island reptiles Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 these nymphs look all about to molt and the adults are giants lol found one of the nymphs molting this morning very impressive http://tinypic.com/r/2vt9n4x/5 http://tinypic.com/r/a0zzgk/5 http://tinypic.com/r/dgnjt4/5 http://tinypic.com/r/6drho4/5 http://tinypic.com/r/ku7x5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 these nymphs look all about to molt and the adults are giants lol found one of the nymphs molting this morning very impressive http://tinypic.com/r/2vt9n4x/5 http://tinypic.com/r/a0zzgk/5 http://tinypic.com/r/dgnjt4/5 http://tinypic.com/r/6drho4/5 http://tinypic.com/r/ku7x5/5 Cool!! : ) Do not freak out when half (or more) of your adults die in the next few days. This is normal for this species. I am not sure if it is the norm in their natural niche but it is well documented when in captivity. I allow the nymphs to eat some of the dead adults but sometimes there are too many dead adults and it stinks too much for me. The nymphs love to eat the adults though. The surviving adults reproduce well and have large numbers of babies so maintaining your culture is usually pretty easy. Good luck. If you like these, I would also suggest Blaberus colloseus (Colossal Roach). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 yes unfortunately this species has alot of adult die off im well prepared for it but some say its because they eat a ton of dead wood and need height to climb and flutter their wings im sure out of the 8 nymphs 2-4 will perish after the adult molt but we can only do our best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 but some say its because they eat a ton of dead wood and need height to climb and flutter their wings They die because they eat a lot of wood or they need a lot of wood to eat so they do not die? Yes, they need a "winging" platform during their final molt but this is just so their wings form correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 they need alot of dead wood to eat to stay alive or atleast that was my understanding of it and the winged platform I would think would be for the wings but it was all connected in the thing I was reading but either way they still have the die off dont think anyone knows exactly why Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 they need alot of dead wood to eat to stay alive or atleast that was my understanding of it and the winged platform I would think would be for the wings but it was all connected in the thing I was reading but either way they still have the die off dont think anyone knows exactly why Yes, they die either way. I have tried providing ample dead wood and they still died. Enjoy your cool colony! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wodesorel Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Really? I still have five of the six that I ordered from Kyle a year ago, and they were large nymphs that molted for me within the first month. I lost one adult a few months ago, but the others are still there. (Even after escaping, lol) And there's about a dozen nymphs they've since given me that are quarter dollar sized now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Really? I still have five of the six that I ordered from Kyle a year ago, and they were large nymphs that molted for me within the first month. I lost one adult a few months ago, but the others are still there. (Even after escaping, lol) And there's about a dozen nymphs they've since given me that are quarter dollar sized now. Good point. I am not sure how many nymphs he has. When you just have 5 the adults typically do not die off. They live a long time and the females produce a lot of babies. When the large number of babies molt out as adults then you see the die off with this generation and those after. I have always assumed it has to do with overcrowding but I have not explored this as an option with overcrowded 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. generations. Mine reproduce so well. I have them in a VERY large enclosure and they have quickly packed it out. I even started 3 or 4 other enclosures to only put them all back together again because it was too much work for me. I guess one could feed the nymphs off. As a roach species, they have one of the greatest size options from very small nymphs to "OH MY GOD!!! Is that a trilobite!??!?!!" : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I had trouble raising them where 2nd to last and last instar nymphs refused to eat and slowly wasted away and starved to death. I didnt know about them needing wood years ago so that might have been why, or parasites from unhealthy stock is possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 this is a small colony we had 20-30 nymphs all med size or smaller then we traded for the 6 nymphs and 2.2 adults they are in a 56qt bin so they have a alot of room right now later on when the smaller nymphs are ready they will be moved into a large bin either 45gal or 54 gal this colony wont get to big only want 30-50 adults the rest will be sold off as pets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I will attest to the fact males can and do fly! I had a single male and my cage cover was open because I knew they couldn't climb glass. It was Summer so my room was in the mid 80s. The male suddenly started vibrating his abdomen and took off flying out of the cage flying in circles in my room near the light on my ceiling. I enjoyed seeing it and with such elegant wings it was like a bird in flight. I lost one male to this though. Was outside photographing a male with my camera, he decided to fly and literally took off down the field and flew up into a tall oak tree never to be seen again. No gliding here he used to the wind current and that's how he gained altitude but no other roach except green banana roach truly flies in the hobby right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I lost one male to this though. Was outside photographing a male with my camera, he decided to fly and literally took off down the field and flew up into a tall oak tree never to be seen again. No gliding here he used to the wind current and that's how he gained altitude but no other roach except green banana roach truly flies in the hobby right? So your the guy that infested Long Island, New York with giant roaches! ; ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 think those giant roaches are Americana but holy crap do they get big in new york run the other way when I see them dont wanna get eaten lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrCrackerpants Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 think those giant roaches are Americana but holy crap do they get big in new york run the other way when I see them dont wanna get eaten lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cariblatta Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 You have some really nice roaches right there I also have some B. giganteus nymphs and an adult female (I got her as a nymph too) I got from Satchell. For some reason, my female has two spots on the pronotum, which I don't see in your pictures. I also have this male I got from Roach crossing that has really cool patterns on the pronotum. He mated with the female above so I'm hoping to see some interesting pronotum patterns on the next generation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 all the adults are still fine and well out of the 6 nymphs 2 have completed their molts to adult and are doing great sadly two others died during molting one other died premolt and one still running around ill see if a can get a video or some pics up today they are gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 11, 2013 Author Share Posted June 11, 2013 the last one molted to Adult just fine all the adults are doing great so far I tried to upload pics but tinyeye kept freezing on me here are some http://tinypic.com/r/bhyivc/5 http://tinypic.com/r/25pu9oo/5 http://tinypic.com/r/mwcv80/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satchellwk Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 I need to check this site more often; here's a thread where people are solely posting pictures of my bugs. Glad to see everyone's giganteus are doing well, for the most part. As for die-offs, like Wodesorel, my entire initial group of 7 nymphs continued to live well after reaching adulthood, churning out litter after litter. Yet, as the next couple of generations began maturing, I began seeing quite a few die-offs, leading me to think crowding has something to do with it. I recently moved my entire colony ot a new enclosure (10 gallon to 20 gallon aquarium) and the deaths certainly slowed down, but didn't completely stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
island reptiles Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 lost one adult still have 5 going strong hopfully they will produce well such a cool species oh satchell I got in about 100 more Harliquins we might sell/trade off 20-25 more if you want to try and work something out you can hit me up on facebook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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