4/7/2022: Spring status update!

Hello again everyone after a drought of posts!

This is a mid-depth update to bring you all up to speed with some current goings-ons at Roach Crossing.

It’s been tough finding time to do everything without Will around, but I’ve been doing my best to manage both progress and potential burn out. Orders will likely be slated to go out two to three weeks after placement, as I simply don’t have enough time in a week to get every batch out while also doing husbandry, e-mails, and personal life things. I’m looking for a part time worker, so if there are any updates to that you’ll see it on the blog.

The weather should fully break for spring soon, and with that a plethora of things for me to micromanage. High ambient humidity means less watering but a higher chance of overwatering, which can be even worse for some colonies. However, with bugs my full time gig this summer for the first time in 3 years, the bug room will be kept balmier than usual and the evaporation should help offset this. It’s always a crapshoot with some species if they’ll thrive or fail in the humidity, but one I’m constantly keeping in mind.

I have been having issues getting some previously easy blattid and ectobiid roaches to propagate, and have suspected everything from pathogens to contamination. There are no hard answers yet, and as I examine the situation holistically I wonder if low humidity in my high-ventilation set ups could be to blame. Hopefully a straight answer looms on the horizon, but for now with most cultures thriving such thoughts can’t be my primary focus.

There is good news on other fronts, though. All three Arenivaga floridensis locales are doing splendidly, and though I will be swapping “Archbold” with “Lake Placid” on the site due to my “Archbold” colony collapsing (and the locales being VERY close to each other geographically), I may soon add “Tampa” to the ranks as well. My suspicion that these new decked out set ups would give me more reproductive consistency seemed to be spot on, and I have never seen plumper captive floridensis in my life. If the trend continues, my “Ocala” and “Lake Placid” colonies may be fruitful enough to sell from by mid summer, though I will probably bolster the numbers of both with more wild caughts just to be sure I don’t have to plan a whole other Florida trip around collecting more.

That may be it for the moment, but I hope to get some smaller, pic-included blog posts up in the near future. With an expo this weekend, my time is spread even further thin, but mid April should provide some schedule relief.

Thanks for reading, your patience, and as always, your patronage!

-Kyle