for a couple years now ive been getting reports trickling in from herpers telling sad tails of losing chameleons and geckos to the Giant African Black millipede Archispirostreptus gigas. it seems to me that some dork somewhere came up with the brilliant idea of useing them to keep their lizard cages clean without doing any real research on them first, then went out and started telling others it works. to this day ive gotten 5 reports of lizards being caught and devoured by GABs whoda thunk an 8" detritivore could catch and kill a $300 chameleon when it desides it needs protine but it has happened and sadly prolly will again before the word gets around  

Tags: Archispirostreptus Gigas GAB GAM Millipede Lizard Herp Gecko Chameleon Warn

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i was really looking forward to it wanted to meet a couple people there but my agoraphobia kicked in early on and ruined the fun for me cause i had to leave but heres some photos i took early on while the news people were there





cockroach races





Robert of InsectGeeks showing off one of his Malaysian Amblypygids

Tags: Sfbats People Gatherings Events Shows Clubs Societies Insectgeeks Kenthebug

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some more photos from my "life under a rock" series

photos were taken in various Easter Contra Costa County Parks
thats in the San Francisco Bay Area for yous not from around these parts
these were taken late summer and fall

Arboreal salamander

Slender salamander

and to think just a moment ago these little guy were doing this while hanging up side down

see the ones farther along in their development on the upper left area

Opiliones hanging under the roof of the "welcome to" sign
sorry bout the size but it didnt look anywhere as nice in the smaller format

there was smudge on the lens that day but i thought the rainbows kinda added to the pics

ultimate male Calisoga spider

go ahead i dare you tickle my tummy
Calisoga spider ultimate male threat display

i wonder what the small ones jobs are

Xystocheir sp. millipede
these guys fluoresce under a blacklight like scorpions do
they also have a lovely almond smell but dont eat them its from the cyanide they secrete

Stone centipede n tiny spiders

a soil centipede order Geophilomorpha

SSHHH i think its asleep

such an adorable face

on the other side of the valley these are almost colorless
cold wed Decembers you can see 100s of these at night roaming around
usually just after the Forest Scorpions stop being present on the surface

heres another with a couple of our local wood cockroaches
local to me is Contra Costa County California

peek a boo
oh my something is on top of the log i want to turn over

the areas around marsh creek abound in toads

this blue belly fence lizard thought itd be safe if it ran up my sons leg when we disturbed its hiding place

Tags: Salamander Toad Spider Calisoga Centipede Millipede Nature Opiliones

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ive had my "Life under a rock" gallery on another (pop scene) site for some years now so you may have seen these photos
i just thought people that havent followed obscure links and sifted through all the galleries might enjoy them

reminds me of a bulldog with a spiked collar

silky ant nest

this nest was a huge hole under a big flat bottemed rock
as you can see the nest was filled with twigs n such

subterranean termite monolith

side view, see the termites antenna

top view, peek a boo

one of the troops

a common winter milli here and a wood louse
milli order Julida

i had hopped for a rattlesnake so i could beat my feb 11th early find record from past years
came up with 5 toads(yes i said 5 not a typo)

to give you an idea of size those logs next to the shroom are actually thin grass stems.

darkling (yeah love that generic name eh) beetle n shrooms

ground beetle n hitch hiker

as if i have to tell you guys what this is

one out of 4 creatures gotta love em

stuffs

interesting choice of web placement

lotsa stuffs

dang what was this called again where are my notes...
Parajulid yeah thats it

heres a much bigger milli Tylobolus species

it stains the flesh then bruises

assassins! i think

the tiny Serradigitus gertschi striatus
a first for january

nother parajulid

a cute widdle baby stone centipede and some spider

a snail

a thing that specializes in eating snails and whats left of breakfast
Tribe Cychrini ground beetle
is that a wasp tube?

widdle wolfie

Scolopocryptops
my guess would be that name has something to do with the lack o eyes
or eyes
or centipedes

nother view

i wonder if the dark part is its heart
or just a meal

one of these days ill figure out exactly what these guys are

i marked this rock with a very noticeable X (par usual) so i dont make the mistake later on of turning it over again when it starts to warm up

im sure any poor souls you happen to stumble upon my X rocks and with great joy and anticipation quickly turn it over will also remember not to turn over it again
(or mess around in my stomping grounds muahahahaha
no i dont attach snares to hornet nests but that is an interesting ideai just had aahah aahah aahah
just look at them eggs like little oblong pearls of death and pain.
i once watched a bunch o wasps strip the flesh off a freshly killed snake over 5 hrs

of course during all this my loving wife waited patiently on a log reading her book and enjoying nature in her own weird way
(shed say im the weird one for looking under every rock n stick in a field and carefully replacing them where they were
that an important thing to remember to do cause after you die you have to go around and turn them all back over if you forgot to do it before
i sure dont want to spend the first part of my eternity turning back over damn rocks do you

Tags: Nature Rock Log Centipedes Spiders Millipedes Beetles Snails Wasps Scorpion

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