I got mine set up in a moderately ventilated gallon jar, with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped in coco coir chunks and cardboard rolls for hides. I'm keeping them humid, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and fruits.
They have already bred very well for me, and the colony is firmly established. Seem just as easy as the OHS.
I received some Blaberus sp. "fusca" from Brandon Maines last year, which have already matured and produced offspring of their own. However, my adult females came out unusually dark, and the lineage tracing on this line shows that they *probably* came from Roachcrossing, however there is a slight chance they may have come from Orin or Peter at Bugsincyberspace instead. So, I had some doubts about their purity.
However after showing Kyle pictures and videos of mine, as well as video of Brandon's colony that mine came from, he believes them to be pure stock, and that the darker adult coloration was simply brought on by stress/high humidity. My males did all die pretty prematurely, and I have been keeping them more humid than I normally keep Blaberus (on account of them being housed with a Princisia project I'm working on), so that would definitely explain it. So seems mine are pure stock after all, which is a relief. 😅
This is a hardy and prolific Blaberus line, often used as feeders. For some reason they were given the ID of "B.fusca", however "fusca" is a synonym of B.atropos, and not a valid species. These are clearly not B.atropos, or even in that species group, and seem to be instead be in the craniifer clade. Indeed, they can hybridize with craniifer, and many such hybrids run amok in the hobby labeled incorrectly as pure B.craniifer or B.sp. "fusca", which just adds to the confusion surrounding this stock.
I have mine housed in a well ventilated 5 gallon gasket bin, with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped in eggcrates. I'm keeping around half of the setup humid, and have them at around 80-85F°. I'm feeding them dog food and apple slices.
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| Female |
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| Male |
They've produced quite a bit of brood, despite conditions being more humid than is optimal, (which I will be changing her shortly once I make a proper new bin for the Princisia project they're cohabbed with ATM). This is likely an undescribed species IMO, and hopefully one day we can put a proper name to this stock!
Last year I got a small group of Parcoblatta virginica from Alan Jeon, from Park Crossing, AL. Unfortunately they got heat stressed during transit, and so several of them died off shortly after arrival. The rest grew quite slowly and at staggered rates, and I had several males mature and die long before any of the females did. Thankfully, I got a 1.2 group to mature in sync, and they have finally produced babies of their own. 😄 So looks like I finally have a good strain of this species breeding for me, after years of trying and failing to breed some of the more northern localities.
I have them set up in a well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks and cardboard roll hides. I'm keeping them on a 50/50 humidity gradient, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and apple chunks.
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| Female |
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| Male |
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| Pair |
This is a nice, very orange locality, and I love the dark tips of the females' abdomens! Should be able to make these available here in the near future. 😊
Last, but not least, my Deropeltis sp. "Tsavo West - Big" have produced their next generation! 😄 I just found hatchlings last week, which are hopefully the first of a flood of nymphs. 🤞
Most of my adults have died off by now, I ran into some fungal issues with them that may have cut their lives short, something I don't anticipate being an issue next generation (especially as I've been separating the oothecae from the adults in all but one healthy pair's setup).
But regardless I got a good amount of oothecae from my adults before they kicked the bucket, so I should still have plenty of extra nymphs to make available to the US hobby. 🙂↕️
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| L1 hatchlings |
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| Adult female |
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| Adult male |
I really hope these prove a more popular species in culture than some of their smaller, similar relatives have. If only for their size, I would assume they will be a more commonly kept species than sp. "Masai Mara" or "RSA - Small" for example. They are pretty easily handleable as adults and could make for a cool display species IMO, would love to see them become a hobby staple.
Anyways. that does it for this post! Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉
