Welcome Back, Asiablatta kyotensis!!!

Ty Schaben Order Pt. 5/8

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This is one of the last of the new additions to my collection from the big package me and Ty Randal received earlier this month, Asiablatta kyotensis, the Asian wood roach. This species used to be in the genus Parcoblatta, which they are quite similar to, however while Parcoblatta are restricted to North (and perhaps Central) America, these kyotensis are from, you guessed it, Asia... 😂 

This species has been in US culture before, but hasn't been cultured here in years. They are easy enough to keep and breed, similar to our native Parcoblatta, in fact I believe the main reason they died out here was because only a couple of people were ever interested in keeping them... 😅

I've got half a dozen small nymphs set up in a small, minimally ventilated container, with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, and eggcrate pieces and leaf litter for hides. I'm keeping them humid, and at around 70-72F°, (they'll breed at room temps). I'll be feeding them chick feed and fruits. 

Adults of both sexes are fully winged, with males being capable of flight. Adults can climb smooth surfaces, but thankfully nymphs can not, again, similar to Parcoblatta. 

Here are some pictures of an adult female and some larger nymphs:

A neat little species for sure, perhaps not one I'll breed myself long term, but I would like to breed them for at least a couple generations, get pictures of an adult male, hammer out a caresheet, etc., might even keep them for use as feeders down the line, should they do really well for me...

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

More Micro Corydioids!

Magnificent Beasts Package Series Pt. 3/6

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I plan on acquiring a certain bark mantis species sometime next year from Brandon, and in order to feed their young, I'll need tiny feeders. I did get some Sinella curviseta springtails (yuck) in this package, which will be good for little mantis hatchlings, but as they molt they'll need small, but more substantial prey. Compsodes schwarzi roaches fill just that category, and so Brandon sent me a bunch of them to get a colony started ASAP!

I've kept these tiny US native Corydiids before, so they won't get too much fanfare, but I decided to get some pictures of them anyways, because why not? 

Short winged adult male and subadult male

Subadult male

Adult male

Adult female

Neat little species, hopefully they get to the baby-making pronto! 🤞

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Now for a species I've never kept before, since I'm apparently on a micro Corydioid kick! 😂 These are even smaller than Compsodes, and may in fact be the smallest roach currently in culture (in the US at least), the diminutive Nocticola sp. "Malaysia"! 😁 These tiny roaches are in a different family than Compsodes and Myrmecoblatta, while those are in the family Corydiidae, Nocticola are in the family Nocticolidae, but both families are in the superfamily Corydioidea. Adult females of this species lack wings, can't climb smooth surfaces well. I don't know about males, as I don't think any of the adults I received are males. 

I've got my group set up in a small, minimally ventilated enclosure with a substrate of coconut fiber, with bark chips mixed in. There is long fibered sphagnum moss strewn on top for cover, as well as some cork tile hides. I'm keeping them humid, and at around 70-75F°. I'll be offering them chick feed and maybe the occasional piece of fruit for food. 

Here are some pictures of adult females and some oothecae, they are super tiny and thus were pretty hard to photograph, but I think I got some OK shots:

Adult females

Adult female carrying ootheca

Ootheca

A very cool little species that I'm glad to see is becoming well established in the US hobby, I love these micro Corydioids and hope to see more enter culture! 😁

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

More Cryptoglossa Adults!

Another back to back update, as I have had such a big backlog of posts thanks to all my recent acquisitions (not that I'm complaining! 😂), but my other two Cryptoglossa muricata have matured! 😁

Pupa #2 eclosed around November 13-14th, and pupa #3 eclosed on the 19th I think. Unfortunately though, one of pupa #3's hind legs was bent behind it at a weird angle, and when it eclosed it retained that deformity, so it looks and walks a bit weird. Still, shouldn't affect it's health too much, and other than that defect it seems to be a rather healthy looking individual. 🙂

Here are some pictures of them both:

Adult #2, teneral

Adult #3, teneral

So I've now reared three Cryptoglossa muricata to adulthood, pretty cool! Here's hoping I can breed these adults and get some offspring, as that would be even cooler! 😁

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

A Perisphaerinae Duo!

Ty Schaben Order Pt. 4/8

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Continuing on with me and Ty Randal's package... There were two Perisphaerinae species within, one which I've kept before and am now keeping again, and one which I'll hopefully be able to keep soon! 😁

Let's start with the ones I get to keep immediately, the good old Perisphaerus pygmaeus! I've kept these in the past and bred them quite successfully, and now I have ten mixed individuals to start another culture with! 😃 These are still doing OK in US Blatticulture, but I'm looking forward to working with them again and hopefully getting them more widely available in the hobby!

I've got them in a very well ventilated half gallon container with a substrate of coconut fiber, and I've given them some cork tile hides, bark and rotten wood chunks for them to hide in, (gravid females love chewing into rotten wood and making chambers to rest within). I'm keeping them humid and at 75F°+, and will be feeding them chick feed, artificial pollen, and fresh fruits. 

Here are some pictures of a bunch of them:

Also, I've had this post finished and scheduled for a few weeks now, as I've got quite the backlog of posts to upload due to all these new acquisitions. But in that time, one of the adult females in my starter culture gave birth, so I'd say my colony is off to a great start! 😄 

Here are some crappy pictures of the female in the little brood chamber she quickly carved out, you can just barely see some of the nymphs inside:

Very cute little things, fingers crossed this group does as well for me as my old culture did! 🤞

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And now for the awesome second addition, which has actually been lost from US Blatticulture for years now, Pseudoglomeris tarsalis! 😍 These beautiful roaches are named tarsalis for their yellow colored tarsi, in contrast with the rest of their legs and bodies being jet black. They also have yellow cerci, and adult females oddly have yellow hairs on their last ventral segments.

Unfortunately this is one of the species that had major losses in transit, so I will not be able to keep any from this shipment, however hopefully once Ty breeds his he'll be able to send me a nice starter culture of my own, as I am enamored with these adorable little things! ☺ So take this as a little sneak peek of what's to come for my collection... 

Here are some pictures of this beautiful species:

Adult females and nymphs

Adult female

Pseudoglomeris pubes... 😂

Such a nice species, really looking forward to seeing them become established in US Blatticulture, and I wish Ty the best of luck in breeding them! 

Anyways, that's gonna do it for today, thank you for reading, I hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all in the next post! 😉