Comparing Duckies, & Isolating Dark Blonde Duckies?

Well I've got some interesting things to share regarding my Cubaris sp. "Blonde Ducky". I had some darker individuals pop up in my colony, not something I'd heard of happening with this particular species. When dark like this, they really look like sp. "Rubber Ducky", and it seems some people consider those and sp. "Blonde Ducky" to be the same.

However, IMO they differ noticeably in morphology, with sp. "Blonde Ducky" being more flat and having a wider skirt, whereas sp. "Rubber Ducky" are a bit skinnier and more cylindrical. Even more noticeable IMo is the different segment shapes between the two, particular of their last few "tail" segments. So I'm of the opinion that they are two distinct species, with unfortunately very similar sounding strain names (they even named the all orange/yellow morph of sp. "Rubber Ducky" "Blonde", and the intergrade between the wild type coloration and the orange/yellow morph "Blond-ish"... Why??? 😫). However, we won't know for sure until individuals are sent to a researcher and he can examine their morphology more closely, and preferably their genetic relationship as well.

Anyways, here are some pictures of my dark color form (DCF) sp. "Blonde Ducky", as well as comparison shots between these and sp. "Rubber Ducky":

Female sp. "Blonde Ducky - DCF"

Male sp. "Blonde Ducky - DCF"

Female & Male sp. "Blonde Ducky - DCF"

Male sp. "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish"

Male sp. "Blonde Ducky - DCF" VS Male sp."Rubber Ducky"

Definitely, these two are different species. And I might be the first to get dark individuals to pop up in their sp. "Blonde Ducky" colony? If not, I'll at least probably be the first to try and isolate for this coloration lol, I've got my dark individuals in their own setup now, and the female in these pictures is gravid, so I'll have babies soon! 🤞

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! 😉

Isopod Updates

Lots of little isopod updates to touch on, again no pics, I've been busy taking pics of new additions this week and just can't be bothered to get pics of stuff I already have ATM... 😆

First off, I got a bunch of big broods from my Armadillidium gestroi and A.klugii. Those two are doing great for me, I also got a small brood from my A.werneri, and have more gravid females looking ready to pop, but for some reason they seem much less prolific and more picky than the other two.

Also, side note on the A.klugii, while they were sent to me as the "Montenegro" strain, a lot of the adults that popped up look like the "Dubrovnik" line or a mix of the two, so that's very likely what they are, a mixed "hobby line" of two or more klugii locales. Bit disappointing, but hopefully I'll be able to source pure "Montenegro" line klugii one day.

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Sadly, two of my female Porcellio expansus died, both as they were super gravid. I think I kept them with too little ventilation, and they kicked it as a result (gravid isopod females seem the most sensitive to stuffy air)... I have one female left, which doesn't look gravid in the slightest, I might chuck her and a male in my Paranauphoeta lyrata bin, since this species apparently breeds very well when housed with Paranauphoeta. Overall, not a happy update, but there's aat least a bit of hope left.

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My Porcellio hoffmanseggi have been doing very well, and I've gotten at least two broods from them so far. The babies grow pretty dang fast, and I do wish I'd have taken pictures of second instars, they look so chonky and weird for a Porcellio! 😂 Looking forward to having a big thriving culture of these giants!

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Now for perhaps the saddest isopod related news here today... My Alloniscus perconvexus colony has completely died out. 😢 I'm honestly not 100% sure what happened, they did well for me initially, but were growing slow as all heck, and eventually just fizzled out. I think I may have over done it with the salinity TBH... Oh well, hopefully I can try with them again eventually.

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Thankfully, in happier news, my Nesodillo arcangelii "Shiro Utsuri" have given birth to several broods, and by far are doing the best out of all my "Cubaris" type isopods. I just upgraded them to a gallon shoebox to accommodate the culture growth, and as y'all may have noticed, I added them to my For Sale List (with one of the best price rates for them out there that I've seen). 😉 Very happy these have been preforming well for me!

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My Philoscia muscorum female has been going to town, so far I've gotten a total of three broods from her! I heard someone was saying something about females of this species only giving birth once in their lives... This is most certainly not the case, as I only started with a single female, who retained enough sperm from a wild mating to produce three broods for me, and may even produce a fourth before she dies! 😄

The offspring from the first brood are already nearing what should be sexual maturity, and the second brood babies aren't too far behind. I started keeping them a bit warmer, and so far they don't seem to mind the heat. It would seem really the main thing that's important for this species is very consistent humidity.

I also added this species to my FS list, and as far as I know, this may be the first time CB individuals have been offered in the US hobby? 🤔

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Lastly, my Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" have thankfully given birth to a few broods. 😁 I did make a bit of a blunder a couple months ago though, and I dropped their setup a solid several feet... The lid opened in the fall and everything, it was nasty. So I ended up losing a few adults and small mancae as a result due to stress/injury. 😥

However they seem to be rebounding slowly but surely, especially since I dropped the humidity on one side of their setup and gave them more ventilation. They really do seem to like a humidity gradient, contrary to what I thought. Oh well, lesson learned, and their population is slowly growing, despite my learning curve mistakes. 

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

Blonde & Blond-ish Rubber Duckies!

Ty Randall Shipment Series Pt. 3/5

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Well, it was inevitable, and it's finally happened... I have Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky" isopods. 😂 These have got to be some of the most wanted isopods in the hobby, a new hobby staple that every isopod enthusiast must own! At least, that's all I ever hear about this species, the past few years have seen the isopod hobby turn into quite an expensive one, and one might say that these "Rubber Ducky" Cubaris sp. might be one the biggest contributers to this, starting the "Cubaris Craze" that even to the day has a firm grip of the isopod community as a whole. Now, Ty sent me two types of "Rubber Duckies", and there is actually some debate as to whether these two strains are even the same species or not... At the very least, they are different localities from each other.

Let's start off with the Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" strain he sent me. Now this is an orange strain isolated from the normal C.sp. "Rubber Ducky" stock, and it's not true breeding (not yet at least), some individuals still pop up with faded orange or more prominent grey markings on their backs, while others are fully orange on their backs.

I've got mine set up in a moderately ventilated half a gallon container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate. On top I've got bark pieces and long-fibered sphagnum moss for hides, as well as leaf litter for food. As their supplemental diet I'll offer dog food. I'm keeping them humid and cool (68-73F°). 

Here are some pictures of these little duckies:

Now I will say, for all my ranting online about how overrated "Rubber Ducky" isopods are, I've found they are MUCH cuter in person, photos do not do them justice... Still overrated compared to Spanish Porcellio spp. though IMO. 😂

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Now onto the Cubaris sp. "Blonde Ducky". This strain is a true breeding orange line, and was supposedly collected from a different locale than the normal "Rubber Ducky" line. They were collected as orange individuals, and little to no selective breeding of this morph was needed to consistently produce plain orange individuals. 

I have noticed that while adults of the two strains look much the same in person, "Blonde Ducky" immatures are noticably wider than those of the "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" strain. At least, that's how it looks in person, I should probably do a side by side comparison photo some time... But for now I'm too lazy. 😜

I have this strain set up in an enclosure identical to my C.sp. "Rubber ducky - Blond-ish".

Here are a few pics, it was harder to get decent shots of these than of the other strain sadly:

Hopefully both species do well for me, I've started with good numbers of each, so I expect to see offspring soon! 😁

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