New Male Macropanesthia, Mantid Woes, & More

Got some updates, some good, some bad.

Let's jump into a great update though, I have another male Macropanesthia rhinoceros finally! 😍 This male comes through the kindness of my friend Toan Hoang, who just straight up bought me a male from Mo Fauna. HUGE thanks to Toan for that, and props to Mo Fauna for great packing and a beautiful, healthy male. 😁 

Here are some pictures of the chad:

Hopefully he'll get both my females mated, and then hopefully they'll give birth within the next several months. 🤞 

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Now onto a bummer update... SOMEHOW, my female Metallyticus splendidus got herself wedged UNDER one of the thin cork board hides in the breeding enclosure, and damaged herself fatally as a result. Words fail me honestly, none of the males in that same setup met that fate, I'm honestly not sure how the HELL she got in that position in the first place. Either way, f*ck mantids. 🤣 I'm so done keeping Mantodea, I will leave that to others more experienced in that fields, and stick to keeping almost any other invert family. 

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On the trend of bummer updates, my adorable Daihiniini sp. babies all died, and I'm honestly not sure why. They seemed to just refuse most foods, and those they had some interest in (namely prekilled inverts and artificial pollen) they seemingly lost interest in and then wasted away. Very odd, and honestly I'm still not sure if the diet was actually the problem, or if some other factor was causing them to stress and die. But I tried a wide variety of substrates and humidity levels, and nothing seemed to work. Oh well, maybe I'll get to try these another day, though I have no idea what I'd do differently. 

Here are some meh quality phone pics I got of the first instars, before they all kicked the bucket:

Too bad they didn't do well for me, considering the babies were ADORABLE. 😭

I also lost my Ceuthophilus agassizii colony. Seems I always lose them about 4-5 gens into culture, I feel like they may actually need a winter diapause in order to keep them going for longer than that. I guess I'll test this theory out with my next colony, I'll just have to wait until Spring/Summer and collect some some more (I've literally found them in my neighborhood, so this shouldn't be a problem).

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OK, onto more positive news, I FINALLY got babies from my Panesthia angustipennis angustipennis "Sabah, Malaysia - Gold Winged Form"!!! 😁 Took like 8 months, but hopefully after this lengthy initial incubation, future broods will take significantly less time to develop.

I've also been getting Salganea raggei babies over thos past year, don't know if I ever updated the blog about that. But, there it is lol.

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Got some Eucorydia westwoodi weirdness going on... After only 4 months of development, I've started getting new adults. 😳 And the majority of my remaining nymphs are subs or presubs now. This is crazy fast growth, and the adults emerged before I got to put the colony into diapause. SO, I have isolated said early bloomers to their own culture, to see if I can just straight up break the diapause requirement for this species. That would make these even easier to culture and more accessible to a wider audience of breeders, so hopefully it can be done.

In more Eucorydia news, I have started getting E.forceps babies, and more fresh adult pairs as well. 😁 So, the colony is well on it's way to establishing itself, which is great. Another notch in my belt for successful breeding of this genus.

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My Cubaris sp. "Amber" are doing quite well, breeding rather prolifically for me, and my line bred morph project is going... slowly. 😆 I am getting more and more of the very pale striped individuals, but still a lot of normal dark striped ones as well. The end goal is to get very faintly striped individuals breeding true, not sure how long that's gonna take or if it's even possible TBH.

Anyways, here are some pics of a group of them:

Very cute and easy to breed species, they just like a good amount of heat compared to some other spp..

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Lastly, my Eupolyphaga sinensis "White Eye" colony is doing phenomenal. So much so that I really want to get the normal form as well, since I know this species does well for me, and it seems normal E.sinensis are on the brink of dying out of culture here in the US.

Here are a couple pics of some adult females:

Such a cute little species, hopefully they'll become more common in culture as the years go by.

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

More Corydiid Updates!

Well, good news! Not only have my three Euthyrrhapha pacifica females matured since last time I posted about this species (with plenty of mature males still alive to fertilize them), but they've been laying lots of ooths, and I got my first babies last week! 😃

It's so cool, the nymphs really do chew their way out of their ooths, they don't hatch from the oothecae seam like every other egg-laying cockroach does. This may be an adaptation for particularly arid conditions, as I assume the ooth seam is actually fused completely shut, and so wouldn't even let miniscule amounts of moisture be released from the ootheca. It also begs the question, does one nymph hatch first, then chew the hole out on it's own? Or do they hatch at the same time and chew the hole out together? Do they hatch with any specialized mouthparts made specifically for chewing through the thick ooth wall, like how lots of reptiles have a special tooth that they use to break through their eggs, that falls off after use? These are questions that keep me up at night, that may never be answered LOL. 🤣 

Anyways, here are some pics of an adult female, an unhatched ooth, and a hatched ooth:

Female

Unhatched ootheca

Hatched ootheca with exit hole

Such a cool little species, and pretty easy to keep and breed to boot! I see these becoming fairly popular in the hobby soon. 😊 

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Now for some Eucorydia updates!

First off, several of my E.linglong have matured over the past few months, and I got some hatchlings from them already. I'm not sure why, but they haven't been as prolific for me as some of my other Eucorydia have been, but regardless, my next generation has been secured. 😁 

Here are a few "meh" quality pictures of adults:

Love this species, hopefully more babies will be produced soon as I get more females maturing.

My E.westwoodi on the other hand have been ooth laying machines, and I've got lots of offspring from them now. 😊 Been spreading them around a bit in the US hobby, so hopefully they'll stay firmly established here.

Here is a picture I got of some of the ooths:

Absolutely love this species, definitely my favorite Corydiid in my collection ATM.

Lastly, I've gotten several more Eucorydia forceps to mature, including another female, so hopefully I can finally get some breeding action from them. 🤞 

Here are some pictures of a particularly striking male:

Really hoping for some babies from these beauties soon!

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Lastly, some Arenivaga updates!

My Arenivaga sp. "Phoenix, AZ" female has produced lots of fertile ooths, which have been hatching like crazy, so I've got a pretty robust population of this pretty species already.

My sole Arenivaga sp. "Rodeo, NM" female has also been absolutely pumping out ooths, and those have also been hatching like mad. The nymphs are also growing pretty quickly, which is nice to see!

Lastly, I did get some babies from my Arenivaga bolliana "San Antonio, TX" females. Sadly I do think the strain got infected with Serratia or something, as in addition to the odd coloration on the adult females, the majority of their ooths have been either deformed or just straight up duds. Thankfully a handful of nymphs still hatched, which I've isolated to their own setup separate from the adults, so as to hopefully prevent them from contracting whatever the adults have.

Well, that does it for today's post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉 

New Spring Skins!

My Melanozosteria soror have finally matured, and have started laying ooths as well! These are definitely some cute little Blattids, really hope I'll successfully breed them! 😃 

Here are some pictures of an adult female:

Fingers crossed I find hatchlings soon! 🤞 

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Three of my Gromphadorhina oblongonota have matured as well, a small male, small female, and large female. And MAN are they pretty, I really love the coloration on this species! 😍 

Here are some pictures of a pair:

Male

Female

Now hopefully they get to the breeding, so I can rear some larger ones up and hopefully get a major male next gen!

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Good news and bad news for my Eucorydia forceps; good news, a male finally matured! Bad news, the one adult female I had died a few days after he matured... 🙃🤣 But there are lots of subadults of both sexes still in the culture, so I'm not that worried.

Anyways, here are some pics of the male:

Much prettier than the females IMO. Now, hopefully I get some freakin synced up pairs soon. 😆 

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Lastly, all my Eucorydia westwoodi are mature now, and the females have been pumping out ooths! 😁 This species is just so stunning, both males and females, I really hope I get a good first generation from my culture!

Here are some pictures of them:

Females

Males and females

Aren't they gorgeous? 😍 

Well, that does it for this photodump of a post lol, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉