Tuesday, May 30, 2023

New Spring Skins!

My Melanozosteria soror have finally matured, and have started laying ooths as well! These are definitely some cute little Blattids, really hope I'll successfully breed them! 😃 

Here are some pictures of an adult female:










Fingers crossed I find hatchlings soon! 🤞 

Three of my Gromphadorhina oblongonota have matured as well, a small male, small female, and large female. And MAN are they pretty, I really love the coloration on this species! 😍 

Here are some pictures of a pair:

Male










Female






Now hopefully they get to the breeding, so I can rear some larger ones up and hopefully get a major male next gen!

Good news and bad news for my Eucorydia forceps; good news, a male finally matured! Bad news, the one adult female I had died a few days after he matured... 🙃🤣 But there are lots of subadults of both sexes still in the culture, so I'm not that worried.

Anyways, here are some pics of the male:






Much prettier than the females IMO. Now, hopefully I get some freakin synced up pairs soon. 😆 

Lastly, all my Eucorydia westwoodi are mature now, and the females have been pumping out ooths! 😁 This species is just so stunning, both males and females, I really hope I get a good first generation from my culture!

Here are some pictures of them:

Females





Males and females

Aren't they gorgeous? 😍 

Well, that does it for this photodump of a post lol, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉 

Sunday, May 28, 2023

More Buggos from Brandon

Here are the last of the new additions to my collection that I got from Brandon Maines just a few weeks ago. 😃 

First off, he sent me a mated adult female and three nymphs of Arenivaga sp. "Phoenix, AZ". These were sold to him as Arenivaga tonkawa years ago, however they were clearly misidentified, and are more likely erratica IMO (but I'll need to see a mature male in person to come to a tentative ID).

I have them set up in the typical Arenivaga fashion, a very well ventilated container with an inch of coconut fiber substrate, one third of which I'm keeping humid, the rest bone dry. On top of the substrate there's some leaf litter for them to nibble on, and I'm also offering dog food for protein. Keeping them at around 75F°.

Here are some pictures of the adult female:














Such a vibrant red color, and she's already laid a few ooths for me, so will likely have hatchlings in a matter of months!

Next up, he sent me a group of Neoblattella sp. "Miami", an unidentified and potentially undescribed species collected by Alan Jeon last year. They highly resemble N.detersa, however the pronotum markings are different on adults, and adult female sp. "Miami" have pretty short wings, compared to the fully winged females of detersa.

I have them set up in a well ventilated deli cup with a thin layer of coconut fiber substrate, with some leaf litter, paper towels and bark for hides. I'm keeping them humid and at 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and fruits.

Here are some pictures of them:

Adult males









Adult males and nymph

Adult female









Nymphs




A neat little species for sure, the adult females look pretty cute with their short wings and squat appearance.

Next up, a familiar face for me, but not one I've ever bred before or posted about on the blog, the Flathorn Hisser, Aeluropoda insignis. Perhaps one of the most unique hissers in terms of morphology in the hobby, with very nice red and black coloration. They are sadly quite underrated, despite being easy to culture, and true major males being able to reach a very large size.

I've got them set up in a well ventilated container with an inch of coconut fiber substrate, with bark and cardboard rolls for hides. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest bone dry, and they're being kept at 75F°. For food I'm offering dog food and fruits.

Here are some pics of an adult pair:

Male







Female


Definitely an underrated species, hopefully they'll thrive for me! 😄 

Lastly, he sent me some European Orange springtails, Yuukianura aphoruroides (previously erroneously identified as Bilobella braunerae and Protanura sp. "Orange"). I've been wary of getting these previously, since my more prolific springtails and predatory mites usually get into slower breeding springtail bins and wipe them out... however apparently these are pretty hardly little dudes, and Brandon has tons of them now, so why not try right?

I've got them set up in a moderately ventilated container with a mix of flake soil, coco fiber, moss, and a tiny bit of sand as the substrate, almost an inch deep. I'm keeping them humid,, and at around 74F°. Feeding them dog food and artificial pollen. Pretty sure they're already breeding, so that's a good sign I suppose.

Here are some pictures of the little living cheeto dust:












A cute species for sure, wish I'd been able to get some better pictures of them. 😅 Hopefully they'll breed well for me!

Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉