Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Welcome Back Phortioeca, & Hello Plectoptera!!!

Well today was awesome, as I got to introduce two rare species to my roach collection! One of them is sure to be a hobby hit, and the other is a species only a few Blatticulturists even know exists, let alone want to keep (and yet us Ectobiid enthusiasts go nuts over them! 😂).

Let's start off with Phortioeca sp. "Ecuador", that's right, I got myself a group of these cuties now! 😁 Thankfully they are slowly getting established here in the US hobby now, and now I get to try my hand at actually rearing some up and breeding them! For those of you unfamiliar with this species, check out my previous posts about them here and here, when I temporarily had some large nymphs on hand.

I have my 8 small nymphs in a container more tall than wide, with moderate ventilation and a layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. I am using cork board and bark slabs as hides, and from what I hear they aren't too picky about the smoothness of their hides at all, which is fantastic since some other Zetoborinae are more picky. I'm keeping them humid and warm at around 75-80F, and will be feeding them fruits and dog food. 

Here are some pics of them:










Such cute and pretty little nymphs, I can not wait to watch them grow! 😀

Not only did I get Phortioeca today, but I also got a adult trio of the hard to find and adorable Plectoptera poeyi! 😊 This species has been on my wishlist for a while now, they are found in Florida and Cuba, but in FL they seem to have rather small, scattered populations. They are actually beetle mimics, and seem to be rather arboreal, often found on foliage or within bromeliads in the wild. They are very seldom sighted, and until a year or two ago we didn't even know what their nymphs looked like! I am super excited to be working with these cuties, and really hope they do well for me!

I have my male and two females in a fairly well ventilated deli cup with a thin layer of coco fiber at the bottom, with some crushed bark mixed in. On top of that I have some oak leaf litter and some vertically slanted bark pieces for hides/perches. I also threw in a couple small chunks of rotten wood, just in case. I'll be keeping them humid and warm, around 75-80F, and will offer them dog food, artificial pollen, and fruits for food. According to my sources these are about as difficult as Chorisoneura texensis, but more moisture loving... The one C.texensis strain I did well with seemed to like high humidity as well, so hey hopefully these will be a cake walk for me! 😅 Famous last words...

Here are some pictures of one of the adorable adults:

Adult male
Female on the left, male on the right

Female laying an ooth!

The other female






I love being able to get pictures of such rarely photographed species like these, even if the shots aren't the best we at least have more pictures of them out there so people know what they look like. 😄 One of the females was actually laying an ootheca as I unpacked her, so fingers crossed I'll start seeing babies in a month or two!

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, but stay tuned, because I will also be getting another roach species here soon, a species that no one else in the US has yet! 😉 Thanks to my roach sugar daddy for these cuties, thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all in the next post!

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