Baby Rhinos!

[OldHag]

FINALLY after 4 and a half years of waiting the babies are finally here!
They are so doggone cute I was screaming for an hour!

 

[spydrhunter1]

Congratulations! I so want to get this species some day.

 

[OldHag]

Thanks! I had to trade some geckos to get my pair. The male matured about a year and a half ago, was just waiting for the female to catch up. Seems she did Im so excited I cant even stand it! YAY

 

[Ariel]

congrats!! They are quite cute ^^

 

[texasroach]

they are awesome, You must be so proud . Rhinos and dominos are at the top of my wish list

 

[Endagr8]

I'm green with envy.

Will you be selling them, or are you going to start a M. rhinoceros colony?

 

[LadyVenom]

Wow that is so awesome! I've always wanted one of them. The babies are so cute!

 

[OldHag]

Im sure Ill keep a few and sell a few. I dont plan on selling many because no one is willing to pay. Even I wasnt willing to pay for them... I traded high end leopard geckos for my pair. Ill eventually have so many Ill have to use them as feeders!! Im joking of course! These are pets!

The babies are very cute! Its cute how they kind of hover around mom. Follow her around. Im trying not to bug them much but its so fun to watch them!!

 

[BrianWI]

How many babies u get?

 

[cacoseraph]

hey hey


you and my buddy ftorres might want to arrange a baby swap for bloodlines. i can't recall if he has fresh babies right now or not, though

 

[Matt K]

you and my buddy ftorres might want to arrange a baby swap for bloodlines. i can't recall if he has fresh babies right now or not, though

However:

...note: There is no such thing as a "bloodline" with cockroaches. The same family can interbreed for thousands of generations without any changes genetically. Many many people misunderstand the basis for requiring outside genes into a closed pool. Even humans can interbreed for many generations (e.g. ancient English, Romans, and Egyptians) without issues, which only occur after some time. Reptiles can go dozens of generations (we can see evidence of that in modern leopard geckos if one morph is left alone long enough) and inverts significantly longer. I have had one roach colony that over ten years has lived through 40 to 50 generations without any detectable variation over a 12 year time span.
An even better example in a faster reproducing animal is anyones culture of lobster roaches or lateralis colony.

 

[cacoseraph]

well, we don't know for sure what constant inbreeding does

in theory, if there are no bad genes to express it is fine pretty much ad infinitum


however... having multiple bloodlines most likely allows for more, whatchacallums... phenotypes... so they could have more choice for selective breeding



and don't get me wrong... i fully intend to line breed bugs to lock in desirable traits

 

[BrianWI]

It all depends on genetic load. Insects generally don't suffer as much as higher animals. That being said, I WOULD recommend "new blood" from time to time, if only to discover new variations. My roaches came from several sources and are throwing all kinds of stuff!

 

[OldHag]

How many babies u get?

Twenty something.. they are on the move constantly and I cant keep up!! When they are older Ill probably go diggin round and count.

Caco, I agree, couldnt hurt to get different bloodlines mixed in.

 

[cacoseraph]

Twenty something.. they are on the move constantly and I cant keep up!! When they are older Ill probably go diggin round and count.

Caco, I agree, couldnt hurt to get different bloodlines mixed in.

well.... it *could* =P


say you have a sweet as sugar bloodline... literally no defects that could EVER express, short of some kinda crazy mutation or congenital defects. say ftorres has oh, i don't know, a bloodline that carries a vertically transmitted (i think that is what it called from mom to babies) Rickettsia bacteria that makes males less fit or sometimes die from er... cytoplasmic er.. what's it called... some kinda cytoplasmic incompatibility (a well known method of some species of Rick's). if you had kept your bloodlines seperate yours would have been the roaches that were surviving the nukecaust, but now you have sickly males and eventual worsening problems breeding subsequent generations. (incidentally, stuff that like really can happen and is why i seem so anal about ppl not letting stuff go after it has been in cap!)



the really scary thing is that Rickettsia are SUPER prevalent in the world... and some species can actually infect a bug and produce symptoms.... then when that bug feeds on a plant THE FREAKING PLANT GETS INFECTED AND SHOWS SYMPTOMS!!! the same bacteria can live in animals AND/OR plants! that is crossing KINGDOMS. when ppl say things are species specific and we don't need to worry about invert pathogens i am almost tempted to physical violence =P

look up papaya bunchy top syndrome (i think, i am remembering off stuff i read a cool minute ago) for that crazy bacteria

oh, and p.s.... from what i have read, Rickettsia is pretty close to our own mitochondria in certain respects. freaking food for scifi thoughts

 

[pouchedrat]

Seriously how much? By the time I was able to convince my fiance to let me get a pair of these, DoubleD's sold them all off to a university.

These have been my dream roach for many years now... <3!!!

 

[cacoseraph]

iirc, babies generally go for $50-$100... and take what, 5 years to mature?

 

[recluse]

Congrats Michelle.

 

[OldHag]

Caco...... thank you so much for that.
I was thinking as I typed "couldnt hurt" that you might come up with a reason WHY it could hurt..

Pouchedrat.. were you asking me how much Im selling them for?? PM me if you were, otherwise I have no idea who you were talking to. Caco got me all Cornfused with his fancy typin!

 

[Galapoheros]

It made me sad to see your babies OldHag because I don't have any . Congrats! Do these hang out in groups, or "kind of" close to each other in the wild?