Blaberus comparison

[Digby Rigby]

You are correct

Its not dried and shriveled it is alive both were random specimens taken from 2 different enclosures;P

 

[Dark Raptor]

Many thanks to John J Starr Jr for this link!
Now it should be much easier to ID Blaberus species

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Species

Couldn't resist picking up a couple dozen of these, as nymphs, at my local herp wholesaler. They wanted 5 bucks ('winter shipping' surcharge) each for the adults but only half a buck for the nymphs. They where being sold as false deathheads. This one was the only really big nymph and is the first one to mature. She's about 2.5" but I seem to remember the other adults at the store being bigger, like the full width across my fingers. First I thought they might be giganteus, then 'fuscus', now I'm wondering if they're a hybrid like in Dark Raptor's pics. I tossed 'em in with my E. distanti's and the nymphs look so similar in the confusion they're hard to tell apart.
Any guesses/opinions?

Just my simple opinion but the shape of the black portion of the pronotum is sort of like that of the giganteus but a little bit different and also are those red markings in somewhat of the shape of a death's head that I can see

John J Starr Jr

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Thanks

Many thanks to John J Starr Jr for this link!
Now it should be much easier to ID Blaberus species

Thanks,

I hope that others will post any of their pictures and information about any species of the Blaberus genus in this thread. I like any and all Blaberus pictures.

Owe, every time I look I see another pair of my Blaberus parabolicus breeding. I have not seen many young as of yet, maybe about 25 or 50, and none of the newborns since I placed all of my parabolicus into my topdown designed 20L aquarium. I really do not want to dig out the egg cartons just to look so maybe I will take a head count when I clean their cage in a few months.

John J Starr Jr

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Dark Blaberus fusca anomaly

Here is a picture of an interesting Blaberus fusca anomaly. This one is extremely dark in comparison to any of the other Blaberus fusca adults in my collection. Since this specimen came from pure "Blaberus_fusca" lines the darker coloration could be a recessive gene that shows up once in while when a pair of genes combine in the same animal. I have had things like this happen many times over the years with other species of plants and animals.

If you are interested I have several other pictures of this animal with different camera angles in the Blaberus fusca area of the links below my name in this thread.

Please feel free to comment all that you want to about this picture or any of the other Blaberus fusca pictures located at the links below name.

Thanks,

John J Starr Jr

 

[xelda]

Its not dried and shriveled it is alive both were random specimens taken from 2 different enclosures;P

That giganteus is very obviously dried up. You can tell by the curl of the abdomen. Anyone who raises a large colony and has to regularly remove dead roaches will know what I'm talking about. The white-ness of the head and the broken legs are another clue that it's not even freshly dead.

This is what a live giganteus looks like:

And just so you can get an idea of size, this is a giganteus next to a discoid. Both are males. Sorry for the blurriness.

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Blaberus update, FYI

Here is a current update on my Blaberus species to date, FYI if you are considering one of these species maybe this will aid in your choice.

Blaberus discoidalis, 150 nymphs aquired in August 2005.
100 origionals left alive which are all adults. The reason in which some probably did die could have been from my errors. Now I have over 500 up to 1000 small to medium Blaberus discoidalis nymphs in addition to the 100 adults. I quit counting discoid nymphs at 500 when I got to the smallest ones. While this is an easily excited species they still seem to reproduce very quick.

Blaberus parabolicus, 150 nymphs aquired in November 2005.
I have around 125 origionals left alive which are all adults. Now I have over 200 small Blaberus parabolicus nymphs as of 2 weeks ago. By now it could be 300 to 400 parabolicus nymphs but I will wait to disturb them for a few more weeks. I suspect that this parabolicus colony will catch up and pass my discoidalis over the summer. These seem to be the best choice out of all of my Blaberus species for producing new nymphs very fast. So far they are the most adjustable of all of my Blaberus species. I can do a 100% clean out by moving them into smaller quarters then back into the clean cage and they will go on as nothing ever happened. They will still get rushed from CO2 exhaled and sudden changes or lights but they adjust very fast IMVHO. They also seem to be the least picky when it comes to food choices out of all four of my current Blaberus species. :clap:

Blaberus craniifer, 150 nymphs aquired in November 2005.
I have about 125 origionals left alive which are all adults. Now I have over 100 small Blaberus craniifer nymphs as of 2 weeks ago. By now it could be close to 200. I am going to wait to disturb them for a few more weeks. These guys are very jumpy and easily disturbed. It may take longer than I thought to produce a decent sized colony of them since they appear to need absolute, DO NOT DISTURB, to produce new young and they seem to be more picky about which foods to eat than any of my Blaberus other species.

Blaberus fusca, 150 very small nymphs aquired in November 2005.
I have about 150 origionals left alive which only about half are adults. No offspring have been produced as of yet but I do expect some this summer 2006. Even though I started with younger nymphs this species does appear to take a little bit longer to mature into adults than any of my other Blaberus species. When their nymphs are on the last instar they are extremely huge in size and well over 2 inches long. I have noticed that the females of this species in my colony are all much darker and larger than the males. The females all seem to have a much broader black bar than the males have. If you visit one of my sites that are listed below and view the pictures that I currently have you will notice several pictures of a very dark fusca. I now have TWO of the extreme dark females with the black bar that extends from the middle of the back clear up to the pronotum in my collection.

All of my origional 4 Blaberus colonies came from James at http://www.blaberus.com

Do to the genetic drift that commonly occurs in any person's plant or animal collection I am considering using other reputible breeders of which some have posted to this thread in addition to trading roach for roach on an identical species with other individuals to help maintain healthy genetic diversity within my colonies. Using multiple sources seems to be a standard practice in todays world for any plant or animal breeding hobby.

UPDATE: Has anybody ever seen the following animal up close in person? It appears top be around 1.5 to maybe 1.75 inches long. I sure would like to have a colony of small clear winged Blaberus animals like this one.

http://www.faunology.co.uk/shop/product.php?productid=18475&cat=248&bestseller

http://www.faunology.co.uk/shop/product_images/t_16170.jpg

Special Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and any continued future additions. I hope that all of the information is of some benefit to the new roach owner.

John J Starr Jr
.

 

[bugmankeith]

I'm sorry, but my favorites are Blaberus Giganteus. I love how they sometimes "hop" or flutter, the males in this species sometimes fight too, they are a tough cockroach!

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Blaberus Parabolicus FYI

Well, I was incorrest on my 300 to 400 estimation of new Blaberus parabolicus nymphs that were born here. I have well over 500 small parabolicus nymphs and 54 very gravid females. Anyway I think that they are gravid since they are females and all of their abdomens have become so swollen up that it is like dragging a piece of wheeled luggage around for them. Awe yes, life is good for the parabolicus in this colony.

While I only have limited experience on the Blaberus species so far I will go out on a limb and claim that out of my current four species...

parabolicus
discoidalis
craniifer
fusca

...the parabolicus is your best choice for a Blaberus feeder species to raise. This colony will catch up to and pass my discoidalis colony in numbers before winter of 2006. They have a very curious attitude and they are extremely active for a Blaberus. While they do get ghosted sometimes and they will run away they are no where near as skiddish as any of my other four species. They do seem to come right back out after any sudden changes as though nothing had ever happened. Also the nymphs and the adults are very chunky animal for a Blaberus species of roach. Even though this sounds like an ad in a commercial I am most definitely not saling any roaches at this time. I am just posting my current observations for those people who may be attempting to make a valuable choice.

I'm sorry, but my favorites are Blaberus Giganteus. I love how they sometimes "hop" or flutter, the males in this species sometimes fight too, they are a tough cockroach!

Yea, if I had thought about it more first and known I should have placed these Blaberus in the list...

Blaberus anisitsi
Blaberus atropus
Blaberus boliviensis
Blaberus brasilianus
Blaberus colosseus
Blaberus craniifer
Blaberus discoidalis
Blaberus fusiformis
Blaberus giganteus
Blaberus minor
Blaberus parabolicus
Blaberus scutatus
Blaberus trapezoideus

Blaberus assellus ???
Blaberus latissimus ???

Blaberus fusca ???

As far as I know there are only 8 pure strains currently available in the market place in the U.S. but then again that is just the limitation of my knowledge about the U.S. Blaberus availability.

Well, I have to get back to developing software so SYAL.

John J Starr Jr