I've got at least five mature females right now, and it seems that the largest ones are also the ones taking the longest to get really plump. I've also got two mature males, one of which is already about a month old and still looks perfectly healthy, so it appears this genus is one with somewhat long lived males, as opposed to the closely related Perisphaerus, who's males seldom make it to the month mark.
So far the microfauna in the enclosure seems perfectly balanced, (as all things should be), there's a healthy population of the cotton springtails, a lot of Liposcelis sp., and somehow some small silver springtails got in the enclosure as well, and are breeding pretty well in the moist corner... There's also some sort of fast moving, shiny predatory/soil mite, (same type in the Gyna capucina enclosure), red Oribatid mites, and a tiny population of grain mites that seems to dwindle with every passing week...
Probably one of the most varied microfauna groups I've seen in any of my enclosures, but they seem to exist in perfect harmony with each other, and more importantly, don't bother my Bantua, so that's great! 😁
Anyways, here are some pictures of my plumpest female, which is the same one featured in this post BTW!
My female and her little friend, a cotton springtail. |
As you can see, most of her already thin waxy coating has now been rubbed off, the same happens to most adult females over time. Hopefully she'll be giving birth soon, time will tell I suppose! 😊
By the way, bananas definitely seem to be the favorite food of my colony, seconded by chick feed, with apples being their least favorite...
Well that's gonna do it for this post, hope everyone enjoyed, thanks for reading, I'll see you all next time! 😜