Allpet Roaches Posted October 10, 2012 Share Posted October 10, 2012 When I grow up* Orin, I want to be you! And yet I still can't get anyone excited about my black house crickets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKatie329 Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I would actually like to know more about them, like how did you manage to isolate that strain? How many generations did you breed before determining that it was a solid, reliable strain? Why do they hatch at a lower temperature? And PICTURES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted October 14, 2012 Author Share Posted October 14, 2012 When I grow up* Orin, I want to be you! That Panchlora looks extremely cool, it's a shame it didn't work out for you. I don't see any photo? *Already an adult, but hey, a girl can dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKatie329 Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 There isn't one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I would actually like to know more about them, like how did you manage to isolate that strain? How many generations did you breed before determining that it was a solid, reliable strain? Why do they hatch at a lower temperature? And PICTURES! I had been breeding the normal pet store A. domestica for years as a feeder for various other inverts. It had been a small operation that was supplemented by cricket boxes picked up at the local reptile show. Years ago a black specimen showed up in my colony and it only took me some years and many generations to isolate and produce a pure stock. The nymphs are still the usual color for this species, only the adults are black. I have never introduced new blood since that time as that would ruin the cultivar. It's been many years since I've seen a normal adult in this stock. They hatch at a lower temperature simply because that's another feature I selected for. Here are some posts I made about them in 2005 with a photo. Black house crickets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 If I'd known about your black crickets earlier I would've cared! Since I'm assuming you don't mind interrogation from interested people, how did you select for lower hatching temps? Just incubate all the eggs at a lower temperature and breed the ones that hatched? Katie, that sounds very similar to some of my bug nightmares! The rest of the world may never understand what we go through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 If I'd known about your black crickets earlier I would've cared! Why past tense? They're still doing fine and yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Ah, ok! Past tense because you introduced them to the world in the past, before I joined AB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KitKatie329 Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Thanks for the link! I think it's really cool that they don't get that dark coloration until their final molt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaneBOhio Posted October 25, 2012 Share Posted October 25, 2012 I believe that cockroaches, dubias at least can be bred for color, I have been doing this for a while and see the results. I'm not sure if environment or food contributes at all to adult color but I doubt it because both of my groups have identical environmental conditions and eat the same thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 It totally forgot a 4th invert strain I developed. It's a hypermelanistic form of Acheta domestica bred from normal pet store crickets that also hatches at a lower temperature. They're really neat but I forgot about them because nobody but me cares. I've posted photos a few times on different forums over the years. I think I also was the first or among the first to develop black G. portentosa but it's really easy to do and I don't think much of what's out there came from mine. Lastly, I had the opportunity to develop Panchlora nivea with a black pronotum but I messed up when I isolated the specimen and never saw one again. It came out of a 20-year-old nivea culture, photo here: http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1678&st=0&p=6401&hl=panchlora&fromsearch=1entry6401 I completely forgot a story related to this. Many years ago where weekly I would buy feeder crickets for reptiles, I once found an adult male cricket with 2 small white eyes, it clearly was blind it never hopped and would walk very slowly. I kept it as a pet for about 2 months until it died of old age. Never saw anything like it again. The eyes were same color as the white eye american cockroach strain. I had a picture somewhere of it, but its from a crappy disposable camera many years ago all you see is a fuzzy brown image. Edit: can't find my photo, but here is one someone else found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavageprojects Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I remember seeing a photo of albino desert locusts in culture in Japan. Albinism should be possible in any pigmented organism. I wonder if it's more a difference in the hobbyists' opinions/goals or in the animals themselves that's made so many herp morphs and so few in inverts. i felt i should clarify that albinism is another name for amelanism. that means that there is no melanin, the brown pigment in humans and other (but not all) animals. Albinism is not possible in any pigmented organism because not all pigmented organisms have melanin. they have not found melanin in spiders for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 i felt i should clarify that albinism is another name for amelanism. that means that there is no melanin, the brown pigment in humans and other (but not all) animals. Albinism is not possible in any pigmented organism because not all pigmented organisms have melanin. they have not found melanin in spiders for instance. Ok, so what causes fruit flies to now have a wide variety of eye and body colors ( lab raised), normal eye is red they have made white, yellow, and purple. Body is normally tan and now they have orange and yellow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavageprojects Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I remember seeing a photo of albino desert locusts in culture in Japan. Albinism should be possible in any pigmented organism. I wonder if it's more a difference in the hobbyists' opinions/goals or in the animals themselves that's made so many herp morphs and so few in inverts. i felt i should clarify that albinism is another name for amelanism. that means that there is no melanin, the brown pigment in humans and other (but not all) animals. Albinism is not possible in any pigmented organism because not all pigmented organisms have melanin. they have not found melanin in spiders for instance. leucism is the reduction or absence of all types of pigment. There are also pigmentless cave dwelling inverts that have no pigmented counterpart since color is useless in the dark. I would love to see a solid white, large winged species in the hobby. I think it would be absolutely stunning. But don't the same genes that make them albino often cause horrible illness? I have heard that albino creatures don't live as long and tend to be very weak, but I don't know how true that is, I would love it if someone could shed more light on this for me! there are a few reasons albino creatures don't live long. being bright white or yellow make it hard to hide and they often end up as food. diurnal animals are at risk since they have no melanin to protect them from uv from the sun. as for illnesses or weakness, there are a lot of issues with some morphs out there. albinos are sensitive to the sun as said before. in leopard geckos both the enigma and mack super snows grow much slower than normal. in ball pythons "caramel" albinos have spine kinks. in boa the homozygous version of the motley gene is lethal, as is hairless gene in mice, rats, guinea pigs, and chinese crested dogs. this is why i stopped breeding mack snow leopard geckos, it personally didn't seem right to breed an animal weaker than its wild type counterpart. like if we purposely bred down syndrome children just because they're adorable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolas Rousseaux Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I've just discovered and red this topic, and hell, thank you so much thesavagerpjects, you've said exactly what I had in my mine by reading this! I was gonna answer something just like you... I actually have no problem with selection and so on, but I have an enormous matter with the method often used to get results. I've bred reptiles for some years, and I'm so disapointed that pure line are so difficult to find here in Europe! All those leaos morphs and so on, you just can call it Eublepharis macularius, just because the line started with importated animals from different areas, and there wasn't just macularius in it... I don't find interest in breeding hybrid animals... The same shit happened with loads of species, different locals were bred together, even if it was the same species, they had sometime diferents phenotype that would have been great to preserve in culture. Just take an easy exemple, with the Gromphadorhina genus... There are so much hybrid in captivity, an no one seems to realise it. Just take an attentive look to the genitalia and compare it with reference books or something... Many colonies aren't pure, and even in pure colonies, different locals are mixed... Sometimes, this is non-wanted, but some breeders mixe diferents line just to get new colours, and loose the purity of their animals. I can't stand this. But, well, for those who select animals, doing it right, I been, with no hybridism or localities mixes, there, the results can be interestant, if it doesn't make any weakness for the roaches, just as thesavageprojects spotted it. I hope to see one day, one or two line of pure roaches with selected colours. Why not! But please, keep your lines pure... We're not creating funny pets, we're breeding and we have the chance to observe savage animals, never forget that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted December 30, 2012 Author Share Posted December 30, 2012 Dubia are pure and I'm currently trying to see if mine bred light offspring, I'm very close to having adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicolas Rousseaux Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 yeah I think the Blaptica dubia we have in culture are pure. I'm very curious to see the results you'll get! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavageprojects Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 Ok, so what causes fruit flies to now have a wide variety of eye and body colors ( lab raised), normal eye is red they have made white, yellow, and purple. Body is normally tan and now they have orange and yellow. the answer to this is long, but a quick google search should answer your questions nicely. genetics really is a bitchin' subject and i hope your curiosity remains strong. you never know when knowledge can come in handy. i have a decent understanding of genetics which helped me when i found out my daughter had turners syndrome, i have my leopard geckos to thank for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierre72 Posted May 21, 2013 Share Posted May 21, 2013 That's very awesome! I had a nightmare last night that I went to check on my black portentosas and they had all molted out into normal coloration! I was so sad, haha, just thought I'd share. It's interesting that you'd care so much of their color. As long as my roaches are safe, happy, and healthy I'm happy. Though color is a plus. The roach on your icon is pretty. What species is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted May 21, 2013 Author Share Posted May 21, 2013 It's interesting that you'd care so much of their color. As long as my roaches are safe, happy, and healthy I'm happy. Though color is a plus. The roach on your icon is pretty. What species is it? Her icon is a female dubia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierre72 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 oh and i wanted to mention that Virginia tech does have a orange body strain of their Germans. http://www.gcr.ento....Orangebody.html IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 IT IS BEAUTIFUL!! They have black too http://www.google.com/search?q=german+cockroach+color&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Hh-lUaDsCLa54APO3YDYCw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=444&sei=5R-lUa2gB4fd4APylIGQDw#biv=i%7C19%3Bd%7CUokgWMPntDwECM%3A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.