50th post!: Tinley Park NARBC Expo

Hello Everyone!
Well this is my fiftieth post, and so to go along with a pretty exciting milestone(although not as exciting as one-hundred)I will be presenting you guys with a pretty awesome post!
When I heard that renowned roach enthusiast and owner of Roach Crossing, Kyle Kandilian was going to be attending the Tinley Park NARBC expo I knew I had to be there! As soon as we walked through the doors of the Tinley Park Convention Center, I could feel the awesomeness of this event hit me! There were people everywhere with reptiles and invertebrates of every kind, it was like a dream! There was a tremendous variety of extremely rare and amazing invertebrates such as pure Gromphadorhina portentosa, an adult Dynastes hercules, D.hercules larvae, Phalacrognathus muelleri larvae, a Polyphaga cf. obscura, Gyna capucina, Lucihormetica grossei, Dorylae orini, and Panchlora sp."Costa Rica, Yellow" just to name a few. Speaking of the Panchlora sp."Costa Rican Yellow", my fellow roach enthusiast Hisserdude of the invertebrate forums wanted to see what they looked like.
I wasn't able to get that good of a pic, but here it is!

Panchlora sp."Costa Rica, Yellow'

So you though right Hisserdude, that was what they looked like. Very stunning I must say!
I was also able to get a pic of the adult D.hercules and containers with the D.hercules, and P.muelleri larvae.

Adult D.hercules, container of D.hercules and P.muelleri larvae

But by far the best part of the expo was meeting Kyle. He was very nice and exuded with enthusiasm for his invertebrates; everything that I though he would be like!
He was even nice enough to pose for a picture with me!

Kyle Kandilian and myself, note the large Blaberus colosseus on his hand

It was an absolute pleasure meeting him! Feel like I forgot something, oh yeah, that's right, I picked up a colony of beautiful Eupolyphaga sinensis "White Eye" from him! I got twenty mixed sized nymphs along with two gravid adult females.
Here are some pics of them!

E.sinensis "White Eye"

Adult female E.sinensis "White Eye"

Close-up of white eyes and reflective setae of E.sinensis "White Eye"

They are very attractive-looking with their reflective bronze setae(they actually have a colorful sheen to them when viewed under sunlight), red and black nymphs, black adults with red coloration on the front of the pronotum, and white eyes, which are exclusive to this cultivar. The adults are also pretty large for Corydids, having about one and a half times the mass of my likely sixth instar Polyphaga saussurei. I am keeping them in a medium-sized plastic Sterilite container with some ventilation holes on the lid. I am using some coconut fiber and cypress mulch for the substrate with some dead leaves on top.
Update: Sexed the E.sinensis "White Eye", it looks like I've got fourteen females and eight males!
That seems to wrap things up for this post! Hope you all enjoyed this post as much as I did writing it, and until next time, goodbye!

Some Growth Updates

Hi Again Guys!!! :)
I've been lazy enough to go almost three weeks without making a single post! I've stored up a bunch of pictures and have a lot of things to post about, so keep your eye on the blog!
  I'll start with some growth updates.
First, my large Scutigera coleoptrata molted a couple weeks ago, not much of a change in size really at all but here's a pic anyway!

S.coleoptrata next to exuvia

This guy has been really cool to keep, it's a blast watching it go after its prey! I love their kind of tropical, striped look, most people think they're really creepy( including many invertebrate keepers), but not me!

Second, my Polyphaga saussurei nymph has molted twice since I last showed pictures of her! I'm probably the most excited that this invert has been growing, I just can't wait for it to grow into the largest Corydid in the hobby!
Here are some pictures of it from it's last and current instars.

P.saussurei nymph after 1 molt

P.saussurei nymph after 2 molts

Third, another Corydid of mine has been molting, my Polyphaga aegyptiaca! The little guy has molted three times since I last showed pictures of it! He is finally big enough for me to see well. LOL 
Here are some current pictures of him!

P.aegyptiaca nymph

I only have this one small nymph, so I might either sell it or try to trade for more so I can create a decent sized colony.

Last but not least, my Eurycotis decipiens hatchlings have been molting as well. There is probably over fifty of them now with all the oothecae that have been hatching, still plenty more to go!There are many second instar nymphs and probably a couple third instars as well, but for now here's a picture of one of the second instars.

Second instar E.decipiens nymph

It's not the best of pictures, but you can see pretty clearly that the two circles on the pronotum are already visible, and that they have changed in color from plain black to black and orange. Pretty cool seeing these guys develop so far, and I hope to have continued success with this species.

Well, that's it for now, hope you guys enjoyed reading, and until next time, goodbye! :)

Question Mark Nymphs, Some more Enclosures, and One More Larva

Hi Everyone! :)
I just realized that I hadn't shown any pictures of some Therea olegrandjeani! I didn't know if I should post any pics of them or not because technically they're my little brothers that I bought for him, but what the heck, I'll post some photos of them anyway! There are three of them, there are two medium sized nymphs, one of which has some very beautiful red coloration, and then there is one large nymph that recently molted to sub-adult and is probably 2 instars ahead of the other nymphs. Enough said, here's some pictures of these cute little guys!

Large sub-adult nymph

Medium sized nymph

Medium sized nymph with striking red coloration

All three nymphs

Now, here's some photos of the rest of the enclosures that I haven't shared yet. First, the T.olegrandjeani enclosure is a plastic Sterilite container with a locking lid and some ventilation holes, which I have hot glued metal mesh over. Their substrate is a mix of cypress mulch, coconut fiber, some small rotting hardwood chunks, and some dead leaves, and there are also a couple pieces of egg crate for them to hide under(although they usually just burrow under the substrate.) Second, my P.saussurei enclosure is a plastic container with a good amount of ventilation holes in the lid. It's substrate is the same as the T.olegrandjeani substrate, except it is much drier and doesn't have the small chunks of rotting hardwood, I don't have any egg crate in this one's enclosure. Third, my P.aegyptiaca enclosure is a small plastic container with a lot of ventilation holes in the lid. Their substrate is the same as the T.olegrandjeani substrate only it is a lot drier, I also have no egg crate in their enclosure. Lastly, I forgot I had never shown any pictures of my C. gloriosa larvae or their enclosure, so I will show both. I have 2 of them, which are both L3, their enclosures are small plastic containers with a couple ventilation holes in the lid and their substrate is medium to soft decay oak wood flakes. Note: I have two larvae that are in two different containers, but I'm only sharing a picture of one larvae and one container because the larvae and their enclosures are identical.

T. olegrandjeani enclosure

P. saussurei enclosure

P. aegyptiaca enclosure

C. gloriosa larva enclosure

C. gloriosa larva

Also, I found a cool, large larva that I've never seen before in my yard yesterday, and just wanted to see if any of you guys could I.D it( I know I've asked for a lot of larva I.Ds, so I'll try to make this my last.)

Beetle larva

So, hope you guys enjoyed my post and pictures and I'll see you all next time. good bye!

P.saussurei Nymph, and Large WC Female Wolf Spider

Hi everyone!
The last couple days have been good and bad. I have caught a P.audax nymph, a large female T.helluo, 2 soil centipedes, a ton of P.scaber, C.convexus, and A.vulgare, 4 more D.elongatus, and 1 colorful ground beetle. On the bad side, I have had one E.lixa and E.decipiens escape their enclosures. I believe they got out when I opened their containers or they squeezed through the ventilation holes in their container and broke through the hot glue that is  holding the mesh blocking the holes.
But never mind that, here's some pictures of my P.saussurei nymph and the large Tigrosa helluo I caught!

Polyphaga saussurei nymph

Female Tigrosa helluo

Nice having so many new WC insects! I'll try to eventually get some pics of the others. Hope you guys enjoyed, and until next time, good bye!