And by blood puppies, I mean Hirudinaria manillensis, Asian Buffalo Leeches, AKA Asian Medicinal Leeches. ? I got 5 hatchlings from Adi Yarrol, and yes, I am feeding them with my own blood. ? This species is one of the largest leeches in the world, with some full grown adults reaching over a foot in length. They are rather easy to care for as far as leeches go, so this plus their size has made them perhaps the most popular species in the pet leech hobby (and yes, there is a pet leech hobby ?). While they can be kept communally, for the sake of keeping track of growth for each individual, and ..read more

Time and time again, when an invertebrate keeper's colony crashes for reasons not immediately made clear, inbreeding is the first thing we in the hobby tend to blame. This has only become more and more prevalent over the last several years, however in truth the cause of colony crashes in captivity are rarely due to inbreeding, and this is due to several reasons.  Firstly, insects can take much more genetic bottlenecking than vertebrates in general. This is due in part to the fact that generally speaking, male insects only have 1 copy of each chromosome. This means that if they have defec ..read more

My Arenivaga bolliana "McAllen, TX" have started maturing and are breeding quite well! The males of this locality seem to have pretty low mottling on their wings, which I think is pretty neat. Here are some pictures of an adult pair: I am now offering these up on my FS page, so if anyone's interested in the largest US native sand roach, feel free to reach out! ?  My Arenivaga sp. "Miller Canyon, AZ" have finally started maturing! These might be A.genitalis, though I'll need to do a better comparison later. Here are some pictures of some adults: Now that ..read more

Along with the isopods I acquired from Roachcrossing a couple months ago, I also got several other types of invertebrates, which I'll cover in this post. First off, I got a small group of Arenivaga sp. "Sahuarita". These were more of an afterthought sent along with the Venezillo arizonicus from the same locality, and given the small group size and skewed sex ratio, I don't think I'll be able to establish a colony from this group. Though I'm sure I can get more off Kyle at a later date. Most of them were subadult males, which have matured now, and I gotta say, this strain looks quite different ..read more

I did a trade a couple months ago with hobbyist Stella Larson, who sent me some pretty cool isopods! Let's start off with my personal fave, Reductoniscus tuberculatus! These little dwarves are covered in little tubercles/spines, and are quite rotund and broad in morphology compared to some other conglobating spp..  I have mine set up in a well ventilated enclosure with a couple inches of coco fiber substrate/bark chips, topped with leaf litter. I'm keeping them humid, at around 75-80F°, and offering dog food as the supplemental diet. Here are some pictures of the little chonkers ..read more

I've gotten a bunch of goodies from Kyle at Roachcrossing over the past couple months, and so I figured I'd lump all the isopods I got from him in one post. ?  First off, I got a nice group of Armadillo officinalis "Orange Crush". A lovely orange morph of this species, presumably from the OG no locality stock (or a locality crossed line).  I've got them set up in a well ventilated gallon shoebox with an inch or so of coconut fiber substrate, topped with leaf litter and bark. I'm offering dog food as the supplemental diet. I have a quarter of the enclosure humid, the rest dry, and h ..read more

I've been acquiring new isopod species at a fairly rapid rate, and lots of them came from several different, small transactions. So I figured I'd cover a flurry of them in one post. ?  First off, I did a trade with Rus of Aquarimax a few months ago, who's packing was excellent, and he sent me generous groups of a couple Armadillidium spp., both of which have already produced offspring for me! ?  First off, I got a group of Armadillidium nasatum "Livonia, MI - White-Out". This line was originally isolated by Kyle from Roachcrossing, then sent to Alan Jeon (before Kyle had fully iso ..read more

A couple months back, I got a package from ny buddy Brandon Maines, with lots of little goodies inside! ?  Let's start of with Cubaris sp. "Cappuccino". These are a first for me, despite being one of the more widespread and popular Cubaris spp. in culture. This is one of the flatter, less inclined to burrow Cubaris spp., which are my favorite kind. I've got them set up in a well ventilated gallon shoebox, with an inch of coco fiber substrate, topped with bark and leaf litter. Keeping them humid, at around 75-80F°, and feeding dog food as the supplemental diet. Here are some pictures of ..read more

Finally, I've started getting adult Eustegasta buprestoides! ? It would appear all 15 individuals I received are still alive, though growing at rather staggered rates. Some of the nymphs are barely larger than when I received them, whereas half of them are subadults (or adults) at this point. It reminds me of the growth rates of Gyna spp., and personally, while I'm not taxonomist, I wouldn't be surprised if Eustegasta becomes nestled within the Gyninae in the future. Anyways, I've got two adult males and an adult female so far, and have at least one other female subadult that should mature s ..read more

This post is kind of a wall of text, soooo reader be warned. ? Me and Kyle from Roachcrossing, we agree on a lot. But there's also a lot of things we disagree on, and often civily debate at length about. One of those things is hisser purity, namely that of the Princisia stocks we have available in the US hobby. Even more specifically, the "Big/Black" phenotype we have. Now, the stock I've been culturing for years, that came from CCR circa 2017 (at least that's as far back as we can trace said stock), seems pure to me. Coloration is a bit variable, but only insofar as producing some melanisti ..read more