Peter Clausen

Maybe this has been discussed on the forum previously, but I've just come across this information on wikipedia, which says: "The emerald cockroach wasp or jewel wasp (Ampulex compressa) is a solitary wasp of the family Ampulicidae. It is known for its unusual reproductive behavior, which involves stinging a cockroach and using it as a host for its larvae. It thus belongs to the entomophagous parasites. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_cockroach_wasp

They're slightly larger than a giant lobster roach at about an inch and a half. I've tried powdered guano (bat feces) in the past with B. giganteus, but they didn't have much interest in it. I'm pretty sure they've been raised w/o the guano as part of their diet in captivity for several years. The roaches were given to me, I think, in the spirit of their species name--that their existence as a species would be aided by hobbyists.

Thanks for all the replies. These things are my babies now. It's been a very long time since I've been this excited about a pet species. They do like to hide during the day, as would be expected from a cave species. If I flick the lights on at night they scurry back below deck. They've eaten apple, pear, yam peels and carrot this first week. I think I'd given them some bits of zucchini too. (Don't tell my kids I didn't finish my vegetables!)

Yes, that was cute! Is that a doll house or what?

I run a few infrared lamps on some tanks. I've currently got one atop my B. dubia tank. It doesn't work as well as the heat pad "stickers" for several reasons. The main reason is that the bulb screws into a hood/fixture and this rests on top of a large, metal screened lid. This requires me to need to wet down the tank more often than if I were a different lid/heating combination. I almost have to wet it down twice each day. It helps in these situations to have a substrate and some "hides" for the roaches to take cover beneath. It also dries the food out if the roaches don't eat it quickly enough. Keeps mite populations down though!

Yes, I shot that video a couple days ago. Quite a beautiful species, wouldn't you say?

Catchy title, eh? Well, it may be true. The roaches in this video may be extinct in the wild, existing in only a few captive cultures. Simandoa conserfariam were discovered in a cave system which may have been destroyed by bauxite mining according to one of the author's of the species, Piotr Naskrecki. Their common name is the Simandoa cave roach. The specific name means "to preserve in many places". And thus, they are introduced into our hobby! Here is a link to a partial page of information. I have the full article if anybody would like to email me for it. http://www.jstor.org/pss/3503709

Thanks Cindy and thanks to Nanchantress for donating a photo of mites on hissers. I hope to update that later. By the way, a hidden dead roach in a reptile cage can attract phorid flies and they will hang around in various places throughout the home while they wait like vultures for the next carcass.

I also vote for any beetles in the family Tenebrionidae, including the death feigning beetles and darkling beetles. I do like millipedes too because their tanks can be set up in a sort of wet terrarium habitat with plants that can be very pretty.

I have both reptiles and roaches and a variety of other cages. Phorid flies don't show up in the reptile tanks, but fungus gnats do. I'm working on the following page to help clarify some of the pests we see in our tanks: http://bugsincybersp...Cage_Pests.html Thanks for the reminder for the term humpback flies! I'm working on this new page and appreciate suggestions. I do suspect that you will see your phorid flies disappear if you clean the decaying and dead roaches out the roach tanks regularly. Fungus gnats, on the other hand, love reptile tanks with substrate in them. Micro-screen over all the ventilation holes will prevent new phorid flies from getting into clean roach tanks.

Mine seem little interested in leaf mulch like some other roaches. They go through phases, but seem to gobble up apple and fish food pellets. They ate a slice of orange yesterday. Hissers grow more quickly. Coconut fiber, yes.

Nanchantress mentioned she purchased 6 of them...in a post above. http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/2012-allpet-roaches-members-calendar/18801493 Roachforum calendar sales are exceeding Mantidforum calendar sales by an order of magnitude! I do a lot of the work, Herpetologyfrk, but I don't make a dime off this.

You're welcome! I'm really happy that we had a nice turnout in such a short amount of time. I was pretty impressed with the end result. What did you all think of Orin's cover photo?

Six copies, Nancy? What are you going to do with all of them?

Another post, just 3 minutes later and it's done! This is how long it should take! Here you go! It's really nice. I'm going to kick the contest off after Halloween, next year. Check our Orin's cover shot! http://www.lulu.com/...lendar/18801493

The honest answer to that question is way too long. I've used this company for calendars for a few years now. When I made the mantidforum calendar last week, the publishing process showed on-screen and took a few moments. I watched the nice little line grow across the screen and it finished up quickly. I'm currently trying to make this roachforum calendar for the 3rd time. I get this annoying little clock and this third time left the processing window open for over an hour and it has still not completed. This exact thing has happened in previous years too. Their software seems a little shoddy. So, while I'm typing this I opened the "revise" option in a second window and it appears to be publishing! I should have a link for you soon, I think!

Check out the finished calendar, or purchase it at the following link for $12.49 (cost of production): http://www.lulu.com/product/calendar/2012-allpet-roaches-members-calendar/18801493 (If the link doesn't work, the calendar file may still be publishing. Check back in a little while.)

Nice, we got a few more votes in. I've closed this thread. Just waiting for one member to email the proper sized version of his winning photo. There were a handful of others that I had to resize to make them fit on the calendar properly. Plus, I found a photo from a member that must have emailed me within hours of the beginning of the contest. Daddyroach has bumped one of our duplicate photo winners, above. Sorry, Vfox, but in the interest of maximum participation your Riddler Roach won't make the calendar since only the top seven from the voting poll above will, after all. Your other photo will, of course. Orin sent me a very special photo for the calendar cover. I won't spoil the surprise just yet though! I expect to put a link on the forum Tuesday afternoon with the calendar review and ordering link.

Get your votes in! I'll be closing this up and setting up the calendar in the next couple days.

Got it, Keith. Thanks! Here's a link for everybody to the voting thread: http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3617

Email me your photo to peter "at" bugsincyberspace.com Hopefully it meets the contest requirements because we're saving a spot just for you! In case anybody missed it, the voting poll is going up a few minutes after I hit reply on this post.

Important! Do not click the button that says "Show Results". You may lose your chance to vote if you select that button before voting. It is time to vote! Even if you did not submit photos for the contest, we'd still appreciate your votes for your favorite 8 images above. You may be wondering why we need only 8 votes in the list above. This is because 4 members submitted only one photo to the contest. Orin, for example, only submitted one photo so his photo automatically gets a spot in the calendar. Please select exactly 8 photos (check 8 boxes/circles above) among the five members above. All five of these members entered multiple photos. Please give each of them a single vote and then, before you hit the Vote! button, select three additional pictures. (So, 3 of the 5 people in the poll should win two spots in the calendar.) The best way to vote while looking at the photos is to open the link below in a new window so that you can go back and forth between this page and the photo thread's window. In most browsers you can right click on the link below and select "open in new tab, or new window". Photo Thread: Here

I think that's a wrap! Since we ended up with a nice turnout, I'm going to put together a voting thread so we can pick the 12 best. Every member who entered a photo that met the requirements in the rules section will have a winning photo. A few members may have two photos in the calendar. This thread is now closed, but please feel free to use the Question and Answer thread to discuss the contest in the meantime. It's been great to see a few additional members pulling through for us these past few days. Thanks!

I have no idea what species it might be, but it looks like a very nice specimen! My parents live in Jalisco, so I'm always very excited to see photos of Mexico's bugs.

Due to popular demand, I have re-opened the calendar contest photo thread for a day or two. Please create posts with titles and species' names at the following link. If you can't post the photos, please email them to me and I'll drop them into your pre-created post for you. peter "at" bugsincyberspace.com Here is a link to the contest photo area (now re-opened): http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=3578