Here are a couple of pictures of my large female:
Hopefully I'll be seeing hatchlings in a few months! :)
It's been a while since I posted about my Balta notulata nymphs, they have been growing quite slowly compared to other Ectobiids I've kept, but they are definitely growing, and they all seem healthy.
Here are some pictures of them:
Can't wait to start seeing adults, some of my nymphs look like they are getting quite close to maturity!
My Corydidarum pygmaea females have yet to produce any nymphs, and I'm getting a little concerned. I have been keeping them at room temperature, (which in my room is usually about 75F), however now that it's starting to get a little chilly I've put a heat cable under their enclosure, I hope that will help induce them to give birth. They almost always have apple available, so lack of fruit is definitely not the culprit, nor is the presence of predatory mites, which Orin McMonigle states can stress them out enough that they'll refuse to give birth.
I changed their cage up today in an attempt to make it feel more natural, and added some bark pieces to the cage to replace the half a toilet paper roll that was their hide before, which they never used. Hopefully they'll like the change of decor, and maybe it'll even get them to give birth!
Here are some pictures of the girls:
And their new and improved enclosure |
I really hope I'll get some babies from them soon, I really love this unique species of cockroach!
My last Panchlora sp. "White" female still seems to be doing good, she has not given birth yet though. The nymphs I have are doing pretty well, and some of them have started molting into the second instar, which is great. They don't seem terribly inclined to burrow, which I find curious, there is a fungus that has taken a hold of the cage that will eventually turn the substrate into one solid mass, however if they start burrowing soon then they should stir the substrate up enough that the fungus will eventually die off, if not I'll have to replace the substrate and sterilize the cage.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the enclosure, which I have not really shown off at all:
As you can see there are a ton of springtails in the cage, (Sinella curviseta), which have done a good job at keeping mold down, (unfortunately they are no good at keeping the yellow fungus which turns the substrate into one solid mat at bay).
The dalmatian Oniscus asellus are doing great, shortly after finding the original three I found a fourth in my regular O.asellus colony, which I put in with the other dalmatians. They have reproduced already, and I think that some of the babies may be dalmatians too! I'll know for certain when they get a little bigger.
Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the older individuals:
Beautiful, am I right?! :)
My Porcellio scaber "Pied", have not been doing as well, and by that I mean none of their offspring have shown any white coloration, and some of the individuals that were originally white have lost their special coloration! I only have one pied individual left it seems, hopefully some of the normal looking offspring carry the gene for the pied coloration, otherwise it looks like this color morph will become extinct really soon. :(
Here are a couple pictures of my last pied individual:
Hopefully things change soon, I really like this color morph.
Unfortunately, my male Jerusalem cricket, Jiminy, has died. :( He was only able to mate with two females successfully, I tried mating him with another recently but he was unable to deposit a spermatophore after he almost aligned his genital hooks four times, he seemed to be tired so I let separated them and let him rest, sure enough he died less than a week later.
I assume that getting bit on the back did cause some damage to him, and it probably severely shortened his lifespan. Hopefully I'll be able to get the two females he mated with to lay some eggs.
Rest in peace Jiminy, hopefully your legacy will live on through your offspring, if I can get the females to oviposit that is.
Well that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I'll see you all next time! :)