Two More Spanish Porcellio!

Ty Randall Shipment Series Pt. 4/5

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Thanks to Ty, I got two more of my wanted Spanish Porcellio species, which I'll be sharing in today's post! 😃

First off, we have Porcellio expansus. This is one of the largest Porcellio species in the hobby, and perhaps the widest too, they have a very flattened shape and big, broad bodies. On top of the unique morphology, they are quite vibrantly patterned as well!,

I have my four individuals housed in a well ventilated gallon shoebox with a thin layer of coco fiber as the substrate. I've got dead leaf litter on top for food, and eggcrate pieces for hides. For their supplemental food I'll offer dog food. I'm keeping half the enclosure humid, the other half bone dry, and am keeping them at room temperature (68-73F°).

An now, for your regularly programmed picture dump:

What a gorgeous species, can't wait to see adults in person! 😁

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Now onto my new Porcellio nicklesi. This species used to be considered a subspecies of P.bolivari, and some people still treat them as such. They are very similar to bolivari in morphology, but often have very sharply curved body segments. They are also a completely different color than bolivari, but that's kinda obvious.

I've got my 10 or so individuals set up in my typical Spanish Porcellio setup, the perimeters of which are mentioned above, no need to repeat it here.

Anyways, here are some pics:

A very neat species, one that seems a little underrated to me as far as Spanish Porcellio go.

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

My New Metallic Perisphaerus!!!

Jonah Shipment Pt. 1/3

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I recently got a package from fellow invert hobbyist Jonah, who sent me some amazing new roach species! 😁 

Let's start off this series of posts with the acquisition I'm most pumped for, Perisphaerus sp. "Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia". This beautiful species is a metallic copper green color in person, though it's proven hard to accurately capture their coloration on my camera. Under dim lighting or flash photography, they just look dark copper, almost black. But under sunlight I was able to capture some decent shots showing off their accurate coloration.

I received three adult females, three large female nymphs, and two tiny unsexed nymphs, all of which are WC. Since they were WC, I highly suspected the adult females would be mated and gravid, and this turned out to be true, as one of them gave birth to a litter of a dozen or so nymphs a couple days after arrival. 🥰 So my culture is already on it's way to being established!

I have them set up in a small, well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, and vertical bark pieces for hides. They've got fresh fruits, dog food, and artificial pollen for food, I'm keeping them humid and warm (75-85F°). Hopefully I'll be able to keep the culture growing well and can distribute them in the US hobby, would be nice to have THREE distinct roly poly roaches in the hobby, after only having P.pygmaeus available for so many years! 😅 (speaking of which, this species is about twice as large as pygmaeus).

Here are some pictures of this awesome new species to Blatticulture:

Adult female under flash photography

Adult female under sunlight

Adult female with newborns

This is my new favorite species in my collection, and this genus is one of my favorites! Hope to get more new Perisphaerus species in the future, and I hope all the species I have so far thrive for me, (my P.pygmaeus are long overdue for a birth, which has me a bit concerned, but I think I've just been keeping them too humid over the Summer). 😅

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

Blonde & Blond-ish Rubber Duckies!

Ty Randall Shipment Series Pt. 3/5

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Well, it was inevitable, and it's finally happened... I have Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky" isopods. 😂 These have got to be some of the most wanted isopods in the hobby, a new hobby staple that every isopod enthusiast must own! At least, that's all I ever hear about this species, the past few years have seen the isopod hobby turn into quite an expensive one, and one might say that these "Rubber Ducky" Cubaris sp. might be one the biggest contributers to this, starting the "Cubaris Craze" that even to the day has a firm grip of the isopod community as a whole. Now, Ty sent me two types of "Rubber Duckies", and there is actually some debate as to whether these two strains are even the same species or not... At the very least, they are different localities from each other.

Let's start off with the Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" strain he sent me. Now this is an orange strain isolated from the normal C.sp. "Rubber Ducky" stock, and it's not true breeding (not yet at least), some individuals still pop up with faded orange or more prominent grey markings on their backs, while others are fully orange on their backs.

I've got mine set up in a moderately ventilated half a gallon container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. On top I've got bark pieces and long-fibered sphagnum moss for hides, as well as leaf litter for food. As their supplemental diet I'll offer dog food. I'm keeping them humid and cool (68-73F°). 

Here are some pictures of these little duckies:

Now I will say, for all my ranting online about how overrated "Rubber Ducky" isopods are, I've found they are MUCH cuter in person, photos do not do them justice... Still overrated compared to Spanish Porcellio spp. though IMO. 😂

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Now onto the Cubaris sp. "Blonde Ducky". This strain is a true breeding orange line, and was supposedly collected from a different locale than the normal "Rubber Ducky" line. They were collected as orange individuals, and little to no selective breeding of this morph was needed to consistently produce plain orange individuals. 

I have noticed that while adults of the two strains look much the same in person, "Blonde Ducky" immatures are noticably wider than those of the "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" strain. At least, that's how it looks in person, I should probably do a side by side comparison photo some time... But for now I'm too lazy. 😜

I have this strain set up in an enclosure identical to my C.sp. "Rubber ducky - Blond-ish".

Here are a few pics, it was harder to get decent shots of these than of the other strain sadly:

Hopefully both species do well for me, I've started with good numbers of each, so I expect to see offspring soon! 😁

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