Odds & Ends

Well, my Helleria brevicornis are doing fantastic, the remaining old individuals from last year are growing pretty big, and their many offspring are growing slowly but steadily. I put them through a mild diapause this winter, to ensure breeding activity this year from the older individuals, and I'm pretty sure I've seen some mating activities already. 😃 So here's hoping for lots more babies this year!

Anyways, here are some pictures of one of my largest individuals:

This still isn't full size for this species, but this one's still the largest conglobating isopod I've seen in person. 😍

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I FINALLY started getting eggs and larvae from my Cryptoglossa infausta! Seems pure fine clay does not work as an oviposition medium for this species, a mix of clay, sand and old Panesthiinae substrate did the trick though (and has also seemed to help reproduction improvement with my C.muricata as well). The larvae are pretty typically looking for Cryptoglossini, but still, I figured I'd get pictures of confirmed C.infausta larvae, something that hasn't really existed until now. 

Without further delay, here are those pics:

Hopefully I'll be able to rear some to adulthood, we'll see!

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Now, my Cubaris sp. "White Ducky" have not been breeding that well for me at all, with very very infrequent broods and minimal mancae survival rates, despite me keeping them as is typically recommended for this species. I'm pretty sure I figured it out though; I was keeping them too cool, and possibly not ventilated enough.

I tossed one female in as a test into an old roach bin (with some excess Hebardina males and stowaway Compsodes still inside), and she gave birth pretty quickly afterwards. The resulting offspring have been thriving, so I bit the bullet and threw the rest of my colony into that roach bin. Since then, at least one or two more litters have been born, and the mancae from the older broods are growing very quickly. Apparently heat and high ventilation are key for this species, and I'm realizing a lot of isopods in general seem to handle it pretty warm, if not prefer it warm. But having high ventilation seems crucial in warmer temps, otherwise they can die rapidly.

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Lastly, another isopod update, one of my Porcellio magnificus females gave birth this week, and another female looks super gravid! These things are very slow breeders, but at least they give birth to decent sized broods. 😅

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

Darklings From Kai! (Through Roachcrossing)

This post foreshadows my next few posts, where I'll be discussing a large package I got from Kyle of Roachcrossing... 😁 However, before I get to those, my friend Junkai Wang went on a collection trip with Alan and co. out west earlier this Summer, and he caught some Tenebs for me, which he then gave to Kyle to send to me. 😄

So, let's start off with the most exciting new addition Kai collected IMO, Embaphion muricatum "Chaves County, NM"! 😍 Kai sent me a couple adults, both of which appear to be female, and the substrate they were shipped in was filled with a couple dozen eggs and newly hatched larvae! 😁 FINALLY some fresh, Trichoderma mold free E.muricatum, something I've been unable to find for the past year, since it seems EVERY existing colony of my old "Albuquerque, NM" stock left in captivity is contaminated with that fungus... 😢 But now I've got new stock to work with, and can help establish clean cultures in the US hobby once again.

I've got them house in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of coconut fiber as the substrate, with a piece of bark for the adults to hide under. I'm keeping a third of the substrate humid, the rest dry, and keeping them at around 75F°. I'll be feeding them dog food and the occasional root veggie too.

Here are some pics of one of the adults:

They're already laying eggs in their new setup, I should have tons more larvae soon! 😁

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Next up, both Kai and Kyle sent a few Edrotes from various locales, most of which appear to be E.ventricosus, but one oddball might actually be E.rotundus (or just a weird ventricosus, hard to tell because both species are very variable). This genus had previously been written off as impossible to breed, however fellow Teneb hobbyist Grant Wass figured out the key: a VERY fine sand substrate. 

So, I've got mine all set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of fine sand and fine clay substrate, I'm keeping one corner humid, the rest bone dry. I'll be feeding them dog food, and keeping them at around 75F°.

Here are are pictures of the cuties:

E.rotundus?

E.ventricosus

Comparison between the two

Hopefully I can get larvae from this genus, that would be very nice indeed! 😁

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Lastly, Kai sent me some Cryptoglossa infausta, arguably the least commonly collected Cryptoglossa species, one I almost never see in culture. Interested to see if they'll breed for me, would be cool to document the life stages of such an obscure death feigning beetle. 😃

I've got them set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of fine clay substrate, keeping one corner moist, the rest dry. I'll be feeding them dog food, and will keep them at around 75F°.

Here are some pictures of a couple of them:

Here's hoping they'll breed for me, definitely seems like I have both males and females. 😄

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, big thanks to Kai for collecting these beetles and sending them to me! ❤️😁 Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉