The Last Month's Losses...

Well, it's that time again unfortunately, gotta post about the losses in my collection and some misc sad updates as well. 😟 But you know I gotta do it, so let's dive right in...

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Let's start off with one of the two roach species I re-entered the hobby with, Gyna capucina. My colony has unfortunately basically been in a long, downward spiral since I got them, due to a series of unfortunate mistakes on my part... First I let their Oribatid mite population get out of hand, then I accidentally starved them, and on top of it all, it appears I never really kept them warm enough for adequate reproduction. Despite my best efforts, with my current heating situation (a single heat cable) I could only heat them to 78F°, maybe 80F°, but it seems like they require temperatures closer to 88F° or higher for consistent reproduction.

So, I sent my remaining 3-4 adult females (only one of which probably still has an ootheca left in her), plus the 4-5 mixed nymphs I had left in my possession to Kyle Kandillian, who has a small starter colony ATM that he got from Ty Randall. They wouldn't have been of any use to anyone who didn't already have a culture of that species, so hopefully they help boost Kyle's small colony, and he can get his G.capucina thriving for him. Figured it was better than letting them die out on me, at least the remaining individuals of my broken colony can possibly help further the spread of this species the US hobby. Once I can get a heat lamp or space heater or something that would let me better heat an enclosure to 88-90F° or higher, I will get another colony of this species and hopefully do a lot better with them. 😅 But yeah, I no longer have pink roaches, so that's a bummer.

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Unfortunately, all four of the Hemithyrsocera vittata ooths my females produced before dying prematurely were duds... 😭 So that species is functionally extinct from US culture, AGAIN. It's so frustrating and frankly embarrassing that I lost my females to what was probably a simple ventilation issue, my two males and the stunted nymph are still doing perfectly well in their better ventilated deli cup. I really hope I can get this species again and actually help establish them in the US hobby, but it looks like for now, this species is not getting established here.

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Now, this isn't exactly an unexpected update IMO, but still disappointing nonetheless, my last Myrmecoblatta wheeleri female has finally died, seemingly of old age... and I didn't get a SINGLE. DANG. OOTHECA. Brandon and Alan have both told me their ooths are pretty similar to those of Compsodes, and they they just affix them to objects much like Compsodes. After scouring the various enclosures I housed my Myrmecoblatta in, I can definitely confirm that, for whatever reason, they NEVER produced so much as one ootheca, and honestly I don't know why not. For the first couple months I had them (before microfauna found their way into their enclosure), they were doing great and should have laid at least a few oothecae, but I suspect they needed higher heat and ventilation levels...

This species is probably possible to breed in captivity repeatably, but they're super, super finicky, perhaps the most difficult US native to ever enter culture. Here are my notes on their husbandry:

•1 They definitely seem to be mold feeders based on my personal observations, as my adults always lost a lot of weight when no mold was available. They'll nibble on other foods but can't survive solely on them, or at least probably won't breed without fungi to feed on. Food molds like the stringy white molds and Trichoderma spp. seem to sustain them pretty well. Still, this is more difficult a food source to provide than a lot of people would think.

•2 They can't handle ANY, I repeat, ANY springtails or mites in their enclosures, springtails both stress them out with constant tactile contact, and most importantly, absolutely wipe out their main food source, molds. Mites bother them with tactile contact and probably food competition as well, but honestly, besides mites that have hyposus stages (which can be fatal to Myrmecoblatta), springtails are more troublesome because they prevent mold growth, which Myrmecoblatta need to feed. Fungus gnats are also intolerable.

•3 They didn't seem to like cardboard or even smooth bark for hides, only rotten wood and hides made of cork board were readily accepted. 

•4 Temps 75F° or above and/or lots of airflow are probably needed for oothecae production. 

Overall, they're really a lot of dang work for a pretty low payoff, they are TINY, don't seem to be a prolific species so can't be used as feeders, and they certainly can't be used as cleaner crews given how finicky they are. The only purpose M.wheeleri serve in culture is as a challenge for true Blatticulture enthusiasts... 😅 I hope to try them again one day, but I need to wait until I can heat a whole room for my bugs, so I can keep mine in a corner far, far away from the rest of my collection so as to prevent mites or springtails being introduced to their enclosure, but still keep them warm enough to breed.

Sorry I let you down Alan, guess I owe you my kidneys, PM me to let me know how to go about doing that...

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I was completely unable to get a SINGLE one of my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis larvae to mature successfully, a large portion of larvae died off in their later instars in the communal setups, and all survivors (including those reared individually in their own deli cups) died in the pupal or pre-pupal stages... In retrospect, I HIGHLY suspect a diapause was needed for the larvae, it would explain all the deaths, and it makes sense considering I never really see adult obscura emerging in any numbers until late Spring, so it seems likely that larvae overwinter, pupate in early Spring, and emerge as adults in late Spring or Summer.

So, that project was a complete and utter bust, but hey, at least I think I know what went wrong, and it's a pretty simple fix TBH, so I can try again one day, or just get a southern strain that doesn't require a diapause.

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Lastly, one of the earlier ooths my Deropeltis sp. "Masai Mara" female laid split open a little at the seam and was all rotten inside... I'm very very worried all my ooths might be duds or just died for some reason, I've moved them straight into my Bantua enclosure to give them some more heat, better airflow, while still keeping them a bit humid and misting them often. Apparently female Deropeltis spp. sometimes just lay dud ooths, and the majority of mine still look healthy, but then again Deropeltis seem to hate me, and I wouldn't be surprised if I failed breeding them yet again at this point, (though I sincerely don't know why these ones would have failed to hatch). So yeah, don't know if this is a total loss yet, but it's been over four months since the first ooths were laid, and I'm growing more and more concerned about the lack of hatchings...

Well, that's it for today's bummer post, y'all know I hate doing these, but I gotta, since failures can be just as informative as successes. I hope some of you found this post helpful, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see everyone next time! 😉

Eleodes obscura Pupae!

Some of my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis are finally starting to pupate! 😄 There have been some pretty heavy losses lately in the main setup, but all larvae that were isolated from each other seem to be doing good. Most of the survivors in the big main setup seem to be ready to pupate as well, but are a smaller size, so they'll be a bit runty, whereas the ones I have reared separately in their own deli cups matured at a much more decent size. 

A few days ago, two of the larger larvae pupated, and several more are pre-pupal! Here are some pictures of the pupae:

Even as pupae these things are hefty, I'm hoping they'll mature to be the same size as most of the wild adults I saw! 😁🤞 But first, they must eclose successfully, which I'm hoping they will, in the past I had theorized that the low survival rates some had experienced with this species were due to pupae being picky about their humidity levels, like with E.armata and spinipes, but now I'm thinking the low survival rates people experienced in the past were due to keeping large larvae together. Which might mean that the pupae of this species are actually pretty hardy, we'll see. 

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

Growing Giants

So, my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis larvae are starting to get pretty big, some of them are longer than their parents already, and so will probably pupate within the next couple months. Unfortunately though, it seems that the larvae of this species don't get along so well as they get larger, and they've been cannibalizing like crazy lately, despite having ample moisture and protein available. They're essentially ignoring their chick feed and instead chowing down on their molting cagemates... Whereas the few large larvae that I had isolated from the main enclosure into their own deli cups in an attempt to rear some really large individuals up a couple months ago have been doing great, and are still eating chick feed with no issue. 

So it seems that I'll likely need to start isolating more larvae asap, just to keep them alive, pretty annoying for an Eleodes, (especially such a prolific one). But oh well, this way I'll at least mostly get large adults I'm sure, since neither crowding nor food competition won't be an issue, both of which tend to stunt CB Eleodes. 

Anyways, here are some pictures of a large larva:

Looks smaller in the photos than it does in real life, it's the largest Eleodes larva I've ever seen, though still not quite the mass of some Zophobas atratus larvae I've reared. Fingers crossed I'm able to rear a good amount to adulthood, and hopefully they'll be big hefty adults too! 😄

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One of my Macropanesthia rhinoceros nymphs has finally molted! 😁 Of the two nymphs I have, this one's been consistently fatter than the other and seems to be eating a lot more, which made me a little worried for the other, smaller nymph, but that one has finally started gaining some weight as well, so hopefully it'll molt somewhat soon too! 

Initially I was keeping these probably in the 65-67F° range, which was a bit too low I think, I've since bumped it up to 70-72F° or so, and they seem to be faring better ever since then. I saw that Peter's nymphs from the same brood were already molting to the next instar on his instagram (L5 I believe), so I knew mine were probably being kept too cool to develop at a decent speed. The bump in temperature seems to have gotten that one nymph to molt after a couple weeks, and the smaller one has been gaining weight in that time as well. 

I also removed some of the substrate from their enclosure a month ago, the substrate is only 3-4 mm deep now, usually when they're hiding under the cardboard in their enclosure they're resting on the bare plastic bottom. I've been misting the enclosure often, never letting it dry out too much, so it's not been an issue, and this nymph molted perfectly fine as a result! Once the other nymph molts, it should be safe for me to slightly increase substrate depth by a few mms again. 

Here are some pictures of my L5 beauty, both teneral and fully hardened! 😃

Teneral

One day later, hardened.

Such an amazing species, I really love their bulky, primitive look! 😍 Hopefully the other nymph molts soon, I'm so glad this one molted with no deformities! 😅 I'll definitely be sure to keep you all updated on these cuties! 

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

A Couple Small Teneb Updates

First off, my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis larvae are all growing well, looks like they're gonna be mature soon! 😁 Here are some pictures of the larvae:

I'm looking forward to hopefully rearing some large adults up here soon! 😄

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Sadly, two of my Iphthiminus serratus larvae have died, leaving me with only three large larvae... I'm afraid I didn't keep their deli cups dark enough, and so only the three larvae with substrate that went all the way up to the lids of their deli cups were able to eat the chick feed I offered them, as their enclosures were darker. The other two had slightly more shallow substrate with almost a CM between the substrate and the lids, and they were the ones who weren't eating their chick feed. 

This also seems to suggest that rotten wood alone is not enough to sustain them, they do require protein of some sort to grow and develop. 

Oh well, this sucks, but hopefully I can rear these three survivors up successfully...

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Lastly, on a brighter note, the first of the Eleodes (Blapylis) sp. pupae emerged weeks ago, here are some pictures of a CB adult, still soft and teneral, but fully darkened:

This species is doing well, hopefully I'll have lots more adults soon and can get the next generation up and running! 

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, hope everyone enjoyed, thanks for reading, take care, 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! 😉

Some Nice Eleodes Updates!

I am FINALLY getting offspring from my Eleodes obscura now! 😁 I moved them to a larger enclosure a few days ago, this time with a vertical humidity gradient, with the bottom centimeter being made up of moist, pure coconut fiber, and the top couple centimeters was made up of their original sandy coconut fiber mix.
I spotted some eggs the day after I rehoused them, at the bottom of their enclosure in the coconut fiber, and so thought that they must need a vertical humidity gradient to induce oviposition, and that they maybe preferred coconut fiber to the sandy mix I had given them as far as oviposition goes. However, I found larvae around two days later, and there is simply no way their eggs hatch that fast, so they've obviously been laying eggs for longer than I thought, I just couldn't see them as well in the sandy substrate. 😅

So nice to finally have gotten some offspring from this large species, I'll of course take some pictures once the larvae get a little bit bigger, for now I'll be leaving them alone. In the meantime, here are some pictures of a bunch of males feeding on some apple, (I'm collecting a bunch for someone, as I myself have no use for males at this point, and unlike females they are relatively abundant outside):

Looking forward to rearing this species, hopefully I can get some nice sized CB adults! 😄

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Also, another positive Eleodes update, surprisingly some of my E.nigrina larvae are starting to construct pupal cells already! 😃 Was not expecting them to mature so fast! 😅 So far the egg output has been rather low with this species, and the larvae definitely seem to prefer a more humid substrate than I thought they would, but other than that they appear to be hardy and evidently are quite fast growing!

I've isolated the larger larvae that were making cells and moved them to 2 oz deli cups with an inch of moist, compressed coconut fiber inside. They've made pupal cells again, and I'll be sure to post pictures of a pupa once they start pupating! 😁

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