Three Ps & a 'Pod

My Paranauphoeta formosana are doing very well, all of the nymphs born in July are now either subadults or fresh adults, they grow so fast! Additionally, another smaller litter was born between then and now, and I'm still hoping for more babies from my original females.

Here are some pictures of one of the subadult nymphs:

Very pretty and very fast growing species, hopefully they'll continue to breed and do well for me! 😁

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Despite only ending up with a single adult female, and a dozen freaking males, I've been able to breed my Parcoblatta divisa "Montgomery, AL"! 😅 Thankfully my female has been pumping ooths out, and P.divisa ooths have quite a few eggs in them, so now that I've confirmed said ooths are hatching and incubating properly, I should have an established colony in no time.

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Well, my Princisia vanwaerebeki "Androhamana" STILL haven't given birth, despite all of my females looking like sausages... 😂 

Decided to take a few pictures of one of my larger females the other day, so here she is:

That last picture comes the closest to accurately capturing their coloration, my camera really struggles making the females look as brightly patterned as they do in real life... 😅 Anyways, hopefully these things give birth soon, fingers crossed! 🤞

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Lastly, my Cubaris sp. "White Ducky" have given birth, and their mancae are probably THE cutest isopod mancae, ever. 🥰 They're so perfectly round and chonky, and even in their first instar appear to have the adults' patterning, just a bit faded. So glad these have bred for me, they're probably my favorite Cubaris sp. that I've worked with so far. 😁

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

General July Updates

I've been a bit behind on posting, so here's a bunch of random updates from this month. 😄

First off, my Aglaopteryx gemma are doing SO well, already getting lots of adults from the offspring that hatched out late last year. Going to be overrun with these soon, which is fine because this species' is quite gorgeous. 😍

A couple pictures I got of them feeding recently:

A very pretty little species, definitely underrated in the hobby IMO!

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Next up, I'm finally getting adults in my Parcoblatta divisa "Montgomery, AL" colony. So far I've got one female, and like 3-4 males, the group seems rather male heavy, but oh well. 🤷😂

Here are some pictures of a male:

Hopefully the current adult female starts laying some ooths soon, and hopefully I get more females maturing too. 😅🤞

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Unfortunately the two female Arenivaga sp. "Mt Ord" Brandon sent me have yet to lay ooths, BUT one of my own male nymphs has just matured, so maybe that'll help them along. 😄 I've also got subadult females of my own as well, so that's awesome!

Here are some pictures of the male, the males of this species are my favorite of any of the Arenivaga spp. I've kept so far:

I love the patternless wings, with just a bit of red coloration towards the bases of the tegmina. The orange pronotum is very pretty too, overall a stunning Arenivaga species! Really hope the females get to laying soon, these are shaping up to be one of my favorites!

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Next up, I've got updates on both the Teneb pupae we covered in my previous post.

Both my Nyctoporis carinata pupae have eclosed now, and I've got more larvae making pupal cells too. 😁

Here are some pics of a teneral adult:

This species looks so cool teneral, and has proven quite easy to breed. Hopefully these become a hobby staple here soon! 🤞

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Lastly, two of my Zophobas atratus "Sugarloaf Key, FL" pupa have eclosed now, and boy do they look cool! The males of this strain have noticeably longer and thicker legs than the females do, I can't remember if that's a thing with hobby stock Zophobas or not... 🤔

Here are a fee pictures of the teneral male, the first was taken with my crappy phone shortly after findings the adult had eclosed. The others were taken with my digital camera, but unfortunately I had put the adult in some old roach substrate, and oddly a bunch of Oribatid mites latched onto it (which looks unsightly, but they'll unlatch soon after I move the beetles to fresh substrate):

I really like this strain, the males especially look awesome with their lanky legs and large pronotums. The elytral punctation on this locality is also quite pronounced compared to hobby stock.

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

Special Symploce & Chad Parcoblatta

Alan Spring 2022 Package Series Pt. 1/3

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Last month Alan Jeon sent me a bunch of goodies, which I'll spend the next few posts showing off! 😁

First off, we have an Ectobiid from Florida that's been in and out of the US hobby for years, that I've somehow never kept, Symploce morsei. This is one of the relatively few New World native Symploce species, though it's unclear if they're native or adventives to FL.

The younger nymphs of this species look exactly like Blattella nymphs, but as they get older they develop a very pretty mahogany hue with white spots on their abdominal margins. Adults look like your typical brown Ectobiids, but are at least fairly large for a Symploce species.

I'm keeping my 15-20 small nymphs in a well ventilated deli cup with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. For hides I'm using bark and leaf litter, I'm keeping them quite humid and relatively warm (75-80F°). I'm offering dog food and fruits as the staple diet.

Here are some pics of a small nymph:

They look so much like Blattella at this stage, it's crazy! 😄 This species is quite pretty, especially as large nymphs, it's a shame they haven't been more popular in the hobby. This may be due in part to their unforgiving nature, lapses in care, excessive dryness, and potentially overcrowding can all lead to severe culture crashes. I'm up to the challenge though, and hope to help establish this species in culture the best I can! ☺️

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He also sent me a starter culture of one of the "Chaddest" of roaches, Parcoblatta divisa from Montgomery, AL. 😄 Interestingly, the adults of this strain are much lighter than the ones I used to breed from NC, (the adult females at least), nymphs seem to have a slightly different color pattern too. Just goes to show how variable Parcoblatta can be in terms of coloration across their ranges.

Very happy to gain another species from this awesome genus, my friend Kai thinks Parcoblatta are boring, but a true roach connoisseur knows Parcoblatta are among the coolest US native roaches. 😜

I've got my dozen or so nymphs in a moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, with bark, cardboard and leaf litter for hides. I'm keeping them humid and relatively warm (about 75F°). I'm offering dog food, fruits and veggies for food.

Here are some pictures of a couple subadult nymphs, and an adult female:

Subadult nymphs

Adult female

Pretty right? So far there's only one adult, hopefully the rest mature soon! Would love to breed these, especially since this strain of divisa won't require a diapause, unlike the NC strain I kept previously.

Well, that's gonna be it for today, thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see everyone next time! 😉