Coniontis sp. "CA" & Corydidarum Updates!

My Coniontis sp. "CA" are doing pretty well, and my first CB adult is hardened up and ready to join the main colony! 🙂 It has a much thicker layer of wax than the other adults do, which will probably wear off a bit after a few weeks.

Here are some pictures of it:

And what's more, a second pupa has enclosed, and I found another pupa and a pre-pupa as well!
Here are a couple pictures of the more teneral adult:

Finally getting a good amount of larvae pupating now, hopefully this trend will continue! 😊

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My Corydidarum pygmaea culture is sitting in a pretty good spot, there were at least two litters born last month, maybe three. The combination of heat, high ventilation, rotten logs for boring, and slightly dry upper layers of substrate but high air humidity really seems to be boosting their reproduction! 😄

Speaking of which, here are some photos I took of a mating pair, something you rarely see with this species!

Always a good sign more nymphs are on the way! 😁

Anyways, that does it for this post, hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

Parallelostethus attenuatus Matured!!! (& More)

One of the mystery Elaterid larvae from Illinois has matured, and it's actually a very pretty one! Pretty sure given the size, location and coloration, this species is Parallelostethus attenuatus! Hopefully the other larva that looked just like this one will mature soon as well, if I had a sexed pair of this species and could breed them, that'd be amazing! 😁

Here are a few pictures of the new adult:

Really nice right? Here's hoping the other one matures soon and is the opposite gender!

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Also, the Coniontis sp. "CA" pupa I showed off a few posts ago has eclosed into a big, healthy adult, which is great! 😊

Here is the one half decent picture I could get of it in the teneral state:

Here's hoping there are many more where this one came from!

Well, that's gonna do it for today's post, I hope everyone enjoyed, see you all next time! 😉

Arenivaga, Coniontis & Panchlora Updates!

Wow, back to back posting guys, can you believe it? 😜 Luckily, this one is a lot more lighthearted than yesterday's post!

My Arenivaga tonkawa females have finally started laying oothecae, evidently due to the increased ventilation levels! 😁 Hopefully I'll have little tonakwa babies soon!

Here are a couple of pictures of the largest ootheca I could find:

Will let you guys know when the ooths start hatching!

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My youngest Panchlora sp. "White" female is very gravid, and I can even see her eggs through her abdomen! (the exoskeletons of Panchlora adults are pretty transparent). Unfortunately this has proven to be rather hard to catch on camera, but I decided to try anyway.

You can just barely make out the curved shape of the ootheca and the eggs in her abdomen if you look hard enough. In any case, I'm really hoping she will give birth soon to a healthy litter of nymphs, rather than abort her ooth for no reason, we'll see!

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Finally, after much waiting, one of my Coniontis sp. "CA" larvae has pupated! 😃 The pupa of this species looks much like the other pupae I've seen from this genus, however the exoskeleton looks a lot waxier than other Coniontis pupae I've seen, and reminds me a lot of a Dynastid or Cetoniid pupa!

Here are some pictures of it:

Now this is a pupa I'd love a plushie of, Alex! 😛

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Lastly, here are a couple pictures of three Armadillidium maculatum "Dalmatian" having some "fun"! 😆

I'll leave it on that note, hope everyone enjoyed this post, will see you all next time! 😉

Lots of Darkling Beetle Updates!

First off, I thought I'd just let you all know that I have released most of my Eleodes hispilabris, on account of me losing interest in breeding them. I still have three CB adults that are housed in various other Tenebrionid or cockroach enclosures, but I have stopped breeding them for now.

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Secondly, after adding a bit more sand to my Eleodes osculans enclosure, I have finally found some larvae in there! They are short, stubby little things, very cute IMO! 😊 (Just like the adults!).

Here are some pictures of them:

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Most of my Coniontis sp. "CA" adults have died off now, presumably due to old age. The larvae have proven to be hard to pupate, however I was pleased to see that at least one of the larvae I've isolated has created a pupal cell and is in the pre-pupal stage now! 😁 Seems like the more cramped the pupation enclosure, the better. Hopefully the others will follow suite soon, there are a LOT of larvae that have reached maturity now, I want to rear up as many as I can before they expire!

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The larger Eleodes sp. larvae I received from Brandon Woo several months ago have proven to be extremely difficult to rear, with the majority of them dying before or while entering the pre-pupal stage. This is likely due to improper humidity levels, the pre-pupae don't seem to like it quite as moist as most of the other Eleodes species I've bred.

I DID get two larvae to pupate successfully though, and two more are still in the pre-pupal stage, so hopefully I can get at least one pair to mature successfully and breed! Anyway, one of the pupae has finally eclosed, and I can finally announce the identity of these larvae!

Here she is, introducing Eleodes acuticaudus!!!:

Will let you all know if I can rear the rest of them to maturity!

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Now, here are a couple sad announcements...

I am sad to say that the one Alobates larva I was able to save died, it did not seem to be able to ingest the wood I fed it, and refused to feed on any chick feed or dead mealworms I offered it. All but one of my adults have died off as well, probably due to old age, so it looks like I've completely failed at breeding this species. 😢

Also, most of my Edrotes ventricosus adults are showing signs of old age, and a few have died off already. Doesn't look like they've given me ANY offspring at all, so this was also a big bust.

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Now let's end on a high note! My Eleodes tribulus have been breeding very prolifically for me, and the larvae are very easy to rear as well. I've got a couple dozen adults now, which are producing even more larvae!

Here are a few pictures of some adults:

Well, that's going to do it for this post everyone, thanks for reading, will see you all next time! 😉

Small Coniontis & Porcellio bolivari Updates!

My Coniontis sp. "CA" are doing very well, the larvae have all grown quite a bit, I think some of them will be ready to pupate soon! 😊 My females seem to have started laying a second wave of eggs too, as I'm seeing tiny larvae in the cage now. So, continuing a conversation I had with AlexW from the fine blog, Splendid Unknowns, I'm relatively sure we can conclude that female Coniontis do regenerate eggs after laying all the ones in their ovaries. There was a break in between the two egg laying waves after all, they definitely weren't just laying them the whole time.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of an adult eating a dead leaf:

I just threw these dead leaves in there the other day, as they had eaten all of the leaf litter I put in the cage originally, and had been without some for a couple weeks. They went nuts for these new leaves, the adults especially, so they definitely seem to be a favorite of this genus! 🙂

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My Porcellio bolivari are doing very well, and growing rather fast! Most of them have probably reached sexual maturity by now, so I'm hoping I'll see some gravid females soon! 😁 If I do, I may isolate them, to avoid any stress from males trying to mate with them or territorial disputes. For six isopods, their current enclosure should be adequate, but I'm not taking any chances with these rarities!

Here are a couple pictures I took of two females the other day:

The photos look a bit too bright from the flash in my opinion, but oh well.

Anyway, that's going to do it for this post, I hope everyone enjoyed, will see you all next time! 😉

Tenebrionid Success Updates!

I have had some nice successes with many of my Tenebrionids lately, so here's a new post just to highlight those successes! 😁

My Coniontis sp. "CA" have laid many eggs since I first got them, and I now have lots of larva tunneling around the enclosure! They seem to grow pretty fast, I was surprised at how large some of them were when I dug around the cage today looking for larvae to photograph!

Here are a couple half decent pictures of one of the larvae, (you'd be surprised at how much trouble I had to go through just to get these pictures):

The smaller Coniontis sp that I collected myself a little while ago have also produced eggs for me, and there are now several small larvae in their enclosure as well! Unfortunately they were too small for me to take any decent pictures of them, once they get bigger I'll try and snap some photos.

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The batch of Eleodes larvae that I got last month from Brandon Woo that are either E.acuticaudus or E.osculans have all pupated now! I separated a few into their own deli cups, but the majority are still inside the medium sized tupperware I housed them all in, they all dug to the bottom and constructed their own pupal cells at pretty much the same time.

I'm very lucky that they all grew at the same rate and decided to pupate all at once, otherwise the pupae would likely be cannibalized, not to mention many of the pupal cells would be collapsed by the tunneling activities of other larvae.

Anyway, considering their size, I'm almost 100% sure they are Eleodes osculans, will know for sure once some of the pupae eclose!

Here is a picture of one of the pupae that I had isolated into it's own deli cup:

Hopefully I'll end up with a lot of adults in a few weeks!

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I finally found larvae in my Eleodes tribulus container last month, this species seems to appreciate a rather sandy substrate for egg laying, and they don't seem to be terribly prolific either. The adults also really need good ventilation or else they get sluggish.

Here is a picture of one of the larvae:

In other Eleodes larvae related news, I now have a ton of Eleodes rileyi larvae! They seem very long and wiry compared to other Eleodes I've seen, unfortunately they are too small right now for me to get good pictures of them. This species is a lot more prolific than I expected, hopefully the larvae will turn out to be easy to rear!

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I have been isolating quite a few of my Embaphion cf. contusum larvae for pupation over the last month or so, and now I have quite a few new adults! This species has proven to be just as easy to breed as Embaphion muricatum, if not more so! The pupal survival rate is pretty high, and the percentage of "perfect" adults that eclose seems to be a little higher than that of E.muricatum.

Here are pictures of some of the fresh adults:

So glad this species has done well for me!

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Lastly, let's talk about my Meracantha contracta. Sadly, my female passed away the other day, this species doesn't live that long as adults, only a few months, and considering the extent of the injuries my female had, I'm honestly surprised she made it this long! Luckily she left me with a lot of larvae, she was way more prolific than I thought females of this species were supposed to be!

The larvae are doing very well on a diet of just chick feed and a little bit of leaf litter, (they don't really love the latter), so no rotten wood seems to be needed to rear this species, which is great! Some of the larvae are about half grown now I'd say, or very close to half grown at least!

Here are some pictures of a few of the larvae:

The coloration of the larvae seems to be pretty variable at this stage, some are sort of an orange tan color, while others have more of a rich chocolate brown coloration.

Overall it seems like most of my Tenebrionid species are doing very well right now, which pleases me greatly! That's gonna do it for today's post everyone, I hope you all enjoyed, will see you again soon! 😉