Summer Collection Update
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. On…
Spring Collection Update
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,…
Winter Collection Update
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…
Fall Collection Update
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…
Summer Collection Update (Part 2)
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…
Summer Collection Update (Part 1)
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″…
Spring Collection Update
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…
November Collection Update
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…
Millipede Substrate
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…
Giant Golden Orb Weaver Rearing
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…
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