Zephyr Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Here's a neat little PDF with data from a roach species hybridizing experiment. http://nsrdec.natick.army.mil/LIBRARY/70-79/R70-102.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hisserman Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Interesting read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makoygaara Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Thanks for sharing. Personally I like to keep the genes of a roach specie pure. I discourage interbreeding them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hisserman Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Thanks for sharing. Personally I like to keep the genes of a roach specie pure. I discourage interbreeding them. Most of us do..... That shows you how easily hybrids are made..... (Like my Ford Fusion ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makoygaara Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Hehehe I have observed my B. Dubias where some of the females are getting smaller. I concluded that maybe because of the long time they are breeding with the same family members. The offspring produced are not normal anymore and has defects.. I have read somewhere that it's good to introduce wild colonies of B. Dubia to a captive colony of Dubias because they would produce healthy ones that can fly and are larger. It's an article conducted by an expert and I just forgot the link though. I will search again for that one and post it here for reference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hisserman Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Hehehe I have observed my B. Dubias where some of the females are getting smaller. I concluded that maybe because of the long time they are breeding with the same family members. The offspring produced are not normal anymore and has defects.. I have read somewhere that it's good to introduce wild colonies of B. Dubia to a captive colony of Dubias because they would produce healthy ones that can fly and are larger. It's an article conducted by an expert and I just forgot the link though. I will search again for that one and post it here for reference. Hmmm. Interesting...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Hehehe I have observed my B. Dubias where some of the females are getting smaller. I concluded that maybe because of the long time they are breeding with the same family members. The offspring produced are not normal anymore and has defects.. I have read somewhere that it's good to introduce wild colonies of B. Dubia to a captive colony of Dubias because they would produce healthy ones that can fly and are larger. It's an article conducted by an expert and I just forgot the link though. I will search again for that one and post it here for reference. Interesting. I was told by Professor Neal of Purdue that although genetics matter (especially in the formation of "giant" individuals) the only thing that really determines how big a roach will get is the sheer amount of protein in their diet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreH Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've noticed a similar scenario with my B. dubia, particularly with adult females. All of mine came from one source a couple of years ago and occasionally a few gimps arise that are smaller than the others despite being reared in the same bin and having excess to identical foods. I simply opt to cull these smaller individuals as feeders to ensure that only the largest/healthiest continue to breed in the colony. I've even isolated small groups of the smaller ones and groups of the larger ones to be certain that it wasn't merely an age difference, etc and both maintained their size over the course of a few months. Somewhere in there I think genetics plays a factor as well - although I'm doubtful that inbreeding is necessarily the only culprit. I'm not entirely sure how growth is controlled in roaches and other invertebrates. If protein consumption is directly proportional to size, then surely various amino acids must be regulators? In humans, we know protein consumption is necessary for skeletal muscle growth, particularly from the amino acid glutamine, so I guess this could also be true for roaches? Maybe I'll separate a few nymphs and add some whey to their feed and see what happens...super roaches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted January 18, 2011 Author Share Posted January 18, 2011 Maybe I'll separate a few nymphs and add some whey to their feed and see what happens...super roaches! Well, theoretically... lol I might try a similar experiment with high-protein ferret food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hisserman Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 I've noticed a similar scenario with my B. dubia, particularly with adult females. All of mine came from one source a couple of years ago and occasionally a few gimps arise that are smaller than the others despite being reared in the same bin and having excess to identical foods. I simply opt to cull these smaller individuals as feeders to ensure that only the largest/healthiest continue to breed in the colony. I've even isolated small groups of the smaller ones and groups of the larger ones to be certain that it wasn't merely an age difference, etc and both maintained their size over the course of a few months. Somewhere in there I think genetics plays a factor as well - although I'm doubtful that inbreeding is necessarily the only culprit. I'm not entirely sure how growth is controlled in roaches and other invertebrates. If protein consumption is directly proportional to size, then surely various amino acids must be regulators? In humans, we know protein consumption is necessary for skeletal muscle growth, particularly from the amino acid glutamine, so I guess this could also be true for roaches? Maybe I'll separate a few nymphs and add some whey to their feed and see what happens...super roaches! Well, theoretically... lol I might try a similar experiment with high-protein ferret food. That sounds like a interesting test..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makoygaara Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Yes I would also do some experimenting on this. It's quite strange because I feed them daily with the same varied diet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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