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! :)

Isopods, Isopod Mimics, & A Cool Millipede Species!

So, lately a few orange individuals have been popping up in my Oniscus asellus colony, they aren't a bright orange, but with time and selective breeding I hope the morph will gain a more bright coloration.

Here are some pictures of them:

This one is not so orange, but definitely lighter than the normal looking ones

With any luck I will be able to isolate this morph, would be pretty cool if the orange color intensified in future generations!

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My Corydidarum pygmaea have been doing very well, unfortunately one of my males has matured. Now you would think that would be a good thing, however my females are nowhere near maturation, and the males are pretty short lived... that presents a bit of a problem. I knew this would happen, it's a problem that other roach keepers have experienced. I'll need to move my females to a much warmer area, so they will mature much faster, and keep the males where they are.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the male and my largest female:

Adult male

Female nymph

Hopefully I can get at least one of my females to mature within the male's short lifespan, I really want to be successful in breeding this species, it is just so unique!

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And lastly, I have collected a few bristly millipedes, Polyxenus sp., in my backyard. They like to accumulate on my wooden fence, a strange habit. Another strange aspect of these millipedes is their ability to climb smooth surfaces. No, they are not climbing onto tiny particles on the sides of the containers, they can truly climb up glass and other smooth surfaces.

I am keeping them in a small container filled with sand and coconut fiber, with pieces of bark and dead leaves as hides and/or food. I am also trying to feed them dog food, and will try carrots sometime soon. I will be keeping them semi-moist, as I have always found them in pretty dry areas.

Here are a couple of pictures of them, they are pretty crappy pics but hey, these guys are only about 2 mm long!

Hopefully I will be able to breed these, and maybe get some better pictures too.

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