May's Ups & Downs

Got some ups and downs that happened this month that I figured I'd post here before June, in between more positive posts. 😄

Let's start with some sad springtail updates. So first off, my Willowsia nigromaculata have become thoroughly infested with Willowsia sp. "Kota Kinabalu"... Which is very unfortunate. I honestly don't know that I'll be able to salvage enough of the nigromaculata to establish a colony again, but I'll do my best.

Secondly, my black Isotomidae from Boise just never took off, and I can't collect them again, so that project is dead in the water. 😢

Thirdly, my Orchesella cincta colony has all but collapsed, mainly due to predatory mites. I then moved my remaining individuals to a smaller deli cup, but didn't give them enough airflow, so despite them doing OK initially and breeding in that setup, one over watering was all it took to bring their numbers back down to half a dozen mixed sizes.

---

Next up, a more positive update. One of my Gromphadorhina portentosa "LLE Mahogany" females gave birth to a good sized litter! 😁 Said babies are doing quite well and have molted to L2 already.

Weirdly one of the larger females aborted her entire ooth shortly afterwards, and I'm not sure why... 🤔 But in any case most of the females seem super gravid and will probably give birth soon as well, so no big loss there (already they give birth to so many babies per brood! 😅).

---

Now for another sour update, this time about one of my darklings... Unfortunately I've completely failed with Doyenellus cisteloides. 😭 

I gave them a coconut fiber substrate, which the females did eagerly lay in, and I got lots of tiny larvae from them. However, the larvae died very shortly after hatching, and I'm pretty sure they actually needed a rotten wood substrate to survive... Mixing in a bit of rotten wood into the top layer of coconut fiber after I realized this was not enough, and all the offspring sadly perished. Not only that, but all the adults died off too, seemingly of natural causes (I'm pretty sure Helopini live rather short adult lives in general). So, quite a bad mistake on my part, but at least I know better for working with this tribe in the future. 🙁

---

Another downer update, though not as irreparable as the former. My Nocticola sp. "Malaysia" colony crashed... Because the Coecobrya sp. "Tropical Pink" (ex. Sinella curviseta) that got into their bin outcompeted and essentially wiped them OUT. 🙃 So that's fun. Thankfully there were still some Nocticola in there, so I've isolated them to start a new culture. But yeah it's gonna take a little while to get them going again, and now I have to be diligent not to let springtail populations get too high for them. The joys of roach keeping lol.

But I think that does it for the misc May updates I have that don't warrant pictures being taken. So, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed and learned from this post, stay safe, and I'll see y'all next time! 😉

Nocticola Hatchlings!!!

Well about a week ago I checked my Nocticola sp. "Malaysia" enclosure, and was happy to find that I already had hatchlings! 😁 The females have been laying eggs non stop, and now they've started hatching, so I'll likely have tons of these things soon! The babies are so adorable and really tiny, about a mm (maybe two) in length. Despite that, I was able to get what I consider to be rather decent pictures of them, considering their size at least! 😅

Here are the little cuties:

Aren't they so cute? ☺ Hopefully they'll do well for me! Upon Brandon Maines's recommendation, I added some rotten wood chunks to their deli cup a short while ago, since he said they do best when they have rotten wood available. I might try and set some up in a container without rotten wood and see how they do in comparison later on, but for now, since I have it available, I figured it couldn't hurt to add it. 😄

Also, on a slightly related note, I've also been finding hatchlings in my Compsodes schwarzi container, so both these tiny Corydioids are doing well for me! 🙂

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

More Micro Corydioids!

Magnificent Beasts Package Series Pt. 3/6

««« Previous post in series • Next post in series »»»

I plan on acquiring a certain bark mantis species sometime next year from Brandon, and in order to feed their young, I'll need tiny feeders. I did get some Sinella curviseta springtails (yuck) in this package, which will be good for little mantis hatchlings, but as they molt they'll need small, but more substantial prey. Compsodes schwarzi roaches fill just that category, and so Brandon sent me a bunch of them to get a colony started ASAP!

I've kept these tiny US native Corydiids before, so they won't get too much fanfare, but I decided to get some pictures of them anyways, because why not? 

Short winged adult male and subadult male

Subadult male

Adult male

Adult female

Neat little species, hopefully they get to the baby-making pronto! 🤞

---

Now for a species I've never kept before, since I'm apparently on a micro Corydioid kick! 😂 These are even smaller than Compsodes, and may in fact be the smallest roach currently in culture (in the US at least), the diminutive Nocticola sp. "Malaysia"! 😁 These tiny roaches are in a different family than Compsodes and Myrmecoblatta, while those are in the family Corydiidae, Nocticola are in the family Nocticolidae, but both families are in the superfamily Corydioidea. Adult females of this species lack wings, can't climb smooth surfaces well. I don't know about males, as I don't think any of the adults I received are males. 

I've got my group set up in a small, minimally ventilated enclosure with a substrate of coconut fiber, with bark chips mixed in. There is long fibered sphagnum moss strewn on top for cover, as well as some cork tile hides. I'm keeping them humid, and at around 70-75F°. I'll be offering them chick feed and maybe the occasional piece of fruit for food. 

Here are some pictures of adult females and some oothecae, they are super tiny and thus were pretty hard to photograph, but I think I got some OK shots:

Adult females

Adult female carrying ootheca

Ootheca

A very cool little species that I'm glad to see is becoming well established in the US hobby, I love these micro Corydioids and hope to see more enter culture! 😁

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! 😉