BugmanPrice

It’s probably found mostly in larger cities in the north where they can hide from the cold do to the ability to move from apartment to apartment; but I'd bet pretty uncommon overall. They seem to be more abundant in the southeast, but I have seen them in a museum in northern Utah. The ones I checked out were collected in inside areas of northern Utah (pretty cold winters, surprisingly warm summers, low humidity year around) where they probably were receiving shipments of produce from other warmer places. But even Blattella germanica doesn’t survive in most areas! It’s kind of too bad; I prefer them much more to the looks of the Periplaneta americana (which do have a subtle beauty to them as well) which are more prominent in southern areas of the west. I’d be willing to wager they've been FOUND in all states but only reproduce and create sustainable populations relatively few states. Maybe there are fewer sources of vegemite and Fosters in the western us.

Welcome! That's a pretty good starting wish list you have there; few of my favorites. Good luck in your new endeavors, collegiate and cockroach.

For my lat colony it was booming like yours, but for some reason recruitment just came to a grinding halt. It happened within a few months after the introduction of a few specimens from So. Cal. I collected and later from AZ. I'm not sure what going on or if it is normal to see that sort of fest/famine pattern. You could always take the route I did when I started ending up with too many hissers... I bought more tarantulas!

That's pretty neat Pharma! Now, this isn't the bacterium that turns the 'roaches red before they die that makes them all limp and putrid when they finally die is it? Do you know the name of that one? There was a thread about it once but I’m not sure where it was…

If I had to guess, they may have been cold. Your body heat could have warmed them up so they were able to be active again. This species tends to also feign death for a little bit if disturbed but it usually doesn’t take them that long before they try to escape. Patients is the key with these L. subcincta; they take a while to get going but they really do multiply quite well. Hold in there and you’ll have a nice colony in not too long.

I actually own two of these ones! http://www.bioquip.com/Search/WebCatalog.asp beware the sizes run a little small however.

I also run firefox ex the Adblock but it does come through for me. Odd...?

Yes, it's much easier for us to exchange knowlege than specimens do to the messed up laws in this country.

I've got a question, how do you know if they are fertile or not? Do you just let them grow for a while then candle them like a chicken? I have a few reptiles in the past but I’ve never bred them.

Although it's invalid as a species (depends on who you ask, it most likely isn't though) you really shouldn't mix them since it is a viable, valid, distinct, strain/isolated lineage/cultivar/somewhat-subspecies if you will. As soon as you hybridize them then no longer do you have that certain subset of genetics. As said best by Matt K... damn the hybrids!

Unless your B. craniifer have FULL BLACK WINGS then it is not a B. craniifer... if it has light colored wings with whatever type of brown marks it's not a B. craniifer it's a B. fusca hybrid something or other. The problem with these guys is people think that because the name written on the container they were shipped in then that's what they are. I agree with Matt K, Damn the hybrids! If people would not label the hybrids (and sell them) as pure strain or whatever strain then it wouldn't be a big deal. Let’s put it this way: People would be pissed if I sold them a pure bred German short hair, and charged them for it as such, if the mother was a black lab. Then of course the new owner would take their new “dark strain” German short hair and breed it with their pure German short hair… thus every single offspring after that is tainted. No longer is it a German short hair, it’s a lab mix no matter how many generations go by! Having a mutt is fine, just don't sell it as a pure bred because then everyone else is going to get mutts eventually.

I almost wonder if your B. giganteus may also be hybrids then...

No, if you’re going to use that term it would be Blaberus “craniifer brownwings/European” (vs. craniifer “brownwings/European”). Unless it has jet black wings, which this one doesn’t, then it’s not a B. craniifer… it would be (probably) B. fusca or a hybrid of it (possibly with real B. craniifer). It is female however.

Also, as it was said before those “species” WILL hybridize so it’s a BAD idea. You really, really ought not put them together in the same enclosure.

I have by an adult male. It was just a little pinch; I wouldn't say it was even slightly painful. But to his defense I was going to put him in the T. blondi cage…

That would be the only B. germanica I’d ever keep, cool trait you have there. Also, the two ‘roaches on the right side seem to have white eyes in the picture. Do they really have that? You don’t keep them near a radiation source do you?

Good info, I think the problem I had was low humidity.

My G. lurida (does your colony have an odor like G. capucina?) don’t really have a smell to them at the present but I have about 100-150 nymphs and yet <5 adults in there. It has a faint earthy smell with a tinge of sweetness to it but I think that is probably from the inner bark from a cottonwood I made into substrate; it tends to have a sweet smell to it (since there are sugars in the tissue it shouldn’t be too surprising). I remember a professor telling me about how certain mantispids have pheromones that smell like caramel, maybe that’s what is going on. I’ll have to see if bouquet changes as the subadults start up into adulthood.

If they for sure weren't adults when the males were around then that puts us back at square one.

Ah, I see. There are cultures of real Byrsotria fumigata out there (which this guy doesn’t appear to be). Also, Blaptica dubia shouldn’t be able to hybridize with any Brysotria spp. but weirder things have happened. I really wish I could give this little fella a confirmed species name though…

I'm pretty sure having the macropterous male is one characteristic of the genus. @Vulgaris- This is the same colony you had those males that got out into your house from right? The males could have mated before they decided to play "escape from Alcatraz".

Is this a species you have in a culture or found out in "the wild" somewhere?

I’m glad you are understanding. I get people that bring me insects and if I only give them a genus name, if that, they seem really disappointed. So instead I’ve started to give them a common name I decide sounds good (we all know how much validity they carry) and usually they are fine with that… people are pretty funny. So, have you decided to culture them?

They are pretty good at hiding them so look carefully. Good luck, this is a beautiful sp.

You did fine for our purposes