Blue Tongue Skink Feeders: Crickets vs. Roaches, Decided

Blue tongue skinks are some of the most rewarding lizards in the hobby — gentle, curious, and refreshingly omnivorous, which means feeding them is more forgiving than feeding a strict insectivore. But sooner or later every blue tongue keeper hits the same fork in the road: when it's time for the protein portion of the diet, do you reach for crickets or roaches? I've fed both for years. Here's the honest, side-by-side breakdown, and the answer I land on.

First, the bigger picture: blue tongues are omnivores

Before the cricket-vs-roach question matters, get the diet structure right. Blue tongue skinks are native to Australia, Indonesia, and the surrounding region, and in the wild they eat a wide mix — plant matter, invertebrates, and the occasional carrion. In captivity that translates to a varied diet of protein, vegetables, and a little fruit.

A useful rough guide: roughly half protein and half plant matter for adults, with juveniles taking more protein to fuel rapid growth. The protein portion is where feeder insects come in. The plant side should lean on dark leafy greens (mustard, collard, dandelion), with squash, sweet potato, and bell pepper for variety, and small amounts of berries or papaya as occasional treats.

A few hard rules around the edges:

• ◆Avoid the toxics: no avocado, rhubarb, or citrus.
• ◆Go easy on oxalates: spinach and similar high-oxalate greens block calcium absorption, so they shouldn't be staples.
• ◆Supplement: dust feeders with calcium, provide UVB so the skink can use it, and a multivitamin on schedule fills dietary gaps.

With that frame set, let's compare the two feeders.

Crickets: the affordable, active option

Crickets are a classic feeder for good reasons. They're a solid protein source — on an as-fed basis roughly 17–21% protein — with relatively low fat, which suits a skink that needs to watch its weight. Gut-loaded properly, their calcium-to-phosphorus ratio is workable, and their darting movement is genuinely good enrichment, prompting the skink to stalk and chase the way it would in the wild. They're also cheap and available in every pet store.

The drawbacks are real, though:

• ◆They escape and hide, jumping out of the enclosure or burrowing into substrate where the skink can't reach them.
• ◆They're noisy and smelly in any quantity — the chirping and odor are a genuine nuisance indoors.
• ◆They die fast if not stored well, so you waste inventory and rebuy often.
• ◆Inconsistent nutrition — poorly gut-loaded crickets become phosphorus-heavy, risking calcium deficiency over time.

Roaches: the low-hassle, digestible option

Feeder roaches — dubia and discoids being the common choices — bring a strong nutritional and practical profile. They're protein-rich (roughly 20–25% as-fed for dubia), with a generally favorable calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and a soft, low-chitin body that's easier to digest, lowering impaction risk. That digestibility is a meaningful edge for a skink.

On the practical side, roaches are odorless, quiet, longer-lived, and far harder to escape — discoids and dubia can't climb smooth surfaces. They breed efficiently, so you can set up a colony for a self-sustaining supply. That's a big long-term win.

The honest downsides:

• ◆Higher upfront cost than crickets, especially in bulk.
• ◆The "ick" factor — some keepers don't love handling or breeding roaches.
• ◆Slower movement offers less hunting stimulation than crickets (though plenty of skinks still strike at them readily).

Head-to-head

A quick note on numbers: you'll sometimes see crickets quoted at "58–65%" protein and roaches at "60–70%." Those are dry-matter figures (water removed); the as-fed numbers in the table are what you actually feed. Both are legitimate, but don't compare a dry-matter number to an as-fed one and conclude one feeder is wildly more protein-rich.

Digestibility and ease of feeding

Crickets have a softer exoskeleton than many insects and a higher water content that aids hydration and digestion — but their frantic movement makes them a pain to manage, and uneaten ones scatter and stress the skink. Roaches have a slightly thicker shell on the chitin side for dubia, but discoids in particular are notably soft and low-chitin, and gut-loading offsets any digestion concern. Crucially, roaches stay put when offered, making them easy for the skink to catch and easy for you to remove if uneaten.

For feeding convenience, roaches win. For triggering an enthusiastic hunting response, crickets have the edge.

Cost, breeding, and the long game

Crickets are cheaper to buy but, because they die fast and get eaten through quickly, you repurchase constantly — and the per-feeder cost creeps up with all that waste. Roaches cost more upfront but live long, store easily, and — the real lever — breed reliably at home. A roach colony turns a one-time purchase into a near-free perpetual supply. For a single skink that's a nice-to-have; for a collection it's a game-changer. My beginner's guide to breeding discoid roaches covers exactly how to set one up.

Safety: parasites, pesticides, handling

Both feeders carry the usual live-insect cautions. Parasites can ride along on either, though crickets are more commonly implicated in transmission — source from reputable suppliers and do periodic fecal checks on your skink. Pesticides are the bigger danger: never feed wild-caught insects, which may carry residue that's toxic to reptiles. Handling and storage matter too — dead, spoiled insects should never be fed, crickets escape and can bite a skink if left in overnight, and roaches need ventilation to avoid mold. Sourcing clean, well-kept feeders heads off most of this; the same red-flag checklist I use for spotting low-quality roaches applies to any live feeder.

How to feed either one correctly

Whichever you choose, the prep is the same:

• ◆Gut-load the insects 24 hours ahead with leafy greens, squash, carrot, or a commercial gut-load.
• ◆Dust with calcium before feeding (calcium-with-D3 if UVB is limited) to keep the calcium-to-phosphorus balance right and prevent metabolic bone disease.
• ◆Size it right — never larger than the width of the skink's head; smaller, soft-bodied crickets or nymph roaches for juveniles.
• ◆Feed in a tub or remove uneaten insects promptly, since both crickets and roaches will hide in the enclosure (and crickets may nip the skink overnight).

Encouraging natural hunting behavior

Feeding isn't only nutrition — it's enrichment, and the two feeders play different roles here. Crickets, with their quick, erratic darting, make a skink work for the meal: it has to stalk, flush them from hiding, and chase. In a larger or more naturalistic enclosure with hides and foliage, that turns a feeding into genuine mental and physical exercise. Roaches move more slowly and steadily, and some species burrow, which still prompts the skink to seek them out but with less of a chase. For a younger or less agile skink, that slower prey can actually be the better match — a successful, low-frustration hunt. The richest approach is to vary it: use crickets when you want to spark an active hunt, roaches when you want easy, reliable feeding, and present them in a setup with cover so the skink has something to engage with either way. Just remember to remove any uneaten crickets, which can nip a resting skink overnight.

Building a simple weekly routine

If the choices feel overwhelming, here's a workable rhythm. Make the plant portion the daily base — a rotating salad of dark leafy greens with squash, sweet potato, or bell pepper. Offer the protein portion a few times a week for an adult (more often for a growing juvenile), alternating roaches and crickets across the week so you get both the digestibility and nutrition of roaches and the enrichment of crickets. Gut-load the feeders the day before, dust with calcium at feeding, and add a multivitamin on a regular schedule. Keep fruit to small, occasional treats. This isn't fancy, but it covers the omnivore's needs, builds in variety, and sidesteps the two classic skink diet failures — an all-insect diet and a calcium deficit.

My verdict

For most blue tongue keepers, roaches are the better everyday feeder — softer and more digestible, more nutritious gram-for-gram, quiet, odorless, long-lived, escape-resistant, and breedable at home. Crickets earn their place as a cheaper, widely available option that delivers excellent hunting enrichment. The genuinely ideal answer, though, is both: rotate roaches as the dependable backbone and use crickets for variety and stimulation, all balanced against the greens and vegetables that make up the other half of an omnivore's plate. For the full case on why a soft roach makes such a good staple, see why discoid roaches outshine other feeder insects. When you're ready to stock up, All Angles Creatures keeps healthy feeder roaches sized for skinks of every age.