Ancaudellia hamifera Babies!!!

Well, this week is going fantastic in terms of getting offspring from my slow breeding Blaberids! 😁 This story starts with some disappointment though, last week we had a 16 hour power outage in my neighborhood, and sadly the day afterwards I found one of my female Ancaudellia hamifera dead on the surface of the substrate. I assumed it was due to heat stress, as the closet they were in probably got to a little over 75F. 

So I was quite upset about that, however, yesterday I just found at least 5 small nymphs in the container, and can't help but wonder if that female that died was my oldest one that I received as an adult, and she just gave birth as she was dying, because I doubt either of the females that matured in my care would be ready to give birth already. So not only did I get babies, but I also think my two remaining females are my youngest ones, which is good news as well!

Anyways, here are some pictures of one of the little cuties:

I am thrilled that I got offspring of this species, and this is the first Panesthiinae species I've actually bred! 😁 Hopefully my Panesthia and Salganea will start giving birth soon as well!

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Also, was playing around with stuff to post to instagram, and I got this neat shot, sadly the lighting isn't great so I don't know if I'll be posting this one there, but figured I may as well share it here. 

As you can see, I've got an adult female Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes, adult male Princisia vanwaerebeki "Big" and adult Pyrophorus noctilucus on my hand, was going with a "giant species" theme using the three insect groups I have the most interest in, cockroaches, orthopterans and beetles

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

Giant Camel Cricket Hatchlings!!!

Great news, my Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes eggs have started hatching out! 😁 I was actually getting a little concerned, as it's been a few months since my adults started breeding, and I saw a few of the eggs laid right up against the sides of the enclosure had rotted and molded over, so I was worried that I was doing something wrong. Evidently, a few of the eggs the adults lay must just be duds, because I'm getting hatchlings now! 😄

Here are some pictures I took, I got a couple shots of a nymph as it was still wriggling out of it's egg! And then some pictures of a fully darkened nymph that hatched earlier.

L1 nymph hatching out of it's egg

Fully darkened L1 nymph

They're adorable, so glad these are breeding well for me! 😃 Hopefully I can keep them going for many generations to come, I'm loving these absolute giants among camel crickets!

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

Big Crickets & a Short Beetle Update

My Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes are maturing! 😁 I've actually had some adult females mature for a couple weeks now, but they are somewhat small/medium sized adults, I've been waiting on my one huge looking female to mature for pictures, and she just matured the other week! 😄 I've also finally got a mature male as well, so breeding has officially started! 

Here are some pictures of my massive female and my first adult male:

Adult female

Adult male

Such an impressive species! 😍 As you can see, adults have quite glossy exoskeletons, compared to the duller, matte texture of the exoskeletons of nymphs, so this makes telling nymphs apart from adults pretty easy IMO. I'm so glad I've got healthy adults of both sexes now, really looking forward to seeing babies in a short while! 😄

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Now for the short beetle update... Unfortunately, my last remaining Iphthiminus serratus larvae died before the New Year, which I think is my fault, I moved it from it's old container to the container my other larva had pupated in, since it was a bigger deli cup and seemed more conducive to pupal cell construction. However, the larva refused to burrow in this new setup for some reason, despite seeming perfectly healthy, laid on the top of the substrate for a week, and then died. So I was able to rear a grand total of 1 Iphthiminus serratus larvae up to adulthood... 🙃

Kind of sad, but TBH, that's better than I've done with any other Cnodalonini species before... At first I tried breeding Coelocnemis, never got any offspring. Then I tried breeding Alobates, got lots of offspring but couldn't rear any up to adulthood at all. Then I tried breeding these Iphthiminus, and reared one up to adulthood successfully... So I'm making incremental progress each time I try with this tribe, which is a plus I guess. 😅

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

Camel Cricket Updates!

I have updates for both my Ceuthophilus species, let's start out with my C.agassizii. My colony is doing quite well, most of the offspring produced from my WC adults are adults now themselves, and have already started mating and laying eggs, so the next generation isn't too far off! 😄

Here are some pictures I took of them recently, most of the eggcrate pieces in their enclosure are packed with individuals!

I've noticed that there seem to be a lot less cannibalism in this colony compared to last time I kept them, I think because I'm feeding them far more consistently and more often than I used to, either that or this new strain is just easier for some reason.

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Now onto my Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes. My nymphs are all growing very well, and a few appear to be subadults now! 😁 They're so big already, really looking forward to seeing some healthy adults in person! 

Here are some pictures of a somewhat recently matured subadult female, (hence her skinny abdomen):

Really hoping this species breeds well for me, will be nice to help get these established in culture here in the US, (though TBH I don't know of that many people interested in culturing these, even though they're the biggest US native camel cricket).

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Lastly, here's a comparison between that same subadult female Ceuthophilus gracilipes gracilipes, and an adult female Ceuthophilus agassizii! 

As you can see, the size difference between the two is already crazy, and that gracilipes female STILL has another molt to go before maturity, so she'll put on even more size! 😄 

Crazy how these two are in the same genus, and it's interesting how they differ in morphology, especially when it comes to their legs. C.agassizii are ground dwellers and have shorter, more robust looking legs, whereas C.g.gracilipes are arboreal and usually found on tree trunks in the wild, and have much longer, lankier legs which better suit that life style. And coloration wise, the patterning of gracilipes is good for blending in with the bark they typically rest on, whereas the coloration of agassizii helps them blend in with the pale dirt and and dried grass in the scrubland habitat I normally find them in.

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