Panchlora sp. "White" Update!

[THIS IS A DRAFT POST FROM SEVERAL MONTHS AGO]

So, where we last left off, I had just added a new "roach hut" made of corkboard to my Panchlora sp. "White" enclosure. Well, I added another two, as they really seemed to love the first! 😄 One is vertically arranged like the first one, and the other is horizontally placed, buried under the substrate. The smaller nymphs especially seem poorly suited to burrowing, and prefer pre-made structures to hide in instead. The larger nymphs also share this preference, but I still see them burrowing from time to time, often from "roach-hut" to "roach-hut".

Unfortunately that female with the black ootheca cavity did die prematurely, I found her lying on the substrate with half of a very black, rotten ootheca sticking out of her. 😢 However, my other, healthy female produced a nice big litter of nymphs right before then, and died right after, (she was quite old in comparison to the sick female). So I do have quite a few nymphs now, should be around thirty all in all! 😀

Also, while experimenting with different foods, I noticed that this species really likes pre-killed mealworm pupae and larvae, almost more so than anything else I've fed them previously! 😮 It seems this species likes a lot of protein, so I started wondering whether they need pollen in their diet or not. See, pollen actually has a lot of protein in it, and I believe Panchlora adults have been seen visiting flowers in the wild... 

So, I decided to buy some artificial pollen online and feed it to my colony. I went with artificial pollen because I've heard some real pollen sources can be contaminated with pesticides, and the fake stuff was easier for me to find. Anyway, after testing with some less fragile species, I offered some of this artificial pollen to my Panchlora, and low and behold, they really seem to like it! 😃 I have yet to see if it increases nymph survival rates or reproduction success at all, time will tell. 

Kyle from Roachcrossing also suggested that this species may have lost it's gut flora sometime after being introduced to captivity, which could explain why they are doing so poorly in captivity now. Without gut flora, (the symbiotic bacteria that lives in their digestive tracts), they wouldn't be able to digest food properly. So, I added some Hemiblabera tenebricosa and Porcellio bolivari frass to my Panchlora enclosure as well, to try and help them regain some gut flora if they are truly lacking it. I can't tell if it's because of the rising number of nymphs, or the frass, but I have noticed an increased appetite in my colony, so perhaps it is working already. ☺

Anyway, some of my older nymphs are starting to mature now, I've got a few new adult males, and some females seem like they are subadults or at least pre-subs, so hopefully I'll have some new adult pairs soon! 😊

Here are some pictures of one of the males:

And some new shots of the enclosure:

Hopefully the colony will continue it's rise in numbers, I am unfortunately the last person in the US with a breeding colony of this species now, I'd really like to change that soon! 😬

Well, thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

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! 😉

Arenivaga, Coniontis & Panchlora Updates!

Wow, back to back posting guys, can you believe it? 😜 Luckily, this one is a lot more lighthearted than yesterday's post!

My Arenivaga tonkawa females have finally started laying oothecae, evidently due to the increased ventilation levels! 😁 Hopefully I'll have little tonakwa babies soon!

Here are a couple of pictures of the largest ootheca I could find:

Will let you guys know when the ooths start hatching!

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My youngest Panchlora sp. "White" female is very gravid, and I can even see her eggs through her abdomen! (the exoskeletons of Panchlora adults are pretty transparent). Unfortunately this has proven to be rather hard to catch on camera, but I decided to try anyway.

You can just barely make out the curved shape of the ootheca and the eggs in her abdomen if you look hard enough. In any case, I'm really hoping she will give birth soon to a healthy litter of nymphs, rather than abort her ooth for no reason, we'll see!

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Finally, after much waiting, one of my Coniontis sp. "CA" larvae has pupated! 😃 The pupa of this species looks much like the other pupae I've seen from this genus, however the exoskeleton looks a lot waxier than other Coniontis pupae I've seen, and reminds me a lot of a Dynastid or Cetoniid pupa!

Here are some pictures of it:

Now this is a pupa I'd love a plushie of, Alex! 😛

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Lastly, here are a couple pictures of three Armadillidium maculatum "Dalmatian" having some "fun"! 😆

I'll leave it on that note, hope everyone enjoyed this post, will see you all next time! 😉

Armadillidium, Anallacta & Panchlora, Oh My!

Pretty sure I made the same pun on a different post title as well, but whatever! 😜

My Armadillidium maculatum "Dalmatian" colony is doing quite well, and I've been doing my best to selectively breed for the most white coloration possible, while still retaining a good amount of grey spots too! I'm pretty sure I've done that now, here are a couple pictures I took of one particularly good looking individual:

Nice, right? I'll take the silence as yes! 😆 Hopefully these will become more widespread in the hobby soon, it's a beautiful strain of an already very attractive species, that every isopod enthusiast should have!

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My Anallacta methanoides are maturing like mad, and I have quite a few females now! I should be getting plenty of oothecae soon! 😁

Here are a couple pictures of a mating pair:

Can't wait until I get some oothecae from them!

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At least one of my Panchlora sp. "Costa Rica Yellow" females has given birth, there are more than a dozen tiny nymphs crawling around the enclosure now! 😊 I am quite relieved, as I was beginning to doubt if they would ever give birth, after their substrate was infected with a nasty fungus a month or two ago. Things are definitely looking up though, which is great! No pictures of the little nymphs unfortunately, they are just too small right now.

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I finally moved all of my Panchlora sp. "White" to a medium sized enclosure, with plenty of bark, dead leaves, and New Zealand sphagnum moss for hides. There are three areas where I place food in the cage, so the adults are always sure to find some, let's hope they like it! Unfortunately the enclosure did get inoculated with Sinella curviseta accidentally, so now I have to keep my eye on them and make sure their numbers don't get out of control...

Also, while moving my old female and her nymphs to this new enclosure, I discovered that she actually gave birth to a good sized litter, a dozen or more nymphs! I thought she only produced half that much, so this was quite a pleasant surprise! 😄

Here are some pictures of the enclosure:

The adults seem to spend most of their time on the sides of the enclosure, which is a bit concerning to me, but apparently not unusual for Panchlora. They don't seem stressed, trying to escape or anything, they just like resting on the sides of the enclosure. I might redo the enclosure later and prop some bark slabs up vertically, maybe they just don't like resting on a horizontal surface?

Anyway, that is gonna be it for this post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all soon! 😉

Rare Roach Updates!

Some of my Anallacta methanoides are finally starting to mature! 😁 These have taken a lot longer to grow than I thought they would, the last couple molts especially were rather far apart! Oddly enough, most of the adults are males right now, hopefully some more females will start maturing soon, I really want to breed this species and get them established in the US hobby once again.

Here are some pictures of the first adult to mature:

Let's hope the rest of the nymphs mature with no problems, and that I get a ton of offspring from them!

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My Drymaplaneta semivitta are doing very well, I am up to at least five large oothecae now, (it was six, but they ate one of them recently for no reason). All of these large oothecae are nice and healthy looking, so with any luck I will have a ton of nymphs soon! Quite the comeback for my culture, which was on the verge of crashing completely! 😄

Here's a picture of a female in the process of laying yet another ootheca:

Hopefully I'll have some little nymphs running around the enclosure soon!

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So, after quite a bit of effort on my part, and one complete enclosure change, I was able to get my old Panchlora sp. "White" female to give birth to a small litter of nymphs! 😃 I haven't gotten a total head count, since I really don't want to disturb them too much, but I'm guessing there are less than a dozen total.

Here are some (rather poor) pictures of the cuties:

The female that gave birth to this litter looks like she's gonna die of old age soon, so my hope for more nymphs lies on my other two females, let's hope I can get them to reproduce too!

I am thinking about making a really nice enclosure, with lots of bark, dead leaves and New Zealand sphagnum moss incorporated into it, dumping all of my remaining individuals inside of it and just hoping for the best. It would be smaller than the gallon enclosure I had them in originally, sort of in between that and the cages they are in now in terms of size.

It would also have feeding areas on both sides of the enclosure, just in case the reason they were doing poorly in their original enclosure was because they couldn't find food consistently. I will also try to keep Sinella curviseta springtails out of the enclosure, and will only inoculate the enclosure with the small silver springtails, and maybe some small white ant springtails too. But we'll see, we'll see...

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One of my Ischnoptera deropeltiformis "Ruby Red" finally matured into an adult male, so now I have one adult pair! 😆 These things have taken FOREVER to grow, I was getting worried my female may die off before a male matured in time to mate with her! Luckily that was not the case, so hopefully they will mate and my female will lay lots of fertile ooths!

Here are some pictures of the male:

I like the way the males look even more than the females, since they have longer wings and more vibrant red coloration!

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Lastly, I am happy to say that one of my Eurycotis lixa matured the other day, I am pretty sure it is a male! This species is pretty large when mature, and they actually don't seem that bad for handling, the male rarely bit me when I held it, and didn't seem terribly skittish! (whereas I can't get my Eurycotis improcera to stay still for half a second!).

Here are some pictures of the adult male:

Note the slightly flattened, dented in hind legs, similar to the males of Drymaplanetta. The other four nymphs are all subadults too, and all look very plump, so I am pretty sure they will all be mature within a couple weeks! Let's hope I can breed them successfully! 🙂

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

Drymaplaneta Oothecae & Panchlora Updates!!

A few days ago, I checked on my Drymaplaneta semivitta enclosure, and was ecstatic to discover that there was a nice, full sized ootheca under one of the bark pieces in there! 😁 I am so happy my females are now starting to lay normal oothecae, let's hope many more will follow!!

Additionally, the stunted nymph I had has started growing very rapidly, ever since my females started laying oothecae, and is now either a subadult or a presub, and it is a female, which is great! So obviously something has changed with my husbandry that is both getting my females to lay oothecae and my nymph to start growing again, but I have made SO MANY changes to their setup in order to get them to breed, that I'm not exactly sure what I did right!! 😕 

I can rule out the baby food, since my females started laying ooths before I fed them any, (but I still have been and will continue to feed them the baby food, since a varied diet is probably better anyway), I think it either has something to do with me slightly increasing the humidity in their enclosure, or with the change in seasonal temperatures here.

Anyway, here is a picture of the ootheca:

Hopefully there are many more where that came from!

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It's been a while since I last posted about my Panchlora sp. "Speckled", let me catch you guys up to speed on how they've been doing! My two original females passed away rather prematurely, only producing less than a dozen offspring total, sound familiar anyone? I think Panchlora adults must be REALLY sensitive to shipping trips longer than a couple days.

However those offspring have grown very quickly, and I already have a few adult males and at least one adult female already! Hopefully these adults will live longer and reproduce more than my original adults did, I'm pretty sure they will, if they don't then I am quite clearly doing something wrong...

Anyway, I took some pictures of my adult female today, in the sunlight, hoping to better show the true colors of the females of this species on camera, unfortunately I still feel like I didn't really capture the colors just right, she looks rather yellowish in some of the pictures, while she really is more of a very pale, translucent greenish color. Maybe it's just me though, IDK...

Here are the best pictures I could get:

If all goes well, I will likely have dozens of little nymphs within the next month or two! 😊

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My Panchlora sp. "White" are doing OK, my oldest female still hasn't given birth yet, but at the same time, the move to the new enclosure seems to be doing her some good, and she has constructed a little chamber under a bark slab, so she will have some babies before she dies off. The adult male I housed with her passed away though, which is to be expected, since they are very short lived as adults compared to the females.

As for the other two pairs, I did end up splitting them up into their own containers, one pair per, just to be safe. The female that just recently matured is doing well, and will have a mate soon, as the subadult male she is with looks like he's going to molt within a few days!

I took some pictures of the younger female today, here they are:

Not the best photos I've taken of this species, I like taking pictures of them on bark rather than coconut fiber, since the latter tends to give them a reddish sheen in photographs, but whatever! 😛 I really hope my females end up producing some nice, big litters of nymphs for me, this is one of my personal favorite roach species!

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