Introducing Megaloblatta blaberoides!!!

US Blatticulturists have been eating GOOD this past year, one of the families that has had several notable members enter culture as of late has been Nyctiboridae. I'm sure y'all have seen my entries on Rochaina at this point, (which are doing quite well for me), but we've also gained a couple of Nyctibora spp. in the US hobby, as well as one of the most coveted roach genera out there, Megaloblatta. 😁 Specifically, Megaloblatta blaberoides, from Belize, the ever so slightly shorter cousin of the longest known roach species, M.longipennis (which translates to "long" (longi) "winged" (pennis), and is not in fact a reference to their male anatomy... 🤣). 

Kyle at Roachcrossing received an adult female last year and was able to get a decent amount of oothecae out of her, she laid about an ooth a month for the 6 or so months she lived in his care before dying (presumably of natural causes). Said ooths have only taken around 6 months to hatch for him being kept consistently damp and warm, buried in the substrate where the female left them. He gifted me 13 nymphs last month when I went to visit him in MI, so now I get the opportunity to work with this amazing, giant species myself! 😄

I have my nymphs set up in a large, moderately ventilated enclosure with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks and lots of hardwood bark hides. I'm keeping them moist, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and fruits. Care for this species honestly seems to follow typical tropical roach husbandry, however they take quite a while to mature (supposedly can take around two years), and oothecae both take a long time to hatch, and are sensitive to drying out. We also don't yet know how territorial they are, nor how sensitive they are to things like pests, pathogens, filth buildups, etc., so definitely still some things to figure out for sure.

Phone pics of L1/L2 nymphs

L4 nymph

It should be noted that these truly are massive roaches; the first instars are about a CM long, which is crazy for a species that hatches from a proper ootheca rather than being live birthed. 😳 I can't wait to see just how big these can get in captivity, seeing large nymphs in person will be especially neat, as they can supposedly stridulate loudly as a defensive mechanism (apparently sounds kind of like a rattlesnake). Just a really neat and unique species overall, so happy they've finally entered the US hobby, and that I get the honor of working with them! 😊

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

Rochaina metae Adults!!!

I'm a couple weeks late in announcing this, but for the first time ever, Rochaina have been reared from ooth to adulthood in captivity! And it was done by yours truly, with R.metae! 😁 My first adult male emerged June 16th, with my first female emerging 5 days afterwards.

Interestingly, these have been growing much faster for me than R.bilunata... or at least, half my R.metae have been. This genus seems to be one that is quite territorial, not gregarious like most other roaches, and as such don't really benefit much from the allee effect. About half of the offspring from the first ooth I hatched of this species are still at L3-L4, while the other half are subadults or have matured already. Additionally, all but a couple of the nymphs that hatched out of my second ooth died off after being thrown in the same enclosure as the older nymphs. 

I wouldn't even consider the conditions they were previously in crowded at all, at least not for most roaches. But, after noticing this, and finding my first adults, I moved them to a 5 gallon bin, rather than the 1 gallon jar they were previously in. 

Now, when I moved them, I tried going with a lower ventilation enclosure, with only a third or so of the lid ventilated, to reduce the frequency with which I needed to mist them; this ended with my first pair of adults dying off prematurely, within days of being moved to the new bin. 🥲 I then changed their setup to one with a fully vented lid, and that has seemingly resolved the issue, all subsequent adults that have matured are still alive, and a couple of the females are starting to get rather plump! 😄 Of course, now I have to mist them a few times a week, but it's worth the effort for such stunning species. 

So two new husbandry needs learned, and hurdles overcome:

1. This genus is not at all gregarious, and needs lots of space and surface area for optimal growth. Larger life stages will bully smaller ones for space and food and can severely stunt or even kill them.
2. High ventilation levels are an absolute must for adults, but nymphs can seemingly tolerate lower ventilation, at least longer than adults can.

Valuable information learned, even if learned the hard way. 😅 But this is all part of the process of spearheading the development of a husbandry methodology for a species and genus no one's had success with before, it's all trial and error. Thankfully I've got plenty of individuals to work with still, and am getting very close to closing the loop completely with this amazing species!

Adult male (under ring light)

Adult male (under sunlight)

Adult female (under sunlight)

Male (right) & female (left)

L3/L4 nymph next to adult female; both hatched from the same ootheca

This is a much prettier species than I was expecting TBH, many pictures of them online (including most of mine) really wash their colors out, they are definitely best photographed/viewed under sunlight. 

They are surprisingly calm as adults, fairly slow moving and not very quick to fly, which is the opposite of how I thought they'd act. Their coloration must serve as some warning of bitter taste or mimicry of something else that tastes gross, for them to act so boldly. 

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