Each shed starts out flat and disc shaped, that's normal for most roaches. Slowly they will get long and fat as they eat and get larger.Reusing an old topic to avoid making a new one and spamming up the boards
The nymph moulted again and is perfectly fine, so this isn't an issue, but what's with the sudden shape change after the second moult?
Because yesterday it was shaped like a normal hisser in miniature, and today it's flat and disk-shaped, which I seem to remember reading is normal, and presumably it will grow up to be normal hisser shaped again at some point, so out of curiosity... why is there a weird stage where they're circular instead of... cockroach shaped?
Exactly! Interesting fact, when a cockroach first molts its fully swollen with air that is how it gets the old skin to split. You can see how big it will get before next molt at this time. Minutes later it deflates and become flat and thin.Ohhh, that makes sense now I think about it, so by the time it's ready to moult again, its length will be in proportion to its width again, like it was before it moulted? That's useful to know, thanks very much
Looks very healthy!Makes sense, presumably to give them room to grow.
Yep, here's a photo.
I decided to take a photo of it every time it moults, because I've found a lack of photographs of nymphs at any stage other than newly born or almost adult, useful to have as a reference!
Growth is speeding up that's great!Just caught the little monster mid-moult, perfect as usual, as soon as it hardens I'll have another photo to add to my nymph-stages album
I'm thankful for that! I was concerned there was going to be months between moults, and that is way too long for me!
Glad to see a survivor, that's a special roach!Woah, didn't know this had been commented on again.
Yes, my little roach is still fighting like the trooper it is, considering that all my other roaches died I shouldn't tempt fate, but I nicknamed it Panic.
It's growing extremely slowly, it's only on its fourth moult but it is active and healthy and eats and drinks regularly, and it does shed. To all intents and purposes it's a normal roach, just slowed down! I am hoping to wait until it's sub-adult/adult and then get some more to keep it company, but at the moment I don't want to risk other roaches injuring it until it's a bit bigger.
It just turned a year old, so you can see how wee it is compared to how big a normal hisser is at a year old. The best I can fathom is that because the mother died the litter were born weak or immunocompromised or in some way lacking, which was why there were only six in the litter, and why the other five died soon after. 'Panic' was simply the lucky one that was undamaged enough to survive, but was stunted or lacking in some way that slowed its growth down somewhat.