Re-housings, Setup Changes, & a Drymaplaneta Ootheca!

Hey guys, it's been a while since I last posted, it's been quite hectic over here, so I haven't had as much time as I usually do to blog and stuff. There have been a few developments in my collection since I last posted, so let's discuss some of them! 🙂

First of all, I have rehoused my Arenivaga floridensis "White" to a slightly larger enclosure than they were in, due to a bit of antennae nipping with my adult males. Hopefully now that they are in a slightly larger container, the antennae nipping will stop. My two largest female nymphs look like they are subadults now, which is great, hopefully they'll mature soon, there are certainly a lot of adult males in there for them to mate with!

---

The other day I checked up on my Drymaplaneta semivitta enclosure, and found that there was a small oothecae that had been laid on one of the eggcartons in the enclosure! 😮 Unfortunately the ooth is very small, so I personally doubt it's fertile, but after discussing with Kyle Kandilian for a bit, he said that the oothecae may be a "practice ooth", that the females lay before really cranking more oothecae out, so maybe many more ooths will follow!

Here are some pictures of the oothecae, (sorry for the poor lighting):

He also suggested that I feed baby food to them, as this sometimes helps roaches in dire situations that need urgent care, (how exactly, I have no clue), so I got some Pumpkin Banana baby food the other day and am going to be feeding it to my Drymaplaneta for a while, to see if it helps them breed or not.

---

My Lucihormetica grossei and subcincta refuse to give birth for some reason, I asked around and apparently I'm not the only one having this problem with Lucihormetica at the moment. I've rehoused my L.subcincta to a larger enclosure and added an inch or two of more substrate, as well as more dead leaves on top, and I added a few more inches of substrate to my L.grossei setup too, since the substrate in their cage was a little shallow. I also added some more ventilation to both containers. Hopefully this will help get them to breed, we will see!

---

Unfortunately, my Panchlora sp. "White" adult female seems to be getting old and may die off soon, and she STILL has not given me any offspring! 😩 I have taken her and the last adult male from the main enclosure and put them in a 24 oz plastic container with an inch or so of fresh coconut fiber, with bark pieces for hides. I am keeping the enclosure moist, and will feed them as normal, (chick feed and fruits). This comes after advice from Kyle, he said that he sometimes moves species that aren't doing particularly well for him to smaller enclosures, it's a trick he uses that apparently works well to help some finicky species breed better, (again, how exactly, I'm not sure).

I also dug around the main enclosure to see what other individuals I have left, and I found one very freshly molted adult female, a subadult female, and two subadult males. I have also rehoused them all to a 24 oz container, with fresh coconut fiber and bark pieces and dead leaves for hides, just to be on the safe side. I may actually split them up later and put each pair in their own containers.

Hopefully these changes will help to get these guys breeding properly, this species is so fussy compared to the other Panchlora in the hobby!

---

Lastly, I have some Pyrophorus noctilucus news! My adult female(s?) have produced a lot of larvae so far, more than I anticipated, which is great! 😁 Some of the larvae are starting to reach a good size now, and by good size, I mean about 5 mm long! So I have started separating larvae that are either close to the surface or right under the bark hides in the enclosure. So far I have separated three, as I am now out of empty, small deli cups lol! I will be buying more this week, so that I can separate more larvae, before they start developing their predatory tendencies...

Also, I rehoused that large larvae I was talking about recently, though I may actually have to rehouse it again, since it's current enclosure might be too shallow... Anyway, I took some pictures of it as I was setting up it's new enclosure, I even got a couple side by side pictures of it next to some mature Tenebrio molitor larvae for a size comparison!

Here are those pictures:

Now Kiss!!!

I can't wait to see just how big these larvae will get, and I am so happy that the little larvae my adults produced are doing well! 😊

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

Trade With Roachcrossing!!! (Pt. 1, The Roaches)

Yesterday I received my end of a huge trade with Kyle Kandilian from Roachcrossing, was supposed to get it sooner, but Kyle was busy and unable to ship them when I shipped my end of the trade out. He more than made up for it with the freebies and an extra species though, and I am very happy with this transaction!! 😁 Instead of writing one huge post about my new inverts, I'll be dividing it up into two posts, one about my new roach species, and one about my other new invertebrates. This post will be about my new roaches.

---

First off, let's start with my new Lucihormetica grossei! I asked for a sexed pair, I assumed he'd send a pair of nymphs, but he surprised me and sent an adult pair! These are pretty bulky, and are really beautiful in person, so happy to be keeping some!

I am housing them in a plastic container filled with a few inches of moist coconut fiber, with some dead leaves on top of the substrate. I will be feeding them dog food, fruits and veggies.

Here are some pictures of them:

Male

Female

I also asked for a pair of Lucihormetica subcincta, and again he surprised me by sending adults instead of nymphs! These guys are really beautiful, love the pale bordering around their abdomen! They are smaller than the grossei, but in my opinion look more attractive than them, (the grossei are still quite beautiful though IMO).

I am keeping these in a setup very similar to my L.grossei, few inches of moist coconut fiber, a few dead leaves on top of the substrate, and will be feeding them the same diet as well.

Here are some pictures of them:

Male

Female

Both of them together

I also took some pictures of the males of both species together, to show just how much bigger the grossei are compared to the subcincta:

I really hope both species do well and reproduce in my care, I am thrilled to finally be keeping members of this genus, they've been on my wish list for quite some time!

---

In exchange for a large number of my Rhabdoblatta formosana adults, I received a group of Eurycotis improcera nymphs from Kyle. This species is a recent addition to the hobby, and a beautiful one at that! The adults have pale yellow markings on the wings and pronotum that are somewhat similar to E.opaca, and have a orange margin around the abdomen.

I am keeping them in a medium sized plastic container with coconut fiber as the substrate, with bark pieces and dead leaves for hides. I am attempting to keep the enclosure semi-moist, and will be feeding them dog food and fruits. Fruit is apparently quite an important part of this species' diet, and the nymphs don't do well without it.

Here are some pictures of the little guys:

These guys rarely stay still, which makes it really hard to get clear pictures of them. Can't wait until the nymphs mature, this species is quite stunning as adults!

---

Another one of the species I got was a group of Deropeltis sp. "Jinka" nymphs, a cute little species I've wanted for quite some time now, the adult females are very fuzzy and adorable! The nymphs are pretty cute too, and are brown with red markings on the pronotum and thorax, at least as small nymphs.

I am keeping them in an enclosure with semi-dry coconut fiber as the substrate, with bark pieces and dead leaves for hides. I am keeping some areas under the bark pieces moist, and the rest of the enclosure fairly dry, yet I am trying to keep the ambient humidity high, by spraying entire the enclosure lightly. I will be feeding them dog food, fruits and veggies.

Here are some pictures of the little cuties:

Looking forward to breeding this species, really hoping they'll do well for me!

---

The other new species I got was the new Panchlora sp. "Costa Rica Yellow" that Kyle added to his site recently, I asked for a pair, but instead he sent a full starter colony of tiny nymphs, and one medium sized one as well, so I'm very happy about that!

I am keeping them in a medium sized plastic container with moist coconut fiber as the substrate, and some bark slabs and dead leaves as hides. Will be feeding them dog food, fruits and veggies.

Here are a couple pictures I took of the biggest nymph:

A nice new addition to my Panchlora collection, can't wait to see the yellow adults in person!

---

I also asked for another pair of Arenivaga tonkawa, since I'd be really surprised if my last female is actually laying fertile oothecae, he ended up sending me 6+ nymphs and an ootheca, so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to breed them this time around, I'd have to mess up big time to kill them all! 😛 Didn't take any pictures of them since I've done so in the past and I just wanted to get them in their enclosure ASAP, just thought I'd let you guys know I got more.

Anyway, those are all my new cockroach acquisitions, will post about the other invertebrates I got from this trade tomorrow! Hope you guys enjoyed this post, see you all soon!