Roach's underground

Invertebrate keeper's blog. All photos were taken by me

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Cubaris sp. {lemon blue}

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Porcellio laevis “dairy cow”

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Nesodillo arcangeli “Shiro utsuri”

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Cubaris sp. {eclipse} and their babies!

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Species of millipedes in my collection 🧡

On the photo:

Salpidobolus sp. (Irian jaya)

Anadenobolus monilicornis

Spirobolus sp. (Vietnam)

Thyropygus allevatus

Ephibolus pulchripes

Spirostreptus sp. 1 Tanzania

Archispirostreptus gigas

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a new greenhouse for cuttings

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Cubaris sp. {White shark} has recently been pleased with its offspring.

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Armadillidium maculatum “yellow”

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A freshly molted individual of Paranauphoeta formosana. Before the photo, its cage mates were chasing it with the intent to eat it, so it had to be moved to a separate container.

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Spirostreptus sp. 1 Tanzania And Oniscus asellus on the background

In fact, keeping millipedes and isopods together has proven to be an excellent approach: the isopods act as clean-up crews, while the millipedes provide them with food and help drain the substrate, preventing it from compacting. In isopod colonies kept this way, mortality rates are lower and the isopods themselves grow larger.

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Cubaris sp. {Amber ducky} For some reason, the first attempt to contain this species was unsuccessful. I hope to have more luck with them this time

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Another new species - Troglodillo sp. {Orange mask}. They look much better in real life than in the photo.

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My new pedes - Andrognathidae gen.sp.!!

Platydesmids are very difficult to care for and very little is known about them, but I started believing in myself after the polydesmids, lol. Btw, does anyone have any information about their reproduction in captivity?

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Leucistic Loon on a remote lake in British Columbia, Canada.

Photographer: Chris Whitty

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Antheromorpha rosea

However, I've had much better luck with another species of Polydesmida - Antheromorpha rosea. Their second generation is already growing, and I still can't believe it happened.

I bought a male and female pair last October. The male died within two months, and I never witnessed any mating. Disappointed, I moved the female's container to the back of a shelf and basically just waited, without doing much else.

In May, while doing my routine container checks, I looked in on her and saw a bunch of small invertebrates. I thought, "Wow, so many springtails, and they're so large!" But when I looked closer, I realized they weren't springtails at all — they were baby polydesmids!!! I can't put into words how shocked I was in that moment. Just think about it, there were over 230 of them! That's when I started searching for literature on their care and life in the wild.

I know this species doesn't breed well in captivity, the babies have a high mortality rate, and more experienced colleagues warned me they probably wouldn't survive more than a couple of molts. I didn't have high hopes, but I did everything I could.

Nevertheless. They now have just 1-3 molts left until adulthood, and there are about 150 of them left. I think that a very good result.

I hope I have the same luck with the next generation.

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Magnificent Desmoxytes planata. Unfortunately, all individuals of this species turned out to be males, so we can't expect any offspring ☹️

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My favourite Thyropygus allevatus 🖤🧡🖤