Amblypygid deaths?

[joseoro11]

What are some of the causes of death toward Amblypygids?

 

[schmiggle]

Low humidity is the biggest, especially during a molt. The risk varies, but it exists for most of them. Also low temps are certainly a risk, though I think that also varies between species (I would imagine, for example, that it's less of a problem for a desert species like Paraphrynus mexicanus, but I definitely wouldn't let it get cold for extended periods).

Is yours doing alright?

 

[sschind]

I would agree with Schmiggle about the humidity but I would add that my D. Diadema are pretty much bullet proof. I keep 3 babies in a 32 oz deli with a FF screen lid, paper towel on the bottom and a piece of cork tile at an angle and several times they have become bone dry and I have not lost one yet. They haven't gone through their first molt yet though either but this is not my first batch of babies and I have not have issue in the past either. I will make more of an effort to keep them more humid now though since molting is due soon and I don't want to take chances.

My Floridas on the other hand seem to be very difficult to keep for some reason. Those I have in smaller cups with coco fiber that stays moist all the time and I still lose them.

 

[chanda]

I raise Damon diadema and also have a small group of Paraphrynus mexicanus. So far (about a year now) the Paraphrynus have suffered no casualties. I have lost a few of the Damon over the years. The main cause of death has been cannibalism. I don't really have the space to separate the babies, so even though they are well fed, there are usually quite a few that end up eaten by their siblings - particularly as they hit the sub-adult stage. I've also lost a few babies to freeloading spiders (Steatoda triangulosa and Steatoda grossa) that slip into the cages as hatchlings, then share the fruit flies I provide for the whip spiders until they get big enough to start taking out the whip spiders themselves.

I did lose one to a bad molt, years ago - my fault for having the wrong kind of bark (palm) in the cage for her, instead of cork. As near as I can tell, she molted successfully but slipped and fell off the bark right after molting, while she was still soft and vulnerable.

I also had one turn up inexplicably dead in his cage. I had just put him in with one of my females to try to breed them, but in the morning he was dead. I don't think the female killed him, though, as there wasn't a mark on him and he had no damaged appendages or other body parts. My guess is that he might have just been too old - I'd had him for several years, and he was already mature or close to it when I got him.

 

[joseoro11]

Low humidity is the biggest, especially during a molt. The risk varies, but it exists for most of them. Also low temps are certainly a risk, though I think that also varies between species (I would imagine, for example, that it's less of a problem for a desert species like Paraphrynus mexicanus, but I definitely wouldn't let it get cold for extended periods).

Is yours doing alright?

Mine is doing alright hope no problems yet, I'm just trying to avoid making mistakes, this is my first one after all.