Random Summer/Fall Updates

In early Summer, I won a giveaway from Coast2CoastBeetles for a single female Dicronorhina derbyana. I put her in a very basic setup, a couple inches of flake soil, kept humid in a well ventilated enclosure, with apple slices and beetle jellies for food. She ended up being mated, laid some eggs, and several of those eggs hatched and have now reached L3. While I wait for the larvae to pupate, I guess I should FINALLY upload these pictures I took of the adult female months ago. 😆 

Here she is in all her iridescent glory:

Such a beautiful species, seemingly easy to breed/rear as well (we'll see if I can get the larvae to pupate successfully though, I've not got the best track record with scarabs in that regard).

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Next up, all of my Copiphora sp. "Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru" have matured, I have paired them (which was rather easy, just left a pair together overnight in 5 gallon bin, then rinsed and repeated), and the females have been laying eggs prolifically, straight into the substrate. 

While these haven't been super difficult to rear, as I find myself increasingly short on space and time for keeping predatory species, I'm going to do one of two things this next generation. I will either sell off all nymphs that hatch out from this next generation, OR throw a bunch of them together and attempt a communal rearing setup. I don't have very high hopes for the latter, however the adults at least did not seem very aggressive towards each other at all, at least not with enough space and on full stomachs. 🤷 But yeah not super interested in rearing another generation in isolation, especially with dozens more nymphs to care for, so it's either communal setup or nothing. 😅

Here are some pictures of the adults:

Female

Male

I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on their progress!

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Onto the next and more recent update, most of my Eucorydia dasytoides forma zonata "Taiwan" have finally matured! Females have been pumping ooths out prolifically, so hopefully there will be a big baby boom soon! 🤞

Here are some pictures of these absolute stunners:

Males

Females

Absolutely in love with this species, IMO the most iconic of the genus. 😊

EDIT 12/31/25: Just found hatchlings, perfect way to end 2024! 🥳 

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My Arenivaga sp. "Animas, NM" have finally started to pop off (it would seem adding some sand to their substrate got them ovipositing more regularly), and I'll likely make them available within the next few months. Which is cool since I consider them one of the more unique strains of Arenivaga in culture, and I've been unable to even tentatively ID them thus far.

Anyways I got some random pictures of a male the other day that I wanted to dump here:

Similar to tonkawa, but the morphology is more slender (both in males and females), and the wing length longer than the tonkawa strains I've seen. That and the difference in breeding rates/husbandry leads me to believe it's definitely not A.tonkawa.

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My next generation of Hemithyrsocera vittata have started maturing, and they are overdue for an enclosure upgrade as well, which I plan to do sometime next week.

Anyways, here are some pictures of one of the new adult females:

This is one of those species that never gets old to just look at a colony of, with how stunning both nymphs and adults are in their coloration.

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I've had a random, small Lithobiomorpha sp. get into some of my enclosures as of late. They seem to be one of the species that feeds quite a bit on decaying organic material, dog food, fruits, etc., and thus far have not bother any of the inverts they've been housed with. They seem to prefer moist conditions, and relatively organically rich substrates as well.

Here are some pictures of one of the little cuties:

I have started offering these for sale, not sure if it's something anyone would be interested in, but I have plenty to spare and find them rather cute, so hey, why not? 🤷 😆

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I don't know if I ever covered this, but uh, yeah I got Platymeris guttatipennis again. This time for myself, as the person I'd passed the last group I got onto sadly failed with theirs. 

They've done rather well for me, my initial group bred and most died off by now, but their offspring have done well in my care and most are subadults themselves now. Care seems pretty standard for the genus. 

Anyways, I fed them some excess Porcellio hoffmannseggi "White-Out" males the other day and snagged some pictures of a large nymph feeding on one:

Can't wait until the next generation matures and starts breeding, after which I will then start distributing this species through the US hobby more.

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So far, despite some initial reports, it seems Porcellio succinctus is really not that difficult a species to breed, as mine have been absolutely thriving for me. They've also thrown out a lot of solid white individuals, which I've started moving to a setup of their own to hopefully isolate that morph.

Here are a couple pictures of a large female and a smaller immature:

As far as Spanish Porcellio go, these have got to be one of my favorites. 

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Lastly, my Therea olegrandjeani have been doing well, and I decided to get some better pictures of some adults a little while back.

Here are those pictures:

An iconic species, that I'm glad to actually have pure stock of (something that may become harder to find in the near future, as Therea hybrids are unfortunately being distributed now).

Well, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! 😉 

Yet more Bugs from Kyle

Got a few more bugs from Kyle at Roachcrossing several months ago that I never got around to posting. So without further delay, let's dive in! 

First off, we got new spider beetles! cf. Niptus ventriculus "Las Cruces, NM", which Kyle collected from within rodent burrows. A neat velvety little species, that seems pretty easy to breed and rear.

I've got mine housed in a minimally ventilated enclosure with about an inch deep mix of oats, dog food and pinto beans. Keeping them bone dry, and at around 75F°.

Here are some pictures of them: 

They've already started breeding for me, so that's awesome! Always nice to add another grain feeder to the collection!

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Next up, we have cf. Anaplecta sp. "Redlands, FL". I believe Carlos Michaelsen collected the original stock, then sent them to Alan Jeon, who then sent them to Kyle, who then bred them and sent a group to me. 😄 These are an almost certainly adventive species recently recorded from Florida, the tentative genus ID is very tentative. Not much is known about this species, and a very few people have them in culture ATM.

I have mine housed in a 32 oz deli cup with a mesh lid, with a thin layer of moist coconut fiber at the bottom, topped in fake foliage for hides. Feeding them dog food and fruits, and am keeping them at around 75-80F°.

Here are some pictures of an adult pair:

The have been breeding pretty prolifically, so hopefully I can help spread them around more in the hobby!

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Next up, Kyle sent me a group of Libitioides sayi forma sayi "OK - Patternless". This is one of the brighter orange, patternless (or mostly patternless) localities of this species, which I've been wanting to breed for a while now! 

I've got them housed in a moderately ventilated enclosure with a mixture of coconut fiber, coco coir chunks and sphagnum moss as the substrate, topped with cardboard and leaf litter for hides. I'm feeding them springtails, fruit flies, dog food and apple slices. Keeping the enclosure humid and at around 75-80F°.

Here are some pictures of them:

This form seems to breed more readily and prolifically than forma albolineata from further east, at least in my experience. Definitely a wonderful new addition to my collection!

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He also sent me a group of Eleodes suturalis "Buffalo Gap, TX". These are one of the largest US darklings, with a piedish body shape and a nice red stripe down their backs to boot! 😁

I've got mine in a well ventilated setup with a sand/coco fiber substrate mix, topped with cardboard roll hides for the adults. Keeping one third of the substrate humid, the rest dry, and keeping the temps at around 75F°. I'm feeding them dog food as the staple diet.

Here are some pictures of an adult male (females look much the same, just with slightly shorter mucros):

These have proven to be quite prolific egg layers, here's hoping the larvae will be easy to rear to adulthood! 🤞 

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Lastly I also got some Byrsotria fumigata and Elliptorhina davidi, which since I've posted about those a bit in the past, I won't bother with getting new photos of ATM. 😅 Both have actually bred for me now, which is pretty awesome.

Anyways, that does it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, hope y'all had a good holiday, and I'll see you all next time! 😉