New Roaches & Some Roachy Updates!

My Blaberus sp. ""Pico Bonito, Honduras" have been absolutely booming lately, and I finally got some decent shots of an adult female that I wanted to show off here.

A nice sized, prolific Blaberus species, hardy too. I hope we get an accurate species ID/description for these one day.

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I got some Panchlora cf. nivea "Little Manatee River, FL" from Tennyson a while back that have finally started breeding well for me. They are a nice, vivid green species, larger than the sp. "hobby" by quite a bit as well. So they may be true nivea, though they just as easily could be another misidentified species introduced there.

I have them in a moderately ventilated setup with a couple inches of coco fiber and coco coir chunks as the substrate. I keep them humid, at around 80-85F, and am feeding them dog food and fruit as the staple diet.

Here are some pictures of an adult female:

I really love the variety of Panchlora spp. we are getting into the hobby lately, would love to see some more of the fancy ones from Central/South America entering culture in the future.

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I also got some Gromphadorhina portentosa "UCR" from Tennyson, a supposedly pure line that has at the very least been cultured for many years in a lab without any additional bloodlines being added to them. They are average sized for portentosa, and have rather average, if slightly dull coloration as well, thought they are a bit more variable than say, the "1972 Cleveland" stock.

I have them in a well ventilated setup with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate topped in eggcrates and bark hides. I am keeping a quarter of the setup humid, the rest dry, and am feeding them dog food and fruits as the staple diet. The colony sits at around 80-85F, and they are breeding like, well, roaches. So definitely one of the more prolific portentosa lines.

Here are some pics of an adult pair:

I would love to see some genetic analysis and comparison between these and other US hobby portentosa stocks, though that seems like wishful thinking for now...

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I finally reacquired some Gyna centurio from Spencer Thornton in a trade, along with some other goodies I'll post about in the future. Been a while since I kept these, but needed to get some to complete my Gyna collection. 😂 Now I have them all muahahahah... 😈

Anyways, fairly simple setup for these, a moderately ventilated setup with an inch or so of coco coir substrate, kept on a 60/40 humidity gradient (erring on the humid side). Keeping them at around 75-80F, and am feeding them dog food and fruit as their staple diet.

Here are a few pictures of an adult female:

I had forgotten how pretty females of this species were... 😍

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Lastly, my Gyna bisannulata continue to explode for me, and I decided to get some somewhat better pictures of an adult female as well, so here ya go.

A beautiful species, once nearly unattainable here in the US (and from what I hear, still quite uncommon overseas). Glad they are making a comeback in the hobby, they are such a pretty, ornately patterned species, and a hobby classic rare species.

Anyways, that does it for this post! Thanks for reading everybody, hope you enjoyed, and I'll see ya'll in the next post! 😉

New Pods & Some Roach Updates!

I got a group of Cubaris sp. "Amber Firefly - LCF" in trade with Alyssa from Forests of Asgard, was very happy with the counts and health of the specimens on arrival, and am glad to report they have blossomed into a full on breeding colony as of now! 😊 This is one of those species that has a bit of a silvery sheen to their exoskeleton (especially when they dry out a little bit), which is hard to capture on camera, but needless to say they look a lot prettier in person!

I have mine set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of leftover substrate from some other breeding project I've forgotten (so a mix of coco fiber, sand and I think a little clay too), topped with coco coir chunks, bark and leaf litter. I am keeping them fairly humid, at around 75-85F, and am offering dog food and fish food pellets as their supplemental diet, as well as some calcium carbonate chunks.

Here are some pics of them:

A beautiful species, I would like to acquire some of the other color forms in the future as well. Glad they are doing well for me, hopefully they will continue to do so!

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At some point last year I got some Cubaris sp. "Black Bear" from my buddy Ty at Ty Dye Exotics, and I keep forgetting to post about them! They are a cute, velvety species that seems fairly easy to rear and breed, though a bit slow growing/breeding. They are part of an undescribed genus that also includes some other species like sp. "Kayson Honey".

I have them in a moderately ventilated setup with an inch or so of coco fiber and coco coir chunks as the substrate, topped with bark pieces and leaf litter. I am keeping them humid, at around 75F, and am feeding them dog food and calcium carbonate chunks as their supplemental foods.

Here are some photos of 'em!

A very underrated species IMO, these and the Amber Fireflies are now on my For Sale list BTW, if anyone is interested in adding some to their own collections. 😜

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My Asiopus minimus are doing well and have exploded in numbers. They are evidently a very easy to keep species, not sensitive to crowding much at all. 

Here's a single picture I took of a glob of adults:

Glad these have done so well for me, another species to add to my ever growing assortment of Tenebrionid colonies.

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My Cariblatta minima have also been doing quite well, and I really don't have anything noteworthy to add as an update. I just got a somewhat decent picture of a bunch of them chowing down on dog food recently and figured I'd post it here.

A neat little species that I think a lot more people should keep.

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My Byrsotria rothi have all not only matured, but have bred as well. I can't believe I never kept these before, these are SO underrated! The males have some neat morphology and wing shape, and I love the dark reds the females have on their abdomen. 😍

Here are some pictures of an adult pair:

Female

Male

Pair

This genus in general is so underrated, but this species in particular is ridiculously slept on! I hope to see more hobbyists keeping them in the future, along with some of the other "forgotten" hobby staples that have sort of fallen into obscurity now with the influx of more "interesting" species that have entered culture as of late.

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I moved my Paranauphoeta formosana to a larger 5 gallon bin recently, and weirdly they've been having a lot of die off in the process. I think the sudden change of environment, combined with slightly less ventilation and higher humidity in that setup may have been to blame. I have since let the setup dry out some more, though I may also add some more ventilation soon. The die offs seem to have slowed down though, and I've seen several litters born lately, so I'm not too worried ATM.

Anyways, got some group photos of some adults recently:

It's so dang hard to get even somewhat decent photos of this species, the adults are SO SKITTISH. They are much prettier in person than in photos IMO, these have also fallen into obscurity recently I feel, despite their attractive patterning and former popularity.

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post. Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉