Bufo Bill

Yes, you feel bad but the result was not intended by you. You'll know next time. But there could be a hundred things beside your actions that could have caused this, falling whilst moulting, genetic suceptability to illnesses, all sorts. Your other roaches seem fine too, from what you have said so don't sweat it too much. All the best from Bill.

Could this be a case of "egg binding"? Have you done anything new in the last few months as regards care or conditions? All the best from Bill.

Are these made with your 3D printer, or were they turned on a lathe? Regards from Bill.

Wow! (Picks chin off floor, mops up drool).

Hi, I love the sound of your project, I wish you the best of luck. Firstly, on the subject of roaches in your location, you can do no better than to ask a local naturalist or the insect specialists known as entomologists. Local museums may be able to put you in contact with someone or you could advertise in local stores or newspapers. Amateurs may know as much as professionals, so don't discount people who look for bugs in their spare time, these may be the best people to help you. They will know much more about what roaches are available and can give advice on the specific behaviour you require. Secondly in terms of photography my experience is that you will need many "doubles" as you dramatists say, as once a roach gets scared, it needs quiet, food and rest for a few hours to recover. Believe it or not roaches can be tamed and trained to accept a little handling and interaction with humans, larger slower moving roaches are usually the best for this. Food can be used as a bribe to stay in one place (stewed fruit mixed with sugar and a little rum may be good, this is a food bonanza for a roach, and can be administered in small amounts so that the camera does not pick it up in the frame. Shelter in the form of a large cup or nut shell is a good bribe also (just place it over the insect on set for five minutes just as it starts to be uncooperative and you may find it is much more effective than waiting until it is really upset. Different species will need different enclosures to live and breed in, again a local naturalist will be most able to advise you. Lights get hot, so be sure to provide rest periods for each roach in the living containers, at a temperature equivalent to a shaded area with air movement. Hope this information helps. All the best from Bill.

Very very cool Jared. Many thanks for drawing my roaches!!! All the best from Bill.

At least someone in my house is a healthy eater;) All the best from Bill.

There's always conversations in roach forums about what foods your roaches eat, or what foods your roaches won't touch. I thought I would give you all an example of what I feed my roaches, I'm not saying my way is the only way, or the right way or best way, and if you see me doing something wrong feel free to bring it up for discussion. I will also show some of the methods I use to get variety into my roaches diets, again feel free to discuss anything I have overlooked or done wrong, I hope to learn much from this thread. Firstly a note on fruit and vegetables. I have near my home a guy who sells fruit and veg, and I have made sure to be friends with him. He knows all about my roaches, and we often joke about it with his other customers. He often sells of damaged produce at vastly reduced prices at the end of the day, and because we are friends I have brought home free produce and even gluts of overripe fruit like bananas or apples. These are chopped and frozen so they don't spoil. I am also lucky enough to have a good sized garden (for an English Terraced house) which I use to grow soft fruit, herbs and salad leaves much of which I guzzle myself, but there is always plenty to share with the roaches. I also have encouraged weeds such as dandelion (Taraxacum) and Salad Burnett (Sanguisorba minor) which are edible by roaches (Dandelion is a great gutload food for feeders, having as it does lots of calcium in its leaves). I also have nettles (Urtica dioica)and comfrey (Symphytum species), with which i fill two buckets one full of each leaf which I add water to and let rot for 4weeks. The nettles make a great nitrogenous liquid feed to promote leaf growth and the comfrey makes a high phosphorous feed for flowers and fruit. They both stink to high heaven, but they are safe for the roaches. Some stuff I will freeze like the fruit and veg, and also I freeze the succulent leaves of the ice plant Crassula (Sedum spectabile), whose flowers attract bees and butterflies the whole time from April to November. These leaves can be used in the winter as extra food. I also have lots of leftover herbs like Sweet Cecily and Origanum as well as Salad Burnett which I cut bunches of from early May and hang in a south facing window until the Autumn when I pulverise the dried stems and leaves in a blender. I add this to equal parts of pulverised dog kibble, rabbit pellets, dried Spirulina and powdered alfalfa, and use the resulting mixture either dry (for arid roaches) and mixed with a little water to form patties. This uses up the herbs which aren't taken so readily when frozen, and makes a winter staple food.

Sitting by the vivarium, thought I'd share a pic of chow time, or to make a laboured insect joke "grubs up" . . .(embarrassed silence, winces).

Wow, that's superb! Thank you so much! I knew you'd do something cool with it, but that is genius! A true privilege to have one of my roaches immortalised by you. Many many thanks from Bill.

Wish I could get my hands on some of these! Good luck with the "nippers" as we say in the UK. All the best from Bill.

Are these roaches native to the US? Congrats Mr. Dude, you have a good eye for roaches that make people go "Oooooohhh wow!" All the best from Bill.

My Phoetalia pallida eat anything you care to put their way. My Oxyhaloa deusta are also very strong feeders. My Loboptera decipiens (wouldn't be a Bufo Bill post without mentioning these guys ),are very aggressive with each other at feeding time. @ Lovebugfarm, none of mine seem to eat pineapple without a lot of trouble, it's quite fibrous and I wondered if that had something to do with it? all the best from Bill.

You get the nicest roaches 'Dude, I am very jealous. Hope you have some better luck this time. All the best from Bill.

I've lusted over this species for several years, it's so cool that you have some! They are a gorgeous little roach, good luck with them. All the the best from Bill.

Very nice. I love the black juvenile, or is it a female? I have P. striata, they are deceptively fast for such a robustly built roach. All the best from Bill.

I have heard people say that too much mammalian protein can be hard to break down, but most of us here use dog food in some way. I would say as long as it's part of a varied diet it should be fine, but don't leave enough in to create leftovers, bad bad diseases can result from contact with rotten meat, let alone the smell. All the best from Bill.

Hey there, I love your work dude! Here's one of my Loboptera decipiens, I am obsessed with this whole colony but this one here is a real looker!

Keep 'em, they bred in numbers for a me, at least for a generation or two. Superb species, you won't regret giving them a go if they breed, a proper display Vivarium species! All the best from Bill.

The only thing I have seen iso's get aggressive with is a portion of Readybrek, those laevis are cool! (All the bugs with attitude are cool I guess)! Could you give an estimate of the size of the adults please? I have never come across this species before. Many thanks from Bill.

Hi Bamboo, my captive colonies love cardboard especially when it is a bit damp. You could sprinkle a little fish flake under the cardboard too, if you have any lying around that is. Let us know what you find, I love the fieldwork stories on this forum! All the best from Bill.

Enjoying the blog, good work, keep it up! All the Best from Bill.

Dude, these things are cool, you could try selling a few at any bug shows you go too. Just a thought! All the best from Bill.

When I kept this species I used to give bee pollen, which is a health food product. It is little soft balls of pollen collected by bees. All my roaches love it in small quantities! All the best from Bill.

I have seen Loboptera decipiens rub their abdomens on the surface they are walking on, and a similar thing with Paratemnopteryx colouniana too. Likewise, I don't think it's a problem, but likewise I haven't a clue what they are doing . . . itchy shell? Scent marking? Vibratory signalling? All the best from Bill.