Extinct in the Wild, but Present in the Hobby?

Peter Clausen

Peter Clausen

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Catchy title, eh?

Well, it may be true. The roaches in this video may be extinct in the wild, existing in only a few captive cultures. Simandoa conserfariam were discovered in a cave system which may have been destroyed by bauxite mining according to one of the author's of the species, Piotr Naskrecki. Their common name is the Simandoa cave roach. The specific name means "to preserve in many places". And thus, they are introduced into our hobby!

Here is a link to a partial page of information. I have the full article if anybody would like to email me for it.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3503709

 
These roaches are so beautiful!

An example to the terrarists save a species.

Btw, I'll mailing you about the article (;

Zoltan

 
I think you should send them to a professional (I'd be happy to care for them properly) :D

 
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Very pretty. It seems like captivity may be the only hope for some species. I think there are quite a few fish species that only still exist because of their value in the aquarium trade! :o

At any rate, I hope you get lots of babies! It seems like the adults in the video were all males (judging by abdomen size) so I hope there are some females lurking in there too.

 
Thanks for all the replies. These things are my babies now. It's been a very long time since I've been this excited about a pet species.

They do like to hide during the day, as would be expected from a cave species. If I flick the lights on at night they scurry back below deck.

They've eaten apple, pear, yam peels and carrot this first week. I think I'd given them some bits of zucchini too. (Don't tell my kids I didn't finish my vegetables!)

 
How did you obtain such a rare species, Peter? I am also curious if there is a substitute for bat guano that would be beneficial in their captive habitat (unless you have a good source for bat guano ;) ) How big are those adults? Really pretty!

 
They're slightly larger than a giant lobster roach at about an inch and a half. I've tried powdered guano (bat feces) in the past with B. giganteus, but they didn't have much interest in it. I'm pretty sure they've been raised w/o the guano as part of their diet in captivity for several years. The roaches were given to me, I think, in the spirit of their species name--that their existence as a species would be aided by hobbyists.

 
Why don't they re-introduce them in the wild? Don't conservationists stick up for cockroaches too?

 
i would think all the gut fauna thay may need, would be present in any of the adults fras so thay could get it from there. o and MantisMan Gauno is a Spanish word/Spanish based, interesting that it's so similar in polish

 
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Wonder if different bats guano(poo) tastes different? Each bat species have different diets. Also you can buy many flavors of bat guano at horticulture supply stores now. They come from different countries each has unique N.P.K levels. Guess someone needs to experiment. :P

 
Oooh! My two cents! I believe you can buy organic bat guano at a store called Pike Family Nursery. (I used to work there.) Unfortunately... this store is only in Georgia. Anyhow, you may be able to find it online if the manufacturer sells it or if you want to contact me privately and have me buy you some and send it over (if you compensate), I'd be happy to do so! Actually, I would be happy to trade shipping for some Blatta lateralis to start a small colony at the University of Georgia. How much fun does that sound! We need a better roach-racing species than Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. I wish I were joking. They actually tried to race madagascar... anyhow.

 
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