Stress Issues...

For the past couple months or so I've been very stressed out. Pretty much every day, even if it's a great day for me, I've been feeling very tense and anxious inside, and I believe one of the big reasons for this stress is my collection. I have a lot of species to take care of, and admittedly, there are quite a few of them that I don't care for all that much.

The truth is, I have been collecting species for collecting's sake, which is a horrible reason to get new invertebrates. For example, I've been slowly trying to collect every species in the genus Parcoblatta, not because I really love them all, but because I wanted to be able to say that "I own every species in this genus", and that is a horrible thing to do, as it fills my collection and my life with unnecessary clutter, which really adds to my stress.

Not only that, but lately when I look for more species to keep, I try to look for the most "show stopping" ones, the ones that really "wow" people, not necessarily because I really want them for myself, but because I want the attention and admiration that comes with them. I'm basically becoming an attention wh*re, and because of that I find my self spending my time and resources trying to get species that I don't even care about, again adding to the clutter in my life and causing me more stress.

This needs to stop now, as these are the wrong reasons to get more pets, the wrong reasons to get more of anything really. You should only collect things that you love, so that you can spend your time and resources on those, rather than a variety of other things that you don't really care about at all. So, for this reason, I will be getting rid of a number of my invertebrates, anything that I don't absolutely love, except for certain essential things like feeders for my predatory pets.

In fact, I've already gotten rid of a few species, dumped my Alphitobius diaperinus culture out in the yard the other day, (collected them less than a mile from here so it's OK), and froze my Parcoblatta lata and uhleriana cultures as well, (they were all infected with a species of Herpomyces, a sort of entomophagus fungi anyway, would have taken a lot of time and effort to get the cultures through the infestation and that would only be so I could sell them off safely, so I decided to put them down instead). Will be getting rid of more species this month, and have canceled certain future acquisitions too.

I'm not leaving the hobby though, by any means, (though I admit I did seriously consider it), in fact I am doing a trade with Kyle from Roachcrossing next week for some awesome new species, (all of which I genuinely want and admire), and have some other things in the works as well! 😉

Anyway, sorry for rambling, just wanted to let you guys know what is going on with my collection, as you will no doubt start seeing a few species disappearing from my "My Bugs" list. It's all for the best though, and hopefully soon I will have a collection filled only with species that I truly love.

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, and for anyone else out there facing similar problems, remember to collect for yourself, not for the attention of others, and try to only collect species that you truly love and desire, don't bring unnecessary clutter into your lives! Will see you all in the next post, take care everybody! 😊

Lots of Babies! (& Lots of Pictures)

Lots of my cockroaches have been breeding lately, and I thought I would show you guys some pictures of all the little roach nymphs that have been created!

My African bullet roaches have been doing well, and even though I haven't seen any ootheca yet, there are already babies in the container, so the female must hide them well, (they are all probably under the bark slab in the enclosure that I never move).
Here are some pictures of them:

The adult pair

Nymphs

Apparently the nymphs have been around a while, as there are some second instar individuals in there.

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After a long time of waiting, my Blaberus sp. "Hybrid" females have begun to give birth, (but my Blaberus atropos still have not given me babies yet!!).

Here are some pictures of the little guys:

Hopefully the nymphs will grow well for me, I may end up putting these guys in with my hissers, they'd do well together I feel.

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Only about a month after my first female matured, my Gyna lurida gave birth! These guys truly do give birth to a ton of babies, and while I doubt I have 200 nymphs in my enclosure right now, there are definitely quite a few in there.

Here are some pictures of them, (I apologize for the poor quality):

These tiny guys are pretty cute, hopefully they will continue to do well in my care!

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My Parcoblatta species have all been doing very well, and all of my species have officially reproduced! :)

Here are some pictures of my Parcoblatta bolliana, (Again, sorry for the quality):

And now some pics of my Parcoblatta divisa nymphs:

My Parcoblatta fulvescens oothecae have also started to hatch, which surprises me, as it hasn't been that long since the adults first arrived!
Here are some pictures of them:

Adult male

Nymphs

My Parcoblatta lata have been the most prolific so far, and there are TONS of nymphs in the enclosure!
Here are a couple pics of them:

And here are some pictures of my Parcoblatta uhleriana nymphs:

My Parcoblatta virginica have also produced nymphs, as you can see here:

My Parcoblatta zebra have been reproducing as well, and many of the males are getting old and a few have died off. Luckily I was able to get a picture of one of the males in his prime, before they all died off.
Here are some pictures of him and the nymphs:

Male

Nymphs

I'm glad this genus has done well for me overall, the only times I have failed breeding them is when entomophagus mold has been involved, and that just doesn't count, since it's pretty much a death sentence. Hopefully one day I will have all the Parcoblatta species in my collection!

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And last but not least, some of the ootheca from my Pseudomops septentrionalis from San Antonio TX have hatched! So glad I am finally able to breed this species, hopefully the resulting nymphs will grow well for me and be fertile when they mature!
I was only able to get one half decent picture of the nymphs, these guys really don't stay still!

Here they are:

Well, that's gonna do it for today, hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next post! :)

Parcoblatta lata and Chorisoneura texensis Update

My Parcoblatta lata have been doing very well, and most of them have matured! These guys are big compared to the other Parcoblatta species in my collection, and the females seem to be decent for handling. The males on the other hand are long-winged speed demons that will dart halfway across the room if handling (or photographing) is attempted. The females have already started to lay ootheca, so it seems like breeding this species is a piece of cake!
Here are some pictures I took of them:

Female

Male

Hopefully these guys will continue to do well, and in a few months the oothecae should start hatching!

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My Chorisoneura texensis have also been doing very well, and the ootheca keep on hatching! I have not noticed many nymph casualties at all, and hopefully I never will! In their old cage I had given them lots of ventilation holes, which the super tiny hatchlings were escaping from.

Recently I gave them a new cage without any ventilation holes, and made a small access hole next to the food bowl that I plug up with a piece of sponge, so that I never need to open the lid up, as the nymphs just love to accumulate up there. So far I have had no more escape problems, and they don't seem to mind the (drastically) reduced ventilation.
Here are some (pretty bad) pictures I took of the nymphs:

Nymph that I assume is going to molt soon

Hopefully I can successfully rear these nymphs to adulthood, it would be pretty awesome if I could!

Well that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! :)