New JC Pictures

Introducing my new Jerusalem crickets!

Swirl (Named for its unique segment deformation)

Sam

Hopper

Mangle

And Tiny (Named so because he's the smallest JC I have)

And here are my original ones:

Ripper (My largest one)

Gap (Again named for its segment deformation)

And Jiminy

And that is all my Jerusalem crickets, for now... Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this post, and I'll see you guys next time! :)

My New Jerusalem Crickets Have Arrived! (And More...)

Another successful order of Jerusalem crickets! The order included:
5 Jerusalem crickets
8 or so Porcellio laevis (and as luck would have it, some of them are pure white!)
1 Amara sp ground beetle (he probably added that one by accident)

All in all, I am very happy with this order! Once the crickets have gotten over the stress of shipping, I will take some pictures of them! I was gonna do an unboxing video, but unfortunately my camera's battery died on me while recording! :(

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On an unrelated note, I recently shipped out some Cylisticus convexus to Alan Grosse, and he took some Great pictures of them, which he has given me permission to post on my blog. Here they are!

I think I will call this morph "Pied" instead of "Dalmatian", because "Dalmatian" isopods are white with little black dots all over, these guys are more splotched than spotted, like pied ball pythons. Anyways, that's gonna be it for today, I hope you guys enjoyed! :)

Another Order...

...of Jerusalem crickets from DETHCHEEZ! I currently have 2 males and one female, (The largest one is the female, up until recently I thought it was a male). This new order of JCs should have 2 more females and another 2 males. Now my chances of breeding these guys are great! They should hopefully arrive sometime this week. Also, my female has molted twice since last update and she is BIG! Hopefully she can wait long enough for one of my males to mature, I really want to mate her and hopefully get some eggs. Apparently, females eat males after mating, so I need at least one male for each female. Luckily I will now have one male for each female plus a spare, just in case.
Here are some pictures of my big girl!

Can't wait to try and breed them, I would love to see some tiny baby JCs! I may have some other cool new stuff coming my way, so stay tuned! Hope you guys enjoyed! :)

Porcellio scaber "Half-White/Dalmatian" Morph

Recently I've noticed some of my P.scaber have had white splotches, and one individual is more white than grey! It appears that my strain has some interesting morphs in it! I have isolated them, and as time goes on they will most likely get whiter and whiter. One of them is pregnant, so I hope it gives birth to least some "dalmatian" ones. Anyway, here are some pictures!

As you can see, most of them are mostly grey, but hopefully future generations will be much more speckled. That's it for today, hope you guys enjoyed! :)

Ergaula capucina update

One of my nymphs molted into a big mature male, and I took some pictures of it while it's still hardening, so it is lighter colored than usual. These guys have been doing good, my female has been laying plenty of oothecae, and another female has matured, so I'll be getting lots more ooths. Anyway, here are some pictures!

The still hardening male

One of my females

That's it for today, I got some exciting stuff coming up this week, so stay tuned! Hope you guys enjoyed this post! :)

Pycnoscelus surinamensis

For the first time since I got them, I am going to blog about my Surinam roaches! I am keeping them in a plastic container with coconut fiber and sphagnum moss as the substrate. No decor is needed, these guys spend all their time underground. They eat just about anything, cat/dog food, fruits and veggies, dead leaves, anything really. The reason that I have not posted about them is because I have not had any interest in digging some up to take photos. However, their cage has become heavily infested with mites, so in the process of removing the roaches from the substrate I thought why not take some pictures? Here they are!

Adult

Nymph

The cage

That's it for today, hope you guys enjoyed this post! :)

Castianeira sp Eggsacks

I found 3 Castianeira sp. eggsacks the other day, and I am going to attempt to hatch and rear them! I am keeping them in a small deli cup with a thin layer of moist coconut fiber. I know what they are because I saw a female in the process of making one of the sacks on under a rock, and the next day I found the finished sack plus 2 more. Anyway, here are some pictures of the sacks!

Hopefully they hatch soon! Hope you guys enjoyed the post! :)

Pterostichus sp

I have caught a few Pterostichus sp. these past few weeks, and I plan on breeding them. I have gotten them to lay eggs in the past, but not many. They are being kept in a medium sized plastic container, with coconut fiber and sphagnum moss as the substrate. There is a layer of dead leaves for hiding and decor, and there are isopods as a clean-up crew. They are eating live and dead Rhabdoblatta formosana, which they seem to enjoy. So far no eggs have been laid, but I am not sure if I have any females yet... so I'll just have to keep looking for more. Here are some pictures of one of them chowing down on a dead R.formosana.

In each scene you can see it get fatter and fatter as it keeps eating! Anyways, I'll see you later, hope you guys enjoyed! :)

Pale Bordered Field Roach Update!

Checked my Pseudomops septentrionalis container today, (Which only has 5 individuals left, due to a death and a few escapees, don't ask me how they escaped, because I have no idea), and found this beauty!

There is also another subadult nymph that I am hoping will mature soon! I really hope I can breed this species, they are so pretty! Anyway, that's it for today, hope you guys enjoyed! :)

Making rotten wood!

Remember when I said I had stuff "brewing" in the bug room? Well I really should have said fermenting, because that is exactly what I'm doing, fermenting Traeger wood pellets to make rotten wood! All it takes is Traeger wood pellets, flour, and yeast! (I think active dry yeast is the best).

First you take a bunch of wood pellets, and then pour hot water on them, and then they expand, kinda like the coconut fiber bricks. So remember, a cup of pellets makes lots of sawdust, so don't use too much! Then you dry the sawdust out, add flour and yeast, stir well, and then add some water to make it moist again. Put it in a well ventilated container, stir it daily for about a month, and bam! You have rotten wood! (Fermenting times can vary though, keep that in mind!).

While fermenting, the temperature of the wood rises, and it feels hot to the touch. When it is done fermenting, it will return to normal temperature. If used while still fermenting, you will probably bake your bugs alive, so you gotta wait until it is done fermenting. Here are my ratios for the wood and flour and yeast:

Roughly 10 cups of sawdust (not the actual pellets, the resulting sawdust!)

1 cup of flour (I used bread flour, I'm pretty sure you can use any wheat flour)

And one small packet of active dry yeast (I think I should have used a little more yeast, but whatever, it's my first try!)

Here are some pictures of the wood! (So interesting, right?)

In case you didn't know, rotten wood is needed as food for many different invertebrates, rhino beetle and stag beetle larva for example. Lots of click beetle larva like to eat it too, so it is a good material to have on hand. Today I noticed the wood was getting hot, so the fermenting process has begun! Will keep you guys posted on any interesting developments! Hope you guys enjoyed! :)

EDIT 1/12/2023:

This recipe worked for me this one time, however I'd like to note that two subsequent attempts I made to replicate this batch both ended in failure. I believe it was because with my subsequent attempts, I used normal all purpose flour, rather than bread flour like I did this first time. This is by no means a professional flake soil recipe, but this first batch did in fact ferment properly and made useable flake soil, as you can see in my subsequent posts here.

Some Old T.melanarius Pictures

Here are a few old Pictures of my Tasgius melanarius.

Adult eating a mealworm

Egg

That's it, hope you guys enjoyed!

100th Post Update Extravaganza!

This is my 100th blog post! I would like to thank you guys for reading my blog, and also for 2190 page views! I hope you guys stick around, cause I don't plan on quitting culturing invertebrates anytime soon!  So lets get to the many updates!

Update #1: Hemiblabera tenebricosa.
So, after a few months of waiting, one of my females has given birth! There are lots of little nymphs in the substrate and they all seem like they are doing good. Here are some pictures!

Update #2: Parcoblatta americana.
So, about a week ago a weird fungus appeared in my P.americana enclosure, and it basically turned the substrate into one big mat. So I painstakingly removed every one of the roaches out of the enclosure and then changed the substrate and cleaned the cage out. Here is what the enclosure looks like now:

Update #3: Therea olegrandjeani & Ergaula capucina.
Both of these species have been doing very well for me, and they have been laying lots of ootheca!! I finally got around to taking some pictures of the ootheca, here they are.

E.capucina ooth

T.olegrandjeani ooth

Update #4: Tasgius melanarius.
I have bred this species in the past, but was not very successful, so I am going to try again this year! The adults are pretty picky, they will pretty much only eat isopods, their favorite is A.vulgare. They will sometimes eat pre-killed mealworms, but not with any vigor. They will lay eggs in moist coconut fiber, which hatch a few days later. The larva are cannibalistic, and need to be kept separately. They will eat isopods, but will accept pre-killed mealworms and small roach nymphs. Once mature, the larva will burrow to the bottom of their container and make a pupal cell. The pupa is orange-ish at first, but as it gets closer to enclosing it turns black. Anyway, this year I have 2 adults and one larva. I will keep you guys posted on their developments. Here are some pictures of the adults:

Here's the cage

Update #5: Aeolus sp.
I just wanted to show you guys the cage I am housing the adults in. It is nothing fancy, just a medium sized deli cup with coconut fiber as the substrate and a small piece of cardboard as a hide. I have been feeding the adults apple, carrot and cat food, all of which they seem to eat. Here is the cage:

So that is it for this post, I really hope you guys enjoyed! I got some stuff brewing in the bug room, so stay tuned for future posts. Have a nice day! :)