My Roaches

[Hisserdude]

Hey Hisserdude

(So you asked quite some time ago, but anyway...)

Indeed, there's a species of giant leech living on the neighbouring mountain (Mt. Kinabalu, highest peak in S-E Asia), which also gives its name to the city of Kota Kinabalu/KK:
-> Kinabalu giant red leech - Wikipedia

Leeches are over the place around KK city, not just in water. If you go into the jungle, you barely get to walk 1 meter before you get them sucking on your legs... But they're usually quite small, just a few centimeters usually.

If these roaches (Perisphaerus sp. Kota Kinabalu) actually come from around Kota Kinabalu itself, it's way off from said mountain (about 50 miles).
Any idea what's the original habitat of these? Are they tree or ground dwelling? I'd say the former, as they look pretty much like Emerald roaches. I'll be in the area of Kota Kinabalu in Dec, so I might be able to spot some of these in the wild.


EDIT: I have some kind of fascination for (forest) roaches too, I must confess... They're too cute to be fed imo. I bought Dubias as feeders, but in the end, I'm just raising them, only feeding my Ts an old male once in a while... I also got myself some Pseudoglomeris magnifica lately. Perhaps my little collection will grow, who knows...

Cheers

Hi, sorry for the late reply!

Yeah, those giant red predatory leeches would be awesome to get into culture one day... Though I fear they may be rather heat sensitive. Maybe one day we'll see them exported and hopefully bred in captivity.

I don't have much information on where the Perisphaerus were collected other than "Kota Kinabalu". They are quite arboreal in behavior, most Perisphaerus spp. are, definitely one of my favorite species in my collection. Sadly though I'm afraid I may fail to get another generation out of them, I'm down to two female nymphs and one male nymph. They have proven very finicky to culture, and more importantly all my babies were produced from stress induced births, so many came out undeveloped and most ended up with random health problems as a result. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to save my colony with this trio of nymphs, but I may just have to source another starter culture of this species again one day. :/

 

[Hisserdude]

Speaking of roaches from Kota Kinabalu, here are some pics of my Epilamprinae sp. "Kota Kinabalu" (Borneo Leaf Mimic) which have been thriving for me:

 

[Hisserdude]

And here's some Gromphadorhina portentosa "LLE Mahogany", a beautiful, pure line isolated from the "1972 Cleveland Aquarium" stock.

 

[GBBFreak]

Hey @Hisserdude

Sorry for the late reply, been quite busy with work lately.

I really hope your Perisphaerus sp. "KK" colony will recover & thrive again! I checked the pics from posts on your blog, they look really awesome. *fingerscrossed*

The leaf mimic roaches are pretty cool, too. Although I'll have to pass on these, as they're probably too "roach looking" for the taste of my wife. (She'd most likely burn down the whole place with a flamethrower if she knew about these. xD) [Well she's not lookin' so much into it, so I might try anyway ]

Regarding the Mt. Kinabalu leeches, I guess these would be pretty hard to source in the first place, and then... Yeah the growing conditions might be difficult to imitate. Although they might do fine in a cool basement. ^^

I'm currently having some "issues" with my Pseudoglomeris magnifica. Started with 10 nymphs 2 months ago, down to 7 already. :s One of them died again last week during molt, couldn't extract itself from the old skin. But on a positive note, I just spotted a healthy, orange one and its shed skin this morning, which gives me hope some of them might reach maturity and breed.

As the aboriginal people from Kota Kinabalu say for a toast: 'Aramaitii!' Let our roach breeding thrive! Happy breeding! And ofc I'll keep you posted if I stumble upon any of these Bornean roaches in the wild

 

[Hisserdude]

Princisia vanwaerebeki "Androhamana". Still haven't gotten any babies from these massive beauties yet, but boy are my females ever gravid...





And here's a brand new strain for the US hobby, hopefully pure (I'll know in a generation or two), Princisia vanwaerebeki "Black & White". From the same strain/locality complex as "Tiger" and "Tricolor".

 

[Hisserdude]

I really hope your Perisphaerus sp. "KK" colony will recover & thrive again! I checked the pics from posts on your blog, they look really awesome. *fingerscrossed*

Thanks, so far the remaining nymphs seem stable, but we'll see...

I'm currently having some "issues" with my Pseudoglomeris magnifica. Started with 10 nymphs 2 months ago, down to 7 already. :s One of them died again last week during molt, couldn't extract itself from the old skin. But on a positive note, I just spotted a healthy, orange one and its shed skin this morning, which gives me hope some of them might reach maturity and breed.

Sorry to hear it, I hope the rest are doing well. P.magnifica seem to have a preference for high ventilation, and a good humidity gradient, if the entire enclosure is kept humid, and isn't well ventilated, they'll do very poorly. They also seem to like bark with lots of crevices, pockets, and dents in it, cork bark seems to be their favorite hide of choice (though lots of other hardwood tree bark works fine as well).

As the aboriginal people from Kota Kinabalu say for a toast: 'Aramaitii!' Let our roach breeding thrive! Happy breeding! And ofc I'll keep you posted if I stumble upon any of these Bornean roaches in the wild

Thanks, much appreciated! Hope you find some nice species!

 

[Hisserdude]

Eurycotis opaca "Soroa"

 

[Hisserdude]

Pseudoglomeris magnifica "Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam" (AKA Magnificent Emerald Roach)

Subadult nymphs:

Mature male:

 

[Hisserdude]

Euthlastoblatta abortiva nymphs:

Euthlastoblatta sp. "Everglades, FL":

Adults

Nymph

 

[Hisserdude]

Princisia vanwaerebeki "Black & White" male:

 

[Hisserdude]

Pseudoglomeris magnifica "Kunming, Yunnan, China - Copper" mature male:

 

[Kada]

Pseudoglomeris magnifica "Kunming, Yunnan, China - Copper" mature male:

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Wow, what,an amazing thread! so many cool pics, thanks for sharing.

on the leech front. if you are interested in an ultra cool leech with amazing colors, check out Whitmania laevis. very color greens, yellows. like an army leech. aquatic, snail host if I remember correctly.