Pie-Dish Beetles Are Back!

Thanks to the generosity of Chandra Orr at Roachtopia, one of a few keepers who has kept my old line of Embaphion muricatum going in the hobby (which I originally got from Michael Dixon at Mike's House of a Thousand Legs/ThePureLife), I've got a starter group of 20 medium/large larvae of these iconic "Pie-Dish Beetles"! 😁

Got them set up on a substrate of coco fiber mixed with a little sand, with a 60-40 horizontal humidity gradient, erring on the dry side. The enclosure is very well ventilated and being kept at 75F° or so. I'm using dog food as the staple diet.

Some pics of the larvae:

They might look like normal mealworms, but the beetles they mature into are anything but normal! 😄 This species did great for me in the past, and I have little doubt I'll have a thriving culture up and running again in no time!

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Also, I may have been a bit overzealous to report a month or two ago that my Eleodes obscura glabriuscula bred, I'm pretty sure the very few larvae I found in their enclosure previously were offspring from the Eleodes hispilabris housed in the shoebox on top of them that escaped and got into the obscura bin... However, I'm now finding lots of tiny hatchling larvae in my obscura bin which leads me to believe they are actually breeding now, hooray! 😅 Just thought I'd mention this, if anything just so I can more accurately remember when I really got larvae from this species.

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Lastly, bit off topic, but just thought I'd announce that I've already found offspring in my Cubaris sp. "Panda King" enclosure... 😂 So wow, this species is easy lol!

Anyways, that's it for today's post, got some really neat new additions recently, with more on the way hopefully, so look forward to new posts soon! 😉 Thanks for reading, hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see everyone next time!

Panda Kings, My First Cubaris!

2021 Roachcrossing Shipment Series Pt. 3/4

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Well, I finally did it, I joined the Cubaris Cult... 🙃😂 Kyle kindly sent several of these Cubaris sp. "Panda King" with my recent package, and I gotta say, while this isn't a species I've ever had an interest in keeping myself, they are rather pretty in person. My favorite of the cultured Cubaris are the flatter, cave dwelling species, these more Armadillidium shaped ones are quite overrated IMO and not worth the insane price tags people attach to them... I personally find Spanish Porcellio, many Armadillidium and other oddball genera like Merulanella and Helleria to be far more interesting than most of the cultured Cubaris spp., and don't really understand the hype over this genus. That being said, I am looking forward to working with this species, if only to finally get some first hand knowledge on this genus and better understand their husbandry needs.

I currently have my half dozen or so individuals (a couple of which are gravid females) in a small, moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, and leaf litter on top, (they may be burrowers, but using an edible substrate when there are other food sources available and leaf litter on top of the substrate is rather redundant and completely unnecessary for a thriving isopod culture, contrary to what many isopod hobby "bigwigs" will say). I've got some paper towel roll and egg carton pieces in there as hides, and am keeping the entire enclosure quite humid. In addition to the leaf litter, they are being fed dog food as their supplemental staple, and I'll be keeping them at around 70-74F°.

Here are some pics of the cuties:

Definitely a pretty species as far as isopods go, but still not worth what they currently sell for IMO, considering this is one of the most prolific Cubaris species in the hobby.

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