Hisserdude

Hey Mass, nice to see your formal introduction. You never did get any pics of the E.sp "Ivory", did you? If so I missed it. Had your hissers are doing well, be prepared for one species to eventually out compete the other though... The A.insignis in particular are supposed to be very prolific.

Sure, go to a topic, say General Blattodea Discussions, and on the righthand side right above all the posts there should be a black button that says Start New Topic. Click on it, and there you go!

Yeah, and say which kind of apple you use, different apples may get different results.

Yeah these aren't the kind of feeders you leave in the cage, their first instinct is to burrow, so you either gotta tweezer feed them to your slings, or smash their heads to prevent them from burrowing. I don't know how aggressive they are compared to crickets, but even if it doesn't directly harm your T the constant burrowing of the roach may stress your T out. Also, your cage would have to be pretty moist for this species to reproduce in, and the females may need fruits to reproduce, I know some live bearers do.

The top one seems like one of the Blattella species, looks like B.vaga. The bottom one looks like a Ischnoptera deropeltiformis nymph. Nice finds!

I do, yes. BTW that blog post you asked for about them will come out Tuesday.

Hey, Amblypygids ain't Tarantulas!

Yeah I've seen that, apparently silicone grease works better for roaches. If I ever need it I'll be sure to pick some up, thanks Sfairbairniii!

I use a layer of Petroleum jelly spread around the top rim of the cage, that keeps most climbers in while doing maintenance. I only use it on one of my cages though, I don't like the stuff. It's messy, collects dirt and fungus gnats, and overall I haven't really had to use it. Thanks!

No problem! Now that's dedication! The only heat I give them is a under cage heat cable, and that's only used for the 2-3 species I have that need it! I use plain old coconut fiber for most of my cages as well, except for a few species that appreciate a more rich substrate. Your clean up crews should do well under those conditions, if you want the isopods to bred you'll need to add dead leaves though.

Well try sterilizing it, soak the mulch and cook it for a while, any mites or other pests inside will be destroyed. By the way, that's a really cool pic of them mating, glad they are doing well! This is a very pretty species, one I hope to own one day!

Good, hopefully the cleanup crews will put the mites to an end. Don't they like a well aerated substrate? I would think you'd want to mix in additional materials. Of course I wouldn't put anything from outside into the substrate without sterilizing it first, seems the mites in your area are quite prolific. Hope all goes well!

If the infestation is that bad you are better off cleaning out the cage and replacing the substrate, if the mites are that plentiful the springtails won't stand a chance. They need a chance to gain a foothold in the cage. Gyna capucina and G.bisannulata are very difficult to keep, but the other Gyna are pretty easy and low maintenance. Lots of roaches are more expensive, and many of the roaches on Roachcrossing are $10 each. If you want costly, try $100+ dollars for a single Macropanesthia rhinoceros!

Very nice! This post is going to be very valuable, can't wait to see more!

The only thing that would actually eat the mites would be some Psuedoscorpions, and they can be hard to find. Isopods and springtails make great cleanup crews and can outcompete the mites, which is what you want. You should also make sure you are not overfeeding yours roaches, make sure they eat all their food by the time you give them fresh food. Adding some more ventilation can help in some cases too.

Yeah my hisser's food never molds, the cage is much too dry for that. Same goes for my Polyphaga species. There are also no mites in those enclosures, if only all roaches thrived in such dry conditions!

My dog food molds in two days, so my feeding schedule is every other day. Wish it lasted longer. I guess that's what carrots are for!

Yes, substrate itself usually doesn't mold, it's moist food that does. Food gets wet when it comes into contact with moist substrate, which then leads to molding. Food will also sometimes mold if the cage is humid, no matter if it's in a food bowl or not.

Oh well, I got my fingers crossed that they'll reproduce for you!

Ah, so you would have to get someone else to name it after you, that sucks lol.

Lol yeah you should have! My Gyna lurida nymphs have been hiding very well, they stay well below the surface of the substrate, but not all the way at the bottom where I could see them. Still, they've been eating the food I give them, so know they're alive!

In my experience, burrowing roaches are hiding masters. I dug for half an hour looking for one Polyphaga aegyptiaca nymph, turned that cage upside down and couldn't find it. I assumed it died. Next week I dug it up near the surface of the substrate. How I didn't find it is beyond me, it wasn't a tiny nymph or anything. So I wouldn't worry about them, I'm sure they are in there.

Well I hope they you can get some fertile ootheca out of them. Maybe try feeding them some fruit? It helps with live bearing species, maybe it will help these guys?

Cool, let us know how it goes! I can see it now, "Parcoblatta uhleriana alani".

How's that even possible? That sucks, perhaps there is one or two ootheca that escaped your attention and will hatch... that would be nice. Sorry to hear the news, it sucks to fail at breeding a species.