Stuff I Sent to Brandon...

Just a short little update, I did just send some species in the collection to my buddy Brandon Maines of Magnificent Beasts, so I figured I'd let you all know why they're no longer on my cultured species list. 😅

First off, I sent him my last Pseudoglomeris cf. magnifica "Gold" female. I never posted about it, but actually completely cured mine of their "entomophagous" Trichoderma, but sadly as I suspected, the process took quite the toll on the roaches, and the only survivors were four adult females, three of which were pretty dang old and died a month or two after being cured. 😟 The one I sent Brandon appears to be a bit younger, but definitely unmated as well... Brandon has some females of this species himself, but no longer has any males sadly, and while some of his females should have been mated, they've not given birth for him for many months now... So that species may be functionally extinct in the US right now. In any case, I felt it made sense for my last female to go to him, in case he miraculously can source a male or something, just feels right for the remaining individuals of that species in the US to all be in the same place. 

Secondly, I FINALLY sent him the Reticulitermes cf. hesperus "Kuna, ID" I collected for him last Summer, which have been surviving in my care OK, just not really breeding, at least I don't think so, they are very secretive and didn't seem to be growing in numbers... In any case that was a long time coming, and Brandon's great at breeding termites, so they should take off in his care now. 😄

Thirdly, I sent him my lone Rhyparobia maderae nymph that was stowaway in my Gromphadorhina sp. "Unidentified" culture, which ended up being a female. That species is very rare in the US ATM, and Brandon has one pretty old female that should be mated and looks super gravid but refuses to give birth, and a younger adult male... So since my female nymph was a subadult, seemed like a good idea to send it his way so he can get it mated and hopefully get a colony of that species established quickly. 😅

I also sent him my entire Lepisma saccharina (common silverfish) colony, because I just can't seem to get them to breed... EVERY one of the 6 WC individuals I collected is still alive, along with a single, very slow growing nymph from their round of breeding last year... But that's it, there's basically been no more colony growth, can't seem to get tiny hatchlings to survive for me, and they haven't actually bred in months... So hopefully they'll do better for him, I just couldn't get them to take off for me. He breeds firebrats quite successfully, so he at least has good experience with a close relative of theirs, which will hopefully carry over to these Lepisma. 😂 

I sent him some other stuff too, but just starter cultures of species that I'm still keeping and breeding myself. 😄 Just wanted to explain what happened to all those species and why I no longer have them. Guess I'll finish by wishing Brandon good luck, hopefully he can get cultures of all those species established one way or another! 🤞😃

Well, that's gonna do it for today, thanks for reading, 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! 😉

New Bristletails & a Silverfish Update!

These past couple days I've been out looking for bugs out in the old field behind my housing development, and I found two individuals of an archaic insect order which I hope to breed, the somewhat obscure bristletails! 😁
Bristletails are a primitive type of insect in the order Archaeognatha, (alternatively known as Microcoryphia), they are relatively poorly known and poorly studied, and honestly a lot of people who see them may just mistake them for silverfish at a glance. However, unlike silverfish, bristletails can actually jump using their elongate tails in a fashion similar to springtails, which is why some people call them "jumping bristletails". 😄

Also, very interestingly, and I literally just learned this, but apparently bristletails are unique among insects in that they continue to molt past adulthood, and tend to mate and breed once every instar afterwards. 😮 Some species may have a lifespan up to four years, though apparently two of those may be spent as nymphs, (all depending on the species, temps, food availability, etc.). Overall they are quite interesting little creatures, and I hope to be able to keep and breed them successfully, if only to help further their presence in the hobby, which has been essentially nonexistent thus far. 😅

Now, since they are poorly studied, going about and finding an ID can be very tricky... I've determined the species I am currently working with is something in the family Meinertellidae, but that's about it. So far I have found two out in the field next to a dead locust tree, under bark pieces that had fallen onto the dead grass besides it. Would be nice if they were a pair, but I'll keep looking for more nonetheless.
In the past, I have found what I believe was this exact same species, back when I went camping in 2014, in a similar scrubland habitat. I remember catching a bunch and then throwing them in with some Eleodes I kept back then, however they did not last long at all, whether it was because of being kept with the Eleodes, or because my setup for them was incorrect overall, I do not know.

I am keeping mine in a small deli cup with a cm of sandy, clay based substrate from where I collected them, (sterilized of course), with some old cork board pieces and a piece of bark for hides. I'll be keeping half the enclosure humid, the other half dry, and will offer chick feed, artificial pollen, oats and fruits for food. They are supposedly detritivores, so I hope they won't be too picky.

Here are some pictures of one, much like silverfish they are covered in fine scales, which make it hard for my camera to focus on them, this is the best I could do:

Definitely an interesting order of insects, I hope I can breed these successfully and maybe get more people interested in these odd critters! 😊

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As for my silverfish, Lepisma saccharina, I actually found babies in their enclosure last week! 😃 Unfortunately though it seems several of said babies have died due to mold outbreaks in the enclosure, which have been running rampant for the entirety of my time keeping these things... 😐 I recently added some springtails and oribatid mites to their enclosure, which will hopefully start breeding soon and keep the dang mold in check... But at least the adults are doing well, and I have no doubt they'll keep on breeding for me, with the rest of their offspring hopefully being easy to rear when the enclosure isn't consumed by mold... 🙃

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

Hello Cricket My Old Friend...

...I've come to culture you again. 🎶 😛 Seriously though, I found an adult female Orthopteran, more specifically a species that I've bred in the past, and have decided I want to breed again, Ceuthophilus agassizii, a type of camel cricket.

This species likes it's space and protein, and can be quite aggressive towards each other, still with minimal effort I established a colony and kept it going for a couple years, they really aren't that difficult, I just got bored of them and was in the middle of a big cull of the species in my collection at the time, so I let them go. But now I'm interested in them again so here we go. 😂

Here are some pictures of her:

Hopefully she is mated and starts laying eggs here soon, I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled for more individuals when I'm out collecting though.

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This Spring has been an interesting one, I've kinda gone back to my roots during the quarantine and am working with a lot of natives, something I wasn't planning on doing. However, I am having fun, and have worked with species and genera I've never got to in the past, which is a good learning experience! 😁 One group of insects I've kept briefly but never really given my all in terms of breeding is the group Zygentoma, also known collectively as silverfish. Whilst looking around this week I have actually found a few silverfish under wooden boards and old cardboard outside, and have decided to give breeding them a go.

I'm unsure of the species, but I suspect they are Lepisma saccharina based on size and body shape, the silverfish species I've kept in the past was much larger, I suspect a species of Ctenolepisma. Oddly, I've NEVER seen silverfish indoors here in Idaho, only ever outdoors, meanwhile most people only ever see them indoors, not outdoors... Weird. 🤔

I've got all five of them set up in a jar with half an inch of sterilized sand/clay at the bottom, (I'm running out of coconut fiber here OK?), and have a whole bunch of bark chips and chunks layered on top, so they've got lots of surface area. The jar is minimally ventilated and I'm gonna try keeping them on the humid side. I'll offer chick feed and possibly leaf litter for food, maybe some cardboard too, they aren't supposed to be very picky.

Here are some pictures of them:

Kinda cute right? 😄 I don't understand how some people find them revolting, they're quite pretty IMO, nice and silvery, with a sleek build. Hopefully they do well for me, would be nice to get a colony established, I think people value them quite a bit for their feeder use...

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