I'm keeping them in a moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coconut fiber and sphagnum moss substrate, topped with crushed leaf litter and bark. I'm keeping them pretty humid, and at around 75-80F°. I'm feeding them dog food and fish food as their supplemental diet.
A cute species with unique morphology, I'm really happy to have some in my collection now!
I recently got some Gromphadorhina oblongonota from Russ Gurely, which he says came from the Philadelphia Zoo. He never mixed these with any other bloodlines, and so far they look quite pure to me, which is great since pure oblongonota are becoming harder and harder to find here in the states. The last group I had came from Roachcrossing, but I traded them back to him since his colony crashed (and unfortunately he was not able to save them even after getting those individuals back from me). So I've been on the lookout for this species for a bit, and I believe I've found good stock of them now. 😄
I have them set up in a well ventilated 5 gallon gasket bin with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, topped with bark and eggcrates. I'm keeping two thirds of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and have them at around 80-85F°. I'm feeding them dog food and fruits as the staple diet.
Here are some pictures of a nice, large male (not a *true* major though IMO):
Really hoping these breed well for me, I have several females that look ready to burst at the seams! 🙏 Would be nice to spread the love and make some pure oblongonota available myself! I also low-key wanna try some creative hybrid projects with these... 👀 Imagine what oblongonota to Aeluropoda would look like, the morphology (especially the pronotum shape of major males) couldn't be more different... 🤔
I got some Ignamba sp. "Nigeria" from Smugbug earlier this year, and they have proven to be quite the hardy and prolific species!
I have mine in a well ventilated enclosure, with an inch or so of coco fiber substrate topped with leaf litter and bark. I'm keeping them on a 50/50 humidity gradient, and at around 75-80F°. I'm feeding them dog food as their supplemental diet.
These are a nice little oddball species, one of very few African native isopods established in the US hobby!
Lastly, after getting hybrid stock last year and having to destroy that culture after realizing that they were compromised, I have received pure Therea bernhardti stock from Zail Zavala (who got his from Roachcrossing, who got his from the EU hobby over a decade ago).
This stock is pure and seems to only throw out individuals with black hindwings. Supposedly there were two stocks of "bernhardti" in the EU hobby, those with black hindwings, and those with orange hindwings, and some keepers apparently mixed those stocks together... it's quite possible those were two different species, or at least two distinct localities of bernhardti (apparently both have very short hind wings, so I'm betting on the latter TBH).
However, this stock is old, has not been mixed since they came to the US from Europe, and only throws out individuals with black, short hind wings. So they should be pure bernhardti, which were originally described from hobby stock with short black hind wings, with the locality info of "Tiruvannamalai, India". I can't speak for other stocks of this species available in Europe and the US, but at least this line appears to not have been contaminated by other bloodlines/species.
I've got several of them maturing ATM, so I should start getting lots of babies in a matter of months, and will hopefully have them available by Spring. 😄 So happy to now have pure stock of all 5 cultured Therea spp... I'll have to talk about the two spp. that are actually new to US culture here in a future post. 😜
Anyways, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see y'all next time! 😉
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