gekkocorner

I live right on the edge of the Everglades in Ft Lauderdale. Its a little hard to find cockroaches in The everglades this time of the year. I've had better luck finding cockroaches north of the everglades, In Cypress Creek National park, And in parks close to the beach all around south Florida. At this time of year ( Summer ) I wouldn't do any roach or reptile hunting in the Everglades, There are clouds of mosquitos, Humidity is 100% and temps are in the mid to high 90's. You'll have more luck finding roaches in any park close to the beach. ( Around Jupiter, Key Biscayne, Key largo, etc ). If you want local Green bananas or Skunk roaches just let me know I have plenty and can share Good luck on your trip and happy Birthday! If you have any questions while you are here just let me know

Found these guys today in Jupiter, Florida while collecting E.floridana. The spiders were found sharing the same fallen palmetto palm branches with E.floridana, but the walking sticks seemed to be a favorite for them.

Adult females in first picture and males below. Discoid male and female on the left side of the pics

Here is a comparison of the blaberus species found by Alex and Discoids from my collection. They definitely look like different species

Around 7 to 12 inches is right. We did find some a little deeper. Make sure the sand is clear and not mixed with dirt. The base of trees with clear sand will probably give you the best yields . After talking with the local entomologist we learned that traps only seem to work for adult males ( flight intercept and light traps ), the best way to find nymphs and females is to dig and sift the sand, its a lot of work but it pays off.

Here's another beautiful A.floridensis Nymph

Here is a picture taken by my friend of the Florida Scrub habitat of A. floridensis It's hot hot hot

We tried several spots in the area we were looking for them, but only one place produced sand roaches. We did all our digging around 3 pm so I am not sure if they are easier to find them at night or during the day. We didn't realize how hard it was to find them until we started digging. There were several thousand acres of scrub habitat and the little buggers seem to only like loose sand under leaf litter at the bases of some species of trees. We found all of ours under the base of a small pine tree. They seem to like moist sand that is clear ( not mixed with soil ). Most were found at around 7 to 12 inches deep but we did find a few a little deeper. after 2 feet deep the sand gets too compacted and its hard to tell if they live that deep. We did find one adult male but no adult females were found. A local entomologist told us males are frequently trapped in light traps at night. A lot more work needs to be done with these guys. Another trip is on the planning and hopefully we'll get more of them.

Thanks guys We found 15 of them. It took hours of digging to get them but it was all well worth it. We kept finding nymphs and just before we left we found one adult male, No adult females were found. Anybody else keeping these guys? Any husbandry advice will be appreciated. Right now I am keeping them in a small container with coco/sand mix ( about one inch of substrate ). They have a dish with water and another with roach chow/veggies. I am wondering if they'll know to look for food in the dishes. They are always buried in the sand so I don't know what they are up to

After half a day digging in the Sand and temperatures over 90F, me and other member of this forum were able to locate some beautiful A.floridensis ( Highlands locale ). Florida sand cockroaches have a very limited range and are very poorly studied. Most of the sand ridges that they call home are threatened by farmland or new developments. Hopefully we can get these guys breeding in culture.

Here's a nymph from the same bloodline.

Here are some True death heads. I have gotten them from a couple of sources but These particular individuals come from Key west, Fl I love how different they are to other blaberus even as nymphs

You are most welcome to join We have been uploading pictures and descriptions to the roaches that occur here in Florida. ( Many that can also be found in the roach trade or other states )

That's life. I wish I could get half the species you can around Philippines oh and even though they occur here those two species are almost impossible to find. It'll probably take many days to find a location where they live and most of those locations are either on State parks or Garbage dumps that are closed to the public

Here's a picture of their habitat in FL.