Successful Rochaina bilunata Incubation!

In the first week of December, I noticed that my Rochaina bilunata ooth was looking noticeably plump compared to when I first got it, which had me paying close attention, as this is a sign of advancing development within the ootheca, and was hopefully a sign that a hatch was imminent.

On December 13th, I found that the ootheca had hatched! According to the person who sent me this ooth, it was laid circa 8/17/25, so incubation took roughly four months, not too shabby! About a dozen nymphs were wandering the incubation cup, and there were around 8 nymphs just chilling inside of the ootheca itself, two of which were dessicated and dead, as if they'd hatched and been stuck in there for days. 

Interestingly there were not remnants of eggshells or any of the usual membranes that separate the eggs from each other within an oothecae, which leads me to believe they either consumed everything inside their ooth before exiting, or that there are none of those membranes in oothecae of this species to begin with. 

I moved them to a well ventilated half gallon container with a substrate of coco fiber, topped with vertically slanted bark hides, leaf litter and fake fern fronds. They seem to prefer the artificial foliage to any of the other available hides, and spend much of their time in the fake foliage and around the rim of their enclosure, just under the lid. I lost a few nymphs while figuring out their preferred humidity requirements, which seem to be very high air humidity, but low surface moisture, and decent ventilation. They are reminiscent of Pseudoglomeris magnifica nymphs in that preference, and in overall morphology.

I have been offering fresh fruits, artificial pollen, and fish food pellets as their staple diet, and have definitely seen them nibbling the fruits and pollen. They seem to have very small appetites, and they did not plump up much at all before molting to L2.

They started molting to L2 around January 3rd, so about three weeks spent in L1, which is pretty lengthy. The coloration changed drastically from L1 to L2, and their movement, which was pretty clunky and awkward in L1, seems to have become much more smooth and calculated.

L1

L2

As far as I know, this is the first time this species has been successfully hatched in culture. And I am only the second person to hatch Rochaina in the US, period. Here's hoping I can be the first person in the world to raise captive hatched nymphs of this genus to adulthood! 😅

This is an iconic species, one I've wanted for many years. I remember when I was just a kid, freshly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, bedridden in the hospital recovering from severe pancreatitis and ketoacidosis. To lift my spirits, my mom had gotten me the "Allpet Roaches" booklet by Orin McMonigle, the only real literature at that time dedicated specifically to culturing cockroaches, as a gift for me. And right on the cover was a picture of a wild adult of this species (mislabeled then as Paratropes lycoides). At the time it was a dream species, something that had never entered culture and had no guarantee of ever entering the hobby, but I've dreamt of keeping them ever since. And now, to come full circle and actually have this species in my possession, to be the first to hatch an ootheca of this species, and to attempt to be the first to raise nymphs to adulthood? Truly an unbelievable experience, and a testament to how far the hobby has come as a whole. 😄 

Even if I ultimately fail to establish this species, working with them has definitely been the highlight of my 2025 hobby experience, and one of the highlights of my entire time in this hobby for sure.

And with that, I'll see y'all next time! 😉 

My New Eusocial Wood Roaches, AKA Dampwood Termites!

I received a starter culture of Zootermopsis angusticollis "Presidio of San Francisco, CA" earlier this year, started from a dozen or so individuals isolated from my friend Brandon Maines' large colony (who in turn got his from hobbyist Gary Ge). These are one of the largest US termite species, and are a species of dampwood termite, which are not house pests and can only survive in quite humid wood, preferring rotten wood or at least slightly aged, ground up wood that's easier to break down and consume.

They were in a minimally ventilated 32 oz deli cup filled with sawdust and a chunk of rotten wood, kept moist and at around 75-80F°. They filled that cup up and broke down most of the substrate surrounding their wood chunk (and hollowed out the wood chunk pretty thoroughly) over the past several months, and so I've just moved them to a minimally ventilated 5 gallon gasket bin, filled nearly to the brim with damp, slightly aged sawdust. I'm hopeful that they'll acclimate to their new home quickly, and will fill that enclosure up in time.

Secondary reproductive soldier

Secondary reproductive worker

Secondary reproductive (L) & normal worker (R)

Normal worker

Eggs

Interestingly, at least in Zootermopsis, soldiers and workers alike can become secondary reproductives in the absence of a proper Queen/King, and there can be several secondary reproductives in a single colony, not just a pair. Additionally, workers can switch castes as needed, becoming soldiers or even proper alates if the colony deems it necessary (usually this is triggered by environmental changes).

Such a unique and interesting family of roaches, I would like to acquire more non-pest termites going forward, there's some really crazy species out there like Marginitermes hubbardi and Pterotermes occidentis that I'd love to work with!

Anyways, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉 

More Phone Photo Updates!

This Summer my buddy Alan sent me several WC Chalcolepidius smaragdinus females, for a proper breeding effort. I am still raising 7 CB larvae produced circa 2023, but just to be safe and also try to get these well established in culture, it seemed a good idea to get more adults for breeding and hopefully produce more larvae.

I was successful in this endeavor, though they are still quite a bit trickier to get laying than at least CB C.webbii. For reference, at the same time I was keeping these smaragdinus, I was able to get around 50 larvae from a single CBB female webbii, VS 40 or so larvae from FIVE different smaragdinus. It could be due to wild smaragdinus being very picky compared to CB adults when it comes to oviposition spots, or this species may just be more picky in general. I personally really hope it's the former, otherwise long term captive breeding of these is going to be a very arduous task.

I do have a single group of larvae of this beautiful species available, so if you're up for a challenging project, feel free to email me. They're not going for cheap, but I think the price is fair considering the effort that goes into breeding this species, and I am currently the only person in the wold trying to spread CB stock of this species... 😅

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Next up, a more somber update, my Pseudoglomeris angustifolia unfortunately failed to established. Only one male made it to adulthood, the rest slowly died one by one before maturing. Considering the fact that their sister species, P.semisulcata is doing very well for me by comparison, I have to chalk it up to receiving these are stressed, somewhat sickly nymphs, which, while they may have persisted for a while, ultimately lacked the health necessary to thrive. Indeed all the roaches I received in that shipment failed to establish, and at least one of them (R.imperatrix) came infected with Serratia, so I think it was just bad stock in bad health all around.

Anyways, I did manage to snag some phone pics of the adult male before he eventually passed away.

Teneral

Fully hardened

Certainly a unique species, and while I'm disappointed I failed to establish a colony of these, at least P.semisulcata are doing great for me, and are nearly identical to angustfolia anyways.

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My Charinus acosta have been doing well, and one of my females produced a brood fairly recently! I was lucky enough to snap some pics of her carrying her brood before they dispersed.

Such a neat little species of whipsider!

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I am happy to report that my Arenivaga sp. "Hesperia, CA" have bred, and I've started finding newly hatched nymphs in their enclosure! This is exciting as this is not only a new species to culture, but also evidently an undescribed one!

Here's hoping I can get these well established in the hobby! 😁

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Lastly but not leastly, I got some comaprison photos between adult females of both my Arenivaga cf. investgata locales, namely the "Imperial Dunes, CA" and "Borrego Springs, CA" strains. The former is noticeably broader and more rotund than the latter, which could be chalked up to differences between localities in a species known to be rather variable, but I'd definitely like to see adult males of both localities dissected in the future to confirm the IDs of these strains...

Borrego Springs (L), Imperial Dunes (R)

Imperial Dunes (L), Borrego Springs (R)

Just wanted to point out and display the difference in morphology between the two localites, in case that's important information for future ID confirmations of these stocks.

I'm eagerly awaiting babies from my "Borrego Springs" stock, I've got 2 freshly matured females and one freshly matured male, so with any luck they will produce for me just as well as the "Imperial Dunes" line has! 

Anyway, that does it for this post! Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see y'all next time! 😉

Rad Red Spots, Webspinners, & More!

I received some Platymeris laevicollis from Paulo Padilla several months back, and they have finally started maturing! Care for these has been the same as for other Platymeris thus far, bare bottom enclosure, eggcrate hides, and I'm just throwing in whatever roaches I have excess of at the time for them to feed on.

Teneral adult

Fully hardened adult

A beautiful species for sure, and the last one I needed to complete my collection of the commonly cultured African Reduviidae!

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Next up, I got some Oligotoma saundersii "Florida City, FL" from Kyle at Roachcrossing, which is a type of webspinner! These are primitive insects, that spends their lives inside silken tubes they make under/atop organic debris, which they spin from glands in their front feet! Super unusual little dudes that are not commonly cultured, even though they are actually very easy to keep and breed!

I have mine in a moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coco coir substrate, topped with coconut coir chunks and leaf litter. I'm keeping a corner of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and they are kept at around 75-80F°. I feed them dog food as their staple diet. They definitely prefer the drier side and I almost never see them in the moist area, though I do think they need a certain level of humidity to survive, complete dryness is probably a no go.

Adult female

Adult male

Pair

They have bred very well for me so far and are quite well established in their container, I'll probably need to move them to something bigger soon!

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Earlier this year I was accidentally sent a group of Lucihormetica grossei (which I already owned) in trade with Paulo, a mistake which was promptly corrected by him. Anyways, the Lucihormetica had some Cubaris murina "Papaya" hitchhikers in with them, which I promptly isolated and moved to their own container. Several months later and I've now got a good colony going of them, so yay for free bugs! 😆 

I have them in a minimally ventilated container with an inch or so of leftover roach/beetle substrate (so a mix of coco fiber, sand and clay soil), topped with leaf litter and eggcrate hides. I'm feeding them dog food and fish food as the supplemental diet, am keeping the entire enclosure humid and at around 75F°.

Believe it or not, these are the first and only Cubaris murina I've ever seen in person. They are surprisingly quite pink, like almost "Cherry Blossom" pink, with a bit more of a tan/salmon tint to them. Pretty dang easy and hardy, and I'm glad I finally have a form of murina in my collection now. 😆 

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Months ago I won a pretty decent sized group of Porcellio incanus from another one of Roachcrossing's auctions, which I threw into my Polyphaga saussurei enclosure. I'm happy to report they have acclimated well and are breeding, so they seem to like those conditions. 

The setup in question is well ventilated, with a couple inches of coco fiber substrate topped in leaf litter. I threw in some bark pieces just for these to hide under/cling to as well. In addition to the leaf litter they also get dog food as their supplemental diet (if the saussurei don't get to it first). I keep a third of the substrate moist, the rest dry, and have them at around 75-85F°.

They're a neat, more obscure species of Porcellio in culture, I hardly ever see people post about these. They have pretty glossy exoskeletons for Porcellio, at least compared to a lot of the others in culture.

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Last but not least, earlier this year I won a group of Armadillidium depressum "Magic Potion" from Patty Mesich at Isotopia. These are just the Dalmatian morph expressed in this rather large Armadillidium species, and I gotta say they are quite pretty in person. 😁 The yellow mottling on them really pops, much more so in real life than in photos. Though they're not quite as vibrantly colored as A.vulgare "Magic Potion".

I've got mine housed in with one of my Ceuthophilus gracilipes cultures, a moderately ventilated setup with a couple inches of a coco fiber/sand mix substrate, topped with leaf litter, vertically slanted bark slabs, and eggcrate hides. They're being kept humid, at around 74-77F°. In addition to leaf litter, they get dog food as a supplemental diet, plus Ceuthophilus frass/bodies I suppose.

They are thriving in that setup and have already bred for me, this species apparently has very large brood sizes, I'd guess 30 or so mancae per litter! 

Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉