Hisserdude

Periplaneta americana colonies always have a certain, "roachy" smell to them, can be pretty strong in larger colonies.

I realize this is an incredibly old thread, but for the record this looks like true Hemithyrsocera histrio, or something close, definitely that genus though.

No problem, happy to help!

Well good luck man, hopefully those giant Panchlora will start exploding for you soon! Perhaps just try offering less leaf litter, I don't think Panchlora nymphs absolutely need it, but most isopods breed much less without them.

And uhhhhhh I think @Allpet Roaches did it first LOL... Albeit in smaller numbers.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/inducing-bdfb-to-pupate.280289/#post-2430989

Well hopefully that's the case, maybe come Spring they'll start growing and breeding faster for you! I'd just be sure to keep the isopod population in your Panchlora cage relatively small, as not only are they not needed in a Panchlora enclosure, but over time they may cause some harm to them.

Good luck, hopefully that'll work well to kill the stuff!

Definitely Tenebrio obscurus, the adults have a more matte coloration, and the adults male's front legs are truly impressive, (well, in some individuals). The larvae are also typically dark, but oddly enough I've seen lighter colored larvae pop up in my old colony that looked like those of T.molitor, and I've seen really dark larvae pop up in my T.molitor colony that looked like obscurus! Oddly enough this was not a result of cross contamination, just rare color variation that had no effect on the resulting adults, which looked rather normal for both species. I'm pretty sure hybridization between these two is impossible, as both are common grain pests across the world and certainly have had their ranges overlap by now, yet there have been no reported hybrids or anything like that. Kind of the same situation as Armadillidium vulgare and nasatum, if you will.

Yeah ironically isopods won't eat this stuff, pretty sure it's slightly poisonous, so while they probably won't die from it they surely won't eat it. Freezing might not kill all the spores, sticking moist substrate in the microwave for 2-3 minutes should kill everything though.

Hmm, those Panchlora should be pretty fast growing and breeding, they typically only breed slowly when stressed out IME... Panchlora is a very fragile genus, and I'd never recommend any cleaner crews for them besides springtails. Gyna lurida take a while to build up in numbers in my experience, despite having huge litters, and E.javanica can both be picky about breeding conditions, and be slow breeding even in a good setup, so I don't think the isopods are the main contributors to their slow colony growth, (depends on just how many are in there though, what species of isopod, etc...).

Good idea, and technically you could just move all the roaches to an isopod free enclosure, if you wanted them gone completely. You might just have some slow breeding roaches though, many live bearers are!

Could be that the isopods are competing with your roaches for food, causing slower growth and breeding, possibly eating ooths, etc., could also just be that you are working with slow growing roaches though. I'd keep an eye on those colonies, and closely monitor the isopod to roach ratio...

Hah thanks, I really appreciate the compliments! Yeah I thought it'd be an interesting way to teach people about the revision, let's see if it works. 😛 Lol I've actually had a couple requests for new songs, one about molting individuals vs albinos, and one about the history of the Perisphaerinae taxonomy! 😂 I was really planning on this being a one-off sort of deal, but who knows, maybe I'll write more songs in the future! (now if only I could write my own music...) Thanks again for the kind words!

Yeah, springtails are definitely the safest, everything else can be pretty iffy. Isopods will stress out and outcompete some roach species, so definitely keep an eye on any roach colonies with isopods in them too!