June's Disappointments

Kind of a part two to my last failure post, these are less of complete failures, and more just disappointing updates that still have a 50/50 chance to turn around IMO.

First off, my Panchlora sp. "Guadeloupe". For whatever reason, I only got 2 broods from my last generation, out of maybe 5-6 females... Which is abysmal. Most of those nymphs have now matured, besides two enormous subadult females that sadly may not mature before my last couple males die off... Anyways, none of my current mated, adult females look particularly gravid, and I'm concerned I might not even get another generation out of them... Which would really suck.

Not 100% sure why they're tanking, but to be safe I just moved them to a smaller enclosure in an attempt to get the allee effect going. They had a TON of springtails in their last setup, which may have been stressing them out, so we'll see how they do in this more simplistic setup, with less microfauna and fresher substrate... Fingers crossed they pull through and give birth to a few good broods. 🤞

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Next up, some Perisphaerinae woes. 

For whatever reason, my Perisphaerus pygmaeus have not given me consistent broods since late 2020/early 2021. I'm left with around 15 adult females, and half a dozen nymphs that were born from a single brood in February of this year. Not sure what's going on, as the females are all for sure mated, but last year I had quite a few abort their ooths on me for seemingly no reason.

A lot of the current females seem quite gravid, and so I'm optimistic that I'll get more broods soon, but it's all looking rather precarious ATM. I did just revamp their setup, replacing the substrate and old bark hides, and gave them some hole ridden rotten wood chunks to nest in (which a lot of the females instantly hid inside). So, we'll see if that does anything.

Speaking of Perisphaerus, let's talk about my sp. "Kota Kinabalu". Unfortunately, I believe all three broods I got were premature stress broods, and most of my adult females died within several months after the last brood. Most of the nymphs from all three broods died (as is normal for stress broods from Perisphaerinae), however I've got 7-8 nymphs of varying sizes that seem to have stabilized and are doing well, and now growing at a decent rate.

Unfortunately, this seems to be one of the species where males grow quite fast compared to the females... And, just in case they're one of the species where males live only a month or so, I've isolated three of the male nymphs to their own enclosure, and will be keeping them rather cool to slow them down a bit. My female nymphs are growing at a decent rate now and will hopefully mature ASAP, I did also leave one male nymph in with them that appears to already be a subadult. The reason being, not only would I like to see what an adult male looks like sooner rather than later (as well as test just how long they live), but a couple of the original WC adult females are alive and well, just not gravid looking, and may need another mating to produce more broods... So we'll see if I can get them paired up soon and maybe get some healthier broods from them. So yeah, the colony is in a bit of a precarious position, but I remain optimistic that I can get another generation going.

My Bantua robusta "Namibia" on the other hand, are almost certainly gonna go kaput on me, I don't think I've bred them since 2020. My original colony all but died out on me, and so I got some more from Kyle late last year. However, all of those matured (mostly into females), and then over the next few months I got to watch pretty much all of them abort their entire ooths for seemingly no reason. 🙃😭 Really not sure what went wrong, I've been keeping them as I have in the past, but yeah, depressing.

Anyways, they seem to be all healthy and doing OK for me now, and a lot of my females are starting to plump up a bit and are hopefully reforming ooths. Will they abort said ooths? Who knows? 🤷 Guess I'll have to find out and see. The most frustrating thing is, if they breed for me now, I won't know what I did right... 🙃😂

Lastly, my Pseudoglomeris tarsalis. For some reason, a lot of my females matured, and then either aborted their ooths, or just refused to give birth until they died... And quite a few died prematurely. Not 100% sure why, but I think excessive springtail/nematode populations may have had a lot to do with it, plus the very male heavy sex ratio... So, I'm down to two females, plus a bunch of adult males (which compared to the females seem immortal... 😒). I've isolated the remaining females to a more simplistic setup, with much less springtails and no males to pester them. I am hoping I can get a brood out of at least one of them, one of the females is super gravid looking, the other not so much... So we'll see. 🤞

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Next up, a Hemithyrsocera vittata update. So far no babies, and after rehousing the culture I only found a few ooths in the substrate, most of which were rather small... It seems like they're not laying much, and with four young, mated females, that's not the best sign. 🙁 Some of the females are starting to look a little older now, so there's a lot riding on them doing well for me. One possible reason for a lack of reproduction may be because of the high ventilation causing the top layer and hides of the enclosure to dry out too much in between waterings... So I'll try misting them daily now, and see if that works better for them. Bit worried about them, but hopefully I'm just being paranoid, and they've actually been laying more than I thought. 😅

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Lastly, an update on my Anallacta methanoides. Most the nymphs Ty sent me matured in the past several months, and I did get a few ooths from them initially. However, the enclosure became completely infested with nematodes, which seem to have had a bad affect on them, causing several adults to die prematurely due to stress. So, I rehoused them to a fresh setup, and salvaged the three or so ooths I could find. Hopefully the remaining adults will recover from the stress of their nematode infestation, and produce more viable ooths for me in the new setup. I also gave them some more ventilation, since I think I was keeping them just a little too stuffy for their taste. So, we'll see how the colony does from here on out, hopefully I won't have to get yet another starter colony from Ty/Kyle... 😅🙃

Anyways, that does it for today's sorta bummer update post. Hope this proved informative to some of you, thanks for reading, stay safe, stay buggy, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

More Tiny Brown Ectobiids!

2021 Roachcrossing Shipment Series Pt. 1/4

Next post in series »»»

Today's round of new roaches was brought to you (and me) by Kyle from Roachcrossing.com, I sent him some rarer Ectobiids I had, and in exchange he sent me some neat Ectobiids he'd been culturing! 😄

First, let's start of with the cutest species he sent, Chorisoneura parishi! This particular species of Chorisoneura has evaded culture for a while, yet they've proven even easier to breed than C.texensis! They prefer dryer conditions than texensis and have a similar need for good airflow, also only being found in south FL in the US, they like it warm year round. High heat seems helpful for breeding but perhaps not necessary. My main concern with these honestly is going to be keeping Entomobrya from getting into their setup and outcompeting them lol!

I've got my 8 or so adults and 1 nymph in a small, well ventilated container with a thin layer of coco fiber substrate, and some vertically slanted bark and leaf litter for hides. I'm keeping them at around 75F, and will be keeping two thirds of their enclosure dry, the remaining third humid. I've got a feeding port in their enclosure, since like C.texensis and Plectoptera poeyi I'm SURE the nymphs will always cluster underneath the lid of their enclosure... 😒 For food I'll be offering dog food, chick feed, and fresh fruits.

Here are some pics of an adult male and female, in their tiny roachy glory:

Adult male, finger for scale

I think two males

Adult female

Such a nice little species, the adults look much like those of texensis, but some individuals come out much darker, and with two toned antennae. Occasionally the adults have Blattella-like stripes on their pronotums. The nymphs of the two species on the other hand look quite different from each other. Looking forward to establishing a colony of this species! 😁

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Now we move onto the second species of Ectobiid I got, Euthlastoblatta diaphana. This species has been in culture in Europe for years, but hasn't really gained a foothold in the US hobby up until now. Adults look like your typical light tan Ectobiid, however the larger nymphs of this species are beautiful and ornately patterned, which is what makes them worth keeping IMO! 😍 Tiny nymphs kinda look like young Periplaneta fuliginosa nymphs.

I have my 8 or so tiny nymphs in a moderately ventilated setup with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, with vertically slanted bark and leaf litter for hides. They will be kept rather humid, and at around 75-80F. For food I'll offer dog food, artificial pollen, and fresh fruits.

Here are some pics:

Definitely an underrated species in Blatticulture IMO, one I really hope to see do well in the US hobby from here on out!

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Oh, and lastly, I got some Bantua robusta "Namibia" male nymphs from Kyle. My remaining small culture seems to be recovering from the springtail related stress that's been causing them such a high mortality rate, and I've really upped the heat and ventilation levels in their current container... So everything SHOULD be perfect for them now. Sadly all of my mated adult females died, and it would seem that most of my remaining nymphs are females... So I needed a boost of new male nymphs for the colony, and Kyle thankfully delivered. 🙂 Hopefully they can bounce back from this crash and get back to breeding better, fingers crossed!

Anyways, that's gonna do it for today, but stay tuned, because these roaches weren't all I got from Kyle... 😁 Thanks for reading everyone, hope you enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all in the next post! 😉

Bantua sp. "Namibia" & Deilelater physoderus Updates!

So, over the past few months, the cotton springtails (Entomobrya unostrigata) in my Bantua sp. "Namibia" enclosure have been steadily breeding and breeding and breeding, and with the ambient humidity drop during late fall/winter, they've really taken off. Unfortunately it recently got to the point where some of the bark pieces in the more humid areas of the bin were literally coated in their eggs, and the springtails themselves coated every hide and were rapidly swarming food in the enclosure... Additionally, the bottom of the enclosure was littered with months worth of Bantua sheds and frass.

None of this bodes well for the roaches, and their reproduction has been pretty minimal as of late as a result of these stressors, so I've just re-vamped the enclosure, replaced the substrate, washed the bin, washed and sterilized all bark hides to eliminate most springtails from them, etc.. I then put the Bantua back in, with a small amount of cotton springtails and some predatory mites too. After all, having no springtails at all would be an invitation for grain mites to take over, which are worse, at least with these cotton springtails it takes quite a while for them to reach pest numbers, especially if I have predatory mites in there hampering their breeding progress.

I also added more ventilation to their bin, just 'cause, can never have too much ventilation for Perisphaerinae! 😄 Lots of plump females in there right now, as well as some recently matured ones, so I'm expecting some new broods here soon.

Anyways, since I had all my Bantua isolated into an empty container for a little bit while I was renovating their enclosure, I decided to get some pictures of them. Here they are:

So now that their enclosure has been revamped, they should get to making more babies ASAP, there are probably more adult females in there than any other life stage, and lots of adult males too, so hopefully I get a nice population boom after this! 🤞😁 I think I've been overselling from my colony, I should really give them a generation or two with no cullings so they can really fill out their current bin. But hey, it's nice seeing all these people in the US working with this species now, so it's been worth it, even if my colony growth has been sorta slow as a result. 😅

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The Deilelater physoderus substrate Alan Jeon sent me has been producing lots of larvae, I have 29 isolated so far, and there are more tiny ones in the substrate still that I have yet to isolate. Most of the ones I've isolated have been growing quite well, but a couple have barely grown at all since I isolated them, despite having identical setups. So there are some staggered growth rates happening there, kinda weird. 

Anyways, I finally got around to getting some pictures of one of my larger small larvae, probably the first pictures of Deilelater physoderus larvae in existence! 😄 Also, I got a couple blurry pics of a tiny larva glowing! Pyrophorini larvae can glow from behind their heads when sufficiently disturbed, but I usually only see it happen with small larvae, and I've never captured it on camera before! 

Cool right? They look pretty similar to the Deilelater cf. atlanticus "Ocala, FL" and Pyrophorus noctilucus larvae I have, which is to be expected I suppose. So far the survival rate of isolated larvae has been 100% for me, as it has been for those two species as well, so that's nice! 

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

More Misc Updates!

Alrighty, got some more small updates for y'all, so let's jump in, starting with my Jumping Bristletails! (Meinertellidae sp. "ID"). 😄 Unfortunately that pun is the most lighthearted part of this update, which is rather gloomy...

So I ended up catching five of these things back in July, and unfortunately I only have one left... 😣 They just kept dying one after the other, and I'm honestly not sure why, they've been eating the food I've offered them, they have a moisture gradient, but seem to have no specific preference for their humidity levels, and I've been keeping them well ventilated and warm. Several of them molted, and none lost many scales at all, which was the main problem my group had back in 2014.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I kept this group in too small a container, and they actually killed each other due to territorial disputes... Other than that, I've got no clue why they died.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like they bred or laid any eggs either, as I've not seen courting behaviors or any offspring, perhaps I only had males? That would lend more credibility to my territorial dispute theory... 🤔

Anyways, looks like this project was a big bust, maybe I'll try again one day, for now it looks like Bristletails will not be coming to the hobby anytime soon though... 😞

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On a lighter note, my Myrmecophilus cf. manni hatchlings are all doing well, don't have a headcount yet, but everytime I open their jar it feels like there's one or two more in there! 😄 They're also feeding well too, as most look quite plump now, whereas they hatch out very skinny.
I recently added some squares of corrugated cardboard to the enclosure for the nymphs to hide in, to give them more surface area, so far they seem to love them. 😁

Unfortunately I believe all the adults are dead, as I've not seen them in a while, however I've also not seen any adults outside, so they probably just died of old age TBH. So not the most long lived little things, or the most prolific, or the fastest growing, as these hatchlings seem to be taking their sweet time to molt... But cute has to count for something I guess! 😂

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I am happy to report that after refreshing their enclosure and replacing the substrate, my Bantua sp. "Namibia" have started giving birth again, found a new litter born last week! 😁

Here are a couple pics of the newborns, and a subadult female for the heck of it:

Hopefully there's more where those came from! 🤞

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My Conibius cf. seriatus pupae have been eclosing, and I finally snapped some pictures of some teneral adults!

Here's one an hour or two after eclosing

And here's one a few days after eclosing

So it only takes around a week or so for the pupae to eclose, pretty quick! Not surprising considering the larvae only took a few weeks to develop completely. 😄 If they were a little more prolific, they'd make for some great micro-feeders!

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Lastly, I wanted to give an update on my silverfish, Lepisma saccharina. I decided to move their jar downstairs where it's cooler, since I had another batch of babies hatch out, and it looks like most of them died during the recent heat wave we had... 😑The adults were all fine thankfully. The few nymphs that survived are doing great now that I've moved them to a cooler location though, and are actually molting and growing, finally! 😂 Now hopefully with the next batch of offspring my adults produce I can get the ball rolling on getting a proper colony established! 😅

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this jam packed update post, hope y'all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you next time! 😉