Cleaning WC inverts to obtain clean colonies

[Kada]

More a discussion on peoples steps and procedures. Though emphasis on diligence and results, I suspect many CB colonies arent actually checked for parasites etc either.

For me I am wanting to keep native cockroach species as feeders as I am quite worried about escapes of the foreign ones and invasiveness. My country is perfect for most commercial feeder species to thrive, and that must be avoided. Currently keep red runners and dubia, so basically trying to obtain the native equivalent of those 2. size/climbing/flying habits.

Aside from strict quarantine, what do folks actually do to create clean cultures. I sort of wonder how clean most pet store type products actually are...

My basic plan is raise them in another house from my animals in as sparse a container as possible. Paper, water dish, food. As these are live bearers, I am wondering how one might go about getting to babies before them touching the substrate. I am not 100% against killing a few and removing young, if only a couple times. seems unethical, but willing if there is a good shot at survival.

I also wonder if they will even survive if they dont get any adult poop or soil for their biota kickstarter. Egg layers seem easier, but the ones I find arent suitable as feeders or not suitable for in my house haha. Seems many a parasite of a cockroach would likely be in their excrement cycle as well.

I do have a microscope, I could check. but I suspect my ignorance will make that pretty much useless.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Dry Desert]

More a discussion on peoples steps and procedures. Though emphasis on diligence and results, I suspect many CB colonies arent actually checked for parasites etc either.

For me I am wanting to keep native cockroach species as feeders as I am quite worried about escapes of the foreign ones and invasiveness. My country is perfect for most commercial feeder species to thrive, and that must be avoided. Currently keep red runners and dubia, so basically trying to obtain the native equivalent of those 2. size/climbing/flying habits.

Aside from strict quarantine, what do folks actually do to create clean cultures. I sort of wonder how clean most pet store type products actually are...

My basic plan is raise them in another house from my animals in as sparse a container as possible. Paper, water dish, food. As these are live bearers, I am wondering how one might go about getting to babies before them touching the substrate. I am not 100% against killing a few and removing young, if only a couple times. seems unethical, but willing if there is a good shot at survival.

I also wonder if they will even survive if they dont get any adult poop or soil for their biota kickstarter. Egg layers seem easier, but the ones I find arent suitable as feeders or not suitable for in my house haha. Seems many a parasite of a cockroach would likely be in their excrement cycle as well.

I do have a microscope, I could check. but I suspect my ignorance will make that pretty much useless.

Any thoughts on this?

You will have your work cut out trying to breed any problems out of wild caught species.
Commercial breeders have used many,many generations of stock to arrive at a " safe healthy " species.
If you already have two species of commercialy bred roaches bred them, just make sure they don't escape.

With wild caught you will have to keep introducing fresh stock from the wild to prevent excessive inbreeding, thus creating the problem all over again.

Just keep your roaches in escape proof containers and feed one at a time to ensure none are dropped or lost during feeding.

 

[Wolfram1]

what species are you thinking about?

some invasive ones like P. americana are perfectly fine beeig inbred, and you can start a colony from a single ootheca.

in general i would say parasites wont be that much of a problem because by the time you have a colony large enough to be fed off years will have gone by and your feeders will have lost most of the parasites they came in with, especially the ones that only spend parts of their life cycle in insects. Horsehair worms for example wont be much of a problem if there is no water for them to spawn/lay-eggs in.

you'd still need to be vigilant and remove any roaches exibiting odd behavior etc.

also the less you start with the less of a parasite load they will inevidably bring with them.

if you need fresh blood catch a male, let it mate with your females seperately and chuck it out again

your real enemy is time, it will take forever

 

[Kada]

You will have your work cut out trying to breed any problems out of wild caught species.
Commercial breeders have used many,many generations of stock to arrive at a " safe healthy " species.
If you already have two species of commercialy bred roaches bred them, just make sure they don't escape.

Yes, that is fine. Work should be done, I am quite keen on this. The second part is exactly what I am interested in discussing with folks. Any one of us can be a commercial breeder relatively easily and breed many generations. Years ago I was with various feeders (crickets, mealworms and rodents). In my experience with various crickets, roaches and beetle species in the pet trade, very rarely were anyone introducing.new WC lineages into their breeding pool. I appreciate the genetic diversity, I just dont see it actually been done in practice in the pet trade for more feeder species. Rodent projects were often checked with basic stool samples semi frequently, and were easily medicated and righted.

However, if it is being done, this is what this thread is about. what is their procedure for creating clean cultures? Personally, I do not have great faith in the "observe and cull" method, as that is not really creating any sense of assurance, rather just praying for luck. Quarantine is easy of the main specimen being raised, but their pathogens and parasites may not be so easily contained. What actual procedures do folks follow for this important step?

With wild caught you will have to keep introducing fresh stock from the wild to prevent excessive inbreeding, thus creating the problem all over again.

I dont believe many commercial feeder farms actively do this for invertebrates.Even commercial snail farms for human food are surprisingly carelss in terms of breeding and cleanliness/testing, and they have real bad parasites that can affect humans. I may be mistaken, but most of the ones I have seen in person dont and they are basically going on luck. when they see a bin infected they discard. this level of unprofessionalism is what seems worth avoiding and improving upon

Just keep your roaches in escape proof containers and feed one at a time to ensure none are dropped or lost during feeding.

Sure. But over time, nothing is escape proof. one has a fire, we have earthquakes daily here, typhoons etc etc. Life is unpredictable. The only way I see to be sure is not have them. I am doing this temporarily because I dont want to feed WC roaches, but it is just a matter of when, not if. these risks, as pet keepers, I feel we need to take far more serious. there are loads of invasive species everywhere because of this lack of diligence and responsibility. I think at least raising native species creates a huge relief on this front.

To be fair, it also creates a risk to the environment of local species catching a foreign pathogen and that transmitting into the wild. this happens too, but perhaps that is another discussion after the basics are covered as it is more a quarantine thing rather than a procedural cleansing type thing.

what species are you thinking about?

some invasive ones like P. americana are perfectly fine beeig inbred, and you can start a colony from a single ootheca.

We are still evaluating a few different ones. Have not keyed them all out for identification yet. We are raising a few to observe their lifestyle habits, then selecting based on that. Will seek help from our government and universities for actual identification confirmation once we decide which ones fit the feeder bill. I will post as we confirm with pictures

We definitely are avoiding foreign species, especially invasive ones like that one which already are everywhere here. Plus they climb and fly readily.

[

in general i would say parasites wont be that much of a problem because by the time you have a colony large enough to be fed off years will have gone by and your feeders will have lost most of the pesticieds they came in with, especially the ones that only spend parts of their life cycle in insects. Horsehair worms for example wont be much of a problem if there is no water for them to spawn/lay-eggs in.

Pesticides arent an issues as they will either kill the WC soon, or it will not be an issue after so many generations and quantity. Even any heavy metals present will have been released over a shirt time.

Parasites are a worry as they are self replicating and will stay with animals throughout generations. This is my sole worry, well also some pathogens that seem perhaps less unrealistic. but that's a rude assumption haha, interested to learn more.

But this is why I want to discuss what are peoples procedures? I am also curious if there are possibly chemical options, for say nematodes or various worms, that wont kill say cockroaches or crickets. It is so much easier with larger vertebrates than small invertebrates to basically chemical bomb them. However, this is likely not right with some cockroaches as they literally need certain biota for digestion and such. A topic I am still very ignorant about.

also the less you start with the less of a parasite load they will inevidably bring with them.

if you need fresh blood catch a male, let it mate with your females seperately and chuck it out again

your real enemy is time, it will take forever

This is my strategy so far. ease in numbers. fewer specimens cleaned, then let them breed. I am interested in hearing more opinions about inbreeding of roach species though, generally speaking. I agree it doesnt seem optimal, but then it may not be detrimental either.

The male suggestion is a very good one that I will certainly be remembering for use, cheers!

I have time, but but honestly I dont find these projects to take too many years. Under 5 easily, probably just 1 or 2 once clean. A very acceptable time frame given the hopeful outcome.


A couple links I have started reading. not a lot of specific info, but great starting points

Origins and History of Laboratory Insect Stocks in a Multispecies Insect Production Facility, With the Proposal of Standardized Nomenclature and Designation of Formal Standard Names

Origins and History of Laboratory Insect Stocks in a Multispecies Insect Production Facility, With the Proposal of Standardized Nomenclature and Designation of Formal Standard Names - PMC

Laboratory insect colonies are an essential part of experimental insect science. Formalized naming of laboratory stocks is standard practice in model organisms such as mice and fruit flies, but crucial details such as colony origin and standard ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Insect Production and Quarantine Laboratories (Government of Canada)

Insect Production and Quarantine Laboratories

natural-resources.canada.ca

"IPQL generally does not infuse laboratory stocks with wild-caught populations. Genetic infusion increases the risks of introducing pathogens to clean, healthy laboratory stocks. If IPQL wants to develop a new clean laboratory stock, they rear wild or diseased insects separately through a multigenerational rearing process (van Frankenhuyzen et al. 2004). We only integrate these new families into the clean facility once they have passed stringent quality control standards. We will designate these new families as official stocks once we have reared them in a closed system for at least four generations."

their citation:
van Frankenhuyzen K., Lucarotti C., and Lavallée R.. 2016. Canadian contributions to forest insect pathology and to the use of pathogens in forest pest management. Can. Entomol. 148: S210–S238.

 

[Kada]

Edit to add, apologies. Talking mostly about internal parasites. external ones, like mites, should be fairly easy to take care of

 

[Wolfram1]

If you are interested i can ask some of my friends about this topic, who ether are actively collecting and breeding several species of roaches and one even established some colour variations through selective breeding from mutations they have found in their own wc strains.


The P. americana strain sold as 'Venonom' in the us, consists of two mutations found in roaches wc in Spain, and later selected for.
'yellow eyes' and 'black'
They were then importet to the US seperately and crossed again.

The crazy thing is that the part of the mutation that is responsible for the black colour seems to be dominant and may one day take over in wild/invasive populations if it gets out



i think you are indeed doing the responsible thing, invasive species are truly a problem! People here in temperate climates may not realize just how harmful an impact they can have on ecosystems since our winters stop most threats in their tracks.

 

[Dry Desert]

If you are interested i can ask some of my friends about this topic, who ether are actively collecting and breeding several species of roaches and one even established some colour variations through selective breeding from mutations they have found in their own wc strains.


The P. americana strain sold as 'Venonom' in the us, consists of two mutations found in roaches wc in Spain, and later selected for.
'yellow eyes' and 'black'
They were then importet to the US seperately and crossed again.

The crazy thing is that the part of the mutation that is responsible for the black colour seems to be dominant and may one day take over in wild/invasive populations if it gets out



i think you are indeed doing the responsible thing, invasive species are truly a problem! People here in temperate climates may not realize just how harmful an impact they can have on ecosystems since our winters stop most threats in their tracks.

Double edged sword.

If all invasive/ foreign species are banned - rightly or wrongly - where is this limitless supply of native species coming from in a decade or two.
Doesn't that risk possible extinction in the wild.
You only need an outbreak of some kind in the captive stock, and its gone forever.

Then there's the cases of over reacting as I think applies to the total ban in the US and Canada, I believe of the African Giant Black millipede A. gigas.
This ban has come about because AGB sometimes carry a harmless mite, which is beneficial to the millipede. Apparently these mites are going to desimate the American crops,
in fact the mites only stay with that millipede, once the host dies so do the mites.

So as mentioned a possible double edged sword.

 

[Wolfram1]

Double edged sword.

If all invasive/ foreign species are banned - rightly or wrongly - where is this limitless supply of native species coming from in a decade or two.
Doesn't that risk possible extinction in the wild.
You only need an outbreak of some kind in the captive stock, and its gone forever.

oh i totally agree, i am not a fan of bans at all

its just that a lot of pet owners don't neccessarily take the risks serious enough
in my opinion

like eutanizing the exotic pet rather than releasing it, or beeing aware that some organisms my be vectors for other possible invaders and taking precautions, such as the OP is doing here

we wont be able to control everything ofc but there is no reason why a native roach cant be a perfectly fine alternative

i am sure there are many species out there that make good, easily cultured feeder insects

 

[Dry Desert]

oh i totally agree, i am not a fan of bans at all

its just that a lot of pet owners don't neccessarily take the risks serious enough
in my opinion

like eutanizing the exotic pet rather than releasing it, or beeing aware that some organisms my be vectors for other possible invaders and taking precautions, such as the OP is doing here

we wont be able to control everything ofc but there is no reason why a native roach cant be a perfectly fine alternative

i am sure there are many species out there that make good, easily cultured feeder insects

Quite agree, however here in the UK, being a little 'ole island most, if not all native wildlife, including some plant species, are, for one reason or another, protected with a ban on most being taken from the wild - due to the fact there ain't many left

 

[Kada]

If you are interested i can ask some of my friends about this topic, who ether are actively collecting and breeding several species of roaches and one even established some colour variations through selective breeding from mutations they have found in their own wc strains.


The P. americana strain sold as 'Venonom' in the us, consists of two mutations found in roaches wc in Spain, and later selected for.
'yellow eyes' and 'black'
They were then importet to the US seperately and crossed again.

The crazy thing is that the part of the mutation that is responsible for the black colour seems to be dominant and may one day take over in wild/invasive populations if it gets out



i think you are indeed doing the responsible thing, invasive species are truly a problem! People here in temperate climates may not realize just how harmful an impact they can have on ecosystems since our winters stop most threats in their tracks.

Cheers, if they are willing to share some information, I think everyone in the hobby could benefit from it! Probably less so about the breeding for color, and particularly about inbreeding as well as their methods or cleaning the WC and producing clean captive colonies I certainly would be keen on more information and ideas, that's for sure!

Double edged sword.

If all invasive/ foreign species are banned - rightly or wrongly - where is this limitless supply of native species coming from in a decade or two.
Doesn't that risk possible extinction in the wild.
You only need an outbreak of some kind in the captive stock, and its gone forever.

Then there's the cases of over reacting as I think applies to the total ban in the US and Canada, I believe of the African Giant Black millipede A. gigas.
This ban has come about because AGB sometimes carry a harmless mite, which is beneficial to the millipede. Apparently these mites are going to desimate the American crops,
in fact the mites only stay with that millipede, once the host dies so do the mites.

So as mentioned a possible double edged sword.

The idea would be captive breeding. Most feeders are likely not wild caught outside specialty things like centipedes, or perhaps frogs, lizards etc. It is a valid worry for pets, but i wouldn't worry about the ravage of cockroaches or in the UK perhaps locusts if foreign species were banned.

Indeed there are huge over reactions. For things like phasmids, snails etc as well. I think they are probably simply playing safe and admitting how ignorant we still are with all the variables. I agree it is frustrating. But for example African land snails cost our country probably billions in crop losses. Never mind wild plant loss and possibly disease spread. The snail export industry i wouldn't is much more than tens of millions, so it makes little sense to keep allowing such things from an economical perspective. Everywhere is different, though i feel one common denominator is the pet trade isn't strict enough in terms of control escapes/releases. That at least seems fairly consistently poor unfortunately.

My worry on this however, is the reality of keeping native species with foreign ones in captivity, and if there are foreign diseases that might leap over to the native ones and escape, this could be terrible. That has more to do with quarantine and that end of things though.

Quite agree, however here in the UK, being a little 'ole island most, if not all native wildlife, including some plant species, are, for one reason or another, protected with a ban on most being taken from the wild - due to the fact there ain't many left

For sure, every person should follow local laws.Many places have collection permits, for some things the native species may even be available for sale already.




Here are a couple pics for fun of a few species we are raising and have somewhat identified. So far they seem decent, have some others but haven't started to ID them yet.

Opisthoplatia orientalis

They burrow unfortunately. They are medium/large, essentially like a dubia in size and general habit but slightly wider. Unfortunately they are decent climbers.

Rhabdoblatta sp. (?) - Not confirmed ID, still waiting for more specimens.
These guys remind me slightly of Suriname roaches. Less keen on these now due to flying and climbing. But pretty nonetheless.

Not sure what these are, just got them. Will see what they grow up as. Quite possibly young Opisthoplatia orientalis. But they don't climb, and act nearly identical to dubia.

 

[Wolfram1]

Cheers, if they are willing to share some information, I think everyone in the hobby could benefit from it! Probably less so about the breeding for color, and particularly about inbreeding as well as their methods or cleaning the WC and producing clean captive colonies I certainly would be keen on more information and ideas, that's for sure!




The idea would be captive breeding. Most feeders are likely not wild caught outside specialty things like centipedes, or perhaps frogs, lizards etc. It is a valid worry for pets, but i wouldn't worry about the ravage of cockroaches or in the UK perhaps locusts if foreign species were banned.

Indeed there are huge over reactions. For things like phasmids, snails etc as well. I think they are probably simply playing safe and admitting how ignorant we still are with all the variables. I agree it is frustrating. But for example African land snails cost our country probably billions in crop losses. Never mind wild plant loss and possibly disease spread. The snail export industry i wouldn't is much more than tens of millions, so it makes little sense to keep allowing such things from an economical perspective. Everywhere is different, though i feel one common denominator is the pet trade isn't strict enough in terms of control escapes/releases. That at least seems fairly consistently poor unfortunately.

My worry on this however, is the reality of keeping native species with foreign ones in captivity, and if there are foreign diseases that might leap over to the native ones and escape, this could be terrible. That has more to do with quarantine and that end of things though.




For sure, every person should follow local laws.Many places have collection permits, for some things the native species may even be available for sale already.




Here are a couple pics for fun of a few species we are raising and have somewhat identified. So far they seem decent, have some others but haven't started to ID them yet.

Opisthoplatia orientalis

They burrow unfortunately. They are medium/large, essentially like a dubia in size and general habit but slightly wider. Unfortunately they are decent climbers.

Rhabdoblatta sp. (?) - Not confirmed ID, still waiting for more specimens.
These guys remind me slightly of Suriname roaches. Less keen on these now due to flying and climbing. But pretty nonetheless.

Not sure what these are, just got them. Will see what they grow up as. Quite possibly young Opisthoplatia orientalis. But they don't climb, and act nearly identical to dubia.

woa, nice ones

will do, it may take me a few days to get back to you

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

what species are you thinking about?

some invasive ones like P. americana are perfectly fine beeig inbred, and you can start a colony from a single ootheca.

in general i would say parasites wont be that much of a problem because by the time you have a colony large enough to be fed off years will have gone by and your feeders will have lost most of the parasites they came in with, especially the ones that only spend parts of their life cycle in insects. Horsehair worms for example wont be much of a problem if there is no water for them to spawn/lay-eggs in.

you'd still need to be vigilant and remove any roaches exibiting odd behavior etc.

also the less you start with the less of a parasite load they will inevidably bring with them.

if you need fresh blood catch a male, let it mate with your females seperately and chuck it out again

your real enemy is time, it will take forever

I’d think the other enemy’s infestation you’d have to take huge precautions to get your cages to be escape proof , I’ve raised wild roaches before and I had orientals but I wasn’t a fan of climbing roaches so I got rid of them . I tried to find orientals again no such luck .

 

[Kada]

I’d think the other enemy’s infestation you’d have to take huge precautions to get your cages to be escape proof , I’ve raised wild roaches before and I had orientals but I wasn’t a fan of climbing roaches so I got rid of them . I tried to find orientals again no such luck .

That's the basic premise of this brainstorming thread If they escape, they are native species and at least wont be a foreign invasive conquering new lands. Because this is a thread for procedural brainstorm on cleanliness and acclimation to captive colonies, it wont matter where a person lives as this isnt about any specific species nor place. simply procedures on getting the WC clean enough for commercial use. The question posed, is how to get WC into CB effectively, efficiently and of utmost importance: free of pathogens, parasites etc.

personally I focus mostly on crickets and cockroaches, but the feeder can be anything, shouldnt be limited to just my personal direction. We have large beetle.populations on our farms, we use in compost production. although we dont use for animal feed, the topic has come up often over the last decade in regards to human food. I am quite keen onthat as well. Frankly anything raised for food purposes, especially the aquatics sector, but I just avoid that on an arachnid group same principles though. creating clean feeders from WC stock.

 

[The Snark]

Commercial breeders have used many,many generations of stock to arrive at a " safe healthy " species.

That's the way the labs do it. Along with a series of biopsies at given intervals.

 

[Kada]

That's the way the labs do it. Along with a series of biopsies at given intervals.

Indeed, diligent. procedures and lots of testing. As quoted above, some go in 4 generations. I found that surprisingly quick. The time seems less relevant though, without excellent procedures and preventions. Would be interested in knowing what other breeders do to ensure quality control (outside of wait/watch/cull)

Edit:

Occurrence of Cystosporogenes sp. (Protozoa, Microsporidia) in a multi-species insect production facility and its elimination from a colony of the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) - PubMed

We have isolated a microsporidium from a laboratory colony of the eastern spruce budworm, Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Light and electron microscopic investigations showed that gross pathology and ultrastructure of our isolate are similar to those described for...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

How to access research remotely

How to access research remotely

www.cabdirect.org

this link seems to have issues, copy paste of abstract:

"
A synopsis of the nematodes parasitic in insects of the family Blattidae.




Author(s) : Chitwood, B. G.

Journal article : Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 1932 Vol.5 No.1 pp.14-50 ref.16


Abstract : Chitwood has brought together the essentials of the descriptions of all known nematode parasites in cockroaches of the family Blattidae and has redescribed and refigured as many as possible of the species that were at his disposal as well as figuring and describing nine new species, five of which are designated as types of new genera.
The forms are all oxyurid parasites and belong to the family Thelastomidae Travassos 1929, which has been reviewed in relation to the subfamilies and genera considered by the author.
Lepidonemidae, a family proposed by Travassos in 1920, is regarded as a synonym despite its date priority on the ground that Thelastoma is a more representative genus than Lepidonema. Three subfamilies, Thelastominae Travassos, 1929 (=Aorurinae Walton, 1927), Hystrignatminae Travassos, 1920 (not considered in the paper) and Protrelloidinae n. subfam. are included. Within the first subfamily eight genera are considered: (1) Thelastoma Leidy, 1849 (=Bulhoesia Schwenk, 1926) divided into three groups, (a) sensu restricto to include T. bulhoesi (Magalháes) and T. riveroi n. sp, , (6) sensu lato to include T. icemi (Schwenk) and T. magalhãesi (Schwenk), (c) species inquirenda to include T. heterogamiae (Galeb) and T. panesthiae (Galeb) both inadequately described in the original. (2) Euryconema paradisa n.g. n. sp. (3) Suifunema caudelli n. g. n. sp. (4) Galebia n. g. to include Oxyitris aegyptiaca Galeb, 1878, (5) Hammerschmidtiella n. g. to include Oxyuris diesingi Hammerschmidt, 1838, (6) Leidynema Schwenk, 1929 to include L. appendiculata (Leidy, 1850) n. comb. L. cranifera n. sp. and L. delatorrei n. sp. (7) Blatticola Schwenk, 1926 to include B. blattae (Graeflfe, 1860) n. comb. (8) Severianoia (Schwenk, 1926) to include Bulhõdesia severianoi Schwenk, 1926.
Within the subfamily Protrelloidinae the genera and species are: (1) Protrelloides paradoxa.g.n. sp. (2) Protrelleta floridana n.g. n. sp. and (3) Protrellina n. g. to include P. aurifluus n. sp. P. manni n. sp. Oxyuris ausirdasiae Pessoa & Correa, 1926, Oxyuris künckelt Galeb, 1878 and Protrellus galebi Schwenk, 1926. Forms considered as genera and species inquirenda are Blattophila sphaerolaima and Protrellus aureus both described by Cobb in 1920. The paper is illustrated by good figures and has a number of helpful keys to genera and species. J.N.O.

Record Number : 19320800319"

Morphological, molecular and developmental characterization of the thelastomatid nematode Thelastoma bulhoesi (de Magalhães, 1900) (Oxyuridomorpha: Thelastomatidae) parasite of Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Blattodea: Blattidae) in Japan

The American cockroach Periplaneta americana (Linnaeus, 1758) (Blattodea: Blattidae) has been spreading worldwide by commerce and has successfully adjusted to living with humans. There are many reports of thelastomatid parasitic nematode isolated from P. americana in many countries including...

www.degruyter.com

Niche Overlap among Three Species of Pinworm Parasitic in the Hindgut of the American Cockroach, Periplaneta americana

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3284477

The Life History of Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy), a Nematode of Cockroaches1 | Parasitology | Cambridge Core

The Life History of Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy), a Nematode of Cockroaches1 - Volume 26 Issue 4

www.cambridge.org

The Life History of Leidynema appendiculata (Leidy), a Nematode of Cockroaches
Extract

1. Of 259 cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) collected at Manhattan, Kansas, 86·3 per cent. were infested with one or two species of oxyurids, Leidynema appendiculata and Hammerschmidtiella diesingi. The highest incidence was among the immature roaches, of which 94·2 per cent. were infested; next was in the adult females with 87·5 per cent. infested; and lastly among the mature males with 79·5 per cent. parasitised. The female roaches carried the heaviest infestations and the young Periplaneta americana the lightest.
2. Uninfested cockroaches were obtained by rearing the young from oöthecae.
3. Oxyurid eggs in moist chambers remained viable for at least two months. Eggs of all stages when exposed to direct strong artificial or natural light for 15 min. failed to continue development.
4. Fertilised eggs incubated at 37° C. in dilute Locke's solution develop to the active embryonated stage in 20–36 hours; in 4–7 days they develop to the resting embryonated stage.
5. Regardless of the media utilised eggs failed to hatch in vitro.
6. Feeding experiments proved that transmission is direct. Eggs in the resting embryonated stage are infective; those in the active embryonated stage do not appear to be infective.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Indeed, diligent. procedures and lots of testing. As quoted above, some go in 4 generations. I found that surprisingly quick. The time seems less relevant though, without excellent procedures and preventions. Would be interested in knowing what other breeders do to ensure quality control (outside of wait/watch/cull)

Yeah and catching of wild roaches isn’t easy plus if you find oothicas they are hard to discern which species they’re From. Which ones are almost 1/2”? Or are they all that size ?

 

[The Snark]

@Kada Thanks for the uncomfortable memories working as a 'lab rat' - assistant. My first job had me keeping track of the specimens undergoing some phase of the program. Our lab supplied specimens to other labs that did the actual experiments so you know how rigid the standards were. If only it was just known pathogens that wave at you under a microscope. Taking notes all day long my clearest memory was wondering if there was anyone who did that for a career was able to remain sane for more than a few months.
"You didn't record the ________ ! ! ! ! !"
me thinking . o O (Honey, I've never even heard that word before let along know what the frack it is!)

I lost my CAB account long ago in a computer crash and never pursued recovering it. Been borrowing access when desperate. A serious portal for keeping track of WHO updates.
A little humor. Somebody made the claim here on AB all relevant important white papers are published in English. Obvious never been on the CAB site.

 

[Kada]

@Kada Thanks for the uncomfortable memories working as a 'lab rat' - assistant. My first job had me keeping track of the specimens undergoing some phase of the program. Our lab supplied specimens to other labs that did the actual experiments so you know how rigid the standards were. If only it was just known pathogens that wave at you under a microscope. Taking notes all day long my clearest memory was wondering if there was anyone who did that for a career was able to remain sane for more than a few months.
"You didn't record the ________ ! ! ! ! !"
me thinking . o O (Honey, I've never even heard that word before let along know what the frack it is!)

I lost my CAB account long ago in a computer crash and never pursued recovering it. Been borrowing access when desperate. A serious portal for keeping track of WHO updates.
A little humor. Somebody made the claim here on AB all relevant important white papers are published in English. Obvious never been on the CAB site.

haha, it is indeed trying on the mind! but the diligence should be respected and frankly demanded in my opinion. I dont do much of the microscopy work thankfully. but when I do, I am very much grateful it isnt my day job! That is likely one of the things automation and computation is going to take over. Scanning and record keeping.

Reminds me of a few conversations with commercial cricket breeders in the states who said roughly the same thing as each other. Dont want crickets to become a human food ingredient, then our profits go way down, our scrutiny goes way up and we are basically on the margins of farmers. more profitable selling to less scrutinized industries at a fairly large markup compared to costs. The roach, centipede, toad and other such farms I have visited that sell to human consumption markets are quite grim out here in asia. back to the "I wouldnt feed that to my pets" level. I suppose it's easier ground up into pellets that get treated. but still, yuck.

I found that quite funny. and sadly, very true.

Going forward, the invertebrate farms I have seen in person for human consumption are far far below the standards I would consider for feeding my frogs. But then again, I would say the same about poultry raised for human consumption haha. we need to level up a bit I guess is the point

 

[Kada]

Yeah and catching of wild roaches isn’t easy plus if you find oothicas they are hard to discern which species they’re From. Which ones are almost 1/2”? Or are they all that size ?

It isnt that hard, for roaches and crickets at least. when I sit down later will post a puc of a roach ready to pop. just need to put out more traps and spend more time. Much easier than herping in my opinion, just a matter of time and patience.

 

[The Snark]

The roach, centipede, toad and other such farms I have visited that sell to human consumption markets are quite grim out here in asia.

Well... yes. But that also applies to the lack of hygiene in food preparation in general in most third world societies, and notably the culturally evolved way, especially in Asia, people employ to survive the pathogen fests at nearly every meal. To wit, deep fat or smoldering hot stir fried is as effective as a trip through the autoclave but consuming a cup or two of palm oil every day does not lend to palatability or life longevity. And recycling the oil meal after meal after meal to where I'd hesitate to feed the stuff to a TukTuk. But then, to be fair, little if any difference to the Kentucky Fried Chicken and other the first world finds so delicious.
And I draw the line at chicken feet and frogs. Especially frogs. What? Two or three grams of meat and around 150 bones? As for chicken feet, what the hey?? Ignoring the fact there is nothing to eat and you seem to just suck on them for the flavor, I think about what the chickens stand and walk on throughout their lives.