All this talk about albino roaches

[OldHag]

My B. fusca has had some strange ones popping up. I figure its either bad nutrition or some color mutation. I dont think its a nutrition thing because I feed all my roaches the same. No other colony of my 14 different species has this.. mutation.
Ive separated the "Blond" looking ones and they do NOT darken more than the picture shows. I took a pic of a blond one and a normal one from the same colony to show the difference.

Disease? Nutrition? Mutation? any ideas.

Its NOT recently molted. Ive had them separated for a few weeks now and they just dont get any darker.

 

[KyuZo]

exciting, you should breed the blonde ones to see if the babies will turn out the same way.

by the way, what other 13 species do you have?

 

[OldHag]

wow...
B. craniifer
B. discoidalis
B. fusca
B. giganteus
B. dubia
B. fumigata
C. (therea) petriveriana
E. prosticus
Hemiblaberide sp. (horseshoe roach?)
H. subcincta
M rhinoceros
P. aegyptica

I think theres more... Ive gone blank.. OH hissers!

 

[bugmankeith]

Breed em see what happens, you've got nothing to lose.

 

[RoachGirlRen]

If you can make a whole strain like that... I would pay you handsomely for a male and a couple of females. Very awesome. :clap:

 

[sparular]

If it popped up in a colony there is a decent chance it is a recessive mutation arising from inbreeding. So you may not see it in the next generation unless you breed two light individuals. If you breed light to dark and don't see it, it is likely recessive. If you breed two lights and you don't see it in the next generation, it could be polygenic or not due to gene mutation (i.e. environmental). The surest way to maintain the right mutation is to breed the offspring back to the parent, or breed the offspring of the cross to each other (brother/sister mating). Once you have a true breeding stock (100% offspring light) you don't have to control the matings anymore, but you may have to cull the occasional dark revertant from the colony depending on the nature of the mutation.

 

[dtknow]

I have a male dubia right now that has been light colored for almost a week. He looks something like that. Prolly use him as some funky colored snack for someone.

 

[omni]

I spotted a white lateralis in my colony yesterday Not like the light-colored ones I see w/ a brown spot on their backs.
It's a nymph about .5" so I popped it back in the colony. I'll single it out here soon. I didn't want to setup another container for them just now or have it be lonely by itself while it grows.
If someone has a lateralis that shows albinism or leucistic coloring, when it gets warmer, maybe I can shoot it 2ya. Be an interesting project.

 

[Nich]

My B. fusca has had some strange ones popping up. I figure its either bad nutrition or some color mutation. I dont think its a nutrition thing because I feed all my roaches the same. No other colony of my 14 different species has this.. mutation.
Ive separated the "Blond" looking ones and they do NOT darken more than the picture shows. I took a pic of a blond one and a normal one from the same colony to show the difference.

Disease? Nutrition? Mutation? any ideas.

Its NOT recently molted. Ive had them separated for a few weeks now and they just dont get any darker.

So any luck...? Trying to breed em?

 

[OldHag]

So any luck...? Trying to breed em?

They are all still nymphs.

 

[Nich]

Drat...well hope they keep those colors. Would be neat to have feeders that visible.... JK Im curious to see if theyll make some "white" babies.

 

[bugmankeith]

You know, looking at that nymph it sort of reminds me of a skeleton or roach being x-rayed, being it's body is almost see through in appearance.

 

[OldHag]

Yeah it does! Weird.

I think it looks like its made out of brown sugar or cinnamon.. There are 3 females and one male. have to wait for a long time til they mature..

 

[KyuZo]

well, since these guys belong to you, then you get to name them when you still producing.
we (people on the board) can help you pick a name for them.
skeleton roach or skeleton blaberus is a good start:clap:.
or you can call them OldHag roach hehehe

 

[Vfox]

I've had several that looked just like that one for several weeks or more, and then *PooF* gone. I think it had something to do with that particular molt phase because it was normal colored after the next molt. I wonder if your roaches will maintain that color? Keep us posted.

*I vote Creamafusca for the name, lol.*

 

[KyuZo]

you know, now that you mentioned it. i did had a few in my B. dubia colony that was caramel looking, but i didn't pay much attention to them. eventully i don't see them anymore, i guess they molt out of it.

 

[OldHag]

Either they molt out of it or maybe its a disease and they eventually die. Guess Ill find out. When I know Ill let you know

 

[ScorpDemon]

I have some adult female dubia that show lots of lighter coloration, almost white bands, I've been seeing more and more of them lately, and have culled several hundred of the darker ones in hopes of one day having all lighter colored ones. Theyre prettier, but nothing like the differences you're seeing.

Chris

 

[cacoseraph]

kind of reminds me of the iridovirus that sowbugs get. makes them pretty (violet color instead of deep blue-purple) until it kills them



also, a buddy has some widow spiders that have patches of translucency in them. i think it is a disease of some kind but we are still investigating

 

[OldHag]

Im kind of wondering if it isnt a disease as well. Just isolating the blond looking ones and guess Ill find out!