It's easier to keep track of their growth if I name them, and instead of saying "oh look, number 6 molted", I can say "oh look, Hopper molted". Plus they're gonna be around a while, so why not name them, lol!
Yeah, hopper was on the skinny side when he got here, but once I put him in his cage he ate a whole piece of cat food! I plan on feeding them some live food this week. Thanks, I really hope I can breed them too! I know right? I would love to have some vinegaroons, they look so interesting! And I'm surprised more people don't keep JCs, they are found in many states, so lots of people can just catch them themselves, and they are a blast to keep!
Yeah, she's pretty! It sure would be cool, if I'm successful in breeding them we will see.
Whenever they start breeding let me know. I'd be down to have a little swirl jr lolYeah, she's pretty! It sure would be cool, if I'm successful in breeding them we will see.
Ok, if they successfully breed I'll keep you in mind!Whenever they start breeding let me know. I'd be down to have a little swirl jr lol
She has molted many times, the deformation remains. It often happens to roaches and millipedes, I think it is permanent, probably genetic.
I have placed the male's cage within the female's new enclosure to get them more familiarized with each other, (not sure if that makes any sense but I'm doing it anyway), and once the female plumps up a bit I will attempt to mate them, which I may or may not film. 
Well it looks like the actual abdominal segments 3 and 5 are deformed. No amount of molting would fix that. It's probably a genetic mutation of some sort but it could also just be an issue in differentiating when it developed. I'm honestly interested to know if she's fertile or not. Since the abdomen is where most of the vegetative work happens (the thorax is mostly nerve and muscle) it could possibly affect her below the skin. I guess only time will tell when she mates.
Actually two of my eight have this deformity, it seems pretty common in Jerusalem crickets. I'm sure she'll be fertile, similar segment deformation occurs in some millipedes and cockroaches, and does not seem to affect overall health nor fertility.
Huh. That's actually pretty interesting. I wonder if their young will have a higher chance of getting it. Do you have any pictures of the millipedes or roaches with it? I haven't seen it before and I've had a roach colony for years so I am very intrigued.
Orin McMonigle has pictures of millipedes with this type of deformation in his book "Millipedes in Captivity", and I believe I saw pictures of Gromphadorhina sp roaches with deformations similar to this on the internet somewhere, I'll try to find them.
