Long time no post! Unfortunately internet issues have been keeping me from posting much, also I HATE the new blogger format... But anyways, have some news to share, bad news unfortunately.
First off, my Gyna capucina colony has crashed, hard. Only a month or so ago I counted 80+ individuals in my colony. I sifted through their enclosure last week and only found a little over 20... 😠I have no earthly idea what could have killed so many of them off, they had a little bit of a grain mite infestation, and their substrate was looking old and dirty, (which was why I sifted through the substrate in the first place, so I could replace it), but neither of those should have killed off so many nymphs... I've not been finding any bodies either, so unlike normal they've been eating the bodies completely apparently...
Additionally, most of the remaining nymphs are large female nymphs, with a few tiny nymphs and three subadult males remaining, plus a couple of old looking adult females and a few adult males... 😣 So my main worry ATM with restarting this culture is that all the males will mature and die before all the females can mature. So, to remedy this, I've separated those three subadult males I've found, and am keeping them cool, while my female nymphs are still in the main, heated enclosure. Hopefully this will help sync them up and ensure most of my females from here on out are mated.
Anyways, I've replaced the substrate in the main enclosure with fresh coconut fiber, have reverted to a horizontal humidity gradient, and am basically trying to keep the colony similar to how I did back when I as actually getting my females to give birth for me, as that's been a big problem as well, getting my females to give birth. Hopefully this setup revamp will fix the problems I've been having, we'll have to wait and see. 🤞
Also, I'm sad to report that my Agulla sp. snakefly larva unfortunately died during the pre-pupal stage for some reason... 😞 I believe I may have kept it a bit too humid. Was looking forward to rearing up an adult myself, oh well, maybe some other time.
Oh well, that's gonna do it for this post, there have been some other, more exciting developments in my collection, but I'm having difficulty getting photos onto the blog what with the internet issues I've been having, so posts about said developments will be a bit delayed... There are also some exciting new additions on the way, some of which are new to the US hobby, so stay tuned for information on all that in the coming weeks!
Thanks for reading, hope you're all doing well, stay safe, and I'll see everyone in the next post! 😉
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