Salmonsaladsandwich

1 hour ago, Hisserdude said:

Yes they are quite spindly, they remind me of some spiders!

Around 50+ have hatched, and they just keep coming! 

Wow, considering that you only have a few females that's a really good hatch rate. No matter how much my population of adult Platymeris grows I always have an abysmally slow trickle of nymphs hatching. 

Nice! They sure are leggy.

Around how many have hatched?

The melanistic individuals are neat. Funny how some pictures on google show adults that lack the red stripes on their hind femora, yet that one has them despite everything else being black.

Do you keep all the adults communally? Do they cluster together on bark and other surfaces like Platymeris?

I must say, I never would've guessed that dead leaves have the nutritional density to cause pest outbreaks.

6 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

Yes, many roaches and isopods will eat dried, green leaves, but that's like eating dry lettuce really. Many species require the nutrients that can be found in brown, decaying leaves, and for that, there is no substitute.

@Test Account The thing is, it's very hard to mimic the conditions in which leaves decompose in captivity, without turning them into dirt in the process... Perhaps you could do it if you placed them in a tub full of dirt or potting soil that had came from outdoors, as it would have all the microbes and such that aid in decomposition.

I mean dry brown leaves. 

Leaves turn into dirt under the conditions in which they decompose in nature... i don't really see the problem with them turning into dirt? I doubt they would turn into dirt so fast that you couldn't feed them to the roaches first.

Do foliage- feeding scarabs live longer and produce more eggs than sugar feeders?

Might be because finding the right types rotten leaves outside is a lot easier than identifying well rotted wood. And i'm not sure that fermenting leaves is necessary. Roaches and isopods will eat dry leaves and leaves rot just from being in a moist enclosure.

Also... i think rotten leaves should smell something like a mushy forest.

53 minutes ago, Test Account said:

And whoever decided to make "Ground Beetle" a standardized common name has probably forgotten the tenebrionids. Ugh

You can't really expect common names to be perfect in the sense that they couldn't apply to something else. That's what scientific names are for. Diving beetles aren't the only beetles that dive, carrion beetles aren't the only beetles that eat carrion, and longhorn beetles aren't the only beetles to have long antennae nor are they universally long- horned, but IMO those are perfectly good common names for dytiscids, silphids and cerambycids respectively. 

You should flip through a moth field guide sometimes... lots of crazy names.  "The Thinker", the "Grateful Midget", the "Unarmed Wainscot" etc. and a number of interesting Catacola underwing names including the Charming, Betrothed, Married, Sordid, Mourning, Sad, Tearful, Inconsolable, and Dejected Underwings. (I hope whoever named all those underwings was ok...). "Heart and dart" is actually a pretty good name, it refers to the shape of a pattern on the moth's wings.

I think "ground beetle" is pretty well established as an unambiguous common name for carabids.

7 hours ago, Hisserdude said:

Nice, congrats on getting offspring! From what I've read in Orin's Centipede book, dog food and various fruits work great for rearing these and other stone centipedes, and may work better for your pedelings than trying to find really tiny prey.

Fruits? Huh.

I used to keep a stone centipede that would eat small plant seedlings that sprouted in its container.

Yeah, looks like it.

1 hour ago, Matttoadman said:

Well taking in mind I've never seen any millipedes in person other than our local flat species, I was suprised how small. What kind of yellow banding do yours have.

Pretty similar to the picture CodeWilster posted.

I wonder if they can be selectively bred for stronger striping?

2 hours ago, Matttoadman said:

I got these from a seller on eBay. I'd say around three inches long. They are very narrow. 

Mine arrived today. The person said they would send a "good mix of sizes", but there doesn't seem to be any longer than two inches. They're all quite tiny compared to be Narceus.

Did you get these on Ovogram by any chance? I also have some on the way.

Just how big are these guys as adults? I've read conflicting reports, from 2 inches or less to 4 inches. (which I believe to be untrue, there's no photos of any nearly that large.)

I had to leave for 2 weeks a while back and the substrate dried out and all the termites died... it was doing quite well up until that point though. Eating lots of cardboard, saw a lot of new nymphs etc. 

if you want a colony vigorous enough to feed off you should start with as many termites as you can capture. I recommend setting a bunch of termite traps to collect termites for the colony and to feed your frogs for as long as possible before it gets too cold to collect them outside. Like, I'm talking a giant bin filled with a ton of substrate and cardboard and thousands of termites. Otherwise you might not have enough to last through the winter.

Subterranean termites. The small termites that live underground. So long as you get nymphs (capable of becoming any caste) or immature reproductives (recognizable by their slightly larger size and wingbuds) they'll eventually produce secondary reproductives and start breeding. 

Ants aren't very good feeders. They grow and breed very slowly, at least in captivity. If you can find subterranean termites those are a better option- they can easily be trapped in large numbers by burying a PVC pipe with a few holes drilled into it stuffed with cardboard in the ground near where you've seen termites. They should colonize the cardboard and before long you'll be able to obtain hundreds or thousands of termites from the trap. For winter you can take a bunch of termites indoors and keep them on damp soil and cardboard. They'll produce reproductives and start breeding and eventually you could have a thriving colony of termites. 

On 7/9/2017 at 5:30 PM, All About Insects said:

Very cool.  I'm planning on acquiring some of those soon, are they as stunning as they look in the pictures?

In bright light (e.g outdoors) they gray and red stripes are really beautiful, but in poor lighting they just sort of look brown.

They are very prolific, the amount of babies now is just unbelievable.

My N. annularis have laid tons of eggs and I'm starting to see babies.

That's not actually an assassin, that's a conifer seed bug.

If you ever get the opportunity I'd recommend handling a hickory horned devil caterpillar. Very interesting invert from a tactile perspective, and I find the scent and sounds associated with caterpillars chewing away at fresh leaves to be pleasant.

Great Stuff is often used in vivariums for dart frogs and other sensitive animals. It's harmless.

Though I wouldn't trust roaches not to chew on it and wreck the background. Sheets of bark, a coconut fiber background or psydeus's other suggestions might be better and great stuff doesn't always look very natural.

I think so, Hisserdude will be able to tell you for sure.

I think dry sand can make an attractive setup... Pretty sure Platymeris are found in arid habitats in the wild as well.

Or just keep them on dry sand to prevent mold.