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G. Portentosa? Or hybrid?


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I recently ordered 3 different hisser sp. from Kyle (was very happy with my craniifer), but yeah, I'll be buying from Kyle and the knowledgable people here from now on. I realize hybrids are frowned upon, and want to do my part in keeping only pure cultures.

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Please make sure you mark yours hybrids, especially if you sell or trade them. I'm pretty sure the portentosa stock Kyle got from me and it is older than the new "species" plus I've made efforts to keep it pure (it's not that difficult to mess up a culture if you keep multiple Gromphadorhina). I'll assume Kyle has as well.

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I will do that. I'll likely end up culling them or giving them to a friend as feeders, they won't make their way into the hobby any further. Coming from the tarantula hobby, hybrids are frowned upon there too (some people were hybridizing pokies) and i brought that with me into new hobbies. All of my hissers are kept in airtight containers with small aluminum screen and a Vaseline barrier to prevent any escapees. I also won't be keeping any two species that could hybridize near each other, or even on the same rack.

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The pure stock in the hobby has little striping as adults, and they are normally orange, not dark brown or black. Though it is possible wild populations could have darker strains, I do not believe any have been imported in recent years, so any dark ones like these in the hobby are most likely hybrids.

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The pure stock in the hobby has little striping as adults, and they are normally orange, not dark brown or black. Though it is possible wild populations could have darker strains, I do not believe any have been imported in recent years, so any dark ones like these in the hobby are most likely hybrids.

Illegal importing happens all the time so it's possible people could be doing that to add vigour and you need to understand that color can vary naturally we all know how diet and humidity has been shown to affect Hisser colors.

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That's what I meant :)

Now that I'm fairly certain they are hybrids, they will be given to a friend as feeders within the week.

Oh, I see. Sorry lol!

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Here is the only even loosely related research article I could find: Roth et al. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2009 9:50 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-9-50

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/50/

Figure 3 and 4 are interesting:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/50/figure/F3

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/9/50/figure/F4

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Yes, but we don't want them getting mixed up with the pure-breds, and we don't want to spread them around the hobby listed as G.portentosa, which most people would do to make a quick buck, (Not anyone on this forum or in the hobby, just the big feeder chains that don't care what species they are selling, just that they sell.).

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Sucks they get fed off, cause they aren't pure. I can list so many exotic animals you buy in pet stores that are hybrids and people don't kill them off. It's a waste other people would buy them.

It's a matter of personal preference. I want to keep pure cultures only. I I sold them off there is a chance someone else will try to pass them off as pure G. Portentosa, and further add to the confusion. The least I can do is try to keep pure stock without adding to the confusion.

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It's a matter of personal preference. I want to keep pure cultures only. I I sold them off there is a chance someone else will try to pass them off as pure G. Portentosa, and further add to the confusion. The least I can do is try to keep pure stock without adding to the confusion.

Unless your running Noah's ark or an endangered species breeding program does it really matter if roaches are pure, that's my whole point, especially if they are going to be fed off or kept as pets.

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Yes it does matter.. If I decided to sell off, or make a trade with my extras with a fellow roach enthusiast, I doubt he'd be happy unboxing a hybrid portentosa. Granted mine are just for pets at the moment, but how do we enjoy and compare species-specific features (markings, pronotum) if they've all been hybridized? The current B. Craniifer/blaberus hybrid situation is a great example of what happens with hybrids are put back into circulation.

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