Introducing Megaloblatta blaberoides!!!

US Blatticulturists have been eating GOOD this past year, one of the families that has had several notable members enter culture as of late has been Nyctiboridae. I'm sure y'all have seen my entries on Rochaina at this point, (which are doing quite well for me), but we've also gained a couple of Nyctibora spp. in the US hobby, as well as one of the most coveted roach genera out there, Megaloblatta. 😁 Specifically, Megaloblatta blaberoides, from Belize, the ever so slightly shorter cousin of the longest known roach species, M.longipennis (which translates to "long" (longi) "winged" (pennis), and is not in fact a reference to their male anatomy... 🤣). 

Kyle at Roachcrossing received an adult female last year and was able to get a decent amount of oothecae out of her, she laid about an ooth a month for the 6 or so months she lived in his care before dying (presumably of natural causes). Said ooths have only taken around 6 months to hatch for him being kept consistently damp and warm, buried in the substrate where the female left them. He gifted me 13 nymphs last month when I went to visit him in MI, so now I get the opportunity to work with this amazing, giant species myself! 😄

I have my nymphs set up in a large, moderately ventilated enclosure with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks and lots of hardwood bark hides. I'm keeping them moist, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and fruits. Care for this species honestly seems to follow typical tropical roach husbandry, however they take quite a while to mature (supposedly can take around two years), and oothecae both take a long time to hatch, and are sensitive to drying out. We also don't yet know how territorial they are, nor how sensitive they are to things like pests, pathogens, filth buildups, etc., so definitely still some things to figure out for sure.

Phone pics of L1/L2 nymphs

L4 nymph

It should be noted that these truly are massive roaches; the first instars are about a CM long, which is crazy for a species that hatches from a proper ootheca rather than being live birthed. 😳 I can't wait to see just how big these can get in captivity, seeing large nymphs in person will be especially neat, as they can supposedly stridulate loudly as a defensive mechanism (apparently sounds kind of like a rattlesnake). Just a really neat and unique species overall, so happy they've finally entered the US hobby, and that I get the honor of working with them! 😊

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉