This update will cover happenings from June 21st, 2021 to September 21st, 2021, following the official definition of summer.
On June 26th, I found the first larva in my six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) tank. I have been adding Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies for the babies since then. The larvae are being kept communally, but there have not been any instances of cannibalism that I have noticed. Interestingly, despite the adult female dying on July 18th, the eggs seem to be highly variable in incubation time because new L1 larvae have been still showing up months after her death.
Tiny little dirt monster
On July 1st, I found one of my Chinese mantis nymphs had fallen mid-molt, but I had found it just after it happened. Therefore, I was able to rehang it, and it had no lasting deformities as it was still soft enough to undo any damage.
In early July, I was forced to go on a family trip to the frozen, Arctic wasteland commonly known as Michigan. There were not many unusual bugs, but there were several interesting plants in the Frederik Meijer Botanic Gardens. Of the bugs on the trip, most were common species, but there were more monarchs (Danaus plexippus) than near my house, probably because we were closer to the migration’s northernmost reaches.
In late July, I finished configuring the lighting for my self-contained styrofoam mantis tanks. I used a shape of aluminum rod called a C-channel to make a simple heat sink for my low power LED strips. The lights could not be attached to the styrofoam directly, but the aluminum dissipated the heat to warm up the tank.
On August 14th, I went to a Repticon show and saw a beautiful mantis that someone had brought. It was an adult female panther mantis (Tarachodula pantherina). This is one of my favorite species, but it is unfortunately kept without permits most of the time. Being an exotic species, it requires too strict of a permit for me to attain currently. Besides the illegal mantis, there were also some adorable green keel-bellied lizards (Gastropholis prasina).
On August 26th, I hiked in Greensboro, NC at a spot a friend uses to find a lot of beetles. I did not find too many unique things outside of a few caterpillars, but I did find the elytra of an eastern Hercules beetle (Dynastes tityus), which at least means I found a good area for catching them. According to iNaturalist, the best time to find them is July, so if I make it back next Summer, I will need to head there earlier.
This is a silver-spotted skipper (Epargyreus clarus) caterpillar that I found eating kudzu (Pueraria sp.). Closest I have been to finding a wild adult D. tityus.
On September 4th, I finally received an insect that I have been trying to obtain for almost 4 years: the greater arid-land katydid (Neobarrettia spinosa). The single adult female was already gravid and has been laying eggs continuously. She enthusiastically eats cockroaches, as long as the cockroach does not scare her, wiggle the wrong way, poke her, or do several other things. To get her to eat, I have been decapitating the cockroaches to avoid accidentally spooking her and causing her to panic over food.
This was her temporary tank for the first few days, and this photo gives a good reference for her size. I had an adult male Stagmomantis carolina die prematurely, so I fed it to her. Many katydids lay eggs in wood. This species in not one of those, but she tried anyway.
On September 18th, I added a dozen adult eastern lubber grasshoppers to my colony. The F2 generation was having more issues with mismolts, so I had arranged to acquire new, wild adults to breed with them. Since the original generation had only produced one ootheca, the F1 generation was entirely inbred, and the issues should hopefully be resolved with crossing in a new bloodline.
Most of the other ongoing colonies and breeding projects are doing fine, but this update covers the new acquisitions and is already verbose enough.
This collection update will span from the Spring Equinox on March 21st to the Summer Solstice on June 21st.
This year, I finally managed to collect more than a single tiger beetle. In total, I was able to capture 15 individuals comprised of 5 different species. These were not found in my normal hunting areas. Indeed, only 1 of the 5 species came from my state, and that was the bronzed tiger beetle (Cicindela repanda). Another species came from Maryland, and this would be the same one I spent countless hours hunting here: the six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata). Finally, the remaining three all came from Florida. The first two are the punctured tiger beetle (Cicindela punctulata) and the moustached tiger beetle (Ellipsoptera hirtilabris). The final one was not one I am happy to have collected. Before I put it under the macro lens, it appeared to me to just be a slightly smaller individual of C. punctulata, but I later learned it was an eastern pinebarrens tiger beetle (Cicindela abdominalis), which is a rarer species that I would not have wanted to disturb. Unfortunately, I did not get the closer look until I had left the collection site hours behind and driven to the hotel for the last night of the trip. I will compile a post on my attempts at captive breeding, but in the meantime, here are photos of all of them.
Female C. repandaMale C. repandaBreeding is a success. Oviposition next. Female C. sexguttataLikely female C. punctulataE. hirtilabrisC. abdominalis is quite different from C. punctulata, but I was in the same area and thought they were just more of that species. Also, the one on the right was somehow missing one of its elytra.
On March 22nd, I found the first babies in my peppered roach (Archimandrita tesselata) bin. I have written about them before, and they are still my favorite cockroach species in my collection. These babies are growing quickly, and as of late-June, several were about an inch long. For those wondering about how this species compares with the giant cave roaches (Blaberus giganteus) and how these stole their spot as the favorites of the roach collection, the peppered roaches do not have a musk. While there can be individual roaches that are the exception to the following, peppered roaches are much slower and more docile than giant cave roaches. Again, this can vary based on the personality of individual roaches in question and handling frequency, but the peppered roaches are usually better suited to handling.
First photoThis baby did not want to sit still, but I eventually got this singular photo with the macro camera. This female is gravid, so more babies are coming. A ~1-inch nymph feigning death. At least this strategy is easier to photograph. The fine hairs covering the nymphs ensure they are always covered in dirt. Great camouflage, not so pretty for photos. “Can we go back in the bin now?”
At the time of the Winter Update, I mentioned I was in the process of sending millipedes to Arthroverts. These would be the Thyropygus pachyurus that I received March 21st. I am thankful to report that my leg of the shipment was successful with all of the millipedes surviving transit and arriving on April 14th. Unfortunately, though, the adult male whose photo was featured in the last post died within days of arrival to my place. To try and ensure his success with breeding, I included my largest male of my captive-bred juveniles. That male will be greatly missed, but hopefully, Arthroverts will have success breeding this species nonetheless.
The adults when they first arrived. Packing the extra leggy dirt snakes (as opposed to centipedes, which are the normally leggy dirt snakes)
On April 18th, the first of the Brunner’s stick mantises (Brunneria borealis) began hatching. I attempted to use planted deli cups so I could raise the first few instars, and I mentioned this experiment in my care guide. I have since removed the outline of that idea from the care sheet because these tanks failed. Just like every other deli cup setup I have tried for this species, the nymphs died within a week. I went back and am trying to replicate that Styrofoam tank that worked so well for Arwen. So far, the nymphs are falling victim to irritatingly benign-seeming killers: tiny bits of adhesive, surface tension of water droplets, and other things that the nymphs did not have issues with in the past. As of June 21st, I think I have baby-proofed the new foam enclosures, and I am awaiting some more nymphs. I have 13 oothecae that have yet to hatch, so I should be back on track to rear another generation.
The nymphs seemed to thrive in the deli cups at first. The plant selected was Tradescantia spathacea.
In a bit of unfortunate news, my blatticomposting bucket mentioned last spring died off on April 3rd. I overestimated the population and fed them too much, causing mold growth to use up the oxygen in the bucket faster than the ventilation holes in the bucket lid could replenish it. The colony collapsed almost overnight. The food I had tried to feed them was the leftover wheat bran from cleaning the tank with my superworms (Zophobas morio). Apparently, they were not too pleased with it, and ignored it. Since I have maintained a separate colony of orange-head roaches (Eublaberus posticus), I am currently building the population back up in that colony in preparation to split off another group for restocking the blatticomposting bucket. The resulting substrate seems to be a decent compost, although I have yet to use it for any plants.
On April 21st, I found an adorable baby snake that has to be shared here. My justification is that this snake species is insectivorous and beautiful. This is also only the second time I have seen one of these snakes in the wild. The species is Opheodrys aestivus: the rough green snake.
On May 28th, I headed to western Maryland to see the Brood X periodical cicadas (Magicicada septendecim). The trip started off colder, and Gettysburg National Military Park had plenty of them that were too cold to fly. The weather warmed up and then the screaming started. The cicadas would be flying all over in the wooded areas and made incessant noise all day long. I enjoyed holding them and letting them fly off me. The males were particularly entertaining to pick up because they are the sources of the noise and would express their displeasure at being disturbed before flying off.
Gettysburg, PA. The cooler temps made them easier to photograph since they were not very active.
Slow-motion flightMating adultsThis is the so-called “Cicada Zombie Fungus” and here is more information from Scientific American.
On June 1st, while still in Maryland with the cicadas and on the same stop as the six-spotted tiger beetles, I found more eastern eyed click beetles (Alaus oculatus) than I have ever seen before. The first one was a male I found right near the start of the trail. After collecting the aforementioned tiger beetle pair, I found an injured female click beetle who had been stepped on while she was sitting on the trail. The female’s abdomen had ruptured and her eggs were visible. I decided to carry her back to the start of the trail where I had seen a suitable decayed log just in case her eggs were able to hatch. This species must have powerful pheromones because a total of three males flew to my hand over the next half-hour. This species is unfortunately USDA-regulated, and likely would require a containment facility based on what I have been told. As I understand it, the rationale is they are closely associated with agriculturally damaging, elaterid wireworms. I have worked with this species from specimens collected in-state, and the larvae are entirely carnivorous. Therefore, the concerns of the USDA are unfounded, and this is another species I would like to see deregulated soon.
The first male at the start of the trail. The eggs are the little white blobs. This was about halfway back to the aforementioned log. The two right-side up are the males that flew to my hand.
I am going to go ahead and end this early as the remaining recap concerns the best bug hunting trip I have ever had. With my incurable verbosity, that will take some time and can constitute a separate post, and I am already impressed if readers made it through this!
Now that I am in the habit of following the official dates of the seasons, this post shall span from the Winter Solstice on December 21st to the Spring Equinox on March 21st.
The best to come of this Spring has to be the shipment of Thyropygus pachyurus I received on March 21st itself. I have been working with a colony of captive-bred juveniles since February 18th, 2020, but this shipment constituted three subadults and three adults. Coincidentally, I seem to have two females and one male in both age groups. My juveniles were large by comparison to native US species, but the adults are about nine inches long! Somewhat unfortunately, I shall soon be seeing the three adults and a subadult off to their final home as I was but a relay point in their journey. They will be going to Arthroverts once weather is ideal for shipping and Easter has passed. I will be keeping a sexed pair of subadults for myself, however, and I hope that these will begin breeding within a year or so. I have been keeping my juveniles in the same general conditions as I described a while ago in my millipede substrate post. I have noticed that they really seem to appreciate a whole, rotten log to burrow into. Following the most recent substrate change, I gave the juveniles a log that already had the bark detached and laid on top. They immediately congregated underneath that bark. My eventual goal for this species would be to see it replace the now-nonexistent Archispirostreptus gigas in the US hobby. The USDA is the main roadblock at the moment, but this species seems to be quite benign and may be allowed to a wider group of hobbyists eventually.
This would be about half of my original population. This is their current setup after the most recent substrate change. US penny with the original juveniles for size referenceAnd finally, the adult male.
The F2 generation of my lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) began hatching on January 14th. I started the nymphs off in a tank with dozens of cuttings of a prolific Pellionia pulchra plant that is intent on taking over my scorpion tank. I was hoping that the plant would be a suitable food source for them that I could just grow inside the tank with the grasshoppers, but the picky plant murderers disdained that idea. I now have a tank full of a plant that the inhabitants have no use for other than a perch. It could be worse, but it would have been such a convenient food source considering I prune the scorpion tank every couple months. Trandescantia sp. are still the favorite food, and the one cutting of wandering Jew that I planted in the tank was demolished within days. I am currently taking advantage of spring bulbs, and feeding them well-washed daffodils. They seem to approve, and I have noticed a couple pre-sub-adult nymphs.
Interestingly, although I did not find any more oothecae than the original two despite a more thorough search, I noticed what appeared to be egg shells in the main tank itself. I am thinking I may have missed some oothecae in my searches because the original two oothecae were placed in 32-oz hatching cups. I estimate that the two oothecae hatched at least 60 nymphs together, so I may have over a hundred nymphs hiding in the plantings. I do not plan to conduct a census of these hooligans, however, so this shall be left to speculation.
First portraitJanuary 27th, the day that 41 nymphs hatched simultaneously.Pre-sub on an dark background. Almost invisible.Less invisible
Arwen died on February 7th, which makes her the longest mantis to have ever lived in my care (about eleven months). She laid fifteen oothecae prior to her passing, so I should have plenty of Arwen Jrs. presently. Right now, I have the oothecae prepared for a staggered emergence with most of them in the fridge.
The giant stag beetle larvae (Lucanus elaphus) are doing well. The largest of the male grubs is approaching 10 grams and is as large as the largest grubs I have found in the wild. The photo below shows the tanks of the captive bred grubs. The numbering scheme is that the number of the female (27, 28, or 30) is followed by the number of the larvae and separated by a dash. First, yes, there was a female number 29 (these four were the ones from July), but for some reason, there were no larvae to be found in her tank. Second, GSB 30-1, 2, and 3 were used in an experiment with a different type of flake soil fermentation method. Unfortunately, that flake soil exploded in mold, and I could not save those three grubs. The basic idea of that flake soil was to use a rice cooker to maintain a temperature of 150˚F, which was ideal for certain microbial processes to decompose the lignin and other inedible components of raw sawdust. The supposed benefit was that it would take less than a week to complete the fermentation period, whereas normal flake soil takes at least a few weeks. I have gone back to normal flake soil and rotten wood substrates, but it might be worth more experimentation for someone with more larvae to feed. Finally, it is indeed odd that there was only one grub from Giant Stag Beetle 27. I did not see any sign of cannibalism or such, just one lonely grub.
First one is 30-4. These are the two largest that I have measured, but their growth rate does not seem to be slowing down.
That is most of the happenings of the past couple months. Winter is cold and mostly boring for those who enjoy finding the larger arthropod species, and therefore, the ongoing colonies are my primary focus. It has warmed up in my area, and I am chasing tiger beetles right now. My green findings posts (2019 and 2020) may soon become a trilogy.
Since I am doing more quarterly scheduling, this update will start off at the beginning of September where the Summer Collection Updates (Part 1 and Part 2) left off but will end around the Winter Solstice, as that is the actual end of Fall.
On September 28th, I received 42 bumblebee millipedes (Anadenobolus monilicornis) from Arthroverts. All of them arrived successfully, and I set them up in an enclosure with a mixture of compost, fermented aspen shavings, oak flake soil, hardwood sawdust, hardwood leaves, and calcium powder. I have experienced some die-off, but there seem to be many that prefer to hide just under the surface of the substrate. I hope to have this colony begin reproducing prolifically despite the minor issues.
Back on June 19th, I had acquired about a dozen nymphs of giant peppered roaches (Archimandrita tesselata). It was not until September 29th that the first one matured into an adult. Of all the roaches I have, this species is the only one that eats dead hardwood leaves at a significant pace. According to Roach Crossing, this species is known to depend on the hardwood leaves, so I had fortunately read this prior to my acquisition and was well-prepared to incorporate more hardwood leaves into their enclosure than with most of my other roaches. After that first adult, I have since had 5 mature to adulthood, including three of those molting on Christmas Day 2020.
The first adult to matureTwo of the Christmas roaches“Excuse me, are there still people who dislike cockroaches?”
Early fall in the American Southeast is definitely peak time for finding large insects. While there are some species, such as bird grasshoppers in the Schistocerca genus, that overwinter as adults and can therefore be found in spring, most species overwinter as eggs and therefore, the adults of the largest species are active in September and October. I typically find most of my mantids in the late Summer and early Fall and often keep several for breeding, however, the orthopterans are far more numerous in the right habitat. I do not work with as many orthopterans because I have had issues in past years with some more specialized habitat requirements for breeding. Nevertheless, this covers some of the interesting species I often encounter in early Fall.
An aptly dubbed red-headed meadow katydid (Orchelimum erythrocephalum)Differential grasshoppers (Melanoplus differentialis) can chew through a fabric insect lid, noted. I think this was a Carolina leaf-roller (Camptonotus carolinensis). Scudderia furcata subadultLesser anglewing katydid (Microcentrum retinerve) subadultSmall female katydid nymph in the genus ConocephalusLarger female nymph of the straight-lanced meadow katydid (Conocephalus strictus)Invasive Japanese burrowing cricket (Velarifictorus micado)Subadult obscure bird grasshopper (Schistocerca obscura)Subadult sword-bearing conehead katydid (Neoconocephalus ensiger)
On November 29th, 2019, I had acquired two larvae of the western Hercules beetles (Dynastes grantii). For most of the time, they were pet holes, but on July 15th, I found the first one had pupated. The had come from a museum that wanted me to raise them. I thought they were a male/female pair initially, but once they pupated, I found they were both females. I kept them until they emerged as adults. The first one eclosed in the middle of August, and I pulled her out to the surface on August 27th. The second had just pupated a few days before on August 22nd, so there was about a month gap between them. The second one then eclosed on September 24th. The first imago began came up to begin feeding on September 8th. I tried to acquire a male of this species once I confirmed both of mine were females, but I was strangely unable to find any available this year, although as I recall, there were ads for adults of this species on Beetle Forum in previous years around these times. This species is not native to my state, so I had acquired them under a USDA permit and was not allowed to send them to other breeders to work with them unless the recipient breeders had their own permits. Therefore, they both lived a few months in my care, the first died on November 6th, and then the second died on December 4th.
Sep 24th second eclosed Aug 22, second pupa, July 15 first pupa
I understand that this is your first meal, but I need to change that moldy jelly cup. See! That was worth letting me evict you from the moldy jelly, right?The pupal shell has a really interesting, iridescent sheen. Quit being so dramatic. I had run out of bananas but had a dragon fruit laying around, so why not?
On November 28th, I attended a reptile expo, and I acquired a small Phrynus whitei from Classic Jurassic Exotics. I set it up in a small vial with a vertical piece of Styrofoam, basically making a smaller version of my Damon medius tank. The little guy was doing quite well, however, I noticed it had not molted and then died rather suddenly on January 8th. Afterwards, I learned from a fellow hobbyist that the staple diet of fruit flies that can work well for mantids actually lacks essential nutrients amblypygi need to molt.
The day I brought the little guy home. Posing with a fruit fly.
In the Fall of each year, I tend to find several green lynx spiders (Peucetia viridans). This year, I collected an adult female and her egg sac. I am rearing the babies on fruit flies, and they seem to be doing fairly well. I have changed their habitat several times, and they are currently living communally in a 12” mesh cube.
The progenitorThe progeny.
This covers most of the new developments in the Fall. The Summer Updates 1 and 2 have already covered a number of the longer term projects, and due to concurrent composition, those projects were not covered here to limit redundancy. Those projects would include the lubber grasshopper colony, the Brunner’s stick mantises, and other such projects already addressed in the Summer Updates.
For the sake of maintaining continuity on the blog, while you read this article, you agree to think that it is still September of 2020. *
To continue from where the previous installment ended, on July 1st, I found a female giant stag beetle (Lucanus elaphus) at a light trapping sheet I set up along a power lines clearing. This marked the first time I have found active adults of this species. Over the next few days, I continued to set up the sheet and UV lights (395-nm) and captured a total of four females. Each time, they arrived within an hour after sunset, and although the lights were left up much later, this was the only window in which they appeared. I gave each female I captured a plastic shoe box filled with flake soil and rotten wood chunks. A few months later, and I have dozens of larvae. Ostensibly, the females I captured are unrelated, so the resulting offspring and hopefully future breeding successes will lead to a genetically robust captive colony.
Orin McMonigle states in the Ultimate Guide to Breeding Beetles that immobile insect pupae can be a good source of protein for female stag beetles. The first giant stag beetle egg I ever saw. Newly hatched L1 giant stag beetle larva from the egg aboveMonths later, this is from one breeding tank.
Later in these early July nights, after the stag beetle or two had come and been collected, the other interesting visitors were grapevine beetles (Pelidnota punctata). I captured a pair, and they subsequently mated and the female oviposited in a cup filled with pure flake soil. I had dozens of larvae, but they cannibalized each other by L2 and none remained after just a few weeks. I normally would have been able to separate them into individual cups or small group containers, but the flake soil batch mentioned in the previous post never fermented. I was left with a minimal amount of rotten wood, and in the following months I prioritized the giant stag beetles as there were far more of them to feed. By the time I had enough rotten wood to spare, the grapevine beetles were gone.
Information on sexing this species was hard to find and seems to vary by locality, but in NC, the females (bottom) are larger and paler in color than the darker males (top).
On July 17th, I recieved Goliath beetle (Goliathus goliatus) larvae from Bugs in Cyberspace. I was the first person to ever purchase this species from him, and I have endeavored to make the most of it. I have placed a Goliathus Breeding Log page on the site that is dedicated just to the four grubs I received. (Note: as grubs began pupating, the datasheet was not utilized as diligently and there are gaps where care was not recorded for some grubs. Given the issues outlined below, it may be best to not try and replicate my care regimen regardless.) To maintain consistency, the grubs are referenced below by the names on that page. Unfortunately, somewhere towards pupation, I seem to have made mistakes with care. My grubs all began wandering early (30-40 grams), and while three utilized the clay layer for pupation, my only male, Grub 2, decided to return to the surface after spending a week supposedly constructing a pupal cell. He refused to borrow again and just slowly wasted away on the surface. After entering the pre-pupal stage, Grub 1 seems to have decayed, and by the time I checked on her (two months after last appearance based on Goliathus Then and Now: Last Pieces of the Puzzle Found by Jonathan Lai), her cell was filled with a putrid sludge. Grub 4 did not make it to pre-pupa and was covered with a fungus at two months. Considering she could have been killed by entomophagous fungi, I immediately removed her entire tank. Grub 3 still seems alive, and she is my last hope for raising an adult of this magnificent species.
Yes, that is flake soil in the shipping cup, and yes, I used every last bit of it!These grubs received occasional baths and were beloved pets. The Harold’s organ, which is only visible on male cetoniine grubs, is in the very center of this photo of Grub 2.
Starting July 11th, I began a breeding colony of yellow-striped armyworms (Spodoptera ornithogalli) from a wild moth that laid eggs in my care. The eggs hatched after four days and gave me hundreds of larvae. I offered both romaine lettuce and spinach, but the spinach was regularly ignored in favor of the lettuce. The larvae were very messy, and I ended up cleaning the tank every other day because mold would start growing on the piles of frass almost immediately. Enough made it to pupation and the adults eclosed August 17th. The next generation was much more successful to the point that I had to cull the colony in order to keep the numbers manageable. Annoyingly, right before pupation, this generation attracted the attention of the omnipresent, yet usually benign, phorid fly infestation that occupies the bug room. The phorid flies attacked the pre-pupal larvae, and consequently, I was left with a single pupa. Being around early October, the wild moths were not as forthcoming to my light traps, and I was unable to restart the colony before winter. This common species should be easy to track down again next year, but this time they are probably going in gasket bins to keep the flies out.
The humble progenitor of the colony. Early larvae seem to be paler than the later instars. Darker colored later instarsPre-pupal larvae of a slightly off-sync group of larvae. Came from another female moth found several days after the first. 9/26: just prior to The Armyworm Disaster
On July 23rd, a welcome surprise emerged and crawled across my room to spray meconium on the giant Asian millipede (Thyropygus pachyurus) tank ventilation holes. A cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) from last July (2019) had eclosed while it had yet to be transferred to the hatching cage. Fortunately, it made do (and a mess).
Here is the little fiend looking very pleased with the mess he made. The width of the antennae in most larger saturniids make sexing easier. This one, for instance, is a male, and this is determined through antennae that are approximately twice as wide as the females of the species. So fluffyFairly vibrant coloration compared to many other American moth species. Macro showing the “claspers” of male moths. Sexually dimorphic feature that is useful when the antennae are not as varied.
Released the cecropia moth at 11 pm on July 24th, and immediately afterwards, I was dive-bombed by a massive beetle. This was my first time encountering a wild, living, adult triceratops beetle (Phileurus truncatus). I have raised wild-caught larvae before and kept adults, and I have also found dead adults in my yard, giving clear evidence they were present locally prior to this encounter. Unlike most of their dynastine, typically frugivorous or mucivorous relatives, in their adult stage, these beetles are carnivorous, eating other insects occuring naturally in the tree cavity habitat. The beetle, which turned out to be a male, lived for several months eating caterpillars (the armyworms were a favorite of his).
The three horns on the head give their name.
A rare occasion when a nocturnal bug cooperates with a bright light in its eyes.
To take a pause from captive insects, on July 30th, I found that a large planting of spider flowers (Cleome hassleriana) was attracting the largest gathering of sphingids I had ever seen. There were easily dozens appearing right at dusk to nectar on the flower heads. Just mentioning this because I am planning to plant copious amounts of spider flowers to try and attract sphingids to the host plants I have waiting for them.
To again digress from my personal collection, I photographed a Luna moth (Actias luna) caterpillar raised by a local insectary. They are one of the most beautiful moths in the United States, but they are more rarely encountered than I would prefer.
Also, to account for the digressions from developments in The Mantis Menagerie collection, it is worth noting that the first week of August was a bioblitz. I treat those seriously and am out to win by whatever metric I can when I participate in one. I schedule non-daily insect care routines around the bioblitz to maximize observation time. I personally recommend joining the City Nature Challenge which is hosted on iNaturalist (my top recommendation for a citizen science site in general).
This was the only photo I could capture where the caterpillar was sitting relatively still.
Back to my arthropods with one that has yet to be featured on this blog. Back on June 17th, I acquired a wild-caught Dicaelus purpuratus ground beetle from a local friend. I kept it until it died January 8th. It seems to have died of old age because it had food and consistent care the entire time up until death. Care was as follows. The tank setup was basically an isopod tank with a ground beetle. This choice in substrate composition and tankmates was derived from a passing remark in Orin McMonigle’s Ultimate Guide to Breeding Beetles in reference to Calosoma scrutator breeding. It is mentioned that C. scrutator had reproduced when placed in a large tank with Porcellio sp. isopods, and given that these species are fairly close relatives, it seemed to present a possible avenue to stimulate oviposition if this was a female. I replicated this with my own isopods and in a few months that beetle tank had a larger isopod population than my dedicated isopod tanks!
The beetle did not seem to eat the isopods, but Hikari® Cichlid Gold medium pellets disappeared nigh instantaneously. I provided these pellets every five to seven days.
Temperature was maintained at a constant 72˚F, and humidity was that of air in a plastic shoe box with perpetually moist substrate in it.
I am hoping someone can figure out how to stimulate oviposition, or at least how to sex this species. I was unable to find any conclusive information for sexing beetles of this genus, so after trying to stimulate oviposition, I may have in fact been keeping a male.
The color does not cooperate with camera flashes. I am guessing it may be one of those structural pigments like the blue morpho famously possesses. LED on a phone works better, but it still does not quite portray the color accurately. It looks like oviposition behavior, but it was just taunting me.
I am fairly certain that this colony did not make it beyond a few days after aquisition, but on August 15th, I aquired a starter colony of clown isopods (Armadillidium klugii). They gave me some great photos, and prices for this species fortunately came down before I began accidentally killing colonies of them. They may have even survived my the initial collapse of the colony. Although it is unlikely, my giant canyon isopods rebounded from an initial dieoff similar to this starter colony (humidity issues both times) and are now doing well. As an interim solution, here are photos.
On August 28th, I attempted to breed long-tailed skippers (Urbanus proteus), but although I captured a pair, no eggs were laid. This is a beautiful species, though, and they should feed on beans and some other legumes as larvae and make cute little leaf tents.
This may have been the female, but they never sat still and did not seem to have many sexually dimorphic features. Found this little caterpillar in its tent last year (2019).
Also the same day, I saw, but did not capture, a Brazilian skipper (Calpodes ethlius). Not knowing whether it was a male or a female (experts in the subject of lepidopteran sexing are welcome to leave comments here as it is my main issue when working with the less dimorphic species), there was no reason to try and catch it for breeding.
Probably the clearest in-situ butterfly photo I have captured.
It is February again for the readers of this blog (fortunately you read to the end or you would have been stuck back in time). Fall and Winter Collection Updates should be coming relatively soon in preparation for nature to finally get its act together and give me warmer temperatures to resume outdoor, entomological pursuits.
*Note: this statement is of purely humorous intent and is not intended to convey any legitimate legal agreement.
It would appear that my monthly intentions have become a quarterly reality. This update will span from the end of April to the end of August.
The eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) that hatched back in March thrived despite some care changes along the way. One of my primary concerns with this generation was providing a varied diet. I had read a few years ago that lettuce is nutritionally poor, even for herbivorous insects, and I postulated that some of my previous failures in raising this species, and Orthoptera in general, stemmed from culinary monotony. Once these nymphs reached 1.5″ in length, however, their appetites became large enough to make it nearly impossible to continue providing the variety of Wandering Jew clippings and other plants they loved. Not being able to trust outdoor plants due to living in a pesticide-ridden subdivision, I decided to start relying more heavily on lettuce. Apparently, my lubber issues in the past were not because of lettuce, at least not the lettuce itself (I did not have much experience avoiding and removing pesticides in insect food back then). I still plan to feed a diverse diet to the earlier nymphal stages in subsequent generations, but it seems that is not an essential requirement. This generation has already matured into healthy adults and are reaching the end of their lives. Fortunately, I have already found two oothecae in just a brief excavation. The next generation should emerge in about five months or so. As of September 1, there is one, cranky adult female left from this generation, but she has outlived all the others by several weeks and seems quite healthy. I am not entirely sure why she has lived so much longer than the rest, but I hope she is at least using her time to lay a few more oothecae.
And this is when I learned they are picky little plant murderers who are not fans of celery. Subadult in late MayFeeding time usually involves some sort of spike-covered leg fight, even though there is plenty for all of the plant murderers. The next generation: two dirt covered oothecae
Right at the end of April, I came across one of my favorite local carabids: the six-spotted tiger beetle (Cicindela sexguttata). I attempted to find another one to breed, but I was unable to capture another individual. The one I kept was a male, and unfortunately, he died before I could find him a female. I kept the tank intact for a few months in case I had been incorrect, and he was actually a mated female. Nevertheless, I saw no signs of larvae, and it seems that he was indeed a male. This seems to have also been the case of the individual in my previous post about this species. Captive breeding should be possible, but I need to find a better location to collect this species in order to find more than my current average of one per year.
This one was much more shy than my previous one, and I only got a few photos before he died. He especially refused to eat in front of me. Dead bugs are much easier to photograph.
The Brunner’s stick mantids continued to hatch over the past several months, although it seems they have reached the end and no nymphs have emerged for many weeks. Of the nymphs that emerged, I sold a few to another hobbyist, and despite USPS trying to lose the package, they all arrived alive. I continued to rear several nymphs in the homemade Styrofoam chest tank. I learned this species is not the best for communal rearing when I saw an L1 nymph eating an L2 nymph! While I kept trying to keep several nymphs in the large tank with copious numbers of Drosophila hydei flies, I stopped adding new hatchlings to that tank and tried to rear them individually. As with my previous attempts, the deli cup tanks did not work well. Nymphs kept dying inexplicably. Eventually, the nymph population in the Styrofoam tank was equal to one. This last nymph, however, has thrived, and I think she is a subadult. Since this species is parthenogenetic, I should be able to get another generation despite managing to kill most of the nymphs from this generation. I hope to construct quite a few more foam tanks by the time the next nymphs emerge, as they seem to be perfect for this species.
Despite the eventual cannibalism, these nymphs do quite well together early on and seemed healthy. The lone survivor molting to pre-sub.Same individual on September 1st. Subadult now.
For the 4th of July, I prepared three buckets of flake soil to ferment in my attic. It has been almost 2 months since then, and it seems to be progressing properly. I used the guide posted by Ratmosphere from Beetle Forum. This is an older version, and I have the new version embedded right below.
Original version I used
Updated substrate instructions
I chose the first video because that is what I was used to using, and I found it to work for me. Once I have used up these ingredients, though, I will likely start using the new method.
For those who are wondering about the nature of flake soil, it is basically a way to create a homogenous substrate for rearing beetle larvae. It is meant to substitute wild-collected rotten wood, but because it is artificially fermented, there is usually no risk of pests in flake soil. For information from a more experienced breeder, this website has a more thorough analysis of the types and uses of flake soils.
Saturating the pellets in preparation to add flour.
I had a sad rearing experience with a subadult common true katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia) in the latter part of June. I received a subadult male from a friend who managed to catch one. This species is often hard to catch as it is a canopy-dweller and rarely comes to the ground. This individual was also a male, and in this species, it is the males that lure the females. I figured I would be able to get a breeding pair if I managed to rear this species to adulthood and then placed him outside to call a female. Unfortunately, he never made it to adulthood. He died mid-molt. I was unable to determine the exact issue, but the day before he decided to molt happened to be a day I did not mist his tank. I had not been misting everyday, but since I knew he should have been approaching a molt, I likely should have been increasing misting frequency. This is probably my favorite local katydid species, and fortunately, I stumbled upon two adult females at the beginning of August. The first one died almost immediately, but the other one lived for almost a month. I fed the adult katydids white oak (Quercus alba) leaves. Since the second one lived longer, I tried giving her some different foods, and she seemed to relish moistened bee pollen granules. The first female did not leave behind any eggs, so I was worried I might not be able to breed this beautiful species in captivity. I had given both females some soft sections of plant stem based on what I had read about oviposition for this species, so I was not expecting it to fail. After doing a more thorough search on their oviposition stimuli, I came across this article by Arthropod Museum in Arkansas that mentioned captive females utilizing cork for oviposition. Most of my cork was in the cockroach tanks, so I had the idea to try using Styrofoam instead. The second female katydid loved it! After she died, I removed the piece of Styrofoam to find at least a dozen eggs inserted into it. Based on the arboreal nature of this species, I am anticipating that the nymphs will require a large tank to allow them ample room to climb and spread out to feed.
Unlike some of my pets, he was quite cooperative with the camera. These katydids made it quite clear that they enjoyed white oak leaves. I personally think they are among the most accurate leaf mimics of the local insects. The katydid eggs are the little dark objects in the slits in the foam.
Another orthopteran success involved an injured, adult female American bird grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) I found. Her injury was that she was missing both hind legs and could not jump. Since she could not panic, jump, and start flying around my room, I could hold her, and she was quite docile. This is a species that overwinters as adults, so she was nearing the end of her life. Nevertheless, she left me with an ootheca.
Since she was kind enough to place it against the clear plastic, one can see the placement of the ootheca under a foam plug.
On June 11th, I managed to track down a female common eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis). This species is quite common in my local area, but I usually found males. She was in the grass flashing at males like she was supposed to, but I had not found one until now, likely because of the aforementioned issues with living in a subdivision. I took her and a male with a misshapen wing home to breed them in captivity. Given that the females of this species wait in the grass to mate with the males, I planted sorghum seeds on a coconut fiber substrate in a repurposed pretzel jar. The result was at least a few hundred eggs. I separated out exactly 50 after the adults died and moved them to a separate container. The eggs began hatching in early July, and I officially saw the first larva early in the morning on July 5th. Invertebrate Dude informed me that they should accept soft-bodied prey, such as worms. After a trip to the pet store for red wigglers, I began feeding them worms. Unfortunately, I initially overestimated their appetites, and they seemed to just kill the worms and then leave them to rot. Mold overtook the breeding tank, but I fortunately noticed it almost immediately and took an hour to painstakingly transfer all the tiny larvae to a fresh tank. Not wanting to repeat the issue, I decided to try an alternative food source: fish food pellets. While I never actually witnessed the fireflies themselves eating the pellets, the population of phorid flies in the bug room laid eggs in the ventilation hole to allow their larvae to crawl to the food. The firefly larvae seemed interested in the phorid fly larvae, so I think the phorid flies eat the fish food and the fireflies eat the phorid flies. I can find plenty of larvae just by looking through the sides of the container. They seem to congregate further in based on what I found when transferring them, so I seem to have a good population. Hopefully, I can get some captive-bred adults next summer.
The adult pairEggThis was the very first larva I spotted in the tank. As of September 1st, the larvae are still alive and doing well.
On June 12th, I acquired my first phasmids. Because of the USDA Regulations on phasmids under the Plant Protection Act, I can only acquire native species captured in-state. A friend of mine bred southern two-striped walkingsticks (Anisomorpha buprestoides) from a pair collected within the state, so when she offered me a few extra adults, I gratefully accepted the offer. A quick inspection of the substrate reveals dozens of eggs, so theoretically, I should have many more of them in a few months. Somewhat sadly, these walkingsticks are one of the species that possess a defensive spray, and they will use it at the slightest provocation. This limits their ability to be handled, as I have been told it is not fun to get in the eyes or if you leave it on the skin for too long. Even just changing the browse in the center while they sit on the wall can elicit some sprays! The browse I use for them is clippings of Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), which means putting an invasive species to good use.
The same male has been on the female since this photo was taken shortly after they all arrived. Even though there are two more males, it seems that they ignore her now.
I am going to pause there. Part 2 should be up in a few days!
It appears that the past few months hath past without much notice from the perspective of this site, so this shall be a review beginning in December and extending to April 23nd.
In December, I completed a trade with another hobbyist. In exchange for four, captive-bred Heterometrus petersii scorplings and six baby green lynx spiders (Peucetia viridans), I received two adult male eastern Hercules beetles (Dynastes tityus) and about two dozen Turkestan roaches (Blatta lateralis). Both shipments were sent December 2nd to avoid Thanksgiving shipping delays, and all organisms arrived healthy. I provided the beetles a display tank, and although I had two males, I chose to house them together in that display tank the first night they arrived. I based this decision on the assertion in The Ultimate Guide to Breeding Beetles by Orin McMonigle that fighting is almost always harmless. Given that there was no female for them to fight over and that they were equal in size, it seemed safe to put them together. I have not heard of this being a problem for others, but one of the beetles, later named Jeremiah, mistook the other beetle for a female and attempted to mate with him overnight. This resulted in Jeremiah somehow pulling out part of the other beetle’s abdomen. I immediately separated them, and the injured beetle subsequently reabsorbed the disjunct part of the abdomen. Nevertheless, he died prematurely on January 5th. Jeremiah lived twice as long and died on Valentine’s Day.
Jeremiah quickly learned that he is not picky when it comes to sugary fruits.
Later in December, I began another conversation with the same hobbyist about a new trade. This time, I would be receiving a young Paragaleodessp. solifugid, a Mastigoproctus giganteus vinegaroon, and a group of five Tylobolus uncigerus millipedes in exchange for starter colonies of giant cave roaches (Blaberus giganteus) and orange-headed roaches (Eublaberus posticus) and a Brunner’s stick mantis ootheca (Brunneria borealis). Everything arrived healthy on both ends, except the solifugid, which appeared mostly dead. Following the recommendation of the other hobbyists to just give him some time as it might be molting behavior, I proceeded to thoroughly ignore the arachnid for the next couple months. On February 20th, I decided to finally give up and reuse the tank (I had given this guy a large tank), but I found that he was moving around finally. Considering this individual looked dead for multiple months, I have to wonder how many of these fuzzy little arachnids are mistaken for dead.
The ancient, apparently ten-legged relatives of spiders and scorpions: the SolifugaeAs I understand it, the small granules visible in the abdomen are fat reserves. If someone knows better, though, please correct me.
He was supposed to be eating the baby Turkestan cockroach, but at least he showed his jaws moving. Just a vinegaroon on the head of a giant rubber duck. Nothing strange here.
Another major development at the end of 2019 was the acquisition of my first dedicated macro camera. I had been looking for a camera that was more durable than the iPhone I had been using and was capable of switching between macro and standard photo capabilities relatively quickly. I found the Olympus TG-6, which is durable to the extreme, even giving me the option of underwater macro. I have yet to fully utilize all its features, but given that it is waterproof, I should be able to use it far beyond my pet insects. The photos on this post have all been shot with the new macro (except the mantis tank as it did not require high-resolution), and I think it is far superior to my clip-on lens, particularly when dealing with uncooperative (aka. fleeing) bugs. As the weather gets warmer, I hope it will allow me to take better in situ photos.
Despite my focus on insects, this camera does birds fairly well too, as this roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) demonstrates. My first use of the underwater macro was on one of my favorite fish: the archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix). This green anole (Anolis carolinensis) surprisingly put up with a photoshoot. Within a few feet of the anole in the previous picture, I found a Lytta aenea blister beetle rooting around head first in the dirt. Interestingly, the anole shown above passed within inches of the beetle but ignored it.
While not related directly to my captive arthropods, on the 24th of January, I saw a species of butterfly that I was not expecting to see in the wild: the atala (Eumaeus atala). This species was nearly extinct several decades ago. Nevertheless, its population has recovered due to the popularity of its host plant as an ornamental, and I saw this particular individual in Orlando, Florida.
While this butterfly was under an inch long, it had some of the brightest colors I have ever seen in nature.
Mid- February, I acquired some captive-bred Thyropygus pachyurus millipedes under one of my USDA PPQ 526 permits. Given that I think these millipedes could become a replacement for the now-scarce Archispirostreptus gigas in the hobby, I look forward to raising these millipedes to adulthood. Hopefully, the F1 generation of this species breeds as I recall reading that captive-bred A. gigas do not usually produce offspring, hence why they disappeared so rapidly from the US hobby.
The juveniles have a beautiful coloration that darkens with age.
March was the best month for my collection to date. On Pi Day (the 14th), the first of my Brunner’s stick mantids (Brunneria borealis) hatched from an ootheca laid by the adults I kept last year. (These nymphs are not from one of Jenny’s ooths, for those who were wondering. These are from Kim’s ooth.) As I mentioned in the linked post, these mantids hatch gradually from their ootheca, and as of 4/22, 38 nymphs have hatched from this ooth.
Feeding the nymphs was another problem I mentioned in the linked post above. I had read that nymphs of this species were quite delicate. As it turns out, this is apparently not true. My nymphs have been happily eating both Drosophila melanogaster and even the larger Drosophila hydei right after hatching. I also learned from mantodeology on Instagram that these nymphs should be fine in a large communal setup. In addition to that, he informed me that they benefit from a bioactive setup to allow for high humidity. I had originally been housing these mantids in individual, 32-ounce deli cups, but I was having significant die-off rates among the nymphs. I transferred them to a medium-sized Sterilite storage bin, and they did better but were still dying in disconcerting numbers. The next piece of inspiration came from ennisanna-fei, again on Instagram, through a post showing a mantis sitting in a Styrofoam container. This prompted me to take one of my Styrofoam coolers that was missing a lid and modify it by adding a glass door and a hole for an LED.
I did not have the best materials on hand, so twine and skewers became a hinge attached by hot glue, but it has a tight seal regardless. I lined the bottom with foil to make it waterproof, as this type of Styrofoam is known to allow water to penetrate. A couple weeks later, the grass (Sorghum bicolor) has filled in nicely, and most of nymphs are hiding in it.
I am currently planning to make a number of mantis enclosures out of the higher-quality, construction-grade form of polystyrene foam. I just need to work out some of the minor details, such as how the doors will work, but I have a decent amount of insulation foam to experiment with. Regardless, this first Styrofoam tank has been perfect for these nymphs, and they are doing much better.
Another project that has been ongoing in my collection is a small blatticomposting bucket. I had wanted to work with blatticomposting for a while as it is simply composting by giving cockroaches random food waste. I did not want to accidentally poison a whole colony, however. The perfect opportunity presented when my orange head roach (Eublaberus posticus) colony had become a bit too large, but rather than cull the colony, I took a part of the colony and put them in a Home Depot bucket. I now had a distinct population of roaches for the blatticompost bin, and in case they found something toxic in the organic matter I gave them and died, I have a backup colony that continues to receive the same food as the other roaches. Despite the necessary precautions, the roaches in the bucket have thrived. They will eat nearly anything. In the picture below, the white clump partially buried in roaches is paper towels that they have been eating. While I try to avoid anything that is likely to have pesticides or toxic constituents (e.g. pizza), this bucket has become the trash can for my entire bug room, including dead or mismolted insects, even if it is other cockroaches.
Maybe I should have a competition to see who can guess how many roaches are in the bucket? I am not sure how I would manage to count them myself, though!
Back in November, I posted a picture of my new, and first, tarantula: a curly hair (Tliltocatl albopilosum). While I am beginning to think that I am not feeding it as much as it would like and therefore inhibiting his growth rate, he has grown a bit. It does not particularly enjoy my presence, but hopefully, it will sit on the surface more when it is larger.
It turns out that an iPad makes a good background for macro photos.
On March 21, the first four eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera) from the ootheca laid by last year’s adults hatched. Two years ago, I also managed to persuade the adults to ovaposit, but I was unable to rear any of the offspring past a few molts. Suspecting my problems were related to enclosure design, I immediately cleaned out the old, massive tank and began constructing a bioactive enclosure with live plants (aka. all-you-can-eat-buffet) for the lubbers. The first ones received romaine lettuce and wandering Jew (Tradescantia zebrina) cuttings, but I planted cups of sorghum grain with the eventual plan of replaceable food generators. In addition to the sorghum cups, I planted one cup with ‘Gold Rush” bush bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) as I have been told lubbers have a inordinate fondness for legumes. As of April 23, I have over thirty baby grasshoppers eating everything in sight, particularly the poor wandering Jew cutting. A few of these nymphs are approaching an inch in length. I have had almost no deaths, that is unless these grasshoppers are adept at eating dead siblings immediately, but then why did I see the few dead that I did multiple days in a row (holding out hope they might be alive)? Regardless, they seem to be thriving in their oversized tank.
What a cute little plant-murdererThis was the tank before the grasshoppers decided everything was delicious. Tank as of 4/23
Those are some of the best developments in my collection, and hopefully, I will be back on schedule for May.
I was slightly delayed in composing this, but a number of things have occurred in my collection. For starters, there was the golden orb-weaver exchange detailed in a previous post. Also, I received a large order from Bugs in Cyberspace in the middle of October. This order included three species of roaches, two millipede species, and a baby tarantula, which happens to be my very first one. I had been wanting to acquire some of the roaches in the genus Therea for quite a while, but I had not yet acquired any. This order included two species: the question mark roach (T. olegrandjeani) and the domino roach (T. petiveriana). The question marks require USDA permits to own, and I have the permits to receive and own this species. The domino roach was deregulated as part of a previously mentioned deregulation of roaches, and no USDA permits are needed to own this species. The individuals I received of this species were young nymphs and will take a while to mature, but the adults are beautiful.
The middle marking gives Therea olegrandjeani its common name as it somewhat resembles a question mark. This adult female domino roach lays small oothecae (egg cases) that are about a centimeter long and differs from roach species that have live young.
The third species of roach from the order was the yellow morph of the Gyna lurida. This species was another one on the aforementioned list of deregulated “plant pests”, and I had read it was a decently easy one to rear. The nymphs are still small, and I have yet to see the adults in person. I have never even seen the normal coloration of this species, other than maybe a few dead specimens, so I am looking forward to watching this species develop.
The nymphs have a very intricate pattern.
Since I have not seen this species before, I do not have any pictures of the adults. The Bugs in Cyberspace YouTube channel was made by Peter Clausen, who sent the shipment, and here is his video showing both color morphs of this species.
My next species from this shipment was the Florida ivory millipede (Chicobolus spinigerus). I acquired a breeding pair, but unfortunately, a couple weeks after the shipment, one, I think it was the male, died. There are plenty of droppings, so the other one has been eating. I am hoping that I am correct that this one is a female as she could still lay fertile eggs and start a colony.
Here is the pair shortly after they arrived and I transferred them to their permanent tank.
The other millipede species I acquired is an Oregon-native: Tylobolus uncigerus. Since Peter Clausen lives in Oregon, he collects this species himself. I acquired five adults, and I hope to breed this species. I am experimenting with keeping this species at cooler temperatures. Since it comes from a cooler region, this species should do better with the cooler temperatures. My only problem experimenting with this has been that the chamber I designed to cool the millipede tank has been malfunctioning. It runs on a thermoelectric device called a Peltier cooler and is controlled by a 12-volt thermostat. The problems arise from the power supply. The power supplies I have used have some sort of safety mechanism that shuts off power when the thermostat tries to modulate the power. I hope that trying a general purpose adapter will just output a steady current and let the thermostat and Peltier cooler do what they are intended to do.
T. uncigerus are not that unique in coloration, but it is an elegant species.
My last acquisition from this shipment was a curly hair tarantula (Tliltocatl albopilosum). This species used to be in the more familiar Brachypelma genus, but it was recently reclassified. My little spider has been eating fairly well, and I have been using rice flour beetle larvae (Tribolium confusum) as feeders. The current enclosure I am using is an approximately 3 ounce, clear vial with coconut fiber substrate. I put an artificial leaf as a hide, yet the spider is quite audacious and just made a burrow against the side of the enclosure. I am looking forward to raising this little tarantula.
My little spider loves these tiny beetle larvae.
On November 8th, I was volunteering at a insectarium, and I was able to take home some extra larva from their Eleodes tank. They recently put a good substrate of mixed organic matter, and these beetles have been breeding out of control. I took a cup of larvae home, and put them in a ten-gallon fish tank filled with rearing substrate comprised of coco fiber, leaf litter, and some decaying organic matter. In addition, I have been adding ground fish pellets to the top of the substrate for protein. It has only be a couple weeks, but the larvae seem to be thriving.
Just a quick peek under a piece of wood in the insectarium’s tank reveals several larvae. There are hundreds more deeper in the substrate. The larva would not cooperate for a photo and kept trying to burrow into my hand.
I mentioned the Abacion magnum millipedes in my last Collection Update, and I have learned quite a bit more about their nature since then. Talking to a renowned hobbyist, who owns the Invertebrate Dude blog, I learned that this species of millipede might be the Goliathus of millipedes. For those who do not get the reference, Goliathus grubs are carnivorous, whereas most of their relatives are detritivores. Regardless, the hobbyist forwarded the information from a millipede expert, who suspected this millipede species might require a higher protein diet. I am now feeding these millipedes with a fish pellet designed for carnivorous cichlids, and they are eagerly consuming the pellets. This suggests that higher protein may be what this species requires.
This species has minutely detailed ridges. Within a couple hours of adding the pellets, the millipedes had munched considerable holes in them.
My next species is a common polydesmid in my area: Apheloria tigana. I want to breed this species in captivity as it has a beautiful contrasting colors of yellow and black. I am currently using my basic millipede substrate. I have heard some of the large polydesmids benefit from cooler temperatures, so once I fix the aforementioned glitches with the thermoelectric chamber, these millipedes will join the Tylobolus in the chamber. If I can get these to breed, then I am looking forward to having a large colony in a display tank.
My last find to describe is an unusual centipede. It appears to be in the order Geophilomorpha, but beyond that, I have not be able to narrow it down. If anyone recognizes it from the following photo, then let me know.
I am still working on some new pages and resources on my website. I will be updating my collection list with these new species. I am working on incorporating a guide to the USDA regulations into my website, but there is a reason that this does not really exist as it is hard to address all the complexities and exceptions in even a common taxon, such as Tettigoniidae. Eventually, I will finish this and publish it for people to use.
I have been asked to compile a list of the ingredients in the substrate I use for my millipedes.
I vary the mixture by species, and I base my choice in components on how much of each I have available. It is better that a substrate not have a component than wait for the acquisition of the component while the millipedes starve without any substrate. My usual starting ingredient is fermented aspen wood chips. When I was first endeavouring to rear detritivores as pets, such as rhinoceros beetle larvae, I prepared this massive vat of aspen wood for fermenting. For those who are unfamiliar with the purpose of fermenting wood, the beetles I mentioned, in addition to most species of millipedes, require decomposed wood on which to feed. The fermentation is a way to artificially accelerate the natural process of decomposition in a controlled manner to yield a steadier, more predictable food supply when rearing these detritivores. I have since made other batches of this fermented substrate out of oak, which is preferred by many beetles. Regardless, I am still left with a massive bin of these perfectly usable wood flakes for the millipedes. My next ingredient is a bit of the aforereferenced fermented oak sawdust, but since I need this for the stag beetles I raise and never have excesses of this material, this component makes up a small proportion of the substrate. Dead hardwood leaf litter is an essential component of the diets of most detritivores, so the next ingredient is a decent pile of dry, shredded oak leaves. By a decent pile, I mean that the leaf litter would be at least ten percent of the substrate volume, before the substrate is mixed and inevitably compressed.
The remainder of the ingredients are added on a whim based on which ingredients I have a surplus of. Some of my tanks get hardwood mulch from Home Depot, which despite its mass-produced nature, seems to be a good food source for the millipedes. (Coincidentally, this mulch is quite useful for culturing bioluminescent fungi, on which a post is necessary [once I figure out how to capture the faint glow].) I sometimes add a bit of fresher wood to decompose and offer a longer term food supply for the millipedes. A couple of my more recent batches have included long-fiber organic sphagnum moss as other hobbyists have incorporated it successfully.
I also use the calcium sand sold for reptile substrate as a calcium supplement by mixing it into the substrate. I have seen some people use cuttlebone for millipedes and isopods, but the important constituent, calcium carbonate, is chemically identical in both of these materials. The cuttlebone seems to have some differences in its molecular structure, but I doubt the millipedes and isopods are affected by such a minute difference. Since millipedes take such small bites, my logic is that they would prefer little granules of a calcium-containing mineral to a large block. I mix in about a quarter of a cup of substrate per gallon of substrate volume.
I have recently have had quite a bit of success with my diplopods and isopods, and while part of this is inevitably due to rehousing into larger enclosures, improving the bioavailability of the nutrients in my substrate with mixtures outlined above must have also been a boon for my colonies.
On August 30th, I received several baby giant golden orb weaver spiders (Trichonephila clavipes) from a local museum where I volunteer. These particular ones were given to me because they were refusing to eat. I attempted to force-feed them, but the picky eaters all died despite my best efforts. The last one, however, happily began construction of a web in the corner of my room. For a short while, I had issues feeding her, yet when I realized that moths actually stuck to her web, feeding became much easier. Light trapping could now serve yet another purpose: to catch food for this little spider. Certain species of spider require a specific humidity level to optimize the effectiveness of their web, and I hope that the heater this winter does not dehydrate the air excessively for her.
The spider ignored the supports I gave it and built a web in front of them.
Molting is the most vulnerable time for an arthropod.
Another angle mid-molt
Yet another angle
After molting, the spider is much larger and often brighter in color.
The temperatures have become too low to catch large moths, but fortunately, black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) also stick in this type of webbing easily. Someone who rears these flies in massive quantities for composting gave me some larvae, numbering at least several hundred, in the middle of September. While I could have done a better job with rearing these flies, they have still been developing to adulthood properly and are my spider’s new favorite food. I may have to look to find a supplier of these flies overwinter because they require warm temperatures and generate a smell that will likely prove too much for indoor rearing.
She loved the moths.
I have yet to measure the humidity of my room, but Spider Pharm (the original source that my spider came from) suggests that they require an above-average humidity and temperature. Regardless, mine has molted properly, and, as previously mentioned, the web has been functioning properly. Two possible consequences of an improper environment have not manifested.
As of November 1st, the spider was returned to the museum for their exhibit. Due to my success with this first spider, the museum gave me another spider to raise. Out of the babies I could choose from, I picked a young female that had fallen during its last molt and bent all her legs. Despite these injuries, the spider is still able to maneuver when she is placed on a proper web, such as the one crafted by my last spider in the corner of my room. She is still somewhat challenging to rear, however, as she cannot move as quickly to capture the insects I put in the web before those insects have a chance to escape. She also seems to be exceptionally timid, possibly as a response to her disability. This becomes a problem with feeding as these spiders are incredibly talented at determining what is in their web. If I try to place an insect in her web with the tongs, then she detects the difference in the vibrations from this insect and refuses to come eat. Eventually, a struggling fly will attract her attention, and she will overcome her fear, provided I keep the tongs still.
The leftover web from the previous spider gives this spider a much needed advantage.
These spiders can be bred in captivity and are such interesting captives, so I may reach out to the original source of this spider, the aforementioned Spider Pharm, and see about getting a male. Their website currently lists males as out of stock, but if my current spider is able to fix its deformities when it molts next and the museum does not need her for their exhibit, then I will need a male for breeding. There is a paper linked on the Spider Pharm page that outlines a method for rearing large numbers of young orbweavers. If that method works (and based on the good things I have heard about this company, it will), I will be able to supply the museum with spiders for their exhibit. These spiders have also been nice for dealing with escaped flies in the room. I might put some of the males out in my greenhouse if I do not need them for breeding as they seem to be the right size for controlling a number of the pests in my greenhouse. For obvious reasons, I would not want to put females out in the greenhouse as they are not native to my area.
True spiders in general are lacking popularity relative to their cousins the tarantulas, and certain care requirements dissuade prospective keepers from pursuing orbweavers as pets. Nevertheless, these spiders can make amazing pets and have been decently easy to care for in my experience.