New Pods & Some Roach Updates!

I got a group of Cubaris sp. "Amber Firefly - LCF" in trade with Alyssa from Forests of Asgard, was very happy with the counts and health of the specimens on arrival, and am glad to report they have blossomed into a full on breeding colony as of now! 😊 This is one of those species that has a bit of a silvery sheen to their exoskeleton (especially when they dry out a little bit), which is hard to capture on camera, but needless to say they look a lot prettier in person!

I have mine set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of leftover substrate from some other breeding project I've forgotten (so a mix of coco fiber, sand and I think a little clay too), topped with coco coir chunks, bark and leaf litter. I am keeping them fairly humid, at around 75-85F, and am offering dog food and fish food pellets as their supplemental diet, as well as some calcium carbonate chunks.

Here are some pics of them:

A beautiful species, I would like to acquire some of the other color forms in the future as well. Glad they are doing well for me, hopefully they will continue to do so!

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At some point last year I got some Cubaris sp. "Black Bear" from my buddy Ty at Ty Dye Exotics, and I keep forgetting to post about them! They are a cute, velvety species that seems fairly easy to rear and breed, though a bit slow growing/breeding. They are part of an undescribed genus that also includes some other species like sp. "Kayson Honey".

I have them in a moderately ventilated setup with an inch or so of coco fiber and coco coir chunks as the substrate, topped with bark pieces and leaf litter. I am keeping them humid, at around 75F, and am feeding them dog food and calcium carbonate chunks as their supplemental foods.

Here are some photos of 'em!

A very underrated species IMO, these and the Amber Fireflies are now on my For Sale list BTW, if anyone is interested in adding some to their own collections. 😜

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My Asiopus minimus are doing well and have exploded in numbers. They are evidently a very easy to keep species, not sensitive to crowding much at all. 

Here's a single picture I took of a glob of adults:

Glad these have done so well for me, another species to add to my ever growing assortment of Tenebrionid colonies.

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My Cariblatta minima have also been doing quite well, and I really don't have anything noteworthy to add as an update. I just got a somewhat decent picture of a bunch of them chowing down on dog food recently and figured I'd post it here.

A neat little species that I think a lot more people should keep.

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My Byrsotria rothi have all not only matured, but have bred as well. I can't believe I never kept these before, these are SO underrated! The males have some neat morphology and wing shape, and I love the dark reds the females have on their abdomen. 😍

Here are some pictures of an adult pair:

Female

Male

Pair

This genus in general is so underrated, but this species in particular is ridiculously slept on! I hope to see more hobbyists keeping them in the future, along with some of the other "forgotten" hobby staples that have sort of fallen into obscurity now with the influx of more "interesting" species that have entered culture as of late.

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I moved my Paranauphoeta formosana to a larger 5 gallon bin recently, and weirdly they've been having a lot of die off in the process. I think the sudden change of environment, combined with slightly less ventilation and higher humidity in that setup may have been to blame. I have since let the setup dry out some more, though I may also add some more ventilation soon. The die offs seem to have slowed down though, and I've seen several litters born lately, so I'm not too worried ATM.

Anyways, got some group photos of some adults recently:

It's so dang hard to get even somewhat decent photos of this species, the adults are SO SKITTISH. They are much prettier in person than in photos IMO, these have also fallen into obscurity recently I feel, despite their attractive patterning and former popularity.

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post. Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

Mo Trades Mo Problems

Well, if by problems, you mean more mouths to feed, then I guess you could say so. Otherwise I'm actually pretty happy with all of these transactions, just wantedto make an Office reference. 😆 

Anyways, I did a trade with Satchell some months ago for a couple species of Tenebrionids from Alabama, which went quite smoothly.

First off, we got Asiopus minimus. A relatively small species (adults can grow a litttle over a cm long) that I'd not asked for, and came as a freebie surprise. These have proven rather fast and easy breeders, though they arrive not terribly prolific.

I have mine housed in a well ventilated enclosure with a layer of coco fiber at the bottom, topped with eggcrate pieces and leaf litter. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and they're at around 75F°. I'm using dog food as the staple diet.

Here are some pictures of a few adults:

Teneral adult

Definitely a cute little species, and a pleasant surprise addition to this trade.

The main creature I'd requested however, was Gondwanocrypticus. I have fond memories of catching and attempting to keep these beetles as a kid when I lived in Florida, and have been wanting to culture them seriously again now that I'm more experienced. Thankfully Satchell delivered, and found me a group of Gondwanocrypticus cf. platensis. These are diminutive, fast moving and rather short lived darklings, but they are thankfully rather easy to breed.

I have mine in a well ventilated enclosure with a layer of coco fiber and sand substrate (about a 50/50 mix), keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry. I'm offering dog food as the staple diet, and have them at around 75-80F°. 

Here are some pictures of the adults:

These are not especially prolific, but are pretty fast growing. Larvae are pale and wirey, and very inconspicuous. I'm happy to have this genus in my collection, a small piece of my childhood in a shoebox. 😊

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Next up, my local friend Sarah was kind enough to gift me a culture of an Armadillidium vulgare project she's been working on and has finished refining. The locality is Kuna, Idaho, and the morph/line name she has chosen is "Basalt & Sunflower". This line throws a pretty even mix of dark grey individuals (the "Basalt"), and then very high yellow individuals ("Sunflower"). There some pale intergrades as well, but overall the color ratios are pretty dang consistent (and very far removed from any of the wild type vulgare from this area I've ever seen).

Here are a few pics of them:

A very nice strain, to me they seem like the perfect A.vulgare equivalent of Porcellionides cf. virgatus "BPK".

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I recently traded Carlos Michaelsen of Tropical Isopods for some Dendrochernes sp. "Union Trails, FL", a very small and nicely patterned species of Pseudoscorpion. Unfortunately some of them escaped from their deli cup through the ventilation holes, and at least a couple perished as a result. I would like to stress that this was not Carlos' fault, he truly did not think they would be able to squeeze out of the ventilation holes he had poked (it can be hard to gauge their size, since their pedipalps make them look larger than they actually are).

In any case, what I was left with should be enough to establish a culture, I believe I have at least 1 or two pairs in there. 

I have them in my typical Pseudoscorpion setup, a moderately ventilated enclosure with a thin layer of coconut fiber at the bottom, topped with several inches of coco coir chunks and bark pieces. I'm keeping a third of the setup humid, the rest dry. They're being fed oribatid mites and springtails, and I'm keeping them at around 75-80F°.

Here are some photos of a couple adults:

A very cute and unique addition to the hobby, hopefully they'll breed well for me!

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Lastly, I traded for a group of Coelus ciliatus from KiwiAustros on Discord. I've been itching to get this species back in my collection, and hopefully I can spread them around in culture this time around! 

I have them in a well ventilated enclosure with a couple inches of play sand substrate, topped with a bit of leaf litter. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and have them at around 75F°. I'm feeding them dog food, in addition to the leaf litter.

Here are some pictures of the adults:

This Montara locality looks a little different than the old Santa Barbara locality I used to keep, but I'm fairly confident in the ID, and this species is known to be rather variable in morphology across it's wide range.

They've already started producing larvae, so looks like I'm well on my way to establishing a colony!

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