dactylus

Congrats on the hatch!!

Looking good!!

Congratulations on the babies!! Awesome!

Damn, I'm sorry to hear about the turn of events with your last female bolivari. I would hope that restricting the total ventilation of her enclosure by covering the vent holes on the lid for just a few days would not lead to the demise of that female. As I mentioned before I am also interested in keeping this species. P. bolivari does appear to be a picky species to keep alive. Adequate ventilation & humidity, the size of the enclosure and providing numerous hides/shelters seem to be very important factors in keeping and breeding P. bolivari and several of the other Spanish isopod species. If you haven't already looked at the "Albums" section of Edulio Isopods Facebook page you should check it out. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010559525104&sk=photos&collection_token=100010559525104%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.457198737975440.1073741854.100010559525104&type=3 This info is from that site: Our "small" cages: 40X24X!6 Cm. with a wire mesh of 16X10 Cm. on the center of the top. We use them for small species and for selective breeding purposes. Our "big" cages: 73X40X16 Cm. with a wire mesh of 26X20 Cm. on a side of the top. We use them for our main colonies. Based on what I'm seeing on the Edulio site I will have to set up much larger enclosures for several of the Spanish species than what I had originally planned on.

That is a gorgeous species. I hope that you are successful in hatching the oothecae. Good luck!!

Cool - I'd love to pick up a small group from you too!

Another gorgeous species! I too hope that these make it into the USA hobby.

^ Great photos of the female!

Thanks for the reply! Your information is good to know!! I definitely want this species but I've been a little gun shy because of the price and the instances of tragedies mentioned by experienced isopod keepers!

That really, really sucks! Sorry to hear that. Do you have any idea what might have happened?

Definitely on my want list for the Spring of 2018!! Once it warms up. It has been -15 F (actual temp) here in MN for the past few nights... Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Wow!! Thanks for the new photos!

Gorgeous creatures!!!

Thanks for the update. It will be interesting to see what develops in your colony over the next few generations! Good luck!!

I saw the same thing that you mentioned, "the description says that the bark is "stringy and fibrous". In looking at the bark in that package I think that the "stringy and fibrous" comment refers more to the underside of those bark pieces. I think that the exterior surface of that bark is fairly smooth. I could be wrong. I'll check into that and let you know what I find out. Lanxoblatta rudis has jumped to the top of my roach want list for Spring 2018, once the weather warms up in Minnesota again...