Invertebrate Dude: More Italian Bugs, & Other Odd Additions!

Monday, November 17, 2025

More Italian Bugs, & Other Odd Additions!

I have finally established a colony of what I believe to be Chaetophiloscia elongata from Trastevere, Rome, Italy. The founding stock was a mere two females, and this species seems to have relatively small broods. However they're finally in the dozens now, and I just moved them to a larger enclosure, which will hopefully help bump their numbers. 😄

I've got them in a moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with leaf litter and bark. I'm keeping them humid, at around 75-80F°, and am offering dog food as the supplemental diet.

Here's hoping they keep breeding and doing well for me, so I can eventually make them available!

Earlier this year I got some Arcitalitrus sylvaticus, AKA "Lawn Shrimp" from Smugbug. These terrestrial amphipods are widespread in the coastal US states, and prefer moist conditions, but not soaking wet/stagnant. They can jump quite well, kinda like springtails, so care must be taken that their enclosure is tall enough that they can't leap out while you are doing maintenance on them. They spend much of their time underground and so prefer an organically rich substrate that they can feed from, though they will scavenge more protein rich foods from the surface of the substrate as well.

I keep mine in a minimally ventilated container with a couple inches of coco fiber, sphagnum moss, and sawdust mixed together with leaf litter. I'll top off the leaf litter and sometimes add more sawdust as well as they consume it all. I'm keeping them moist, at around 75F°, and offer dog food and fish food as the supplemental diet.

A very interesting, obscure invertebrate in culture, would love to get more terrestrial amphipod species in the future! And perhaps easier to care for freshwater species as well... 👀

This summer I acquired two Blaps cf. mucronata localities, a single female from the Colosseum in Rome, and a group of adults from near the Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Rome. These are sometimes called "Graveyard Beetles", because of their affinity to living in old, less kempt graveyards and similar environments amongst urban areas, cellars of old houses, parks, etc..

Now I got larvae from both groups, however while they've proven easy to rear to a mature size, the pupae and teneral adults seem very picky about humidity levels, so I've had issues getting any to adulthood. I've reared one adult successfully of the Pyramid locality, I'm concerned I may lose the Colosseum locality though...

I've got both localities set up in well ventilated containers with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate mixed with a tiny bit of sand. I keep them on a 50/50 humidity gradient, at around 75-80F°, and feed them dog food as the staple diet.

I've been isolating larvae to minimally ventilated deli cups with moist substrate, as I do Eleodes, however I'm having to workshop the ventilation and moisture levels now to try and increase pupal survival... Hopefully I can figure that out relatively quickly. I'm going to aim for lower moisture and higher ventilation going forward.

Here's hoping I can figure out how to rear these more consistently, Blaps have been a dream of mine to work with and I'd really like to succeed with them!

I got some Armadillidium gestroi "Zinger" earlier this year, also from Smugbug, and they bred and established themselves for me very quickly (as is standard for this hardy species). I really love the contrast on this morph, which features white spots on their backs instead of the normal yellow.

I have mine set up in a moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with bark and leaf litter. I'm keeping them at around 80-85F°, humid, and am offering them dog food as the staple diet.

Definitely a neat morph of a nice and hardy species, great for beginners and experienced isopod enthusiasts alike.

Lastly, earlier this year I got a group of Armadillidium vulgare from Pisa, Province of Pisa, Italy. These are maybe the only strain of wild type, Old World vulgare in culture here in the states, and I gotta say they are pretty neat for wild types! Rather dark, sparsely mottled with yellow spots, and overall a bit smaller than most US stocks I have.

I have them in a well ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped in bark, sphagnum moss and leaf litter. I'm keeping them on a 50/50 humidity gradient, at around 75F°, and am offering dog food as the supplemental diet.