These cf. erratica are quite similar to the "DOT Rest Area" erratica I have (which were also found sympatrically with a smaller Arenivaga species, namely A.apacha), though they seem to have less dark spotting on them.
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A hardy and easy to breed species, definitely something I could recommend to a beginner for their first Arenivaga.
Several month back I recieved a small group of Arenivaga cf. investigata from Borrego Springs, CA. This strain looks different than the cf. investigata I already have from the Imperial Dunes, namely the nymphs are a darker color, and the pronotum markings on the adult males seems to be quite a bit darker. Females look rather similar, though a bit less rotund than the Imperial Dunes stock as well.
I have them set up in a well ventilated enclosure with an inch or so of sand substrate, topped with crushed leaf litter. I am keeping a third of the substrate moist, the rest dry, and am keeping them at around 80-85F°. I'm feeding them dog food as the staple diet.
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Here's hoping they'll breed for me as well as the Imperial Dunes stock does! 🙏
My Armadillo officinalis "OG Hobby Stock" colony is doing phenomenal, and while topping their leaf litter off, I got some pictures of 'em.
This colony has been throwing out Orange individuals (you can see one in that last pic), which I have successfully isolating a true breeding colony of as well! Need to show those off at some point for sure...
It took them a while, but my Armadillidae sp. "Miyako, Japan" colony is finally popping off! They seem to like consistently humid conditions, and lots of leaf litter. When I kept them on a humidity gradient they barely did anything, but once I started keeping the entire enclosure humid they really started doing well.
These are also throwing out solid orange individuals, which I should probably try and isolate... yet another project for future me to work on. 😅
Finally, I acquired a colony last year of Blaberus discoidalis "Banana Bay, FL" from Brandon Maines. This stock was collected by Brandon himself back in 2018, and thus technically probably has different genetics than Roachcrossing's "Banana Bay" stock (which was collected circa 2015).
So for all those nuts out there who insist on adding "new blood" to their colonies (an entirely unnecessary and potentially harmful endeavor that can lead to accidental hybridization), this specific stock has value as a pure line you can outcross your Roachcrossing "Banana Bay" stock to without compromising your colony purity. And you can actually potentially increase genetic diversity in your colony in doing so (which isn't possible for most hobby roach lines that came from a single import, and are thus all very related anyways).
Anyways I have my colony in a well ventilated enclosure with a couple inches of a coco fiber and coco coir chunk substrate mix, topped with eggcrates. I'm keeping a quarter of the substrate moist, the rest dry, and am keeping them at around 80-85F° (previously I had them closer to room temps, and they were hardly breeding at all, bumping the temps up REALLY helped with productivity). I'm feeding them dog food and fruits as the staple diet.
It took them a while but they are finally starting to pop off for me, they seem to like drier and warmer conditions than I'd initially thought.
Anyways, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
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