Maximum Nutrition Everyday Roach Ration

Product Description

We designed Maximum Nutrition Everyday Roach Ration (MNERR) to do two things: (1) maximize Dubia roach growth and reproduction, and (2) create nutritious feeders.

We accomplished this in two ways.

First, we thoroughly researched, tested, and refined each ingredient over many roach generations.

While this may sound simple, it’s actually quite complex. There is a large body of research on insect rearing, and most of it focuses on diet and nutrition. Cockroaches are forgiving insects, but they present certain challenges. When it comes to productivity, nutrition matters. Getting their diet right versus wrong can mean the difference between a successful breeding project and an unsuccessful one.

We run a productive Dubia roach breeding operation thanks in large part to MNERR, but it hasn’t always been this way. There have been many ups and downs. In the scientific literature, a 100% difference in productivity between diets is common. This is huge! And these are not “garbage” versus “ideal” diets. These are comparisons between two or more diets scientists reasonably expected to succeed.

So it’s important to get nutrition right. Under-nourished Dubia roaches grow slower and produce smaller batches of less viable offspring. And because adult Dubia roaches depend on nutritional reserves acquired as nymphs, poor nutrition can cause a multi-generational cycle that is difficult to break. In fact, research suggests cockroaches don’t ever recover from early life nutritional deficiency. Once a deficiency exists in nymphs, they never catch up to their healthier peers. What they lost is gone forever. They don’t recover even if they receive full nutrition later on.

And what about adults? It’s the same thing. Once roaches reach adulthood, their health and future productivity is set. What they will become as breeders or feeders is a function of what they are, and at this point that won’t change.

Yikes! This is a strong argument for the power of nutrition. And for never neglecting your roaches! If you do, they may end up irreversibly unhealthy and unproductive. They may also live shorter lives.

We’ve seen these highs and lows in our own colonies during testing. The evidence is clear: nutrition matters. This is why we developed MNERR, and why we feed it to our own roaches. Our breeding operation depends on high productivity. We get the production we want from our roaches, thanks in large part to our Dubia roach chow.

Second, Dubia roaches have specific nutritional needs at different life stages. These needs vary by stage, but they also vary within stages. The roaches manage these needs with dietary “self-selection”. This means they choose to eat foods with the nutrients they need, when they need them.

Self-selection is a well-documented trait (external link) in Dubia roaches. MNERR takes advantage of this innate ability.

This requires roaches have the foods they need and can select the ones they prefer. Likewise, they can also choose to avoid certain nutrients. If a nutrient they need is indistinct from the others, they may become deficient in that nutrient. Or, they may overeat trying to get enough of it. Neither option is likely to lead to optimum health or maximum productivity. The most well-known example of nutrition-related damage to roach health is protein. Unrestricted protein is bad for Dubia roaches. In fact, excess protein can kill them.

Our Dubia roach chow addresses all these issues and more. It has the right amount of protein. It has all the nutrients Dubia roaches need, in the right amount, and in forms they can use. In short, our Dubia roach chow grows healthier, more productive Dubia roaches.

NOTE: Our Dubia roach chow is roach food, not people food. It is not meant for human consumption, so please don’t eat it!