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.
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.
I have decided that I have been worrying too much about writing long posts focused on a particular species or topic. While I do intend to continue writing posts of that nature, I want to make posts more frequently and consistently but concerning changes in my arthropod collection. I am going to start by attempting a monthly “Collection Update.”
Last month, I acquired a colony of eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera). Since they were from an in-state source, I do not need USDA permits for this otherwise regulated species. Considering this is a phytophagous species, obtaining the permits for acquiring them from an out-of-state source would likely require a containment facility. I have been feeding these grasshoppers a variety of greens, including kale, lettuce, and canna lily, in addition to some random, pesticide-free plant clippings. This is by far my favorite species of grasshopper to work with, so I am hopeful that I can breed them and continue my population.
This male is showing off the defensive wing coloration of this species. Such a cute face!Is my iPhone too scary for your mate, little grasshopper? These grasshoppers officially have the largest enclosure in my menagerie.
Another Orthoptera species I acquired at the same time as the lubber grasshoppers is a group of tawny mole crickets (Neoscapteriscus vicinus). These mole crickets feed on the roots of grasses and are considered a pest. I have heard that their particular favorite is Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon). I plan to start growing trays of this grass in my greenhouse to maintain a colony of these adorable crickets. Mole crickets are often quite common, but they are rarely seen because they almost never surface.
This one sadly died prematurely, but it did give me the opportunity to photograph its modified front legs, which are characteristic of mole crickets and evolved for digging.
My third and final species of orthopteran I acquired last month is Tachycinesasynamorus, the greenhouse camel cricket. Before, I have kept individuals I found in my crawl space under the house, but those attempts at establishing a captive colony all failed. Fortunately, I have learned and corrected the mistakes that contributed to the demise of prior colonies. This colony has already been in my care for almost a month, longer than any other attempt, yet only one old adult has died out of a couple dozen individuals of mixed ages. I am sad that it took a couple failures to correct these mistakes, but I am glad I was prepared when the opportunity presented to acquire this group of camel crickets.
Many people fear these crickets, but I think they are amazing.
Next is a cockroach. Recently, I acquired a rare, primitive species of cockroach that is endemic to western NC and the surrounding regions. This primitive roach is Cryptocercus wrighti, and the cryptocercid roaches are thought to be the closest cockroach relatives of termites. I collected these near Asheville, NC and babied them on the drive home. I took some of the wood I found them in, and they seem to be thriving so far.
This adult female looks remarkably similar to the unrelated hissing cockroaches in the genus Gromphadorhina. The nymphs do indeed look similar to their termite relatives.
Quite recently, in fact, just a few days ago, I discovered a site in my area that had dozens of an unusual and often unknown arachnid: the ornate harvestman (Vonones ornata). These harvestmen are in the same order as the ubiquitous “daddy long-legs,” but they have some unique features. First, their legs are not nearly as long as their renowned cousins. Second, there are conspicuous markings on their abdomens, and interestingly, these markings fluoresce under UV light similar to their other, more distant arachnid cousins: the scorpions. Peter Clausen of Bugs in Cyberspace has posted care videos on this species which I have embedded below. Basically, he feeds them high-protein fish food along with maintaining populations of microfauna, and this species thrives. I collected some of these unique arthropods for establishing a colony, and they are amazing to watch, especially under a black light.
Now here are some pictures and videos of my group I collected.
Their fluorescence is not as responsive as a scorpion’s, but with a sufficiently powerful UV source, they are still beautiful.
The Brunner’s stick mantis (Brunneria borealis) is my favorite species of mantis from the Continental US. This is an all-female species that reproduces only through parthenogenesis and are the only species of mantis known to rely entirely on this method of reproduction. Despite being a large species of mantis, their oothecae (egg cases) are miniscule and only about one centimeter in length. I found several this year at a new area that I had never thought to look, and I now have quite a few oothecae. Unlike some of my pets, I have been finding names for my mantids this year, and the one I am still keeping as a pet, Jenny, has laid three oothecae so far. (She also made the cricket population go extinct in the previously-vacant tank where I had accidentally created a self-sustaining cricket population.) From what I have heard, oothecae from this species are also unique in the way that they hatch gradually, releasing a few nymphs a week instead of all the nymphs exiting at once. This may make it easier to keep up with their appetites, and that is important as I have been warned that the newborn nymphs may require hand-feeding because they are so delicate.
Jenny poses perfectly for the macro lens. This was Jenny’s first ootheca.
There is a rare species of millipede in NC, or at least it seems rare based on how rarely people report it. Abacion magnum is a relatively large species in the order Calipodida, and I have only ever found them in one place: my backyard. I always joke that my yard is pretty boring, arthropodologically speaking, but this millipede species (and a few others) clearly invalidates that claim. I have not found much information on care, but I find them in the same habitat as the more common Narceus americanus millipedes. I have kept them in the past for considerable amounts of time by mimicking this habitat, but unfortunately, I was unable to get more than one at a time as I only find a few each year. Yesterday, however, I uncovered two, and based on the size difference, I think there is a possibility that I have a male and a female. Today, I will set them up in a nice home with all the rotten wood and dead oak leaves they could want. I also want to get some better pictures using my macro lens, but I do not want to stress them out any more than they already are.
Finally, I am working on a complete list of all the arthropods I am currently working with, other than feeders. It will be linked in my main menu at the top of the page when it is active. (Also, as a side note, I think this update post took me longer to compose than any of my posts on a particular topic. So much for trying to simplify things!)
