# My new Jerusalem crickets!



## Hisserdude (Aug 20, 2015)

Got three immatures, thanks DETHCHEEZ! Hopefully I can rear them to adulthood and then maybe breed them. Here are some pics of the largest one.










Aren't they so cute

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## numbat1000 (Aug 20, 2015)

J crickets are the best!  I kept an adult that I purchased from bugsincyberspace for about six months; one of the most entertaining and intimidating _orthoptera_ I have ever kept. :biggrin:
Pretty coloration on yours, btw. How big is he?

Good luck with raising them!


--numbat1000


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## Hisserdude (Aug 20, 2015)

The biggest one is a tiny bit over an inch long, the other two are about 2 cm long. 
Thanks!


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## Chris LXXIX (Aug 20, 2015)

Would like to know more about their bite.. i've read - while not venomous - it's very painful


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## Hisserdude (Aug 20, 2015)

The adults apparently can give you a pinch, but nothing serious. At the size mine are, they couldn't even hurt me, unless they bit down on a soft spot, say in between my fingers, or my armpit, lol!


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## mmfh (Aug 21, 2015)

I'd say if they are biting your armpit, you are doing something wrong lol

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## Smokehound714 (Aug 21, 2015)

A large adult jerusalem cricket can inflict a very painful bloody bite- especially males.  They have jaws like bolt cutters.

   I found an enormous 7cm female, the remains of another were not too far away.  Their mandibles are rock hard- like a crab's shell.

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## Hisserdude (Aug 21, 2015)

Really? Bloody? Ok then, I ain't handling these as adults! If you don't mind me asking smokehound, what was your egg laying setup for these?


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## Chris LXXIX (Aug 21, 2015)

Smokehound714 said:


> A large adult jerusalem cricket can inflict a very painful bloody bite- especially males.  They have jaws like bolt cutters.
> 
> I found an enormous 7cm female, the remains of another were not too far away.  Their mandibles are rock hard- like a crab's shell.


That's what i've heard too 
Seems great to have and raise.. but here i never saw them. I think they are available only in USA..


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## Hisserdude (Aug 28, 2015)

Here are some more better pics of the same specimen above, it has plumped up since I got it, it ate cat food, some carrot, a Rhabdoblatta formosana nymph, and two mealworms!




How rude! 






And here are some pics of its behind, anyone able to sex these?


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## Smokehound714 (Aug 29, 2015)

female Stenopelmatus have an ovipositor, easily visible.  From what I can see, the specimens shown appear to be males.

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## Hisserdude (Aug 29, 2015)

Thanks! It's just one specimen btw, the others are too small for my camera to get good pictures. Is the ovipositor only visible on adults, or would I see it on the nymphs if they were females? Thanks in advance!


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## Smokehound714 (Aug 29, 2015)

You will see it in nymphs.  It somewhat resembles a katydid's ovipositor.

 Just like true crickets, where female nymphs will have short stubby ovipositors.


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## Hisserdude (Aug 29, 2015)

Dang it then, mine are all males! 

---------- Post added 08-29-2015 at 08:24 PM ----------

What should I do if they aren't eating? My two smallest ones have barely eaten anything since I got them, they just stay still at the bottom of their cages. Should I decrease the substrate depth?


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## Smokehound714 (Aug 29, 2015)

Hisserdude said:


> Dang it then, mine are all males!
> 
> ---------- Post added 08-29-2015 at 08:24 PM ----------
> 
> What should I do if they aren't eating? My two smallest ones have barely eaten anything since I got them, they just stay still at the bottom of their cages. Should I decrease the substrate depth?


No.  sounds like they're getting ready for a molt.   Do place a carrot in there for moisture.


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## Hisserdude (Aug 29, 2015)

Oh really!? Crap, I should take out the mealworms then! Thanks for the info!


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## Hisserdude (Aug 31, 2015)

The smallest one molted, yay!  Hopefully now it will eat.


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## Smokehound714 (Aug 31, 2015)

give it a few days to harden, first, just to be safe.


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## Hisserdude (Aug 31, 2015)

Will do!


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## Hisserdude (Oct 28, 2015)

Here are some pictures of the one in the first an second set of pictures, she has recently molted and she is BIG now! And she is not even an adult yet!

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## Hisserdude (Nov 4, 2015)

Here are all 8 of my Jerusalem crickets!

Swirl



Sam



Hopper



Mangle



Tiny


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## Hisserdude (Nov 4, 2015)

You guys have seen Ripper, my biggest JC, so I won't post a picture of her.

Gap



Jiminy



Fingers crossed I'll be able to breed these guys! (In a year or two when they mature).


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## DETHCHEEZ (Nov 5, 2015)

You Named Them???
LOL / JK

They're Looking Fat & Happy

Best Of Luck With You Breeding Project

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## Galapoheros (Nov 5, 2015)

Two inverts in the hobby I don't understand not being so popular, Jerusalem cricket and vinegaroons.

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## Hisserdude (Nov 5, 2015)

DETHCHEEZ said:


> You Named Them???
> LOL / JK
> 
> They're Looking Fat & Happy
> ...


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!  

---------- Post added 11-05-2015 at 11:10 AM ----------




Galapoheros said:


> Two inverts in the hobby I don't understand not being so popular, Jerusalem cricket and vinegaroons.


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!


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## Hisserdude (Mar 2, 2016)

Here is a little update on these guys. So far they are all doing well, and they are all slowly growing. Two of my females, Ripper and Swirl, are huge, Swirl in particular!

Here are some pictures of them!

Ripper:
























Swirl:

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## Tenevanica (Mar 2, 2016)

Those are very peculiar markings on swirl. I wonder if those are heritable. It'd be cool to have a _Stenopelmatus _sp. "swirl" culture.

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## Hisserdude (Mar 2, 2016)

Tenevanica said:


> Those are very peculiar markings on swirl. I wonder if those are heritable. It'd be cool to have a _Stenopelmatus _sp. "swirl" culture.


Yeah, she's pretty! It sure would be cool, if I'm successful in breeding them we will see.

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## TheInv4sion (Mar 5, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> 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 lol

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## Hisserdude (Mar 5, 2016)

TheInv4sion said:


> Whenever they start breeding let me know. I'd be down to have a little swirl jr lol


Ok, if they successfully breed I'll keep you in mind!


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## jaredc (Mar 10, 2016)

Do you think swirl may have just had a weird molt? Like what happens with roaches and millipedes.

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## Hisserdude (Mar 10, 2016)

jaredc said:


> Do you think swirl may have just had a weird molt? Like what happens with roaches and millipedes.


She has molted many times, the deformation remains. It often happens to roaches and millipedes, I think it is permanent, probably genetic.


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## Hisserdude (Jul 11, 2016)

Well, most of these guys are still going strong, though one of them (Mangle), may pass away very soon. Jiminy molted into an adult male, and Swirl just reached maturity a few days ago, so I now have an adult pair!  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. 

Here are some pictures of Swirl as an adult:


















Will let you all know what ends up happening when I mate them, hopefully it will end with both of them alive, or at least with the female alive...

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## klawfran3 (Jul 13, 2016)

jaredc said:


> Do you think swirl may have just had a weird molt? Like what happens with roaches and millipedes.


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.

Also, may I suggest you keep her body when she passes? An abberation like that is unusual and rare to come by. People at some institutions would probably love to look at her.

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## Hisserdude (Jul 13, 2016)

klawfran3 said:


> 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.
> 
> Also, may I suggest you keep her body when she passes? An abberation like that is unusual and rare to come by. People at some institutions would probably love to look at her.


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. 

I could try to preserve the body, but like I said this seems to be a common deformity in JCs and they don't preserve well.


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## klawfran3 (Jul 13, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> 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.
> 
> I could try to preserve the body, but like I said this seems to be a common deformity in JCs and they don't preserve well.


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.
And sorry about that haha, my focus is mainly on hymenoptera so I don't know too much about crickets.

Maybe just pin it and see how it dries. What's the worst that could happen?

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## Hisserdude (Jul 13, 2016)

klawfran3 said:


> 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.
> And sorry about that haha, my focus is mainly on hymenoptera so I don't know too much about crickets.
> 
> Maybe just pin it and see how it dries. What's the worst that could happen?


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.


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## Hisserdude (Jul 13, 2016)

Here we go, here's a hisser with this deformation (not my photo BTW): 

	
	
		
		
	


	





Apparently it's not something that would prevent reproduction, however usually these kinds of individuals are fed off.

And here's an image from Orin of a millipede with the deformation:

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## klawfran3 (Jul 13, 2016)

Wow! I had no idea about those. And it looks like for this hisser it's every other segment is affected too. I wonder why. Thank you for sharing!

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## Hisserdude (Jul 27, 2016)

Well, I put my mature male an female in with each other, and it was a surprisingly uneventful experience. They just ran away from each other whenever they touched. I left them in with each other for three days, and I removed the male yesterday, both he and the female were unharmed. Don't know if they mated with each other when I wasn't looking, I sure hope so. Will try re-introducing him to her next week.


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## Stugy (Jul 27, 2016)

Hey! What do you feed jc's? I'm thinking of getting one in the future and I just came across this thread so I might as well ask.

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## Hisserdude (Jul 27, 2016)

Stugy said:


> Hey! What do you feed jc's? I'm thinking of getting one in the future and I just came across this thread so I might as well ask.


Meat, lots of meat. These guys like live prey, though dog food has been the staple diet for my individuals. They will barely touch any veggies or fruits, the only thing they seem to like is protein.

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## mmfh (Jul 28, 2016)

I can't wait till these breed for you. I want to see baby pics and find out if they are going to have cool markings like their parents

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## Hisserdude (Jul 28, 2016)

mmfh said:


> I can't wait till these breed for you. I want to see baby pics and find out if they are going to have cool markings like their parents


Yeah, I'll be _pretty_ psyched if they breed for me, and I'm sure some of the offspring will have that kind of segment deformation, it seems pretty common in Jerusalem crickets.


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## Hisserdude (Sep 17, 2016)

Haha, turns out my male, (Jiminy), was not mature when I tried to mate him, he was only a subadult. He molted into an adult recently, as evidenced by the two small black hooks in between his cerci that are only present in mature male Jerusalem crickets.

Here's Jiminy:


















Genital hooks:












I paired him up with Swirl, and I also paired Tiny up with Sam, both of which also matured recently. Fingers crossed they'll mate successfully and that the males won't get eaten, as I have some more females that are mature and in need of some lovin'.

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## Hisserdude (Oct 19, 2016)

Well, a lot of stuff has happened, which I've described in more depth on my blog, but here I'll just try to condense it down to this; Swirl ate Jiminy, he did not mate with her, Tiny, (my second male), and Sam, (another female), did not harm each other after being in the same cage for a week and I separated them, it does not seem like he mated with her either.

I then tried mating Tiny with a different female, Gap, things didn't go so well and due to both mine and Tiny's stupidity Gap bit him on the back, drawing blood. However, Tiny recovered and I put him in with a different female, Ripper, which after a long and interesting mating ritual ended very successfully as you can see here:













About three days later, I put him in with Sam, who, like I said, he had been in with for about a week in a large enclosure previously, however no mating was ever seen. So, just to ensure that she would be fertile, I mated him with her, which also ended successfully, as you can see here:



















I got a video of this last pairing showing most of the late mating process, however I shot the footage late at night so the lighting and video quality is not the best, just a a head's up:






Here's hoping I'll get some eggs from these girls!

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## Stugy (Oct 20, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> Well, a lot of stuff has happened, which I've described in more depth on my blog, but here I'll just try to condense it down to this; Swirl ate Jiminy, he did not mate with her, Tiny, (my second male), and Sam, (another female), did not harm each other after being in the same cage for a week and I separated them, it does not seem like he mated with her either.
> 
> I then tried mating Tiny with a different female, Gap, things didn't go so well and due to both mine and Tiny's stupidity Gap bit him on the back, drawing blood. However, Tiny recovered and I put him in with a different female, Ripper, which after a long and interesting mating ritual ended very successfully as you can see here:
> 
> ...


That's awesome man. I don't know much about J Crickets but they look so cool

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## Hisserdude (Oct 20, 2016)

Stugy said:


> That's awesome man. I don't know much about J Crickets but they look so cool


Thanks, it sure is!  They are pretty cool insects, and are reasonably easy to keep, they take a pretty long time to mature though and don't live very long as adults, but are still worth keeping IMO. My hope is to breed these and spread them around in the hobby, would be nice for a captive bred population to be established in culture.

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## Hisserdude (Oct 27, 2016)

Unfortunately, my male Jerusalem cricket, Jiminy, has died.  He was only able to mate with two females successfully, I tried mating him with another recently but he was unable to deposit a spermatophore after he almost aligned his genital hooks four times, he seemed to be tired so I let separated them and let him rest, sure enough he died less than a week later.

I assume that getting bit on the back did cause some damage to him, and it probably severely shortened his lifespan. Hopefully I'll be able to get the two females he mated with to lay some eggs.

Reactions: Like 1 | Optimistic 2


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## Tfisher (Nov 2, 2016)

How many offspring do JC's usually yield?

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## Ratmosphere (Nov 2, 2016)

RIP Jiminy!

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## Hisserdude (Nov 3, 2016)

Tfisher said:


> How many offspring do JC's usually yield?


Very little is known about the life cycle of JCs, especially about their eggs, I don't think there is any info on how many eggs are usually laid per clutch, all I know is that they supposedly "lay them in masses" underground. :wideyed: Hopefully I'll soon find out how many eggs they typically lay per clutch...



Ratmosphere said:


> RIP Jiminy!


Yeah, RIP.


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## UltimateDracoMeteor (Nov 3, 2016)

Hisserdude said:


> Got three immatures, thanks DETHCHEEZ! Hopefully I can rear them to adulthood and then maybe breed them. Here are some pics of the largest one.
> 
> View attachment 138426
> 
> ...


I just _love _their big heads! It's too bad that they bite, though.


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## Hisserdude (Nov 3, 2016)

UltimateDracoMeteor said:


> I just _love _their big heads! It's too bad that they bite, though.


Yeah, the males especially have large head when they mature. Haha yeah I've been bit by a subadult male and let me tell you it is not pleasant, he didn't draw blood but he bit down with a ton of pressure and would not let go, when I finally got him off me the little area he had his jaws clamped down on had turned purple from lack of blood circulation.

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## Hisserdude (Jan 24, 2017)

Success, I found 12 eggs in Ripper's enclosure and one in Sam's enclosure, though more should follow! Fingers crossed they end up hatching! 

Here are some pictures of Ripper's eggs:

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## arizonablue (Jan 24, 2017)

Congrats, that's so cool! Keep us updated on how they do!

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## Hisserdude (Jan 24, 2017)

arizonablue said:


> Congrats, that's so cool! Keep us updated on how they do!


Thanks, will do!


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## BobBarley (Mar 12, 2017)

@Hisserdude what has become of these??

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## Calopteryx (Mar 12, 2017)

I'd also like to know if you've had success with the eggs, that would be awesome.

Btw, is cannibalism among nymphs a thing with these or can you keep them in groups?
Would love to keep some of them in the future.

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## RTTB (Mar 12, 2017)

Many many years ago when I was out bug hunting as a kid, I hit the mother lode and found 2 of them under a log. Threw them in a pickle jar and excitedly rode my bike home. When I got home there was only one very fat one and dismembered bits of the other. Learned the hard way that they will dine on each other. A nickname for them I heard growing up was oddly 'Mother of the Earth" or Madre Xama and there was all sorts of interesting myths about their ability to chew through plastic jaw strength venom etc. The stuff of legend and as kids, finding one was the equivalent of finding a pot of gold.


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## RTTB (Mar 12, 2017)

Ninos de la terra was another nickname for them I recall. All I know is that they are one cool bug.


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## Hisserdude (Mar 12, 2017)

Sorry guys, forgot to update this thread. Well the female that laid the first big clutch laid another, so I had a ton of eggs, but the other female laid three eggs and then died mysteriously. 

Unfortunately ALL but _one_ of my eggs molded over, I still have no idea why, but I'll definitely not be getting another generation from these guys, that's for sure.


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## Hisserdude (Mar 12, 2017)

Calopteryx said:


> Btw, is cannibalism among nymphs a thing with these or can you keep them in groups?
> Would love to keep some of them in the future.


These guys are very cannibalistic, it would be impossible to keep them in a group and not end up with just one, so they definitely need to be kept separately.


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## BobBarley (Mar 12, 2017)

Yeah, I just found 4 gravid females yesterday...  Weird that the eggs molded over, that sucks.

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## Hisserdude (Mar 12, 2017)

BobBarley said:


> Yeah, I just found 4 gravid females yesterday...  Weird that the eggs molded over, that sucks.


Yeah, I had over 20 of them, was really horrible to watch them mold over one by one and not know what the heck to do to stop it.  

Cool, if you try breeding them, keep us updated!

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