Some Random Roach, Millipede, Cricket & Beetle Updates

This blog post is about a bunch of random stuff that needs updating, hope you guys enjoy it! :)

My new Pseudomops that I got the other day are doing fine, and I thought I'd show some pictures of them!

Here's a female that is pretty messed up looking, I've affectionately named her "BP", aka "Broken Pseudomops"

Here's an adult male, this guy is a nice light brown instead of black

And here is one of my new females carrying an ootheca

Hopefully these WC ones will do better than the stock I received from Roachcrossing, they already seem much more prolific!

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The Byrsotria fumigata male I got from Roachcrossing has finally matured, and I thought I'd show some pictures of him:

I love his smooth, sleek appearance, hopefully he will live a decent amount of time for me!

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My Gromphadorhina sp. "Hybrid" colony has been doing very well, and many of the nymphs have matured! For the most part it seems males have been maturing, but a few small females seem to have matured as well. 

Here are some pictures of a mature male on my hand:

Gotta love hissers, even hybrids. I absolutely love the horns on the males!

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Now let's talk about some of my millipedes. 

My Motyxia cf. tiemanni male died yesterday, he was a bit sickly looking since he arrived, so I was expecting him to be towards the end of his life cycle. The two females seem fine though, I recently added a clump of moss to the container and they love hiding under it. So far no signs of burrowing, but they don't seem to be a burrowing species. However they do seem to construct egg chambers underground, so hopefully these females will start showing some signs of digging soon.

My Oxidus gracilis are doing very well, seems like the previous ones I had laid some eggs in my care, as there are tons of tiny little pedelings crawling around the container! Couldn't get pictures of the tiny little things, so you'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

And finally, my bristly millipedes, Polyxenus sp., have been doing decently well, still no signs of reproduction though. I took some pictures of them a while back that I never posted on this blog, so I'll post them here now:

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I just wanted to say that I let my Gryllus cf. veletis go a while back so I could make room for some new inverts, I would like to point out however that there were a bunch of hatchlings in their container, so I was successful in breeding them! Maybe one day I'll catch some more and try breeding them again, but for now there are other invertebrates that I would rather be keeping. 

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My Ciliate dune beetles, Coelus ciliatus have been doing very well and have produced a bunch of larva, which seem to be growing at a decent rate. Can't wait to see what the pupa of this species looks like, pupa are one of my favorite darkling beetle stages, they just look so unusual.

Here are some pictures of the larva:

My closely related Eusattus muricatus have been doing OK, the adults seem to have a really short lifespan, it seems that all but one or two of my adults have passed away. I don't know if it's due to improper care, or if they are just short lived. In their natural habitat you can always find a bunch of dead ones, so maybe they are just naturally short lived beetles. 

Anyway, they did produce some larva, which seem to be doing alright, I hardly see them but I don't know if that's because they have a large enclosure for their size with deep substrate, or because many of them have died off.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of one the other day, you can see the similarity between the larva of this species and Coelus:

Hopefully I will be able to rear some of these to adulthood, I really like the round, bloated appearance of the adults. 

Anyway, that's gonna do it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next post! :)

Gryllus Update, and some other Cricket stuff

I have 3 Gryllus cf. veletis left, one male and two females. The male may or may not have killed another male territoriality, but he does not seem to be showing any aggression towards the females. Hopefully they will mate, and the females will lay some eggs. I have mixed some sand in with their substrate to promote burrowing, as sandy substrates make stronger burrows. I will keep you guys updated on their progress.

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I caught a male Gryllus nymph when I was at the Bruneau sand dunes over a month ago, whether it is the same species as my other Gryllus or not has yet to be determined. He matured about a week ago, and has been chirping a lot.
Here are some pictures of him:

I'll be submitting some of these images to Bugguide.net, hopefully this guy will be identified!

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So I checked on my Embaphion muricatum larva yesterday, and found several tiny cricket nymphs in the container. I was quite confused, and asked the person I bought them from if he kept crickets in the same cage as his Embaphion. Apparently some Acheta domesticus escaped in the previous owner's house, and laid many eggs in some of his enclosures.

Some of those eggs were in substrate that he shipped the Scolopendra polymorpha "Rio Grand" in, and I used some of that substrate in my Embaphion enclosure. So it seems I have unintentionally gained a new species in my collection, which is a pleasant surprise! I will try to rear some to adulthood and breed them, which should be rather easy.

Well, that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next post! :)

Baby It's Cold Outside...

And that means it is time to put any diapause needing invertebrates in the garage, or some other cold place. I have put my Parcoblatta americana and my Gryllus cf. veletis in my garage and will be keeping them there until spring. When in diapause my bugs' metabolisms will slow down, they will eat less and move less. I have given them some rot resistant food, bits of apple and some carrots. I will be keeping them moist, and will replace any food that goes bad, but carrots can take months to rot, so I'm not too concerned about that. Unfortunately, I did not get any good pictures of my P.americana, but I did get some good pictures of one of my Gryllus cf. veletis.

Subadult male Gryllus cf. veletis

Hopefully next year my Gryllus will breed and I can get a second generation going! Hope you guys enjoyed this post! :)

Crickets, Crickets, And More Crickets!

Here's a couple of cricket updates, and a new species of cricket in my collection! To start things off, my two smallest Jerusalem crickets have molted, (at least the smallest one did), and have started to eat! So far they have been too timid to take on live prey, but they sure seem to like cat food. Here are some pics of one of them, as you an see it has a minor segment deformation, which does not seem to affect its health at all.

Secondly, here's an update on my Ceuthophilus cf. agassizii. There is a bit of cannibalism between my adults even though they have plenty of food, so I have less than I would like. However, the second generation (or F2), has begun, and I am seeing lots of new hatchlings in the cage! Here are some pics of an adult female and a tiny nymph.

And, lastly but not least, I caught a couple of field cricket nymphs, (Gryllus sp) today! They are both males, but I'll try to catch more before it gets too cold, hopefully I can catch some females. I have them in a round container with about an inch of coconut fiber and sphagnum moss as the substrate, some toilet paper roll pieces as hides, and some dead leaves for additional food/hides. I'll be feeding them cat food, fruits and veggies, the usual food choices. Anyway, here are some pics!

The cage

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I'll see you later! :)