Micro Teneb Updates

My Conibius cf. seriatus are really taking off, they had stopped breeding last year around Fall, which I took to mean they needed a diapause. So I kept them in the high 60s, and kept them dark through the winter. When Spring came I bumped up the temps and gave them a longer photoperiod (which seems to be a lot less important than the temps), and they started breeding rapidly. 

Some pics of some CB adults clumped under various hides:

Glad these little guys are doing so well for me, makes me want to try other members of this genus out! 😁 I actually am offering these up to the public now, they are quite easy to rear and have some potential as occasional micro-feeders, more than anything they are cute and pretty for a desert Teneb though, and cultures make neat little pets.

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Now to my Blapstinus sp... Mine aren't breeding as prolifically as the Conibius, but they are still doing better for me than ever before, and there's over a dozen CB adults in the colony right now. They also needed a mild diapause, I put them through the same regimen as my Conibius, and they too started breeding in the Spring. 

Hopefully I'll be able to build up the colony a bit more over the Summer and maybe even have enough to spread some around in the hobby, we'll see!

Anyways, that's gonna do it for today, hope everyone enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you all in the next post! 😉

F2 Cryptoglossa muricata!!!

I just found 4 small Cryptoglossa muricata larvae in my breeding bin for that species, looks like I did indeed end up with a pair out of my three CB adults! 😁 And what's more, these may very well be the FIRST ever documented F2 Cryptoglossa muricata larvae in the world! 😄

I hope there are more larvae where these came from, but I also think I may have found them a little later than I'd hoped I would... The largest larva is easily double the size of the other three, Cryptoglossini larvae are quite cannibalistic and I think I may have lost quite a few larvae as a result. However, if I can rear these four to maturity, I'd still more than double my current population. 😂

I have all four set up in 2 oz deli cups filled with a sand and coco fiber mix, that I'll be keeping semi humid, or half humid half dry if possible, kinda hard to make moisture gradients in such small containers, especially with sand in the mix. On top of the substrate I have some crushed, well rotted leaf litter, and I will be offering chick feed as well for protein, (might even offer them Conibius and/or Blapstinus larvae, since both those colonies are breeding again after a mild winter diapause). I'll be keeping them dark, and at room temps for now.

Here are some pictures of the largest larva:

I'm quite happy that my CB adults have produced CB larvae of their own, I was beginning to become skeptical that I even had a pair, since I have never seen them mate before, whereas it's hard not to catch most other darkling genera copulating in captivity... 😆 

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll catch you next time! 😉

Bummer Beetle Updates

Let's start off with my Carabus nemoralis... Unfortunately, the one larva I found died shortly after I isolated it, I'm not 100% sure why, but I think pre-killed mealworms may not be an adequate food source for larvae of this species, they may actually need caterpillars. 😟 Either that, or it needed a winter diapause or something, IDK. 

Additionally, both my WC adults have hunkered down and appear to hibernating, with no signs of interest in food or in making more offspring. Honestly, I'm just not feeling it anymore with this species, after failing so bad with the few offspring I got, and me and Carabids don't go together so well historically... So I think I'm just gonna release the adults back where I found them, they'll probably be better off that way. 

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Secondly, sadly my female Nyctoporis carinata has passed away, and I didn't get any larvae from her... 😔 I only saw her lay a single egg, on top of the substrate in the driest part of the enclosure, and when I tried to move said egg to the moist area of the enclosure (since even desert Teneb eggs can rarely tolerate bone dry conditions for long, though coniontises tells me Nyctoporis are an exception), it essentially disintegrated to the touch. I think she was near the end of her life cycle by the time she was sent to me, and laid most of the eggs she had left in her in the care of coniontises.

Oh well, was interesting finally seeing an adult of this species in person nonetheless, sucks that I wasn't able to get any offspring from her, but I don't think there was much I could have done TBH. Was a neat little project nonetheless, and I appreciate that coniontises sent her to me in the first place. 😄

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Lastly, the first of my Cerenopus concolor adults has died, and a couple others have lost tarsi. I guess I got unlucky and got some older adults, either that, or the adults of this species just don't live that long. Or I guess my husbandry could be incorrect, but I don't know what I'd be doing wrong that would kill these adults prematurely. 🤔 

So far no signs of reproduction from these, which I kinda expected, I don't think any of the WC Tenebs I got after Summer are going to reproduce until Spring, that's kind of the norm I think. Even my CB Conibius and Blapstinus stopped breeding in late Fall. Once Spring hits, whatever Tenebs I've still got by then should start breeding again, really hoping the rest of my Ceronopus, my Asbolus, Iphthiminus, and Trogloderus make it until then.

Not the happiest post, but you know I gotta make these, can't have the good updates without the bad, they go hand in hand in this hobby. 🤷‍♂️ Anyways, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time.

More Misc Updates!

Alrighty, got some more small updates for y'all, so let's jump in, starting with my Jumping Bristletails! (Meinertellidae sp. "ID"). 😄 Unfortunately that pun is the most lighthearted part of this update, which is rather gloomy...

So I ended up catching five of these things back in July, and unfortunately I only have one left... 😣 They just kept dying one after the other, and I'm honestly not sure why, they've been eating the food I've offered them, they have a moisture gradient, but seem to have no specific preference for their humidity levels, and I've been keeping them well ventilated and warm. Several of them molted, and none lost many scales at all, which was the main problem my group had back in 2014.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I kept this group in too small a container, and they actually killed each other due to territorial disputes... Other than that, I've got no clue why they died.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like they bred or laid any eggs either, as I've not seen courting behaviors or any offspring, perhaps I only had males? That would lend more credibility to my territorial dispute theory... 🤔

Anyways, looks like this project was a big bust, maybe I'll try again one day, for now it looks like Bristletails will not be coming to the hobby anytime soon though... 😞

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On a lighter note, my Myrmecophilus cf. manni hatchlings are all doing well, don't have a headcount yet, but everytime I open their jar it feels like there's one or two more in there! 😄 They're also feeding well too, as most look quite plump now, whereas they hatch out very skinny.
I recently added some squares of corrugated cardboard to the enclosure for the nymphs to hide in, to give them more surface area, so far they seem to love them. 😁

Unfortunately I believe all the adults are dead, as I've not seen them in a while, however I've also not seen any adults outside, so they probably just died of old age TBH. So not the most long lived little things, or the most prolific, or the fastest growing, as these hatchlings seem to be taking their sweet time to molt... But cute has to count for something I guess! 😂

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I am happy to report that after refreshing their enclosure and replacing the substrate, my Bantua sp. "Namibia" have started giving birth again, found a new litter born last week! 😁

Here are a couple pics of the newborns, and a subadult female for the heck of it:

Hopefully there's more where those came from! 🤞

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My Conibius cf. seriatus pupae have been eclosing, and I finally snapped some pictures of some teneral adults!

Here's one an hour or two after eclosing

And here's one a few days after eclosing

So it only takes around a week or so for the pupae to eclose, pretty quick! Not surprising considering the larvae only took a few weeks to develop completely. 😄 If they were a little more prolific, they'd make for some great micro-feeders!

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Lastly, I wanted to give an update on my silverfish, Lepisma saccharina. I decided to move their jar downstairs where it's cooler, since I had another batch of babies hatch out, and it looks like most of them died during the recent heat wave we had... 😑The adults were all fine thankfully. The few nymphs that survived are doing great now that I've moved them to a cooler location though, and are actually molting and growing, finally! 😂 Now hopefully with the next batch of offspring my adults produce I can get the ball rolling on getting a proper colony established! 😅

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this jam packed update post, hope y'all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you next time! 😉

Updates People, Updates!

Alrighty, got some misc updates for you guys this post, here we go!

First off, Athena, my adult female Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes, unfortunately is not doing so hot. She seems to be losing control in both her right legs, so she can only hobble around now. I removed all vertical bark from the enclosure, and gave her a TP roll to hide in, she seems to just sit out in the open mostly though. Oh well, I'll keep taking care of her the best I can, I have no idea how much longer she'll last. Guess she was just too stressed from being shipped, even molting to adulthood couldn't save her from whatever neurological damage was sustained from heat shock. 😞

So yeah, shipping large Ceuthophilus during warmer months is definitely not advised, just FYI. Small nymphs might be fine though, I hope to find out soon...

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My Conibius cf. seriatus are doing great, most of the larvae produced from that first female have already pupated, this species develops FAST! 😄 And there are new tiny larvae being produced from the newer group of adults, so this colony is gonna grow very fast!

Here are some pics of a pupa:

Even faster growing than Apsena, and just as colorful! Too bad they're quite a bit smaller than them... 😅

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My Eleodes (Blapylis) sp. larvae have started pupating as well, and I just realized I've never photographed their pupae before... So let's change that! 😜

Here we go:

Normal looking for an Eleodes pupa, but hey, now I've got pictures of this species too.  😂

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

Conibius & Eleodes Updates!

Good news, I ended up finding 8 more Conibius cf. seriatus adults over the course of two days, after a week of searching! 😄 They seem to be associated with ant nests, as I found a couple under a board on the ground next to some ant queens that were in the process of creating a new colony, and found a bunch more the next day under a wooden pole that had an ant colony underneath it.

Now wanna know the best part? I found all those individuals on the 22nd and 23rd, and then, one day later, on the 24th, I found hatchlings in their enclosure... 😂 Evidently the one individual I had caught over a week ago was a female, and apparently the eggs of this species only take around a week to hatch! So I didn't even need to collect any more! 🤣 Oh well, at least I should get a pretty stable colony going now with all the individuals I collected, and I now know that it's easy to get this species to oviposit!

Here are some pictures of the larvae I took earlier today:

Cute little things, now hopefully they'll be easy to rear! 😊

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I'm not exaggerating when I say I've probably got nearly two hundred larvae in my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis enclosure... Apparently females lay a LOT of eggs when the substrate is to their liking, and I had collected quite a few females. 😅

They are growing well, and now that they've picked up some size I thought I'd snap some pictures of them:

They're still around 2 cm long, so they've got a ways to go in terms of growth still! Note the one super pale, freshly molted individual.
But yeah if any of you want some, be sure to check out the For Sale page, I'm seriously overrun with this particular species, so if you order some you can expect a decent amount of freebies... 😂

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

A New Native Teneb for Me!

I've been living here in southwest Idaho for several years now, and I'd like to think I've become quite familiar with the Tenebrionid species in the immediate area, yet it seems each year I keep finding new ones! This time it's not just a new species, but a completely new genus for me, Conibius! 😁 I found this little beauty a few days ago out in the field, near an old abandoned animal pen of some sort, which has long been torn down and overgrown, with ground squirrel burrows and ant colonies all around it, and an abundance of rotten grain inside, (which Tenebrio molitor and T.obscura have both taken advantage of).

I believe this one is Conibius seriatus, which according to the 2018 Catalogue of Tenebrionidae of North America, has the northernmost range of any of the US Conibius, being found as far north as Oregon. However, I can't find any records of this species being collected from Idaho as far as I know, so this may be the first ID record for Conibius!

I've got my single individual set up in a well ventilated 2 oz deli cup, with over a cm of coconut fiber as the substrate, which I'll keep mostly dry with a small moist area. I'll offer chick feed for food, and I've given it a small piece of eggcrate for a hide. With any luck this one will be a gravid female, but I'll keep looking for more in the meantime! (talk about looking for a needle in a haystack, these things are only like 4 mm long, and I believe this genus is naturally more secretive than the other micro-Tenebs I'm used to collecting).

Anyways, here are some pictures of this little treasure:

The flash kinda dulled the colors a bit, in person this individual has the same kind of color scheme as the local Apsena, bluish black elytra, with the rest of the body and limbs being a dull red. A pretty color scheme for such a small beetle, I really hope these are as easy to breed as the Apsena are! 😅

Anyways, that's gonna have to do it for this post, thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉