Harlequin Roaches, Neostylopyga rhombifolia

 Hi everyone. Sorry for not posting here in a while, but welcome to another blog post.

On January 10th of this year, I received a package from Spider Lover Petshop, consisting of around 10-12 specimens of Neostylopyga rhombifolia. 


Neostylopyga rhombifolia (picture taken on January 30th)

I was very stunned. To me, pictures don't really portray their beauty as well as when you see them in person.

I was initially keeping them in a 200 quart storage bin with dry substrate, leaf litter, two food dishes and a carton hide and relied on fresh foods to keep them hydrated.


This was the setup I was originally keeping them in.

In just a couple of weeks, I have spotted a looooot of oothecas. They are so prolific!


Female airing out an ootheca

So then I waited.

One by one, the adults started dying off, maybe out of old age.

But around mid to late February, I finally spotted the first batch of nymphs.


Harlequin nymphs

I was very excited. There were around 20-30ish ooths, so I couldn't wait to have tons of these guys.

But gradually, the numbers started to decrease, and they weren't growing at all.

That is when I noticed that one somehow escaped from the barrier, and of course I patched up the broken mesh first. But I found it in my dubia enclosure, where there was a sphagnum hydration station.

I looked at it, and it was a lot larger than the ones in their own enclosure.

That was when I thought of trying to give a sphagnum moss hydration station as well for them.

So I did, and wow. They significantly improved in growth and birth rate. I noticed a lot more oothecas hatching, and the older survivors also growing really fast.



As shown above, some were getting an orange coloration on them.

Fast forward to now, a lot more oothecas have hatched and the tiny little darker ones are also now in the larger orange state, although some are also still slightly darker while being in the same instar.



Here is one that entered this instar (I assume i4-i5) just around a couple hours ago. As you can see above, they have gotten their adult coloration.


This is one that entered this instar maybe around yesterday. The "harlequin" markings are very visible and contrast here.

Anyway, that's all for this post. I'll make sure to update you guys on them for sure in future posts.

Thanks for reading, and goodbye! 👋



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