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! 😉
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