“Mini” Dubia roaches may be tiny, but they pack a big nutritional punch! What they lack in size they make up in nutritive value for your animals.
At approximately 3/16-inch, Minis are the smallest Dubia nymphs. They’re only up to about a week old, and though small, they contain all the same nutrients as their older and larger Dubia nymph peers – and possibly more.
Because they have to double in size in the next few weeks, Mini Dubia exoskeletons are soft and thin. This means ounce they have more nutrition ounce for ounce than older roaches with thicker, more developed shells. This is a big plus for the hatchlings, babies, and other small animals that feed on small roaches because they tend to have tender digestive systems and higher protein needs.
And this works out great because all things equal, Mini Dubia roaches are high in protein and minerals. This is because adult female Dubia spend their youth preparing for reproduction, which means eating as often as they can in order to store nutrients they need later for reproduction. That nutrition gets passed along to their offspring. This is nature’s way of boosting their chance of survival. The more nutritional reserves baby roaches are born with, the better they can survive lean times, the faster they can grow when food is plenty, and the more offspring they in-turn can have when they become adults.
What all this means is that our Mini Dubia roaches are a great primary feeder for small herps and other animals.
While small, Minis are larger than small crickets in the pinhead to ⅛-inch range. They grow very fast, so their size may vary somewhat from roach to roach and batch to batch. However, they generally measure under a quarter inch. By weight, they are about half the size of our quarter inch Dubia nymphs, and they tend to be much flatter.