Thursday, March 31, 2016

My New Embaphion muricatum larva and Scolopendra polymorpha!

Yesterday I got a package from Michael Dixon, known on Arachnoboards as Mastigoproctus. He is a great guy and I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again! I got over a dozen Embaphion muricatum larva and a free Scolopendra polymorpha "Rio Grand" yearling!

My Embaphion muricatum larva are inside a small deli cup filled with sand, coconut fiber, and wood and moss chunks. They are being fed carrots and dog food. This species is one of the most unique looking darkling beetles out there, and I am thrilled to have the chance to breed them!

Here are some pictures of the larva!



Hopefully I will be able to rear some to maturity! :)

This Scolopendra polymorpha "Rio Grand" yearling is my first centipede, and I am very happy to own it! His/her name is Tirek. It is in a cage filled with about 2-3 inches of moist coconut fiber and sand, and there are pieces of bark and some dead leaves as hides, as well as some moss clumps.

As soon as I put it in its cage I offered it some roach nymphs, which it rapidly devoured. It also ate a superworm, which is a pretty big meal. I love its voracious appetite, and its striking markings! It is a very interesting pet, one that should grow to be 6-8 inches long once it matures in a few years!

Here are some pictures of the beauty!







I look forward to watching it grow, and hopefully it will be with me for many years to come!

Anyway, that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you all next time! :)

Monday, March 28, 2016

My New Coelus ciliatus and Eleodes sp, Along With Some Eusattus Pics!

So, a few days ago I received a package from a friend in CA, which had over 25 Ciliate dune beetles, Coelus ciliatus, and a sexed pair of an unknown Eleodes species in it. I have housed both species together to conserve space, and it's not like I won't be able to tell the larva apart, Coelus have very distinctive larva.

Now Coelus are sand dune specialists, and they need a very sandy substrate. I am keeping mine in a medium sized container filled with several inches of sand, mixed in with a little bit of coconut fiber. I am keeping the lower layer of the substrate damp, with the top layer dry. There is layer of dead leaves on top of the substrate, which serves as a food source. They are also being fed dog food and carrots. They really seem to love the dog food, like most darklings I have kept.

Here are some pictures I took of them!

Coelus ciliatus





Eleodes sp.


Hopefully I will be successful breeding these guys, I have wanted to keep Coelus for a long time, and there does not seem to be much documentation of their life cycles online.

My Eusattus muricatus have been doing well, and they are definitely laying eggs! I have discovered a few eggs at the bottom of the container, they are huge in proportion to the beetles themselves compared to other darkling beetle eggs I have seen. Hopefully they will be hatching soon, I really want to see what the larva look like!

Anyway, here are some better pictures of the adults I took the other day:






I will keep you guys posted on this species, I am very excited to be breeding it!

That's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I have some more stuff coming in the mail soon, so stay tuned! :)

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Ceuthophilus agassizii Update

This species has been doing OK, though they aren't reproducing as much as I would like them to. I recently got confirmation that these were indeed Ceuthophilus agassizii, many thanks to David J. Ferguson on bugguide.net. The next generation has begun hatching out, hopefully this time I won't have so many casualties due to territorial aggression.

Here are some pictures of them!

Male




Female

I hope this species continues to do well, and I hope the population density increases.

Anyway, that's gonna be it for this post, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time! :)

Saturday, March 19, 2016

My New Paranauphoeta discoidalis & a Small Eusattus Update!

I got a sexed pair of the discoidal assassin roach, Paranauphoeta discoidalis, a few days ago. They are a very pretty species, both the adults and the nymphs. They also seem pretty calm, I was able to photograph my adult with little trouble, she stayed still the whole time. That is a very nice quality in a roach, and one that is not common among the species in the hobby.

I am keeping them in a medium sized container with coconut fiber as the substrate and I am using dead leaves and toilet paper rolls as hides. I am keeping them moist, and am feeding them dog food, fruits and veggies. Hopefully I will be able to breed this species, they are very pretty and rare!

Here are some pictures of my adult:





Now for a small update on my Eusattus muricatus. They are eating dog food and dead leaves, and I have witnessed what I believe to be egg-laying! Hopefully if all goes well, I will be seeing larva soon! I am trying to keep the substrate dry with a moister bottom layer, this was how it was in their natural habitat.

Here is a picture of their enclosure:


I don't know if anyone has ever gotten this genus to reproduce in captivity, at least I haven't heard of it. Hopefully mine are laying eggs, I am very interested to see what the larva look like!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I will see you all next time! :)

Thursday, March 17, 2016

My Birthday Order Has Arrived!

My birthday order from Roachcrossing has arrived! All the roaches arrived safe and sound, and boy are they cool! I was able to snap pics of all the new species except my Paranauphoeta discoidalis, as soon as I put them in their cage they disappeared, evidently there are a lot of hiding spots in their cage. Anyway, lets talk about some of my new roaches!

First off, let's take a look at my new Tonkawa sand roaches, Arenivaga tonkawa. I have always wanted some Arenivaga, they are one of my favorite native genera, so I am very excited to have some! I am keeping them in a small container filled with dry coconut fiber, and there is a layer of dead leaves on top of that. Apparently Arenivaga breed best in smaller containers, a fact that I found interesting.

Here are some pictures of them!

Female nymph


Subadult male


These guys started eating as soon as I put food in their cage, and seem to be acclimating to their new digs very nicely! :)

I have loved having my Blaberus atropos and B."discoidalis", and decided to get yet another Blaberus. Blaberus sp. "Venezuela" stood out to me, I love their pronotum colors and width, and got a sexed pair of nymphs.

Here are some pictures of them:




I am really liking the genus Blaberus, and I am glad I have another species in my collection!

Now here come my favorite roaches from this order, and maybe even my favorite roaches in my whole collection, the roly-poly roach, Corydidarum pygmaea. These were a gift from my mom, and it's a species I've wanted forever!

This species, as it's name suggests, can roll up into a ball like the real roly-polys, Armadillidium sp. Nymphs and adult females are able to roll into balls, males however are winged and lack the ability to roll up.

Here are some pictures of the nymphs:






I really hope I can breed this species successfully, apparently people have trouble with males maturing and then dying way before the females do. I'll just have to see what happens I guess.

Anyway, that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I'll see you all next time! :)

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Parcoblatta Maturation Update Pt.2

So I now have breeding pairs of every Parcoblatta I own except for my Parcoblatta unknown "fulvescens like caudelli". Let's talk about them! :)

First off, my Parcoblatta americana have been doing good, however a cage cleaning is imminent, the substrate has been infected with a weird fungus that is turning the substrate into one solid mat, so I may have to replace the substrate soon, and that won't be fun. Anyway, I have never gotten a really good picture of my adult female P.americana, so I thought I would take some pictures until I do. Finally, here are some good photos of the females of this species! 





Pretty much all of my P.bolliana nymphs have matured, and in addition to my adult females, some adult males have emerged. They are extremely fast and skittish, so I was only able to get two pictures, and both are from an angle.



Now that I have adults of both sexes, hopefully I will be seeing oothecae in the cage soon! :)

My P.divisa male matured, and boy is he big! Unfortunately he is really fast and does not like being out in the open, so I was not able to get any pictures of him. He has been busy though, I found a few oothecae in the cage this week! One of them was really long, much longer than other Parcoblatta ooths I have seen. I have a feeling these guys are going to be quite prolific! :)

Many of my P.uhleriana have matured, most of them have been females. I do have a couple of males in the cage too, so I should be seeing oothecae in the cage real soon! Here are some pictures of the adults!

Female



Male


The males of this species are pretty cool looking, much more broad than the other Parcoblatta males I have seen.

My P.viginica have been doing well, two more have matured, both male. Now I have at least one pair of this species, hopefully they will reproduce for me! Here are some pictures of one of the males!





Now here comes some bad news. One of my Parcoblatta unknown "fulvescens like caudelli" matured into a seemingly healthy adult female, unfortunately a few days later I found her dead. I don't fully know why she died, my guess is lack of proper ventilation. Sadly that only left me with two subadult males, no females at all. So I will not be breeding this species, unless I get more this summer. :( This is the first cockroach species I have failed at breeding.

To not leave off on a bad note, one of the males matured, and he's a beauty! 
Here are some pictures of him:






Oh well, I will have to try to breed this species another time, hopefully then I will succeed! 

Now, normally I don't post two days in a row, but tomorrow my birthday order from Kyle comes and I will want to blog about it, and I want to get this post out before then. So, I hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I will see you tomorrow I guess! :)