Nyctibora Ooth, Blue Beebles, Striped Roaches & More!

Second time's the charm! 😆 A friend of mine sent me a mystery ootheca from Peña Blanca Lake, AZ, which, after examining in person, appears to be an ooth from the unidentified Nyctibora that are known from that locality. My last attempt at incubating oothecae of this species failed, likely due to me keeping them too dry, and due to the less than optimal heating methods I was employing at the time.

From what we've learned about incubating Nyctibora since then, it seems that their ooths prefer consistently high moisture and humidity, and don't even necessarily need much ventilation. This is pretty different from incubating oothecae of the more arboreal Nyctiboridae like Rochaina for example, but seems normal for Nyctiborids that lay their oothecae closer to the ground (or under it) like Nyctibora and Megaloblatta spp..

So, I have this ooth in a poorly ventilated deli cup with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate. The ooth is partially buried in the substrate, which I'm keeping moist. It's being kept at around 80-85F°, and based on what we know about incubating other Nyctibora spp., the incubation time should be around 6 months from when it was laid. Since this is a WC ooth, I have no idea when it was laid, so I could be waiting anywhere from 1-6 months. 😅

Here's hoping for a successful incubation, so that I can not only establish this species in the hobby, but so that I might actually identify them (I have suspicions it is one of two brachyapterous Nyctibora native to Central America, however I need to see an adult male to tell which it is).

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My Triorophus sp. "Ector County, TX" have established themselves nicely, to the point where I can finally start offering them up for sale alongside the sp. "Ft. Stockton, TX". 😄 I'm pretty sure the two lines are the same species TBH, as the localities are quite close, however I can't know for sure without having an expert examine them.

I really love this genus, they are by far the easiest of the psammophile Tenebs I've ever worked with.

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I don't believe I've ever posted about these before, but Summer 2024 I got some Byrsotria cabrerai from my buddy Brandon Maines, which have bred for me, but quite sparingly this whole time. Only now after a recent rehouse am I starting to get more regular reproduction from them, it seems this species wants consistently high air humidity, which for me is easiest to provide them by giving them only minimal ventilation. 

I have them set up in a 2 gallon or so, minimally ventilated tub with a couple inches of coco fiber substrate, with some coco coir chunks and leaf litter mixed in. I'm keeping them humid, at around 80-85F°, and am feeding them dog food and apple slices.

Female

Male

Pair

These are a pretty colorful Byrsotria species, and I am glad to see some more consistent reproduction from them! Here's hoping I'll have a big colony established soon! 🤞 

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Late last year I rehoused my Asiopus minimus "Gulf Shores, AL" to a fresh setup after they suffered a crash, seemingly due to a severe infestation of both Pyralis farinalis and Alphitobius diaperinus. Unfortunately despite my best efforts I was unable to save the Asiopus, and even after moved to a fresh setup they failed to breed and died off... 

However, while digging around in their bin, I noticed that they were not the only species that established itself in there from Gulf Shores... evidently some Blapstinus fortis were also mixed in with the Asiopus, that I must have either missed or failed to recognize as a different species. There were far fewer of them in there than the Asiopus, maybe 6-8 individuals compared to the 30 or so Asiopus. So I chucked the B.fortis into my Gromphadorhina portentosa "1972 Cleveland Aquarium" bin, since I find micro darklings do well with hissers, as sort of a "Hail Mary".

Lo and behold, they bred and established themselves very nicely in that bin, and I now have another Blapstinus to add to my collection! 😄 These are pretty large for Blapstinus and a bit more rectangular in shape than most of the other members of the genus I've worked with.

I'm glad I was able to salvage these from the Asiopus minimus colony and establish a culture of them, quite unfortunate that the A.minimus failed but alas, that's just the way things go sometimes.

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Last but not least, after my old culture of Porcellio expanus "White - Skirt" crashed due to a number of factors, Tennyson Kingsley was kind enough to trade me some back. 😄 These are also originally from Alan's stock, so same exact line thankfully.

This time I have them set up in a well ventilated 2-3 gallon bin with a thin layer of coco fiber and sand substrate (leftover substrate from a darkling beetle setup IIRC), topped with coco coir chunks, leaf litter and lots of bark. I'm keeping a third of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and I'm keeping them at around 73-75F°. Whether it's the larger setup or cooler temps (both of which I'm finding are important for this species), they are thriving and breeding in a way my older colony never did, so seems I got their conditions figured out well now!

So glad these are thriving for me now in the way that the "Orange Skirt" line has, now I just need my "Witch's Potion" and "Autumnal Equinox" colonies to catch up to this level of productivity... 👀 😄

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

Even More Phone Pic Updates!

Another day, another batch of phone pictures to upload. After this my phone is now clear of bug pictures... for now. 😄

I never posted these back when they were still growing, but here are some pictures of a Principoda planatigris "Paper Tiger" nymph. Quite colorful, and very red when still a nymph. 😍

I am hoping these will breed for me soon, so keep an eye out on my FS list if you're interested in working with these! 😉 

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Here are a couple cute photos of a Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky" conglobating.

Very cute! Almost lost my culture of these but they are on the up and up now after a booster from Kyle.

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I am happy to announce that along with several other species, this winter I broke the diapause requirement on my Eucorydia linglong colony. 😄 They reached a high enough population density and generational overlap that even without a diapause, I have adults of both sexes maturing at the same time. And if there were to be a die off due to the lack of a diapause, there would likely be enough individuals that would survive and no longer require one to keep the colony going. A lot of the adult females in the colony are producing ooths now, so safe to say the culture is in good shape and will no longer need a diapause. 😊

Such a pretty species, and one of the easier Eucorydia IMO!

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Last year Kyle sent me some Armadillidae sp. "Shiny Gator", and while they've grown nicely (if extremely slowly) and haven't had any die offs that I can notice, they also aren't breeding, which is kinda annoying... 😅 They are a small species of spiny isopod, with some minimal patterning and an unusual exoskeleton texture; they look both matte and glossy at the same time.

I have them in a moderately ventilated bin with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped with lots of bark, leaf litter and moss. I'm keeping them pretty humid, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them fish food pellets as their supplemental diet. 

They are super cute and really neat looking in terms of morphology, so I really hope they start breeding soon, and that I didn't end up with a unisex group or something... 🙃

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My Perisphaerus horaianus are absolutely thriving, with my colony numbering in the hundreds now. It really seems a more semi-humid setup, combined with wood hides instead of just bark hides, really seems to get this species going!

So glad to finally have some good, consistent success with these, the OG hobby Roly-Poly Roaches!

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My Parcoblatta zebra "Montgomery" are absolutely popping off as well, and I just wanted to share this pic of them swarming some dog food.

These are the prettiest of the US Parcoblatta IMO, love the high contrast abdominal striping!

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My Pseudoglomeris magnifica "Kunming, Yunnan, China" have been producing pretty well this year, and I suspect many more broods are on the way with how many plump looking females there are in the colony ATM! 😁

Anyways, here's a couple pictures of a pre-subadult female.

Definitely still quite a green strain, just with a neat copper sheen to them!

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Last but not least, last year while visiting PA, I found a Dicaelus purpuratus! Actually found this one in adjacent MD while out looking for copperheads. These are snail eaters, though adults will accept a variety of other foods in captivity. I kept this one hoping it was a female, and that it would lay some eggs in my care if so. Unfortunately either it was a male, or I was unable to induce oviposition, and it passed away late last year. Anyways, just wanted to post the few photos I took of this absolutely gorgeous species.

So pretty, definitely wouldn't mine trying these out again in the future (preferably when I'm still breeding some sort of snail to feed their larvae).

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

More Phone Picture Updates!

It's about that time again, time to purge my phone of pictures, and post some of the better or more interesting ones. 😅

I was able to finally acquire some Deropeltis sp. "Tsavo West, Kenya - Big" for myself last year, last time I acquired this species they went straight to a friend who had more luck with Deropeltis, as at the time, I sucked at breeding them. 😅 Unfortunately and somewhat ironically, he failed to breed them, and I was unable to source the species again for years... 

This time round, I am trying to culture this species myself, with success in breeding two other Deropeltis species now under my belt. I started with one healthy sp. "Tsavo West" ooth late last year, and was able to hatch successfully and rear the resulting nymphs to adulthood with little issue. Now the adults are laying ooths of their own, which I suspect will start hatching out over the coming months.

I am keeping them in a well ventilated setup with a thin layer of coco coir substrate, topped in cardboard rolls and eggcrate hides. I'm keeping them fairly humid, at around 75-85F°, and am feeding them dog food and apple slices.

Medium-Small nymph

Large nymph

Adult pair

Female laying an ooth

These are a huge species as far as Deropeltis go, and they put all the other currently cultured Deropeltis to shame. Very broad in morphology, and their ooths are often over an inch long! Definitely an impressive species, and one I hope to offer up in the near future!

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My Deropeltis paulinoi are thriving, and are due for an enclosure refresh here soon. Such cute and colorful representatives of this genus, if not quite as velvety as some of the others.

Crazy how well these are thriving for me, and my other Deropeltis spp. are doing good too, really seems like high humidity and good ventilation are key to working with this genus!

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My Gromphadorhina portentosa "Masoala" have been throwing these dark red/purple looking adults, a morph which I was able to isolate a true breeding colony of! I am calling this line "Plum", and think that describes their coloration very nicely. 😄 

Unfortunately since moving them to a larger, permanent enclosure, they've not bred again, which is kinda weird... I suspect I overdid the ventilation and that they're now too dry, so I'm upping the humidity in their bin and hoping for the best ATM.

As you can see, quite an attractive morph, and from pure G.portentosa stock too! Hopefully they start breeding again soon so I can offer them up once more!

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My latest pair of Archimandrita cf. tesselata "Cerro Chucanti, Darién Province, Panama - US Line" is doing well, and both have made it to maturity successfully! 😄 These are SO slow growing compared to the old hobby stock Archimandrita (probably A.marmorata), and average way bigger as well.

This pair is in a moderately ventilated bin with a few inches of a coco fiber and coco coir chunk substrate mix, topped with leaf litter and vertically slanted bark hides. I'm keeping them humid, at around 75-80F°, and am feeding them dog food and fruits.

Freshly molted adult male

Fully darkened adult male

Subadult female nymph

Adult female

A beautiful and huge species, and still quite rare in US culture, hopefully my female will give birth sometime this year! 🙏 

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Last year I was able to finally acquire Liocheles australasiae, a parthenogenetic species of dwarf bark scorpion. They can be kept communally, though only one of the two I was rearing made it to adulthood (still unclear if it was eaten by the other, or died due to some other variable). 

I'd say the ones I received were about half grown, and they took about 7-8 months to mature, at least the lone survivor did. She then took another 3-4 months to produce a brood of around 16-17 immatures. Not too shabby of a development time, and that was a big first brood as well! 😄

I'm keeping them in a minimally ventilated gallon container, with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate, topped with coco coir chunks and lots of bark pieces. I am keeping them moist, at around 80-85F°. There are Trichorhina tomentosa, Compsodes schwarzi, and Nocticola vagus breeding in there, though I do have to top off the roaches sometimes as they are eaten faster than they breed. There are also Pyrgodesmidae sp. "Kota Kinabalu" breeding in there, which is funny as they were not a purposeful introduction.

Adult female

These are super cute little scorps, and I'm hoping to make them available later this year if my colony establishes well and they aren't cannibalizing like crazy or anything. 

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Last but not least, my Polyphaga saussurei are doing well for me, cohabbed with Porcellio incanus. Got some nice pictures of an adult female and figured I would post them here. 😊

Fun fact, these were the second species I ever posted about on this blog! Crazy how far I've come since then, and how far the hobby itself has advanced in the last decade. 😄

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