#creobroter

[kathunim]

Check out my child, she's so small and so curious (Creobroter sp. Yunnan)

[mostlymantis]

cinnamon 🌶️

[systlin]

Re: sourdough alternatives... How about yeast water? I haven't tried it yet but it's supposed to be super easy (basically drop dried fruit into warm water, add some sugar or honey, put bottle in a warm place, shake daily until it bubbles), stores well in the fridge and can be used in whatever way regular yeast would, including sweet goods. I've seen it with raisins, dates, cranberries... Someone even used rose petals and blood orange!

Hmm that’s an idea too! Thanks!

[synalpheus]

New (tiny) roommate! A Creobroter cf. gemmatus nymph in third stage.

It's moved into Annegret's baby box and is now terrorising fruit flies :'). I hope all goes well ;-;

[thebibliosphere]

As a kinky, poly, queer person visiting your blog and reading about the trio always brightens my day. It's refreshing to see these topics outside the communities build around them, often not more than a sidenote but all the more important for.. taking away the freak factor. Also... Thanks SO MUCH for forgoing unhealthy relationship ideals in favour of more grounded, realistic views plus tons of of communication and hard work. Too many people think a good relationship is supposed to be effortless

Oh god, you’ve no idea how reassuring this is to hear haha.

I always worry I’m not communicating my thoughts and feelings about the subject properly, especially when I am trying to break it down for non-polyam people to understand. It gets even more complicated when you throw kink into it too cause then people are like “oh it’s a kink thing then” and I have to forcibly anchor my soul back into my body to find the patience to explain no, it’s really not. But that’s a whole other rant for another time. And I tried really hard with the trio to convey that. Like there are elements of kink in their dynamic, but it’s not the whole of their relationship. The kink is merely incidental to who they are and who they love.

As for healthy relationships? Well much like my real one, I try. A lot of effort goes into having a happy, healthy relationship, whether it’s monogamous, polyam, queer, straight or any variation thereof. The idea that love is magic and can conquer all things with very little effort on your part, is wholly toxic and sets people up for a lifetime of unrealistic expectations, poor communication skills, and zero emotional capacity to handle the fallout when it goes tits up.

It’s sad. Because so many relationships could be improved with a little self reflection, and consideration, questioning why this thing bothers you but that thing doesn’t, and learning to convey these things to your partner(s) in a constructive and non hurtful manner. But the emphasis is never put on that. It’s put on finding “The One”, and the idea that you’ll be so compatible nothing else matters. And that’s not love, that’s infatuation that later turns into a stagnated rut you’ll need a ladder to get out of.

For me I had to learn not to communicate passively. I don’t mean passive aggressively, I mean passive. I’ve been in a lot of bad relationships in my time, and the way I learned to survive them was to be passive, and ignore when something hurt because that was the only way to get out of the argument intact. And even sometimes then it wasn’t enough. With ETD, I was still doing the same thing, I didn’t know how to communicate what I wanted or needed without fear of repercussion, and he interpenetrated that passiveness as disinterest in our relationship and we’d argue over it, not fully knowing why the other felt insecure and resenting the other for feeling insecure cause we were coming at it from completely different angles and life experiences. Until we talked about it, and more than that, took steps to rectify it, altering our patterns of behavior and enabling personal and relationship growth to take place in a healthy and loving environment.

And like, ETD is my soulmate. He’s the love of my life and my best fucking friend in the whole wide world. And despite years of marriage and work, we still have silly misunderstandings that have the potential to cause serious hurt and damage to our relationship if we allow them to. Hell we literally just had one five minutes ago when I misinterpreted something he said and he couldn’t understand why I got defensive and then got irked that I got defensive over something perfectly reasoanble. Except rather than just accept the miscommunication and the hurt it causes, we ask for clarification, we allow ourselves patience, both with ourselves and with each other as we struggle to find the words to covey the complexities of our emotions in a language where words are not always sufficient to explain the maw of chaos unfurling in your chest in real time.

We change, we grow, we adapt, and we do it together. It’s a process. There’s no happily ever after, there’s just sharing your life with someone who you have chosen to love and who has chosen to love you in return, come hell, high water, and remembering to put the toothbrush back on the charging stand when you’re done. Little things, small courtesies and acts of thoughtfulness count just as much as the grand gestures. More so in fact.

At least, in my opinion haha. Some others might argue, and they’re free to do so. But then I never did claim to be a romantic.

[pongwira]

Creobroter gemmatus #creobroter #mantis #mantid #instainsect #insect #insectmagazine #macrophotography #macroworld #macro #naturelovers #naturephotography #nature #biodiversity

[mostlymantis]

cinnamon molted to adult and messed up her wings a little but she’s so cute i don’t care

[pongwira]

Creobroter gemmatus #invertebrate #insect #insectstagram #insects_macro #insectmagazine #mantis #mantid #creobroter #naturephotography #nature #wildlife #wildlifephotography #macroworld #macrophotography #macro #biodiversity