So I ended up catching five of these things back in July, and unfortunately I only have one left... 😣 They just kept dying one after the other, and I'm honestly not sure why, they've been eating the food I've offered them, they have a moisture gradient, but seem to have no specific preference for their humidity levels, and I've been keeping them well ventilated and warm. Several of them molted, and none lost many scales at all, which was the main problem my group had back in 2014.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps I kept this group in too small a container, and they actually killed each other due to territorial disputes... Other than that, I've got no clue why they died.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like they bred or laid any eggs either, as I've not seen courting behaviors or any offspring, perhaps I only had males? That would lend more credibility to my territorial dispute theory... 🤔
Anyways, looks like this project was a big bust, maybe I'll try again one day, for now it looks like Bristletails will not be coming to the hobby anytime soon though... 😞
On a lighter note, my Myrmecophilus cf. manni hatchlings are all doing well, don't have a headcount yet, but everytime I open their jar it feels like there's one or two more in there! 😄 They're also feeding well too, as most look quite plump now, whereas they hatch out very skinny.
I recently added some squares of corrugated cardboard to the enclosure for the nymphs to hide in, to give them more surface area, so far they seem to love them. 😁
Unfortunately I believe all the adults are dead, as I've not seen them in a while, however I've also not seen any adults outside, so they probably just died of old age TBH. So not the most long lived little things, or the most prolific, or the fastest growing, as these hatchlings seem to be taking their sweet time to molt... But cute has to count for something I guess! 😂
I am happy to report that after refreshing their enclosure and replacing the substrate, my Bantua sp. "Namibia" have started giving birth again, found a new litter born last week! 😁
Here are a couple pics of the newborns, and a subadult female for the heck of it:
My Conibius cf. seriatus pupae have been eclosing, and I finally snapped some pictures of some teneral adults!
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| Here's one an hour or two after eclosing |
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| And here's one a few days after eclosing |
Lastly, I wanted to give an update on my silverfish, Lepisma saccharina. I decided to move their jar downstairs where it's cooler, since I had another batch of babies hatch out, and it looks like most of them died during the recent heat wave we had... 😑The adults were all fine thankfully. The few nymphs that survived are doing great now that I've moved them to a cooler location though, and are actually molting and growing, finally! 😂 Now hopefully with the next batch of offspring my adults produce I can get the ball rolling on getting a proper colony established! 😅
Anyways, that's gonna do it for this jam packed update post, hope y'all enjoyed, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you next time! 😉
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