BugmanPrice

@Pharma: I knew your first reply was too short to be left alone That's interesting you've noticed that other hisser species don't exhibit it. Right now I'm doing an experiment; I'll let you know how it turns out!

I do understand how all of the variables factor in that Matt pointed out; I've just noticed some anomalies that can’t be attributed so any of those. Thus, I think I’ve got my answer or at least some evidence! Thank you everyone.

Of course there is variation but I'm trying to see if most people see two DISTINCT types of variation that is noncontinuous in their cultures (hopefully bimodal). Anybody else???

I've found that this forum (can maybe extended out to mantidforum as well, even though I’m not a member) is much better than many. Whether the difference is due to a much smaller size, awesome moderators, or maybe blattoculturists to be a different breed than tarantula people or herpetoculturists, I’m not sure. I keep about two dozen or so tarantulas and so occasionally I lurk around one of those, uh… arachnid boards to see what’s up. Some of the junk that goes on there is unbelievable though and people get way out of hand; on the RARE occasion that someone on this board gets fired up it usually is pretty harmless and cools off quick. For the short answer, if you are looking for another boards like this then good luck. Alright, so that probably didn’t help you with your reptile question. If you find a really good one let us know!

Or they are indeed both independent "viable species", that’s what we tend to go for in taxonomy. Also, I do agree that hybridizing things is not that great of an idea, I certainly would be not happy if I bought something that I was told was a pure strain but it has a hybrid. Hybridizing can cause a lot of problems for the hobby but I think in the right hands, with people that know what hell they are doing, these types of experiments are alright and do increase our knowledge (somewhat) of our “pets”.

Also egg layers have a much higher rate of increase then the live bearers.

It seems to me that there are two distinct body types that exist in G. portentosa. There are thinner, laterally, and longer individuals and then thicker, shorter individuals. I’ve noticed it in males and females. It’s harder to see in females since they become so distended with young as they approach birth but even in taking that into account, I can see it (maybe). Would anybody agree or disagree with this hypothesis?

..."PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!"... neat picture!

I've actually used scrub live oak which is a lot like the one you are picturing. The ‘roaches ate the leaves fine but they left the little spines alone. Sounds great, but if you stick your hand into the substrate to pull out a couple of buried nymphs to feed off you get little prickly things in your hand occasionally. After a while they seem to soften up as they decompose, but I don’t use them anymore and mostly stick with scrub/Gambell’s oak.

I tried both crosses (male distanti with female posticus, female distanti with male posticus) and I didn't get any offspring. I didn't even see any courting/mating behavior.

You probably don't want to have the substrate so wet for so long that you can’t use egg flats without them molding. As far as décor goes, in my natural type set ups I just use kind of curled bark and lean them against the tank walls and floor, so there are proper molting surfaces for maturing adults (pieces of driftwood also work). With leaves I think most of them are okay, as long as they have started to decay a little, fresh leaves aren’t good. I wouldn’t use any leaves that have a “chemical” smell to them (like pecans, eucalypts…) since those chemicals are usually have an antiherbivory function for the plant. I personally use all sort of leaves though oak being my ‘roaches favorite but also cottonwoods, aspen, ash, and beech (not preferred however).

I think these guys are better kept on substrate; I can just pour water onto it and they seem to like it just fine. You could also put in a wide shallow dish of water with maybe some sticks/rocks in it or something if it's smooth to increase the humidity without drowning. In my opinion, there's a problem in the setup if you need to mist multiple times a day. I'm in southern Utah so we're pretty dry and I never have to mist multiple times a day.

I don't know, she should be bigger then the rest but they are hard to tell apart from nonreproductives depending on the species.

That would leave me to believe that there is at least one female reproductive in there, neato!!!

When was the last time you added new substrate/decorations to your enclosure?

Could you discribe your set up?

Congratulations, sounds like you are on the path to rampant blattophilia… it does tend to sneak up on you!

It's probably good my mailman doesn't know what he's bringing me most days too…

I’m not sure. They grew/matured just fine, all lived a long time, but I just couldn’t get them to breed before they died of what i presume was old age. I started out with only a few (3 or 4) maybe and I only remember one being a female. I’ll give them another shot someday…

Yes, the picture is of Gyna bisannulata aka patchwork cockroach. I love their bright red legs...I really wish I could have gotten the ones I had from Orin to breed. Really neat species!

Do you have any pictures...?

Keep us posted, this could be neat.

I'll see if I can get a male vs. female pic up for you...just to be sure. Assuming the sex ratios aren't skewed in his culture, you are right it is pretty unlikely but not impossible.

Maybe the females ones are slower and easier to catch! You could always post up some pictures of the last segment to be sure...

Actually if remember back to herpetology correctly, crocs and the like don’t have the sex chromosomes like humans (X and Y) do. The gender is determined by the environments affects on which genes are being expressed (utilized). In other words, you couldn’t just take genes out of the animal and look at the gender; they are all both genders genetically speaking. So in cockroaches, after fertilization (if there is fertilization) sex is what it is. I can’t make sense of how the genetics would play out if you were genetically one sex and phenotypically the other… it doesn’t make sense. The odd sex ratios could be explained in other ways however, not just temperature dependency.