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Brand New Roaches, And a Special Surprise Inside!


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After a long day, I'm glad I can settle down and finally write this post. Today I received two shipments of roaches from two different sources, and I came close to doubling the number of species I keep today. I basically spent this afternoon on a frantic search for suitable containers to house everything in, and I had to make a trip to the grocery stores to buy more Tupperware! I'll go ahead and give you guys a list of the species I acquired from which sources, and I'll include some pictures of their enclosures! :)

Note: Enclosure pictures were taken before I added any food. I assure you, my roaches are well fed ;)

Source 1: Kyle from Roachcrossing.com

Kyle is probably the most famous roach dealer on the internet, next to Peter Clausen! I hadn't ordered from Kyle before, but his rave reviews made me sure of my decision to order from him before I could even click send on my ordering email. Kyle lived up to his name, and offered me amazing customer service, and included an overcount of nearly every species I ordered. I am very pleased that I did business with Kyle, and I would recommend him to anybody!

Blaberus sp. "Venezuela"

I ordered a starter colony of these guys, and set them up a nice enclosure with a plastic plant.

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Pycnoscelus nigra

I also ordered a starter colony of these guys. Their enclosure is rather bare, but they don't need that much in terms of decor, as they are a fossorial species.

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Pycnoscelus striatus

Another Pycnoscelus species. They are set up similar to P. nigra.

(I didn't get a picture for this one. Sorry!)

Pacroblatta divisa

I'm usually more interested in large tropical Blaberidae roaches, but the genus Parcoblatta has stolen my heart! (That may or may not have to do with reading Hisserdude's blog too often!) This is one of the two Parcoblatta species I ordered, and they are my first non-Blaberidae roaches. As these are wood roaches, I decided to add dry leaves and bark pieces to the enclosure. It seemed appropriate.

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Parcoblatta lata

Another Parcoblatta species. They are set up in a similar fashion to P. divisa.

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Gromphadorhina portentosa

I'm currently keeping hybrid hissing roaches, but Kyle claims to have a proverbial non-hybrid strain available! I don't know if this is true or not, but I had to pick some up anyway!

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That does it for the Roachcrossing order, but today just got better when I was sent a little gift!

Source 2: Thomas Dean from Ovogram

First, anyone not on Ovogram needs to go make an account right now! The service is too awesome to not sign up for! For those of you unfamiliar, Ovogram is a livestock exchange group. All you do is send away some of your excess roaches (or moths, or phasmids, or whatever) and other people are likely to share species with you! You heard me right, FREE cockroaches, and other invertebrates. All you have to do is send away your extras! I shared some of my Blaberus craniifer nymphs on this site a month or so ago, and the fruits of my labor are finally paying off, as another member decided to send me some of his excess roaches. Personally, I see Ovogram as an investment. You pay the small price of shipping, and a couple nymphs; and in return you get species that would have cost you much more. My investment has paid off. I spent less than $15 on shipping, and I received 5 species for FREE. If I were to buy the species I received over the internet, I would pay about $90 shipping included. I saved $75 by just sending away a few nymphs to someone. That is awesome! What was I sent, you ask? I'm about to tell you!

Eublaberus posticus

I recently bought about 50 or so nymphs of this species from an expo, but this species was included in my "gram." I put them in with the others, and discovered that there were mealworm beetles and their larvae in with the nymphs. That enclosure is now my E. posticus/ mealworm enclosure!

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Peraplaneta australasiae

These are a semi-interesting species. They are very... well... very roach-y. I expect these to breed like roaches! I have them in a more vertically oriented enclosure.

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Oxyhaloa deusta

I'm rather excited about acquiring these for free, as they're a species I've been looking at buying! I like the look of this gorgeous little species, and even the nymphs sport adult colors! I can't wait until these start breeding! I ran out of egg-crates, so I used a paper towel to make hiding spots for them.

(The file was too big to upload, but the enclosure is pretty straight-forward. I think you get the point :))

Gyna caffrorum

This species is probably the biggest steal of the Ovogram "trade." Starter colonies of these guys go for $35 on roachcrossing, and I received multiple adults, and TONS of tiny nymphs of this species! They are incredibly beautiful, and pictures BARELY do them justice!

(This really upsets me, as the picture I was going to upload was apparently also too big :( I'll see what I can do about getting it uploaded, as the picture features some gorgeous pictures of the hyper-flighty adults.)

Alphitobias diaperinus

Okay, this isn't a roach, but it was still sent to me. I don't really have the supplies to start breeding these en-mass at the moment, but I have them in a temporary enclosure.

(This one is apparently also too big to upload. (?) Is there something wrong with the uploader?)

And that's all folks! This has been a crazy day, and I'm glad I could share my new acquisitions with you! :)

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Very nice species, glad you got some Parcoblatta, they are one of my favorite genera! :D And I agree, that group of Gyna cafforum was a STEAL!!

Hope you enjoy your new roaches! :)

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Wow, I am definitely registering for this site! I've never shipped ooths before, is it difficult?

Yeah, oothecae are easy to send. You can send them for less than $6 in a padded envelope. As you know however, many roaches are ovoviparous, and they give live birth. You can't send the oothecae of these species, so you have to send nymphs the traditional way. That gets expensive, but it's so worth it in the end, and it saves you money in the long run!

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Congrats on the pick ups! I am on ovogram and Thomas has helped me out too!! I cant wait to start sharing some one mine when they start breeding....cool site.

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Nice additions to your collection! Hope they thrive for you!

On a side note, I would recommend getting more barks for P. divisa and P. lata. Also, it's best to position the barks vertically rather than laying it flat on the ground ;)

I hear that bark is important for the laying of oothecae. Should I just lean it against the side? They seem to have found a way to hide under the bark anyway, and this species is commonly found under bark in nature.

I'm not trying to discount your helpful little tip, (you've bred Parcoblatta, I have not) I'm just letting you know what my reasoning was. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hear that bark is important for the laying of oothecae. Should I just lean it against the side? They seem to have found a way to hide under the bark anyway, and this species is commonly found under bark in nature.

I'm not trying to discount your helpful little tip, (you've bred Parcoblatta, I have not) I'm just letting you know what my reasoning was. :)

Ah...didn't realize I had a reply. Sorry about that :(

In my experience the ones with barks laid on the ground didn't do well as well as the ones I kept on slanted barks with several on top. Not sure why but perhaps it increases the chance of substrate clogging onto their cerci and tarsi due to increased exposure to the ground, causing them to stress out and even cause limb loss?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just got a bunch of hisser hybrids from Thomas Dean on Ovogram, and a TON of Eblaberus Ponticus as a bonus surprise! The postage didn't seem that tough though, they were safely packed in deli cups in a padded envelope that was 3.50 priority shipping. Just my 2 cents! :P

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