Spring Roach Babies!

Here are a few delayed updates on some of my roach species that I've gotten babies from! 😀

My Balta notulata have successfully bred, which is great, I saw the first hatchlings on the 30th of April, and while the adults are all dead now, the next generation is secure, can't believe I was able to establish a culture from a single ooth I received late last year! 😄

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My Asiablatta kyotensis adults are all still alive, with the females still laying ooths, and yet I've already got offspring hatching out! 😃 Found the first babies on 21st of this month, and there are definitely gonna be more where they came from! 

Here are some pictures of the first instar nymphs:

Overall this genus is very very similar in care to Parcoblatta, and in appearance too, it's no surprise this species used to be classified in Parcoblatta as well! I'm super glad these are breeding for me, hopefully I'll be able to offer some up for sale soon and get them established in the US hobby! 😁

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Last but not least, I've got babies from my Gromphadorhina sp. "Unidentified", though admittedly not under the best of circumstances. Sadly the female that gave birth (on the 15th of this month) had a prolapse and thus birthed prematurely, only half a dozen of the offspring survived and the female died shortly afterwards. However, those babies are doing quite well, and there are several more females that look ready to burst, so there will hopefully be many more nymphs to follow. 😊 

Here are some pics of the nymphs:

L1 nymph

L2 nymph

As you can see, they are growing rapidly, and look pretty typical for young hisser nymphs. Hopefully this species will continue to do well for me, as I continue to try and determine their purity. 

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

Patchwork Roach Surprise!!!

Those Ignelater weren't all Alan Jeon had in store for me apparently, he also surprised me with around 20 first instar Gyna bisannulata! 😁 I've wanted to keep this species for quite a while now, but was gonna hold off on actually getting any until I was able to get a heat lamp or some other way of heating an enclosure in the higher 80s consistently for breeding the adults, since a lack of temps much above 76F° seems to be what did my capucina in for good. However, Alan surprised me with these cuties, and I'm certainly not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, besides, these are supposedly less picky about heat and other conditions according to some of my friends breeding them currently, so hopefully that'll translate into me having much more success with these than I did my capucina. 😅

I'm keeping them in a well ventilated gallon container with an inch of so of coconut fiber, two thirds of which I'm keeping humid, the other third dry, in a horizontal humidity gradient style. There are some small chunks of rotten wood mixed in, as well as crushed leaf litter, and I'll be offering chick feed and fruits as food. I'm keeping them at around 75F° at the moment, which at the very least should be fine for rearing nymphs.

Here are some pictures of the tiny little cuties:

So adorable, really can't wait to see adults of this beautiful species in person! 😍 Fingers super crossed I'll have better luck with them than I did my capucina! 🤞😅

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, big thanks again to Alan for sending me these cuties! Thank you all for reading, stay safe, and I'll see everyone next time! 😉

The Illuminating Ignelater!

Well, thanks to the wonderful Alan Jeon, I just got a few adult pairs of an amazing US native Elaterid species, one that I don't think anyone has ever bred before! Allow me to introduce the fourth member of the Pyrophorini now in the US hobby, Ignelater havaniensis! 😁

Now, most of you who follow me probably know this by now, but in case you don't, there are actually a five species in three genera here in the US, in the same tribe as Pyrophorus, (tribe Pyrophorini), which while much smaller, are also brightly bioluminescent! I believe the largest of these US natives is Ignelater havaniensis, found in southern Florida, and Alan managed to catch some last weekend on a collection trip in Miami! 😄

Ignelater havaniensis is differentiated by other US Pyrophorini by it's size, often relatively slender build, and the spinose elytral apices, (the elytra end in little spines). As far as I know, no one has ever bred this species in captivity yet, though I'm sure they're quite similar in ecology and husbandry needs to Pyrophorus.
Thankfully though, unlike Pyrophorus, sexing the adults of this species is actually possible, males appear to be skinnier than the females, but most noticeably the males have much longer and thicker antennae than the females do! 

I've set my 7 adults up in a container with good airflow, and will be keeping them quite humid and warm, (around 74-75F°). I'll offer the adults fresh fruits, as I do my Pyrophorus. I've put a few pieces of bark in there for them to rest on and hide under. The substrate is a mix of crushed rotten hardwood and flake soil, the wood is there solely for the benefit of the newly hatched larvae, which may need at least a little rotten wood in their diet, (though they're almost certainly carnivorous/protein hungry scavengers a few molts later). Adults would probably even lay eggs in coco fiber, and most Pyrophorini seem to have no problem being housed in pure coco fiber once they're large enough to take protein based foods.

Here are some pictures of the adults:

Adult male

Adult female

Adult pair, female on top, male on bottom

Adult male glowing

Very pretty US natives for sure, really hoping to breed these beauties and get them established in the hobby! 😁

Also, funnily enough, the last two of the seven large Pyrophorus noctilucus larvae I received from Eric Maxwell last year have finally matured, and unlike their siblings that pupated prematurely due to temperature spikes from shipping, these two kept growing and matured into fully sized, large adults! 😄 Would be nice if they were a 1.1 pair, but even if they aren't, it's nice to see some big adults of this species in person again. So now, here comes some comparison shots between my largest adults of the two species, as well as some solo Pyrophorus shots too! 

Adult male I.havaniensis besides adult P.noctilucus

Adult Pyrophorus noctilucus 

Despite Ignelater havaniensis being our largest US native Pyrophorini, Pyrophorus noctilucus still dwarves the Ignelater when fully grown! But IMO Ignelater have a more interesting body shape, and I like their longer antennae too! Weirdly though, the Ignelater seem much more hesitant to glow than the Pyrophorus are, and they also lack the orange bioluminescent spot on their underside that Pyrophorus have, (only visible when flying or attempting to fly). 

Well, that's gonna do it for today's post, big thanks to Alan Jeon for introducing yet ANOTHER US native Pyrophorini species to the hobby! 😁 Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉