Unfortunately I have some bad news on the Ectobiid front, in the words of Elton John; "it's sad, so sad, it's a sad sad situation".
All three of my Latiblattella lucifrons ooths molded over, I'm not quite sure why, but needless to say, I have failed miserably at breeding this species. 😠I was so excited to have some in my collection, so I am super bummed that they didn't do well in my care. I'm pretty sure keeping them to moist was the main reason mine didn't reproduce well, but other factors may have been in play as well.
Also, I did a thorough examination of my Chorisoneura texensis enclosure, went through every hide, turns out I only have one nymph left. 😢 Not quite sure what I did wrong this time, I may have kept them too moist, but they had dry areas available, perhaps this AL strain isn't as easy to culture as the NC strain I once had?
I also gave the C.texensis way more hides than I did last time, and as a result they may not have been able to find the food I offered them. Another possibility is cannibalism, Alan Jeon said he had problems with nymphs attacking each other, maybe the AL strain of this species is more cannibalistic than the NC one?
In any case, I've failed with this species as well, which sucks, I was really hoping I'd have better luck with them, considering I had little trouble last time getting a colony set up with my NC strain.
Oh well, sometimes you have big successes in this hobby, sometimes you have failures, it's inevitable. Just wanted to let you all know what was going on with those two species.
That's going to do it for this post folks, thanks for reading, will see you all soon!
This is why I am so careful. I'm too busy to have the "luxury" of death-related insomnia, but you may do whatever you feel is suitable.
ReplyDeleteWhat are the buttery yellow Compsodes doing and how big are mature individuals? They look very pretty.
Yeah, not a great feeling when a species doesn't make it. Wish I at least knew 100% what the problem was with both species, so I know what to avoid doing in the future. :/
DeleteThe Compsodes are doing great, they are really prolific!! And you would think that with such a tiny species of roach, the adult lifespan would be rather short, but all of my original adults are still kicking, even all the males! And their offspring are growing quickly, so the generations may even overlap soon!
The Calathus ruficollis and previous Coniontis beetles I kept all lived for about more or less half a year, despite neither beetle exceeding 1 cm. Some of them had died unnaturally (superworm guillotine) and could perhaps live even longer under good conditions.
DeleteAlso, I was trying to ask how large they were, not how old.
I also kept what I suspect to be a Calathus ruficollis for over a year, way before I started this blog, what a coincidence!
DeleteNormally tiny roaches aren't long lived ones, take many of the Ectobiids for example! I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, since Compsodes are in the family Corydiidae...
Ah sorry, got carried away with the first question, "how are they doing?". :p The adult females are about 5 mm long, whereas males are about 6 or so with the wings. VERY small roaches!
Actually with the wings, males are about 7 mm.
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