Brandon's Bugs

Mine only have egg crate, no substrate. They are doing great. In a 55 gallon tote and need to be seperated soon because there are too many.

If you select for fast maturing roaches, you would likely end up with smaller adults and maybe smaller litters containing larger nymphs. You could try to select for multiple traits (large adult size/fast maturing) simultaneously to avoid this, but that is very tricky.

There were probably eggs already laid on the dead roach when you put it in the bag. It doesn't take long for that to happen.

A CITES permit is only necessary for species listed as endangered or threatened. Few insects make this list.

What is the best way of attaching screen to bins? I have used hot glue, liquid nails and other products. None seem to be extremely effective. If I am not gentle or get the area wet, the screens come loose, at least sometimes. I have even scuffed up the plastic to make them stick better. That helps somewhat. Any ideas roach people?

If your colony is large enough you should be able to feed just males. I keep my colony around 1:4 male to female ratio. Remember, females can retain sperm, so even if all the males are fed off, females that have mated will still produce. It takes more unsexed nymphs for a feeding than adult males, this over time will reduce the productivity of your colony as you will be losing future breeding females. You can also sex your large nymphs and feed the excess males.

Does not sound unusual if they have access to other food and moisture sources. Also, they seem to prefer apples and bananas to citrus fruits.

I am not fan of lesser mealworms. They are almost impossible to eradicate in large colonies. If you think you might not want them, get rid of them early by replacing everything in your enclosure and washing it with rubbing alcohol to kill any eggs. I much prefer dermestid beetles to eat dead roaches as they don't seem to feed on the dry foods like lesser mealworms do.

Here are two very pale males I isolated from two unrelated cultures. I set them up with random virgin females. The first litter was born recently. I should be able to do a test cross when they are older and see if it is simple recessive or polygenic.

Thanks Zephyr, that is very helpful. It looks like everything starts to open up like a flower blooming. Now I will be able to pull out those tiny adult males in my colony.

Thanks, but it is my experience that the color pattern method does not always hold true for nymphs that are one or two molts away from adulthood. I have watched roaches with no white spots or bands go through a molt.

Is there any one trait that can be used to distinguish adults from late instars in G. Portentosa? I have found a very small male (maybe a sneaker male) with small horns mating with female, I would have thought he was a juvenile if I had not seen him mating.