My first roaches!

charzard

Third Instar
Today my G. portentosa nymphs arrived from Kyle of Roach Crossing! I have ten of them and they are so adorable...I am in love!

I was curious, though, about the coloring of them and if it is due to how many molts they may have gone through thus far. I have two that are all dark brown on the top of them, such as the first photo, and they are the biggest of the bunch. Then there are two of them that are dark brown on top, but seem to have a lighter coloring on the edges. The other six are tiny and about the size of an eraser tip. So, my question is whether the coloring is due to how many molts they've gone through or sex related?

Also, do they shed their antennae when molting as well? I noticed one of the smaller ones with part of the antennae missing and I assume it will grow back next molt?

Thank you!

-Charlie

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Their color will change a bit as they molt. Assuming they're hybrids, their coloration will be somewhat variable as they grow too. 

 
Their color will change a bit as they molt. Assuming they're hybrids, their coloration will be somewhat variable as they grow too. 
Kyle's G.portentosa are pure, (at least as pure as you can get), so no worries about them being hybrids. :)

To the OP, color varies between molts, so what you are describing sounds normal to me. 

They don't shed their antennae when they molt, sounds like that one had his bitten off, it'll grow back within a few molts though. 

 
Kyle's G.portentosa are pure, (at least as pure as you can get), so no worries about them being hybrids. :)

To the OP, color varies between molts, so what you are describing sounds normal to me. 

They don't shed their antennae when they molt, sounds like that one had his bitten off, it'll grow back within a few molts though. 
Okay, excellent! I figured they were fine, but I was genuinely curious about the colors. When it comes to sexing them, is that only able to be determined once they are mature adults?

 
Kyle's G.portentosa are pure, (at least as pure as you can get), so no worries about them being hybrids. :)

To the OP, color varies between molts, so what you are describing sounds normal to me. 

They don't shed their antennae when they molt, sounds like that one had his bitten off, it'll grow back within a few molts though. 
Ahhh, that's right, for some reason I thought he had pure line and hybrids. 

Okay, excellent! I figured they were fine, but I was genuinely curious about the colors. When it comes to sexing them, is that only able to be determined once they are mature adults?
You can actually sex them pretty early on by looking at the last segment of their abdomen. Males have two smaller segments, while females have a fused single segment that's much larger. 

http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?/topic/6176-help-with-sexing-eublaberus-pantanal/#entry34580

 
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