A Dubia cockroach (Blaptica dubia) that extrudes and retracts the ootheca. But what is it and why does it do that? The egg packets of cockroaches and mantises are called ootheca. The Dubia cockroach is ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs remain in the body until the young are ready to hatch. The extruding of the ootheca occurs because it's the only way to move them from the ovary chamber to the brood chamber.

I keep a small group of cockroaches because they are good food for my animals. The terrarium is set up with an 11 to 15 centimeter high layer of coconut soil, which is piled up like a slope towards the back wall of the terrarium. In the lower area there are branches, leaves and pieces of bark, where the animals stay the most. The upper area stays free, only the feeding bowl is there. I only keep the soil slightly moist in places. These areas are visited by the animals from time to time and also cover their drinking needs. Springtails and microorganisms also live in the soil, which help to keep the terrarium clean. It smells very good like forest floor.

Many startle when they hear the word cockroach. Only about 30 species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. In a normal living situation, there is no need to worry about an infestation by these animals.

Banana Joe passed away in April. He has lived with me since 2002. At that time I was 16 years old. Banana Joe wasn't seen very often, he kept his wild nature to the end. If you had to grab him, he often responded with a bite and a loud crackle. I just really liked his incorruptible nature about him. All the more enriching were the moments when he showed himself, or when you could hear from the loudly vibrating tail that he was presenting his special advantages to a female. In 2017, he became a father to five girls. His daughter Nameless still lives with me, the other "Banana Shakes" got new owners. Like her father, Nameless is a rather shy animal and she is a beautiful living memory. I really wished that Banana Joe would stay with me for many more years, but he has reached a good age and I am grateful for the time together.

Just reach out for happiness 😄🍌🦎

Madagascar day gecko (Phelsuma madagascariensis)

Yesterday I adopted three geckos.😄 A Madagascar day gecko and two leopard geckos. The day gecko secretly watches me from a safe hiding place while I sit and work at my desk.😇 You don't get to see the other two and I don't want to disturb them.🤫 Unfortunately, the previous owner kept both species together in one terrarium. But now I'm taking care of a species-approbiate home.🤗

🐝🌸🌦️

It's raining and the teasel flowers are filled with delicious potion.
Bumblebees use their magic sparingly and do not fly when it's raining. Happy are those who find refuge on this wild teasel (Dipsacus fullonum). Here you can linger until the sun shines again. Perfect stay for this buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

Young and unmated carrion crows live in swarms. Once they have found a breeding partner, they establish territories which they defend against conspecifics.

That's a big manure heap behind me 😁🌞

Dung piles are important and something to be happy about. In modern agriculture, there are fewer and fewer. Flies lay their eggs in dung. A lot of flies! And these flies are an important food source for birds like swifts and swallows.

One of my 2016 offspring 🥰

In temperature-dependent sex determination, the sex of the offspring is not determined by chromosomes, but by the temperature in the nest. This makes it easy to breed leopard geckos of the desired sexes.

European garden spider,
Araneus diadematus
(09/2016 in Oberursel, Germany)

A few baby photos of my leopard gecko offspring from 2016 😄❤️

They start with a banded pattern, which gradually turns into a dot pattern.