and i are wrong and the dubia needs a protein source from food such as grain and what not. I mean after all we gather this information through broken, inconclusive sources. Hince the reason why I labeled this a theory. But mathematics can also provide how little amount of protein is need to be sufficient for these insects in the slightest case we are wrong.
1.Say a roach weighs a gram.(which is the weight of a paper clip) They can weigh more and can weigh less but we will stick with a gram as an example.
2. A person weighing 100 lbs requires at least 1 gram of protein to sustain proper growth. Which is 100 grams of protein a day. With this a person will weigh 45359 times as much as the roach.
3. We already know a roach has a much stronger digestive system then us. For this example we will say 10 times better. But we all now it is much better then that if they can digest wood. The 1 gram roach will require .00022046 grams protein a day.
4. A head of romaine lettuce has 7.7 grams protein. With these numbers it can proved enough protein for nearly 35,000 roaches for one day.
lets take in to account how many veggies have more protein then romaine lettuce the numbers will blow your mind (and mine as well)

This is an under exaggeration i am just using these numbers as an example. But it will be in this ballpark range that is for certain.
suppose you have a colony of 1000 roaches. veggies provide more then enough protein for an insect so small even if it requires protein at all.

[demon amphibians]

Dog food and other high protein foods are not required. I have mentioned before a variety of different foods are important and i still stand by that but for the reasons of protein it does not apply. Dog food is extremely high in protein because dogs are carnivores by definition. So they need the protein. Dubia roaches are herbivores. I do not doubt for one second that they would eat a peace of meat if give to them, but something as simple as lettuce will supply every bit of protein they need. The information Jeff supplied showed studies of to much protein harmful to breeding as well as killing them.
Before today i gave my roaches a high protein diet. I thought that the amount space i had them in hindered their reproduction because i was producing between 5000 to 7,000 a month when i should have been producing closer to 18000 a month. Well what i have found was a combination of both.

As I mentioned before i will do a growth experiment with 10 vegetarian roaches of different sizes and 10 roaches with a variety of food such as dog food, cat food and veggies. I expect no difference. But i will give updates once a month along with an detailed explanation. Also my breeder bin will receive only veggies such as lettuce, carrots, etc. I will also give updates on the production improvements if there are any.