Three Ps & a 'Pod

My Paranauphoeta formosana are doing very well, all of the nymphs born in July are now either subadults or fresh adults, they grow so fast! Additionally, another smaller litter was born between then and now, and I'm still hoping for more babies from my original females.

Here are some pictures of one of the subadult nymphs:

Very pretty and very fast growing species, hopefully they'll continue to breed and do well for me! 😁

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Despite only ending up with a single adult female, and a dozen freaking males, I've been able to breed my Parcoblatta divisa "Montgomery, AL"! 😅 Thankfully my female has been pumping ooths out, and P.divisa ooths have quite a few eggs in them, so now that I've confirmed said ooths are hatching and incubating properly, I should have an established colony in no time.

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Well, my Princisia vanwaerebeki "Androhamana" STILL haven't given birth, despite all of my females looking like sausages... 😂 

Decided to take a few pictures of one of my larger females the other day, so here she is:

That last picture comes the closest to accurately capturing their coloration, my camera really struggles making the females look as brightly patterned as they do in real life... 😅 Anyways, hopefully these things give birth soon, fingers crossed! 🤞

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Lastly, my Cubaris sp. "White Ducky" have given birth, and their mancae are probably THE cutest isopod mancae, ever. 🥰 They're so perfectly round and chonky, and even in their first instar appear to have the adults' patterning, just a bit faded. So glad these have bred for me, they're probably my favorite Cubaris sp. that I've worked with so far. 😁

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! 😉

Micro-Tenebs from Kyle!

Kyle's Crazy September Package Series Pt. 4/4

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Alas, we've finally reached the final post in this series, but I saved the cutest for last. 😁 These next four species are all micro-darklings, which are honestly some of my favorites to breed.

First off, Blapstinus sp. "Hurricane, UT". Only about 4 of these cuties, hopefully over got a pair, there's one individual that's noticeably larger and broader than the others, which I'm hoping is female, if so I should see larvae pretty soon. 

I've got them housed in a well ventilated deli cup, with half an inch of coconut fiber as the substrate, a third kept humid, the rest dry. They've got a few small bark pieces for hides, and I'm keeping them at around 75F°. Feeding them dog food as their staple diet.

Here are some pictures of them:

This brings me up to 3 Blapstinus spp. so far, kinda wish they were more desired in the hobby, they're pretty dang cute. 😄

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Next up, Nocibiotes cf. granulatus from Yuma, AZ. I've been wanting to work with this genus for a while, adults may only be 4-5 mms long, but their morphology is so neat, and they've got a nice glaucous coating to them when kept dry and undisturbed, with reddish legs. Females have caudate elytral tips, compared to the fully rounded elytra of males (after learning this, I've realized all the individuals in my pictures of this species are in fact female).

I've got my dozen or so adults housed in a well ventilated deli cup, with half an inch of coconut fiber as the substrate, a third kept humid, the rest dry. They've got a few small bark and moss pieces for hides, and I'm keeping them at around 75F°. I'll be feeding them dog food as their staple diet.

Here are some pictures of them:

A very cute little species, hopeful they'll breed well for me! 😁

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Now for another dream micro-teneb of mine, Notibius puberulus! Kyle caught me a bunch of these, from Yuma County, AZ. 

I've got the dozen or so housed in a well ventilated deli cup with half an inch of coconut fiber as the substrate, a third kept humid, the rest dry. They've got a few small bark pieces for hides, and I'm keeping them at around 75F°. Feeding them dog food as their staple diet.

Here are a few pics of them:

I'm in love with their rotund shape, and wide fore-tibiae. I SO hope these will be easy to breed, I think they will be. 😁 I think these also develop a glaucous coating when kept dry and untouched, so we'll see if mine do over time.

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Lastly, I got a new species of one of my favorite darklings genera to breed, Triorophus, or as I call them, the "Huckleberry Darklings". 😁 This particular species was collected from Hurricane, UT. 

I've got my 7 adults housed in a well ventilated container, with a layer of very fine clay as the substrate, a quarter kept humid, the rest dry. They've got a few small bark pieces for hides, and I'm keeping them at around 75F°. Feeding them dog food as their staple diet.

Here are some pictures of them, sadly their glaucous coating has been rubbed off in transit, as it often is in darklings that produce it... Over time the coating will come back, and I'll get pictures of them when it does:

Looking forward to breeding these, will be nice to have two different Triorophus species established in culture! 😁

Well, that does it for this series of posts, HUGE thanks for Kyle of Roachcrossing for sending me this treasure trove of darklings, I'll do my best to breed them all! 😄 Thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

Hobby PSA: Salganea t. taiwanensis = Salganea incerta

Thanks to hobbyist Filip Repta on Facebook, it's been brought to my attention that the "Salganea taiwanensis taiwanensis" circulating in the hobby were actually misidentified, and are in fact Salganea incerta.

Apparently Filip had sent some individuals from their colony, labeled at the time as S.t.taiwanensis,  to a university in Paris for subsociality studies, and the scientists at said university determined that they were actually incorrectly identified, and properly identified them as S.incerta. Afterwards this ID was also confirmed by another experienced Czech collector and breeder. So all EU, and by extension US stock of S.t.taiwanensis is actually S. incerta.

This may be old news for several EU breeders, but considering only a few US people currently keep this species, I figured it'd be relevant to bring up here. 😄

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On a side note, my colony of this species has been doing very well over the past several months. I've been feeding them white rot wood, which they absolutely love, and my colony has exploded from around 24 individuals at the beginning of the year to 60+ individuals! 😁 It seems offering white rot wood is key to colony growth, as well as keeping them in a dark place, and offering supplemental foods somewhat regularly.

Hope this post proves informative to others, thanks for reading, stay safe, and I'll see you all next time! 😉

Even MORE Darklings from Kyle!

Kyle's Crazy September Package Series Pt. 3/4

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Back to the darklings! 😂 Kyle sent me single individuals of three different Stenomorpha spp., this is not a genus I have much interest in breeding, due to adults only laying in clay based substrates, larvae being quite cannibalistic, and the adults themselves naturally only living for a couple months on average... Essentially, a lot of work and effort, for not much reward IMO. However, considering they've been thrust into my collection by chance, I suppose I'll give them an honest go... 😅

I've got each of them housed in their own well ventilated deli cups, with a fine clay substrate. I'm keeping a corner of each setup humid, the rest bone dry. I'm keeping them at around 75F°, and feeding them dog food.

Here are some pictures of each species:

Stenomorpha marginata "Portal, AZ"

Stenomorpha cf. convexa "Animas, NM"

Stenomorpha cf. convexicollis "Rodeo, NM"

It would be cool to breed this genus, just to say I did it... But I should note, I have NO IDEA if any of these three are even females... 🤣 So, we'll see if anything comes of this project, I remain skeptical.

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Next up, Kyle also sent me a single Bothrotes male from Colorado City, AZ... This is a genus I've been wanting to breed for a long time, their care and rearing is apparently very similar to that of other easy Pimeliinae like Coniontis and Nyctoporis. However, with one male, I'll just have to be content with a little eye candy in one of my mixed species darkling setups. 😅

Here are some pictures of the male in question:

Pretty right? Hopefully one day I'll get to work with a breeding group of this beautiful genus.

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Moving on, this is perhaps one of the most exciting finds IMO, Embaphion glabrum, from Colorado City, AZ. FINALLY, a third Embaphion species for my collection, Kyle sent lots of adults, and they've already been busy laying eggs in their new setup! 😁 They're very smooth and shiny looking, with a build similar to E.contusum, but with more exaggerated pronotum structure.

I've got them set up in a well ventilated container with an inch or so of coconut fiber as the substrate, one third kept humid, the rest dry. They've got a couple curved bark pieces for hides, and are being kept at around 75F°. I'm feeding them dog food as the staple diet.

Here are some pictures of a couple adults:

SO looking forward to making these available in the hobby, gimme a few weeks... 😉

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Lastly, Kyle also sent a pair (I think 1.1 based purely on size disparity) of Cryptoglossa variolosa, from Green Valley, AZ. A pretty neat species of black death feigning beetle, commonly collected and kept in the hobby, they ALWAYS seem to have a bunch of clay caked onto their exoskeletons, which I think gives them great camouflage in their native environment.

I've got mine in a well ventilated container with a layer of fine clay substrate. I'm keeping one corner humid, the rest dry. They've got a toilet paper roll for a hide, and are being kept at around 75F°. I'll be feeding them primarily dog food.

Here are some pictures of the larger of the two adults presumably the female:

Moment of truth here... This female actually escaped like, the day after I got her. 😂 Did not secure the lid to their setup, and she just crawled right on out. However I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that she'd show up in my room sooner or later, these beetles are exceptionally tough and handle handle the dryness of a humid home for quite a while, and can also go a while without food. Sure enough, a few days later my mom spotted her crawling around on the floor, and I quickly put her back in her (now secure) setup. 😆 She's doing perfectly fine, and will hopefully lay some eggs for me soon. 🤞😅

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! 😉