vfox

There's always room.

Aww why not? They should be a super interesting species to keep.

From what I understand there hasn't been any other specimens found since this exterminator found these. I have a feeling that they are probably located in other places in the city but I'm doubtful it's in a place that someone has such a trained eye for them. Keep in mind I'm an exterminator and I've worked with more than one tech (with many years experience) that couldn't differentiate between an Oriental cockroach and the nymphs of the American cockroach. Nor did they care, even though they live different ways and knowing the difference is a good start to getting rid of them in a home...but I digress.

It's a super thin layer which works well for Schultesia lampyridiformis, which is about the same size. I'll play around with it and see what I can get to work.

Yeah I'm keeping my eye on the larger nymphs to see if they end up as dark as the adults before I cull them. I'd like to breed these even darker over a period of time, hoping for a jet black strain where even the pronotum markings are gone. Also, just FYI, vaseline is useless as a barrier for the nymphs. Just sayin. Lol

So, I caved, lol. Just thought I'd add to this. Just got mine the other day. Cool little roaches, still wary of them though, haha.

Completely jet black through all stages of development.

There are a couple breeders that have strains of almost completely black German cockroaches. I hope to get some in the next few months when the weather improves. I don't care for regular ones but the black ones for some reason don't worry me as much, haha.

Kinda wish I lived there. They are a fun roach. Hehe

After having this discussion on a Facebook group the other day with folks from the US and Europe it seems that there is some much needed research into the holotype to be done. But the consensus currently is that they are both Blaberus craniifer but the black winged animal being from the Caribbean and southern Florida while the brown winged animal is from Central and South America. That being said, I feel like these two should never have been named the same species. If the holotype of Blaberus craniifer is the brown winged cockroach then the black winged cockroach should be renamed. They are able to crossbreed because the male genitalia is the same shape. For some reason this ability to hybridize has everyone convinced they are the same species... Which tends to ignore all the other Blaberus that can hybridize. Not to mention the two animals have differently shaped bodies, coloration, size, and behavior. But hey, what do I know...

I feed mine with tongs. Otherwise use B. lateralis, they are highly active and the same size as large crickets. Although you will notice they tend to smell, similar to crickets.

Might be an issue with humidity in your setup or something. I've seen this happen when I used to keep them, but they never lasted long afterwards. Or it could just be a fluke, I doubt it would ever transfer this light coloration through breeding.

http://entomologytoday.org/2013/12/09/cold-tolerant-cockroach-from-asia-has-been-found-in-new-york/ No it's not the supposedly new species those kids were DNA sequencing. This is the Japanese cousin of the American cockroach. So... Who wants to go collecting? I'd love some!

One of my favorite roaches for handling and temperament is Eurycotis floridana, the Florida Skunk Roach. The adults are very easily handled and their defense smell is almost like almond extract. Otherwise I'd go with a type of hisser. Probably the Halloween variety or tigers.

Love these guys. Waiting on my newest strain to mature.

I've kept many species communally over the years but the best results have always been from single enclosures. I'm not sure if competition was the result of slower breeding or not but I've had moderate success recently. My Eublaberus have been the worst to pair with, their nymphs are voracious. I've also lost most of my hisser nymphs to my Americans when I introduced them as an experiment. They are ALWAYS hungry, lol.

To be honest I'm not trying to keep them alive very hard. Haha. If I wanted to keep them alive for longer than a few days I'd give them a more suitable environment. I didn't know solitary workers could survive that long without the colony as support. Hmm

I'd take you up on that.

I've never had much luck keeping them alive for very long. In my business it's a daily occurance to come across subterranean termites but I've never been able to locate a queen just yet. The workers and soldiers I occasionally grab never seen to last very long... But then again I'm only holding them for short observances anyway. I'd be curious how long they can actually fair without a queen. I'd imagine they are similar to ants and colonial bees and will only survive for a few weeks.

Most species look almost exactly the same with slight color variations. But I'm assuming you mean hissers? My G. portentosa have a huge variation in color, over 50 adults from the same 6 parents. They are one of the most varied cockroaches I've ever seen. So with most roaches yes, with hissers, especially G. portentosa... Not really guaranteed.

I'm not sure you can find ones that last long enough to be cost effective. The longest ones I saw were like 72 hours and cost a good bit. How is your house heated? Why not sit the tanks near the heating units or vents. That way every time your heat turns on it will heat them. Otherwise get a heatlamp.

They are good to feed to roaches but I'd avoid the stringy fibre inside the pumpkin. They do grow mold inside humid containers though so you should keep an eye on them before they mold or grow putrid. Remember, roaches are omnivores, they will eat almost anything as long as it isn't toxic. (insecticides excluded obviously, haha)

Did anyone else notice they called Germans wingless dark roaches? Heh. Also at the end of the article it says the one breeder is making $10,000 annually doing this. She even won an award for getting wealthy. Think about how different that sounds to us, 10K is poverty here in the US but in China you win an award for becoming wealthy with that small amount. It would never make enough in this country, but it makes enough for them to live comfortably and that's pretty awesome.

Panchlora nivea isn't exactly cold tolerant but will do okay at room temp, but preferably a good bit higher. Cold tolerant roaches that I know of... Well any native Parcoblatta species is perfect and Blattella germanica will do decent enough. Periplaneta americana will tolerate the cold but it's molting cycle slows down to a crawl. Over the winter my house is 60-64F and I don't use lamps much often, all my species will tolerate the temperature but their life cycle is put in a stasis.

Seeing that I'm an exterminator this puts me in a perplexing situation. I kill Germans all day long but they are incredibly fascinating to me. The dark morphs are pretty cool, not gonna lie, I may want some of those some day. Lol. Seriously though, don't wish for a infestation of these guys... Because well.... They will happily oblige you. Lol