Bunch o' Blattids

June Rare Roach Package Series Pt. 1/3

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Well, I've just gotten 7 new species of roaches in trade from a friend of mine, who was kind enough to send me live roaches in exchange for some dead stock (which I am still in the process of gathering and preserving for him). He generously sent out his end of the trade first, and now I've got some awesome new species for the US hobby to showcase! 😁

First off, let's show my favorite of the new Blattids I got, Blattidae sp. "Philippines". These are unidentified but remind me of Dorylaea, maybe Periplaneta. 🤔 They aren't all that large, a little over an inch in length, both sexes have short wings and are dark brown. Hatchlings are black but they quickly lighten up to an orange brown color with a few molts, with minimal patterning. Despite their size and simplistic look, I really like this species for some reason. They're just a nice, basic roach.

And you know, (rant incoming), I kinda miss that aspect of the hobby a bit. I do tend to gravitate towards flashier species myself, but I try to balance it out and have a fair variety of more simple looking roach species as well. But as a hobby, I feel like we are moving more and more towards only keeping super pretty or large species of roaches, and everyone wants the next shiny metallic or otherwise colorful species to enter the hobby. But little to no fanfare is being given to these more "roachy" roaches that enter the hobby, and that saddens me a bit. I feel like I've seen a definite decline in the number of roach keepers wanting to collect every new species that enters the hobby, no matter how "boring" they may be. Each species has it's own unique look, morphology, care, etc., and that's what makes this hobby fun to me, not just collecting all the super pretty ones. Gotta balance it out a bit ya know? And lately it just doesn't seem like a lot of people are doing that anymore, which sucks.

Anyways, state of the hobby rant aside... 😅 I've got my couple dozen mixed individuals of this species housed in a moderately ventilated container with an inch or so of coconut fiber as the substrate, with bark, cardboard rolls and leaf litter as hides. I'm keeping them humid and warm, at 75-80F° or so. For food I'm offering dog food and fruits.

Here are some pics of an adult female and a large nymph:

Adult female

Subadult nymph

Very pretty species IMO, hopefully they'll breed well for me and will become established here in the US hobby soon. 🤞

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Next up, another short winged species, Blattidae sp. "Thailand". Both sexes have very short, square shaped wings, and kinda look like larger, lankier Blatta orientalis in some ways. Their cerci are much broader than in Blatta though, and adults are almost twice the mass of the adult Blatta I've seen. No idea what genus these are in, but they're definitely quite neat for sure!

I've got my dozen or so mixed individuals in a moderately ventilated container with cardboard rolls, bark and leaf litter hides. I'm keeping them humid and relatively warm, around 75F°. For food I'm offering dog food and fruits.

There was only one adult in the group, and sadly she has had a bit taken out of one of her tegmina. But oh well, she'll have to do until I can get pictures of a fresher adult. 😅 Here are some pics of her and a medium nymph:

Adult female

Nymph

A neat species for sure, and they are now the largest Blattids I keep (which isn't saying that much, but still). 😄

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Lastly, we have these oddities, Neostylopyga sp. "Papua New Guinea". I am actually unsure whether adults are completely wingless, or have tiny vestigial tegmina or not... Guess time will tell, I have some rather large ones with no wings that might be nymphs or adults... 🤷😂 This species is jet black, and they kinda look like mini Eurycotis lixa to me. I'm thinking of calling them "Black Bullet Roaches", since the related Neostylopyga propinqua goes by the name "African Bullet roach"... 🤔 

I've got my 10 or so individuals housed in a well ventilated container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, with cardboard rolls, leaf litter and bark hides. I'm keeping them humid and warm, around 75-80F°. For food I'm offering dog food and fruits.

Here are some pictures of one of my largest individuals:

Here's hoping they do well for me, I'll be sure to take some pictures of an adult if it turns out they have small wings when mature... 😂

EDIT 6/27: Well, this pictured individual has started laying ooths... So it is indeed an adult, adults of this species have no wings whatsoever. 😄

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, stay buggy, and I'll see you all next time! 😉