IMPORTANT PSA Re; My Cubaris sp. "Surat Thani" Stock!

If you or a loved one bought Cubaris sp. "Surat Thani" from me... unfortunately it's been revealed that the stock I had was mislabeled. They are actually Cubaris sp. "Salmon Martinique". This re-identification of my stock comes from morphological features and also behavioral ones, I noticed they were breeding much faster and seemed much more hardy than sp. "Surat Thani" I kept years ago, and that their coloration looked a little off. So I asked some experts, and lo and behold they are apparently just mislabeled sp. "Salmon Martinique"...

I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused any customers of mine, I am very careful and meticulous with how I label my stocks to ensure that people get what they are looking for, but unfortunately this one slipped through the cracks. Me not having a TON of isopods, specifically the other orange Cubaris spp. to compare to, and not being an expert on identifying them by any means, resulted in this mishap. I just took the ID they were marketed under at face value, and that's on me. 

Unfortunately rampant mislabeling of species is very much a thing in this hobby, and is a problem that tends to get worse and worse over time. I have unfortunately been unable to source any real sp. "Surat Thani" as of late, and wonder if they're actually extinct from the US hobby...

So TLDR; if you got Cubaris sp. "Surat Thani" from me, you in fact got Cubaris sp. "Salmon Martinique". Please relabel your setups accordingly. Pictures below are of my current stock, identified now as C.sp. "Salmon Martinique".

Phone Pics

Camera Pics

Anyways, that does it for this post. Thanks for reading, and again, apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused anyone who obtained this mislabeled stock from me.

Dipteretrum Adults & Disappointing Hormetica/Cubaris News...

Well, while I stated in my recent post about this species that none of my females seemed close to maturing, either I missed a large female nymph, or they grow super fast, because I now have an adult female Dipteretrum hanstroemi! 😁 

The females of this species are way prettier than I thought, with beautiful red tones on their thoracic segments, with little ornate black markings overlaying the red. They also sport jet black abdomens, and stripey legs. Overall, quite a pretty species as adults! 😍

Here are some pics, both of the adult female alone, and her side by side with a male for comparison:

Adult female

Adult pair

The sexual dimorphism is strong in this species! 😂 Hopefully I'll be seeing babies in there soon!

BTW, I noticed several of the individuals in my colony had issues with their antennae. It's almost like they would lose all strength halfway down their antennae, and so they'd look all bent all the time. No entomophagous fungi or anything growing on them though, and the roaches seem perfectly healthy otherwise. But after doing some research I found that weak/short antennae is a common problem with this species in captivity.

Alan Jeon tells me this is actually humidity related, if humidity is too high they get these antennae problem. I already knew this species liked it quite dry, and mine always hand out in the driest parts of their enclosure. Guess I just need to dry it out more for them, which should be easy. Then hopefully that antennae issue will go away.

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Now to the bad news... it is with a heavy heart that I announce both my Hormetica strumosa females have died, before giving birth to any offspring. 😭 Not quite sure what happened, they just got old and battered looking, and just never gave birth... All that's left is one of my males, who's looking like he'll kick the bucket any day now. This species might require rotten wood substrate to do well in captivity, perhaps more specific temps as well, not sure. In any case, this really sucks, hopefully my few friends in the US who have been breeding this species continue to have success and get them established here in the hobby. 🤞

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Lastly, for some reason I found my sole Cubaris sp. "Surat Thani - Orange Tiger" female and all her mancae dead in their enclosure... I get the feeling they may need dryer or at least more well ventilated conditions than I offered them, and may have been stressed by the mold blooms in their enclosure due to all the new bark I put in there. Additionally, the female may also have been stressed by having two males twice her size in the enclosure with her, perhaps they were constantly trying to mate with her, as a result of her being the only female in that enclosure. 🤷 What a shame, as this was the Cubaris/Nesodillo species I was most excited about having in my collection. Oh well, hopefully I'll get them again one day, at the very least all my other Cubaris/Nesodillo spp. are doing well. 🙂

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

Orange Tiger Cubaris & Shiro Utsuri Nesodillo!!!

Ty Randall Shipment Series Pt. 5/5

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Last but not least, Ty sent me two more rare isopod species, which we'll cover in this post! 😁

First off, we have Cubaris sp. "Surat Thani - Orange Tiger". Ty actually sent this species completely by surprise, I was not expecting them at all, and I gotta say these are probably my favorite of the Cubaris species I own! They are decently sized and have a really cool, flatter body morphology, and their coloration is very nice as well! 😁

Sadly, of the five he sent, one was DOA, and another fatally damaged while trying to molt during shipping. Of the three that remain, the two largest are males, the smallest one is a female. However, said female appears to be gravid, so it likely won't be long until I get some offspring, and the colony should establish itself nicely I've time, knock on wood. 🤞😅

I've got mine set up in a moderately ventilated half gallon container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. For hides they've got eggcrate and driftwood pieces, with leaf litter on top for food. I'll be offering dog food as their supplemental diet, and will be keeping them humid and cool (68-73F°).

Here are some photos of them:

Such a pretty species, I really hope they'll pull through and breed well for me. 😁

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Now, onto the last of the new species from Ty, the beautiful Nesodillo arcangelii "Shiro Utsuri". 😃 This species used to be identified as a Cubaris sp., but further analysis has led isopod experts to believe that they are in fact Nesodillo arcangelii. 

I've got my dozen or so set up in a moderately ventilated half gallon container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. For hides they've got eggcrate and bark pieces, with leaf litter on top for food. I'll be offering dog food as their supplemental diet, and will be keeping them humid and cool (68-73F°).

Here are some photos of a few of mine:

This species is super pretty, but I almost think they look better in photos than in person funnily enough, (which is the opposite of every other isopod I've ever gotten).

Anyways, that's gonna be it for this post, and this series of posts from Ty's package. 😁 I hope you all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉