Eleodes obscura Pupae!

Some of my Eleodes obscura sulcipennis are finally starting to pupate! 😄 There have been some pretty heavy losses lately in the main setup, but all larvae that were isolated from each other seem to be doing good. Most of the survivors in the big main setup seem to be ready to pupate as well, but are a smaller size, so they'll be a bit runty, whereas the ones I have reared separately in their own deli cups matured at a much more decent size. 

A few days ago, two of the larger larvae pupated, and several more are pre-pupal! Here are some pictures of the pupae:

Even as pupae these things are hefty, I'm hoping they'll mature to be the same size as most of the wild adults I saw! 😁🤞 But first, they must eclose successfully, which I'm hoping they will, in the past I had theorized that the low survival rates some had experienced with this species were due to pupae being picky about their humidity levels, like with E.armata and spinipes, but now I'm thinking the low survival rates people experienced in the past were due to keeping large larvae together. Which might mean that the pupae of this species are actually pretty hardy, we'll see. 

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this brief update, thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all in the next post! 😉

Happy Roach Updates!

My last two subadult Hemithyrsocera vittata nymphs have matured over the last week or so, and I'm thrilled to say that one is 100% a male! 😁 And the other was another female, so now I've got three adult females and an adult male, as well as one less than half grown, unsexed nymph. Should be getting lots of fertile ooths this generation, looking forward to seeing babies here soon! 😄

No pictures, because man are these things difficult to photograph, and the males of this species look the same as the females really, so... 😅

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Speaking of Ectobiids, the Balta notulata nymphs are doing great, there's only 5-6 of them in total, but some of them are subadults already, so I'm going to have adults very soon, and probably babies not too long after that. 😄 

I attempted getting clear pictures of my nymphs, but was only able to get two half decent shots, one of which really illustrates how well they can blend in with bark I guess... 😂 

Well, better than nothing! 😅 Looking forward to having a big bustling colony of this species soon, and hopefully I'll be able to spread them around in the hobby better this time around! 

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My second, smaller Macropanesthia rhinoceros nymph molted to L5 successfully, woo-hoo!!! 😁 And I can now confirm that both of them are females. That may seem bad to some people, since I did end up with a unisex pair, BUT males are far easier to find on the market than females, so I should have no problem getting a male for them later on, whereas if I had ended up with two males, finding a mate for them would be much harder.

Here are some pictures of the smaller, now L5 nymph:

Both my nymphs

So cute! ☺ Will be sure to keep you updated on their progress! 

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Lastly, a week or two ago, another one of my Perisphaerus pygmaeus females gave birth, so hooray for that! 😁 Now I'm sure to get all the females born in the last two broods mated with the males from this brood, so the colony should be safe now. 

Here are some OK pictures of an adult female, it's really hard to get them in focus when they're on a heavily textured surface, the camera tends to focus on the wood rather than the roach:

Glad these are doing well for me, such a unique species! 

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

Gromphadorhina sp. "Unidentified" Adults! (Super Picture Heavy!!!)

So, I've finally got adults popping up in my Gromphadorhina sp. "Unidentified" enclosure! 😁 Now, the adults are pretty small, because I've got all 15 of mine in a 2 gallon enclosure, was planning on moving them to a five gallon bin before they matured but never got around to it... But whatever, I can worry about size next generation, what I'm mostly concerned about right now is if they're pure or not...

Unfortunately, I'm seeing quite a bit of variability in the adult coloration, as I'll show here... So, here is the first and largest adult male to mature, displaying coloration that is a spot on match for the adults I've seen pictures of online:

Teneral

Fully darkened

Now, that's good and all, a beautiful specimen displaying typical coloration of pure stock of this hisser phenotype... However, another male matured more recently, a true minor male, (whereas that first male was a normal male that was made a bit small by a small enclosure), and while the abdominal patterning is much the same, the base coloration is a very dark brown, almost black. 

So that, along with the characteristic light orange striping this species has along the abdominal margins, almost makes it look like a Princisia male, (though it's worth noting that the pronotums of both my G.sp. "Unidentified" males lack pronotal notches and match the pronotum shape pure stock of this species is supposed to have).

Now, this could just be a particularly dark individual, sometimes abnormally dark individuals pop up in pure hisser colonies, and I hear that this is not too uncommon of an occurrence in this particular phenotype... 

So let's say it's normal that a percentage of adults of this species come out dark, but still with the same abdominal patterning, OK? I'd STILL have doubts these were pure, because one of the female nymphs matured too, and she doesn't have the same abdominal patterning of the males at all, her abdomen is basically a monotone dull red, maybe a bit lighter along the margins, but no clear striping to be seen. She looks different from a typical G.portentosa or "portentosa" mutt female for sure, but also different from what pure females of this strain should look like. 

So, that greatly worries me as far as purity goes. However, it's worth noting that the female still felt a little soft when I was handling her, softer than the males at least, so it's possible she just hasn't darkened up completely and she may yet develop the normal striping pattern... But I'm skeptical. 

Here are some more pictures, comparisons this time:

Both the adult males

All three adults

Small male with the female

Larger male with the female

So yeah, I'm a bit conflicted when it comes to the purity of this stock. I'll be sure to keep you updated on how the rest of the nymphs look when mature, and will confer with other breeders working with this species to see if this variation is normal or not. 

Anyways, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉