varnon
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Everything posted by varnon
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I guess that make sense. They seem like tiny tortoises to me in a lot of ways, so the grazing and basking fits!
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Thats pretty cool. I can't imagine what they are like outside. I give my bugs grass clippings sometimes, or just go pull up stuff by hand. They really seem to like it.
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Gynandromorph Hisser: Half Male, Half Female
varnon replied to varnon's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
Thats awesome! The giant males I had from those batches of babies are starting to die off, its sad. They were so huge and now I've got so many that I can't fatten up a batch of babies like that! But all the females are all doing good. I wonder how long this boygirl will live. -
I'm sure there is a publication, or at least one on the way. Sometimes news articles get published before the actual paper is released. But there are definitely some published papers that really over extend their findings. One of them I make fun of a lot in class or at conferences discusses how honey bees can have a "pessimistic cognitive bias" for new events based on previous events. It was cited many times as "bees have emotions." The results are interesting, I don't know what to make of them, I would actually like to try to replicate that study. But I'm hesitant to say I know what the bee is feeling and apply a human emotional model to their behavior. Science can be frustrating sometimes.
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Do your roaches prefer the red pieces too?
varnon replied to Matttoadman's topic in Food and Feeding
I doubt they have red color receptors. So if it IS about color, you have to think about what color that thing is if you take away its redness. -
Blue Xestoblatta not really Xestoblatta?
varnon replied to Hisserdude's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
Sounds like you are right. I think this species is very clearly related to Panchlora. Panchlora is green, and in many animals green color is derived from a yellow pigment and a blue structural color. In preserved specimens, the green color is often a blue, very similar to what is seen in this roach, because the blue structure is still present, but the yellow pigment has deteriorated. That really makes me think these are pretty much just Panchlora missing some yellow pigment. (It also makes me think you should be able to selectively breed blue or yellow Panchlora, they likely have the components for both colors.) -
Great illustrations! You should do more species! Science/bug nerds will love this stuff!
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Take the article with a large dose of skepticism. I am one year form a phd in comparative psychology, and invertebrates are one of my specialties. My lab has a long history of research with honey bees, but after discovering roaches, who needs bees, am I right? The thing is, we simply do not know enough to point to brain structure and suggest consciousness in vertebrates, and especially not invertebrates. Comparative neuropsychology is an important area of study, of course, but we still have to be really skeptical. I haven't had a chance to track down the actual research yet, this research has been reported in a few news articles, but I haven't seen the main source yet. Unfortunately, the media often exaggerates or misreports, and even more unfortunately, some scientists do too
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I noticed this is some other research I was working on with hissers. Some of my males from flukers farms were only 4-5g. My second generation males could be 10-12g! The difference is substantial. I imagine it is a life history strategy of the species. Many species are different in physiology or behavior because of differences in early life. I wouldn't be surprised if the smaller males have different mating strategies. Based on other species, I wouldn't be surprised if they just tried to sneak in and mate, while the bigger males are competing and trying to hold territories (frogs do this kind of stuff a lot). Its even possible the small males pass on some epigenetic information to their offspring that changes the offspring physiology or behavior because of the father's early environment (it has been documented in other invertebrates). There is a whole world of things to discover with these roaches.
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Brown banded roach light sensitivity?
varnon replied to pannaking22's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
There are a ton of them in some of the buildings on campus. They don't love light, but they tolerate it. You see more when the lights are off, but you still see them when the lights are on. -
I saw this a few months ago. After seeing it, I tried giving styrofoam packing peanuts to my bugs. Hissers won't eat it. Banana roaches and isopods might. But my native darkling beetle collection definitely will eat them. They don't seem to love it, but they eat it. Now I recycle my styrofoam into bugs along with all my cardboard. Honestly, bugs are going to be the future of green initiatives. They are just so good at recycling things. Someone should really try to cultivate mealworms that really love the stuff. Should be too hard to do some selective breeding projects. Or maybe just get a ton of mealworms to start with and only feed them styrofoam and let selection take its own course from there.
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If I don't keep the vasoline fresh, the first few instars like to get out. Mostly they don't go anywhere. I think they still want to be with the colony.
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Orange Head Roach killing and eating cricket
varnon replied to dragonfire1577's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
Any other species that are so reliably predacious? -
Yes! I'm the same way. Sometimes if I wait long enough the urge goes away. But I'm going to have to get some glowspot roaches next. Whenever the weather is warm and consistent enough. Suppose I should make some room for them too.
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I don't think so, but its worth testing. We could totally do some informal experiments here.
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I've seen young animals of many species have a much strong preference for protein and meat than adults. It makes sense, the young need it for growth. The adults need less for maintenance. My banana roaches pretty much just eat cardboard I give them from shipped packages. And they multiply like crazy. It is insane.
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Any non-skittish, non-shy roaches?
varnon replied to Matttoadman's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
Hissers. Each individual is different, but a lot of them are like, ... it, I aint skeered. Many will eat from your hands too after being picked up. I've heard peppered roaches are very calm as well. I suspect that many larger species are calmer. -
The most challenging cockroach to culture
varnon replied to BugmanPrice's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
I just have hissers (way easy) and banana roaches right now. The banana roach population booms and crashes, but mostly the crashes are due to negligence, and I don't really care because there gets to be so many of them. Interestingly darkling beetles help the clean up the colony, but I think they eat newly molted adults, but somehow not the nymphs. I found a pale-bordered field roach outside last fall. I was super excited, I didn't know they lived in my area. I went to get a jar from the garage, and it got away and flew into the light fixture. So I guess that was the most challenging to culture. I really want to get more species. But I don't really have a reason for it right now. But I still want them. -
I got some roaches from a few feeder breeders, I can't say exactly what type of hisser they were, probably hybrids. The adults ranged anywhere from 4 to 8 grams. I had only 20 or so. The offspring of those roaches were huge, 8 to 14 g. It is just an enormous difference. I think when they are crowded, stressed, and have competition for food, they reach a smaller adult size.
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My hissers still breed at room temperature. Just not quickly. I have heard they won't breed unless heated but...
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I think hissers are fine without substrate. The substrate is good if you want a whole cleaner ecosystem with isopods and springtails and such, but I don't think the hissers need it.
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Looks like a molt gone way bad. I don't think there is any hope for this one.
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How many roaches per quart? "Stocking levels"
varnon replied to Matttoadman's topic in General Blattodea Discussions
For my hissers, it depends on several things. If they smell, there are too many roaches. My hissers have gone from 1 to 3 bins. I have no idea how many there are. They have a hisser smell anyway, but it is subtle. When there are a lot they start to notably smell, especially if one dies. Also, if there are fruit flies, there are too many. It means some died that I'm not finding. I've also noticed some hissers I ordered are much much smaller, and from one dealer much softer, than hissers I raised in small groups. If the adults are dwarfed, there are too many roaches. For my banana roaches, if there get to be too many condensation builds up. I just leave the bin unheated for a few weeks and things balance out. I think for any roach, a good bin ecosystem will let you have more roaches per volume. -
I've seen these too. They are really expensive and not well taken care of. It makes me sad. Also, I'm curious about why they call them giant islander roaches. Maybe because they are selling them as feeders and hissing cockroaches are more of a pet name?
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Yes, the terms are parthenogenesis and parthenogenetic.