Panchlora sp. "White" News & a Much Needed Lanxoblatta Update!!!

I recently rehoused my Panchlora sp. "White" culture back to a gallon enclosure, as the nymphs getting to be half grown now, and I didn't want to overcrowd them. The day after rehousing, I was happy to find some tiny newborn nymphs in the enclosure as well! 😁 I haven't gotten an accurate count yet, and won't bother to in fear of stressing them out, but there are at least half a dozen+.

However, my young adult female is showing black coloration where her internal ootheca is/was. I'm not sure if she's the one who gave birth or not, or what is up with the black insides, but I'm willing to bet this doesn't bode well for her... 🙁

Anyway, here are some pictures of an adult male and the new enclosure:

The adults and even the nymphs really like hiding in this "roach hut" I constructed for them out of corkboard. The newborn nymphs of this species seem to have long thin legs, and prefer seeking pre-existing cavities in which to hide, rather than construct burrows themselves like the larger nymphs do.

Anyway, my colony's numbers seem to be on the rise, so hopefully the next couple generations will prove to be very prolific!

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Now, last month another litter of Lanxoblatta rudis nymphs was born, despite me moving them to a colder area of the room to prevent any reproduction until I had some more hides for them. Sadly, a decent portion of those nymphs have died off, and it seems like all suitable resting areas in the enclosure have been claimed.

Finally though, a light at the end of the tunnel! I made a trade with Leo Dutkewych, (owner of Leo's Invertebrate Blog and a long time supporter of this one), and received a box full of Birch bark, which should work very nicely for this species! 😃

Here are a few pictures of their enclosure, pimped out with some of the Birch bark:

I will be placing their cage next to my heat cable again, so reproduction may commence at a quickened pace! Hopefully I'll be swimming in nymphs soon! In the meantime, me and another buddy will be working on coming up with a more permanent hide option for this species, (as they will chew through the bark and render it useless after a few months).

Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

The Frass Hits the Fan

Well, things are looking bleak for my Lanxoblatta rudis. Found three dead nymphs the other day, and another one that had been half eaten. 😩 I keep finding them on the enclosure walls, and I saw a couple nymphs even crawling across the substrate... Really don't know how many I'll have left by the time I get some suitable hides for them, can't believe how picky they are being compared to the adults...

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My Paranauphoeta discoidalis colony is still suffering, and adults are dying left and right. I mentioned in the last post that I thought it could be a genetic problem, (I've really just been grasping at straws here, trying to figure out what's going on), however I sent a group of nymphs to Tyler Hedlund a couple months ago in a trade, and they have been maturing without ANY wing deformities, which leads me to believe genetics aren't at fault...

Tyler has been keeping his pretty similar to mine, however he seems to be keeping them a bit dryer, and he is using egg carton pieces instead of bark for hides. This made me remember that I actually kept the first generation or two of my Paranauphoeta discoidalis in an enclosure with just paper towel rolls and dead leaves for hides! I only added bark once their numbers started getting higher and they had chewed through the paper towel rolls, that's kinda when things started going downhill.

The bark I've given them is pretty flat, not curved at all, and I have layered them horizontally on top of each other. This may be contributing to the high deformity rates, some species need more vertical hides or spacious areas to inflate their wings properly after molting. The adults also may like more curved areas to hide in, rather than in between flat pieces of bark, and not having any suitable resting areas could be causing my adults to die off early and refuse to give birth.

This is all just speculation, but heck, I'll try anything to save this colony! So, I've replaced pretty much all of their bark hides with paper towel rolls and egg carton pieces, as well as some leaf litter. I did leave a couple small pieces of partially buried bark in the enclosure for the nymphs though, as they really like hiding under those. Will let you all know how this goes!

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Lastly, the last of my good looking Deropeltis sp. "Jinka" oothecae has molded over, so I've officially failed at breeding these. 😢 I've got two adult males left and one female, who is looking much more haggard than the males.

I took a few pictures of one of the males recently, so these are probably the last pictures you'll see of them on this blog, until I can get more in the summer:

Really bummed that I couldn't breed this species on the first try, hopefully I'll be able to get more from a friend in the Summer and try again.

Well, that's going to do it for today, thanks for reading everyone, will see you all next post!

Updates, Updates & More Updates! (I'm Moving)

So, I've had a bit of a mishap with my Lanxoblatta rudis nymphs. Namely, they seem to not like the bark and cardboard hides that I have given them, and have taken to resting on the lid and sides of the enclosure, which is a sure sign of stress and a lack of a proper resting surface. As a result, at least one of them has passed away, and another one is walking around half eaten, (though it's just the outer fringe that's been consumed, so it's possible it could survive to the next molt and regenerate).

I'm not sure exactly why they are rejecting the hides I provided for them, especially since the adults are doing just fine, (my subadult female has even molted to maturity now!), but I think it might be that the bark is too old and rotted, (it came from a long dead maple tree after all).

Upon the recommendation of a buddy of mine, Brandon Maines, I bought some Cork Tiles at my local Walmart, to see if the nymphs would accept it as a resting place. They are supposedly all natural, and seem pretty smooth, so as a last resort I decided to try and see if my nymphs would accept them for hides. Well, I threw a couple pieces in their enclosure yesterday, a few of them do seem to be resting on it, and I have yet to see any more nymphs on the walls or on the lid of the enclosure, so that's a good sign! 🙂

Will keep you all updated on their status!

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Finally, after several months of waiting for their ooths to hatch, I've found some first instar Ischnoptera deropeltiformis "Ruby Red"! 😁 They are larger than I thought they would be, and I wasn't expecting the nymphs to have white tipped antennae!

Here are some pictures of them:

So glad to have successfully bred these, these are by far one of the prettiest US natives I have in my collection!

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Unfortunately, my Paranauphoeta discoidalis colony is REALLY acting up, I've had an abnormal amount of adults die off for seemingly no reason, and a lot of my females have aborted their oothecae too. I'm really not sure what to do, I've tried increasing heat levels, decreasing heat levels, I lowered their humidity levels as advised by Kyle Kandilian, gave them more hides, and just recently I rehoused them again due to the springtail population in their old enclosure reaching pest levels.

I'm afraid this is a result of me not culling out adults with crappy wings, thinking it was related to humidity levels improper perches instead of genetics, and now I've got a colony with super bad genes... I do have roughly a dozen nymphs from one litter, and a couple nymphs from a different one, but that's it. I should have like 10 times more nymphs than that, but for some reason this generation is crashing... whether I'll be able to save my colony from this nosedive or not, we'll see.

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Lastly, it appears that I will be moving soon, (for REAL this time), so I have NO idea when I'll be able to ship again, I'm aiming for late March, but it might be later, we'll see. Posts will probably be even more scarce now, and I'm not sure how my collection will handle the move...

Well, that's going to do it for today folks, hope you enjoyed this post, will see you all next time! 😉

Lanxoblatta Babies & More!!!

A couple days ago, I decided to rearrange my "Bug Closet", so that I could place my Lanxoblatta rudis enclosure besides the heat cable in there, as my adult female was several weeks overdue in giving birth, and I assumed a lack of heat was the culprit. Well, turns out I was right, because today I checked on them and found a whole bunch of babies in there!!! 😁

Here are a few pictures of them, they are SO adorable! 😊

I was starting to get quite worried about the fact that my female hadn't given birth yet, I'm so glad I figured out what the problem was, and fixed it in short order! Hopefully these resulting nymphs will be easy to rear! 

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My Hormetica apolinari nymphs are doing well, and growing ever so slowly. I sexed mine a little while back, and it turns out I have three males and three females, which is great! It turns out this species is even bigger than Lucihormetica grossei, which is already quite a large roach, so I'm very excited to see mine mature! 

Here are some pictures I took of a female nymph, (my largest), she molted somewhat recently and has turned a beautiful black color with a couple dark red spots on the pronotum:

Such a beautiful species, even as nymphs! 😍

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My Balta notulata colony has exploded recently, and I've even had to start splitting the culture in two to avoid an overpopulation crash! This is probably the most prolific Ectobiid I've ever bred, too bad I'm not a mantid or small spider enthusiast, as I'm sure these would make great food for them in place of fruit flies! 

Anyway, I got a picture of some nymphs and an adult eating, as well as a video that I'll upload to my YouTube channel soon:

As you can see, it's a real feeding frenzy in there! 

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Lastly, I'm sure most of you have noticed by now, but in case you haven't, I have created a new page titled "Care Sheets", where I'll be writing care sheets for some of the invertebrates I've successfully bred, (particularly those that are hard to find care info on). Feel free to check it out, I'll be adding new care sheets every now and then, when I have the time, (and the interest). 🙂

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

Lanxoblatta Pictures, a Pystalla Update & More Panchlora Babies!

My Lanxoblatta rudis are doing OK, my adult female still hasn't given birth to any nymphs though, and on closer inspection doesn't even look that plump. I fear I'm keeping them too cool. However, the gestation period for this species is supposedly very long, and gravid females apparently don't look that plump anyway, so I'm probably just overreacting.

Anyway, I was able to get some pictures of my adult female the other day in some more natural lighting, here she is:

Will keep you all updated on their progress!

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Unfortunately, the deformed Pystalla horrida adult died the other day. I tried tong feeding it live, about to die, or pre-killed prey, and for some reason, despite readily grabbing them with it's normal front leg, it seems completely unable to pierce prey with it's rostrum. The rostrum appeared to be perfectly formed, not blunt or anything, not sure why it couldn't properly stab any sort of prey items. Anyway, this caused it to die of starvation, despite my best efforts.

The other five adults are doing great though, and are eating the Pycnoscelus nigra I offer them regularly! I just took out any uneaten roaches and placed a deli cup with substrate in their main enclosure the other day, will see if they lay any eggs, (I have four females and one male I think, so I they should give me at least a few eggs... 😛).

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Lastly my Panchlora sp. "Costa Rica Yellow" colony has produced another litter of nymphs, which is great, I definitely have more than enough offspring to keep the colony going now! 😁

Well, that's going to do it for this post everybody, I hope you all enjoyed, will see you next time! 😉

Eurycotis Hatchings & a Couple Other Updates!!!

Great news guys, one or two of my Eurycotis improcera oothecae have hatched! 😁 Was getting a little worried about this species, especially after my Deropeltis sp. "Jinka" oothecae started dying off. The 1st instar nymphs of this species are quite large, which surprised me, considering the oothecae aren't that big.

Here are some pictures I took of the new nymphs:

Really glad that I have successfully bred this beautiful species, hopefully these nymphs will grow up without any problems!

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My Lanxoblatta rudis are all doing well, and my adult female is getting pretty plump! 😊 It's hard to tell from my pictures, but she now has a hard time laying flush with the bark, hopefully this means she is gravid and will produce some babies soon!

Here are a few pictures I took of the subadult female and the adult female:

Here's hoping I'll see some babies soon!

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My Porcellio bolivari are also doing very well, and I think one of my females may be gravid! So if all goes well, I hope to see mancae in the enclosure within a month or two, fingers crossed!

Here are a couple of pictures I took of one of my larger males on top of a female:

I don't know whether the male was trying to get a little action or was just resting, but in any case the female seemed rather oblivious to his presence.

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Lastly, I have re-organized my "Bug Closet", to maximize the amount of enclosures touching my heat cable, as it is getting cold here and the room temperatures are no longer suitable for breeding several of my tropical cockroaches. Somehow while moving everything around, I managed to create more free space in my closet, which is great since some of my species need to be rehoused to larger enclosures next month, (namely my Dorylaea orini, Blaberus sp. "Venezuela", Arenivaga bolliana, and maybe my Anallacata methanoides and Eurycotis improcera).

Anyway, here is a picture of the closet now:

Here is the shelf above my closet

And here is the floor of my closet

That's almost whole collection, minus my Cariblatta minima colony that is under quarantine in my bathroom, and my Parcoblatta divisa and Hymenorus sp. cultures, which are in the garage.
Well, that is going to do it for this post, hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉