Goldilocks the Curly Haired

What better name for a tarantula with golden, curly hair than Goldilocks?

Goldi is a Tliltocatl Albopilosum, also known as a Curly Hair Tarantula. They are originally from the Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua area, but she(?) was captive bred, as is common with this type of tarantula. I got the unsexed tarantula in November 2020 and she was already half-grown, though she has molted since.

Currently Goldi is in a storage container that she arrived in, but her new bioactive enclosure is just about ready. It's nearly all put together and just awaiting isopods and the tarantula. And of course it's Goldilocks Forest themed, matching her style and the environment in which these tarantulas are commonly found, forest floors, typically near riverbanks.

Gothic the Red Rump

Gothic is a Tliltocatl vagans, also known as a Mexican Red Rump Tarantula for the red hairs on its black butt. It's also called the Black Velvet Tarantula for its stunning, black velvet-looking body. Strangely the tarantula sometimes seems to change colors, going more brown in appearance sometimes. The rusty reddish-brown looks pretty in its own way though.

Seeing the tarantula and the dramatic red and black velvet instantly made me think of goth, gothic styling, etc. So, Gothic or Gothie often.

I got Gothic in November 2020 as an unsexed juvenile at the same time as Goldilocks, though Goldi is much bigger.

Gothie was just recently moved into a bioactive enclosure. It's an 8x8x8 Exo-Terra because he is still fairly small, but it's well filled with substrate, a skull, and artificial roses and ivy. Within a day he started webbing up the eye holes of the skull, so he seems to like it. It's much better than the tiny container he was in before.

Bumblebee Millipedes

Bumblebee Millipedes, also known as the yellow-banded millipede or Anadenobolus monilicornis, are smaller millipedes that have yellow and black stripes. They are very cute and look incredible when they move and their stripes shift.

They are native to the Caribbean, but I got mine from Florida where they have naturalized.

I've got a bunch and they live in a mixed colony with my Scarlet Millipedes, some springtails, and at least one isopod, which is probably a Florida Fast.

Scarlet Millipedes

Another small millipede that has naturalized in Florida, my Scarlet Millipedes live in a mixed colony with the Bumblebee Millipedes.

Scarlet millipedes are also called Rusty Millipedes or Rusty-Red Millipedes for their obvious red coloring. Their scientific name is Trigoniulus corallinus and they are originally from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Chinese Praying Mantis

In April 2021 I ordered a couple Praying Mantis egg cases from Josh's Frogs. One is in the fridge, waiting till later, but the other is currently maturing and hopefully will soon produce little ones. Then they will quickly get moved into their own cages so hopefully the cannibalism will be lessened.

These are the common Praying Mantises most people in the U.S. see. They're originally from China, but have naturalized here. Many people purchase them to release into their gardens to naturally treat insect infestations. They also make pretty good pets.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

I have thousands of Hissers. Originally I purchased one single pair of Hissers from Josh's Frogs to keep as pets. Then they started doing what roaches are (often unfairly) known for--reproducing.

Now I have a huge colony as well as several smaller ones. They are huge, interesting creatures with fascinating behaviors. They also make really good feeders, and keep my bearded dragons and other animals happy.

Dubia Cockroaches

My sad, rather pathetic colony of Dubia Cockroaches were supposed to be a breeding colony to produce wholesome food for my reptiles. It hasn't turned out that way.

I got the colony for free when someone got tired of trying to get them to breed. That should have been a warning. They didn't reproduce for him, and they don't reproduce much for me either. I did like you're supposed to, leave them alone for a few months so they can breed and build up numbers before starting to feed them off. Instead they just lived. Until after a couple years they eventually got too old and started dying off. At one point I thought they were all dead and I was going to take apart the enclosure. But finding a few scattered Dubia hidden deep in the colony stopped me.

Since then they have produced just enough new cockroaches to keep themselves going, but have never flourished. I have plans to take apart their colony and rebuild it to see if I can fix whatever the problem is, but I also have plans to get a few fresh Dubia from a different line to add to a cohab in a combination invert tank.

Paraplecta cf. minutissima 'Kenya'

Arriving soon. I just ordered 20 Blaberidae sp. "Kenya" from SmugBug and they're on their way.

These were once considered the smallest roach cultured in the hobby. Nymphs are the size of fruit flies, and adults are still small too.

These roaches don't fly and only the males climb glass, and not very well. They do burrow, but don't go straight down, making them a good feeder.

I'm really looking forward to trying out these roaches as it's always a good idea to have a variety of feeders and ones that will stay in a bowl for mourning geckos is a good thing. I may also release some in bioactive tanks, but due to their small size I worry about escapees. Also, they may be plant munchers because they are detrivores who like vegetables. I've heard good things about them though, and they sound very underrated.

Mealworm Farming

Tired of going and purchasing container after container of mealworms from pet stores, I decided to try my hand at mealworm farming--and wow was it totally worth it!

Keeping Mealworms is rather easy. They can live on wheat bran and a little vegetable for their entire lives, reproducing and making more little mealworms without any effort. But a little bit of effort goes a long way. Breeding goes so much better if the Darkling Beetles are separated away from the larva or "worms" as they called because the Beetles will eat the eggs and small mealworms.

After a long period of keeping them in individual storage containers, I finally set them up in a plastic desktop drawer unit to make it easier to deal with. Just in time for them to taper off on breeding. A combination of factors - being too sick to keep up on their care, having difficulty getting wheat and having to switch substrates, my stock getting older and needing new blood - has made my mealworm farm a bit lackluster lately. But I hope to get a fresh infusion so they'll start breeding at high speed once more.