A Trade with Jay

Hey everybody and welcome to a brand spankin new post!😝

     I've been having a large influx in acquisitions for months now and for that reason (among others) it is a very hard to catch up on every new invert as soon as I get it. This post is a perfect example of that as I've had the species that will be showcased here for more than half of a year and have not been able to share about them. No matter, I can do so now; let's get into things! 😁

     Last November I was able to work out a trade with a very interesting buddy of mine , Jay Fiore AKA Mr. Disturbing (if you know him, you know what I mean 😛) and more formally as Centipede Uncivil on the Allpet Roaches Forum. He will fascinate you with his recollections of encounters with hogs and pumas in the wilds of the Southeast, unsettle you with his otherworldly gifs, and amaze you with his contributions to the hobby including probably my personal favorite isopod morph, Armadilldium vulgare "Magic Potion". The species I got probably won't be as interesting as Jay, but let's move on anyway. 😛 The package was sent out right after Thanksgiving and suffered a slight delay as a result. Even though it spent that extra day or two in the mail, the secure packing ensured that all the little, living contents inside were fine. 🙂 In all I ended up receiving around 25 Eublaberus distanti nymphs and 30 Ergaula pilosa nymphs, a great deal more than the 7 of each that was agreed upon! Why don't we detail those little buggers now. 😉

     Ergaula pilosa most commonly goes by the name "Black Beetle Mimic Roach"; it is both darker in color and a tad larger than the more common beetle mimic species, Ergaula capucina. Like other forest-dwelling Corydiids, they are considerably fuzzy as nymphs and, as adults, sport tegmina covered with a layer of velvety setae. I originally thought that the nymphs sported a variety of colors as they grew, but it just happened that most of my nymphs were rather freshly molted when I received them. In reality, they pretty much show the same coloration throughout nymphood - dark brown with deep red hues. I'm keeping them in a 64 oz. container with a good amount of pinholes poked around the sides for ventilation and have them on about 2.5-3 inches of a moist substrate mix including coconut fiber, coconut husk, sphagnum moss, and cypress mulch with some dead leaves on top. I still have not had any adults pop up and so I have not taken any new pics of the nymphs since I got them - imagine all the individuals pictured to be slightly larger and most of them darker in color than in the photos.

Said photos can be found right down here.

Medium-sized E.pilosa nymphs

Freshly molted, medium-sized E.pilosa nymph

Freshly molted, young E.pilosa nymph

Full E.pilosa group

E.pilosa enclosure

     Eublaberus distanti are pretty much the spitting image of their relative Eublaberus sp. "Ivory" as nymphs, but with slightly different pronotum coloration and markings at adulthood. Instead of an ivory color, its pronotum is peach-colored and in place of lip-looking markings, four distinct splotches usually adorn said pronotum. Despite it's name, "Six-Spotted Roach", the six spots on the nymphs are not a trademark among members of its genus and not even always the rule for its own species as different life stages may have less or no spots at all. Like other Eublaberus in culture, it is a large, substantially bulky, and prolific roach. I'm keeping them nearly identical to my Black Beetle Mimics, but I just don't always provide them with dead leaves; for that reason, I won't be showing photos of the enclosure. Since getting them, one individual has matured, but I only have older pics of the nymphs at the moment so just know that the largest one is probably now the adult and all the others are just like double-triple as large now. 😛

PICS. 

Large E.distanti nymph (probably the now adult)

Small E.distanti nymph

Starting group of E.distanti nymphs

Adult male E.distanti (probably the previously pictured large nymph)

     So that sums up my first trade with Jay! The only thing I didn't mention is that (I believe) both species came with some Trichorhina tomentosa in their substrate, which Jay didn't realize had spread into his colonies. They weren't exactly a welcomed addition to the collection and so I put minimal effort into maintaining them and I don't believe I have any individuals left anymore. On that note, I hope everyone liked the post and until we meet again, goodbye! 🙂