All About Arthropods

BOOOO. 😛

Happy New Year! I can feel the new species dropping already. 😋

Probably some odd, large Corydiid or Eurycotis pluto. 🙂

👍

Usually they overpopulate, aren't tended to properly (lapses in feeding, watering, or temperature), catch an entomopathogenic fungus, or two species are kept together and one outcompetes the other,

Warmest of Christmas eve greetings from good 'ol Santa Chrysina! Be sure to leave some Juniper out for him tonight. 😛 Photo art courtesy of my little brother. lol

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Sure thing.

Nope. 🙂 I don't know of any roaches that are being bred in captivity at the moment that actually need a day and night cycle.

We can hope! He seems to be honing in on his business much more recently and has been responding to people's emails in a timely matter for the last couple weeks. In fact, I was in contact with him just today.

Hey everyone! After my Facebook page's 250 likes giveaway, I set the next goal at 500 likes. With a recent show of support, that number was blown out of the water! 😁 So, as promised, here's the current giveaway, which can be found at the top of the page on the pinned post. Good Luck! 🙂

The giveaway has now come to a close. Thanks to all who played!

Sure thing! I don't, but @Bmaines96 might be able to hook you up with both of those. 🙂

Sorry, that part of your previous response went completely over my head. lol It shouldn't matter; only thing is that the moist side will dry out faster with the heat mat, so just make sure it never gets too dry. 🙂

I would likely choose one of the small silver varieties, like this one here. But it doesn't matter all that much; many species should do. Some small silver springtails got into a bunch of my cultures somehow through materials I collected from outside (even though I sterilize everything) and they seem to be doing a good job, so that's really the only reason why I'd recommend them. lol I'm not sure if they're the exact same species I linked to.

No problem.

Culling is just removing individuals from the colony. I would definitely recommend springtails. Many species would do well with them, but I'd personally recommend against Sinella curviseta (Tropical Pink Springtail). They are extremely prolific and do a great job as a clean-up crew, but I've personally found them to be extremely annoying over time. They'll end up covering much of the total surface in your enclosure and are more conspicuous than many other springtail species because of how large they are.

It could work for a while, but one species would eventually outcompete the other unless specimens were culled regularly.

Welcome! You can find some great info about that species right here. Happy roach-keeping!

Very sorry for the loss; I know it can be heart-breaking. Best of luck with the others going forward.

Unfortunately, I think it's a goner if it's stuck so deeply into its old exoskeleton. 😥

100%! I love posting to my blog, but Instagram is so much quicker and it's so much more of an interactive experience.

This dusty thread is getting new life. 😛 Mine is @allaboutarthropods. Posting things from roaches to beetles to isopods almost daily!

I honestly would always recommend springtails as a clean-up crew as opposed to isopods since they're more inconspicuous most of the time and there's no risk of them chowing down on your roaches like there is with isopods. But if you were to use them as a clean-up crew, I recommend staying away from at least Porcellio spp. (more likely to much on the roaches) and Porcellionides spp. (way too prolific). You can indeed just throw them in without any extra care besides maybe tossing in a tad of extra food each feeding. Roaches will clean-up their own enclosures to some degree by partially-wholly consuming their own dead bodies, but don't mess with the feces at all. As to how you would know if you need a clean-up crew or not, that's hard to say. Some people show allergic reactions if waste builds up too much, but in general , the roaches themselves only really have issues if dead bodies accumulate, which can cause bacterial blooms and lead to infection (with some Epilamprids being outliers). Feces are really not much to worry about for the roaches and, in fact, I have multiple colonies of Pycnoscelus literally swimming around in their own feces right now and they're still doing magnificent.

Exactly! The flashy stuff is good for luring people into the hobby, but once they've been hooked, it's easier to feel the fascination for nearly all species.