vfox

Alright, good luck. Give us an update when you do.

We can work something out like that. I can find them, it all depends on how many you need. It does take some time to wander thru the woods until I find spots they will be hiding. When you're searching flip over dead and rotting logs and anything that may be slightly damp. Old chunks of plywood are great spots to look under. Otherwise you may need to dig open rotting logs to find them. (I find the most in and under rotten logs)

I can find P. virginica pretty easily around my house. I just took a trip to my woods today and found about 2 dozen nymphs and an immature northern widow. If you can't find more let me know and I'll see what I can do. P. pennsylvanica are harder for me to find and I've never seen any other Parcoblatta in the area beyond those two. I'm sure they are here, just haven't found them yet. They are one of my favorite Genus because they are true natives. They are really unique when you compare them to almost every other type of cockroach as well.

They are definitely nymphs, they will likely not molt to adulthood until early spring during their natural mating times. It may happen earlier if they do molt out without the cooling period. You'll need to keep us informed because you're one of the few that raises these. I just found half a dozen P. pennsylvanica in my bee hive this week, I'm going to see how they fair without a cooling period as well. Your species is unknown currently, they don't look light enough to be virginica, and are likely too small to be pennsylvanica. Maybe lata or americana? We will need to wait and see what the adults look like.

The nymphs can't climb much of anything but the adults can climb like superstars. Heh. Good luck, got any pics of the group?

I'm under the impression that they do... Mine take forever to moult to adulthood if they don't have a cooling period. If they even do. Everything I've read also suggests this. Do you have a decent success rate with them Orin? My numbers are very low to start since they are wild caught and somewhat scarce for me so I want to do what will work best for them.

I'm with Wodesorel here. I have a lot of allergy issues and Lats have a tendency to make me stuffed up for a bit after tank maintenence. Mites and springtails, along with isopods will clean up most issues with mold and whatnot. I have a few that offer me no allergic reaction at all and those are my Panchlora nivea, firefly mimics, question marks, O. Orientalis, velvet, and oddly enough every species of Periplaneta. (American, Australian, brunnea, and fuliginosa.) Every species of Eublaberus, Blaberus, Byrsotria, Archimandrita, and Gromphadorhina gives me allergic hives where their feet touch the top of my hand, wrists, or under part of my forearm. My skin is sensitive to it, it's only slightly bothersome and they go away after a half hour. To avoid this, many people use thin gloves, like knit fall gloves when handling these species. Some people have no reaction at all, mind you. Good luck, let us know what you decide.

To keep Parcoblatta you will need to cool them for quite a few weeks. When I was raising my local species I had success with using my refrigerator. I know that may creep people out, keeping live roaches in the fridge, but it works great. It's cold, but not freezing, and it's slightly humid. If you can't do that maybe try your method. They are picky though, you can't let them dry out or freeze for too long. Good luck.

I planted a ton of milkweed this year, I hope next year it will be everywhere. Bees do revisit known sources of nectar and they do have a memory that lasts a few days. They also tell others where the good sources of nectar are through a series of wiggles (bee dancing, heh) that tells the others how far, how good, and the angle to the spot in relation to the current position of the sun in the sky. They are great to watch and social as anything. I love my colony I keep, they are always entertaining.

The main thing shouldn't be a concern of accidental release and populations growing in your area. The main concern should be what type of feeder you need. Any and all roaches can be secured one way or another. I keep many pest species and I absolutely love them. My Americans are a prime example and also make decent feeders. If you have larger reptiles, keep something like Blaberus fusca and if you have smaller ones Blatta lateralis is a perfect choice. I have scorpions, whip scorpions, tailless whip spiders, and a bearded dragon. My main feeders are B. dubia, B. fusca, G. portentosa, and E. prosticus. Luckily all of these species have tiny babies that can be used for my bark scorpions and large adults for my beardie. If you need help figuring out how to contain any of your potential species then please contact some of the more advanced keepers on here. Orin, Kyle, and myself have all kept some tricky species and can give some decent advice on the matter.

Thanks Alex. I'm just glad to be back in working order, lol. I'm bugging Kyle currently for a small restock because I needed to downsize for a little while. I couldn't keep up on all of them and deal with everything else. But now that everything is gelled I'm hopefully going to update my website and return to being a regular within the community again. I figure the next week or so and ill get my backlog of work caught up and whatnot.

Hey guys! Been a little while since I've been active around here. I wanted to apologize for the absence. I got divorced about 5 months ago and it turned my life into a mess for a bit. But things are looking up again and I'm looking to get back into chatting with you guys and being part of the community again. Once a roach addict always a roach addict, eh? Anyway, I didn't forget about trying to solidify the ACS with some new graphics or helping to get our names out there. Hopefully I can help. Orin, I'll be in touch with something, soon hopefully. Glad to be back, my creepy crawly friends.

Kyle is correct. They were hybrids and have since been disposed of. My friends monitor enjoyed them. Heh. The pure stock was very slow to breed by comparison but much more consistent in their coloration.

That red coloration is something that can kill unhealthy adults and stain dead ones. I've had it in several enclosures over the years and the best thing I can tell you is to change the substrate and the container well. I've seen this mainly in Periplaneta but also with B. discoidalis and G. lurida. I don't know the cause, it's either bacteria or fungus, either way, it's not a good thing to have in the enclosure.

Mine never seem to do all that well, what's the tank temp/humidity level you're using? I feel like I can breed trouble makers like zebra roaches without fail but these guys drive me nuts. Also, nice shots.

I lost my entire first colony of firefly mimics due to a mistake in container type. I basically overheated a perfectly sealed and very humid container, effectively drowning them in the air. Be thankful it was not your own mistake that caused it. I have a crap-ton of Panchlora nymphs currently; for the first time in like two years they are finally doing well. They are one of my favorite so I understand your pain of losing the colony. Where do you live that it's so hot btw?

The horror most people feel towards "roachy" roaches is always amusing me to...especially because I have so many species of the Periplaneta genus. A friend of mine, who loves critters, and even let other roaches eat food out of her hand, will still to this day stay far away from the Periplaneta bins. It's all in their mind if you ask me. I educate people as best I can on them and love to spout tails of every bin having at least one escaped Australian nymph living in them, haha. I have zero fear of infestation with them and even though the teeny tiny Australian nymphs can escape over any barrier...I've never seen one outside of another species bin. they are one of my favorites, so telling people that is always fun. They are certainly, if anything, a fantastic conversation starter...or killer. Haha.

I was arachnophobic until I started keeping scorpions. Now I've had everything from giant cave spiders to black widows.

Mine are in a sterlite container with 2-3 inches of Cocofiber and a chunk of cork bark. I keep them off center from the heat lamp so I don't dry them out or accidentally kill them from too high of humidity and heat. They do great, but, they are prone to sitting on the lid and in the crack of the lid so that when I open it they can escape. Luckily they are easy to catch and fly kinda slow. And are neon green so they are super easy to spot, lol. I think my wife would even catch this species instead of squishing them. They are her favorites...which just means she has the least amount of disdain for them, heh.

E. distanti has a defensive odor just like orange heads but it's not very potent. As for the hives, it's tough to avoid, I get them with most of my species. My fingers and palms are fine but my wrists and arm in general...forget about it. Eublaberus cause a strong reaction with the welts as well. The ones that don't are my Periplaneta and Hissers. Also all of my species two inches are less don't really cause any effect...Panchlora, Schultesia, Blatta, ect. I suppose it's their tiny foot hooks not penetrating my skin at all that much and that's why the reaction isn't there. My suggestion is get a long pair of feeding tongs to use.

My last sitting from the 10th. I have to get the left done soon, I'm a little unbalanced, haha.

Those look like a parasitic wasp moreso than a fly. They may have hatched out of one of their ootheca. I'd squash them just in case. I'd let someone more knowledgeable give a positive ID though, I'm just saying what I "think" they look like.

Come to think of it, my American colonies and honestly most of the specie I keep give me no reaction. Mainly Blaberus, Blaptica, Eublaberus, and Blatta...that may honestly be it. All the others don't really do anything to my allergies.

What worked well for me was increasing the humidity, introducing springtails and Isopods, and keeping the mold problems in check. I take an allegra everyday for my allergies anyway, that could also help if you have an issue. The minor irritation of some sniffles and a few bumps isnt enough to deter me however. The Lats are by far the worst for me, I generally avoid stirring up their tank if I can avoid it. Otherwise I don't react too strongly to them. Wearing a mask does work but it's annoying. I don't wear one anymore, I just don't stick my face into the tanks as much any longer.

Nice images. Glad to see some people don't have problems with B. giganteus like some of us. Also glad to see others pulling natives into their collections, always a welcomed sight. Those peppered roaches take forever to mature just like giganteus but they are awesome once they do. Mine are crazy wide, easily making them my bulkiest looking roach.