Friday, April 29, 2016

My New Assassin Bugs!

I recently did a trade with Michael Dixon, the owner of Mike's House of A Thousand Legs, I gave him some roaches for a sexed pair of Black Corsairs, Melanolestes picipes.

They are very beautiful, and specialize in eating beetles, though they will accept other prey such as roaches in captivity. The female he gave me is a BEAST, and right after I housed her she ate two adult mealworm beetles and a adult male Parcoblatta americana. It does not seem like the male has eaten anything yet, he probably does not have as big of an appetite as the female. The female has actually tried to attack him a few times, though he seems to be adept at avoiding her and escaping her sharp proboscis.

They are housed in a small plastic container with a substrate of coconut fiber, long-fibred sphagnum moss, and fir bark pieces. There are two pieces of maple bark in the cage as hides, as well as some moss clumps. I am keeping them pretty moist.

Here are some pictures of the lovely pair:

Male


Female


The cage

These guys are really pretty, and I hope I can get the female to oviposit, I'd love to breed this species! I will keep you all posted on these guys' development.

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

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Myriapod Madness!!!

I've recently gone on a bit of a myriapod kick, so I thought I'd post about some of the stuff I've caught over the past couple weeks.

First off, let's start with my Polydesmus sp. This small Polydesmid has been introduced into North America from Europe, along with several other invertebrates, including some other myriapods. They are commonly found in backyards across America, and after finding a couple in my backyard I have decided to keep them.

I currently have two, but I will try to catch more this week. I am keeping them in a cage filled with a substrate of coconut fiber and long fibered sphagnum moss, and there is a layer of dead leaves on top. They shouldn't need rotten wood, seeing as there is none to be found in my backyard and they are pretty abundant there. I feed them the dead leaves, as well as dog food occasionally.

Here are some pictures of them:




Hopefully I can find more and get them breeding!

I've also found some small Julid millipedes in my backyard, I believe these are another European species that has been introduced to America, Brachyiulus sp. I will be posting some pics on Bugguide.net, hopefully they will be able to tell what species it is.

I caught six of them a couple of days ago in my backyard, and have put them in a small cage full of coconut fiber and dead leaves. There are a few isopods in that cage, they should co-exist together just fine, I find them together in the wild all the time. I am feeding them the dead leaves as well as some dog food.

Here are some pictures of them:









The cage
With six I should be able to breed them, though I may catch a few more, just to be safe.

Now let's move on to the centipedes! I found a brown stone centipede, Lithobius forficatus the other day under a piece of wood. I have housed it in a deli cup full of coconut fiber and dead leaves, and have offered it dog food and a live roach nymph. It ate neither, but once I killed the roach nymph it ate it.

Here are some pictures of it:







The cage
Hopefully I can catch more, so that I can try to breed them!

I also caught a small Lithobiomorph, whether it is a immature L.forficatus or something else, I don't know yet. It is in a small deli cup filled with coconut fiber and dead leaves, and has been eating small pre-killed mealworms. Hopefully I can raise it to maturity, it has already molted once in my care!

Here are some pics:





The cage
Hopefully it continues to do well in my care!

Here's a little update on my Scolopendra polymorpha "Rio Grand". It has been doing well, it has made itself a burrow that it refuses to come out of, even at night. This may be a sign of molting, so I'll be keeping my eyes peeled that's for sure.

Anyway, here is a picture of the cage:


Since we are on the subject of myriapods, if you guys didn't know, Mike's House of A Thousand Legs has opened up, and it is quite the site! There is a video about the site opening up here, and there is a giveaway going on as well! It is the only web store devoted to myriapods, with a focus on centipedes in particular. I suggest you guys check it out, and get yourself a centipede or two! ;)

Well guys I hoped you enjoyed this post, and I'll see you all next time! :)

Monday, April 25, 2016

My Invertebrate Setup, and A Few Miscellaneous Updates

Hi guys, upon request I'm going to show you guys where I keep all my bugs! I keep almost all of them in my closet, as you can see here:




I have an additional two cages up on a shelf with some board games:


So that's my setup, hope you guys enjoyed!

On the subject of setups, let's take a look at my Chorisoneura texensis cage:




As you can see, there is a peice of foam sponge that serves as a plug for the maintenance hole, which is next to the food bowl for easy access. If I opened the actual lid, most of the roaches would escape, as these guys like to accumulate around the lid. Luckily this setup works well, and my C.texensis are doing very good!

Unfortunately my Cariblatta lutea female died, so my chances of breeding them have been crushed. Hopefully I will be able to obtain more this year, and hopefully that time I will be able to breed them without the hassle of entomophagus fungi.

And lastly, I just wanted to post a picture of one of my Eusattus muricatus eggs, as there seems to be no photos of them online.



Well, that's it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you all next post! :)

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Parcoblatta lata and Chorisoneura texensis Update

My Parcoblatta lata have been doing very well, and most of them have matured! These guys are big compared to the other Parcoblatta species in my collection, and the females seem to be decent for handling. The males on the other hand are long-winged speed demons that will dart halfway across the room if handling (or photographing) is attempted. The females have already started to lay ootheca, so it seems like breeding this species is a piece of cake!
Here are some pictures I took of them:

Female





Male


Hopefully these guys will continue to do well, and in a few months the oothecae should start hatching!

My Chorisoneura texensis have also been doing very well, and the ootheca keep on hatching! I have not noticed many nymph casualties at all, and hopefully I never will! In their old cage I had given them lots of ventilation holes, which the super tiny hatchlings were escaping from.

Recently I gave them a new cage without any ventilation holes, and made a small access hole next to the food bowl that I plug up with a piece of sponge, so that I never need to open the lid up, as the nymphs just love to accumulate up there. So far I have had no more escape problems, and they don't seem to mind the (drastically) reduced ventilation.
Here are some (pretty bad) pictures I took of the nymphs:






Nymph that I assume is going to molt soon
Hopefully I can successfully rear these nymphs to adulthood, it would be pretty awesome if I could!

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