What was the hardest lesson to learn?

[Caseyface]

I do that! My husband knows to just go play some video games or something if I go into my T room. Even if I say I'll only be a sec, it easily turns into 30min of me just staring at them. LOL

I'm glad that I am not alone in this! Time doesn't seem to travel at the same speed in my T room.

 

[Thaneem]

If (instead of a moist substrate) had offered back then a dry set up with just a water dish and only a bit of overflow here and there to my female Scolopendra subspinipes, I doubt she would successfully managed to poop out pedelings and thrive :-s

What I found is that if I used a shallow, ceramic water dish and let some water overflow, I had a very moist area directly under the dish. But yeah, otherwise the substrate was bone-dry. I had a Haitian giant lay eggs and nearly all babies survived. I had no mold, no mites. Nothing. I've kept subspinipes this way too. All of my centipedes. Pure peat moss, dry, overflow from the dish and occasional misting.

really? thats what i did at first with my alternans, thing never ate and hid 24/7 for months. i now keep it practically like a Theraphosa and have noticed much more activity and appetite.

Honestly, dry substrate w/overflow solved all of my problems. If you can keep it moist and avoid mites (which was my biggest issue), cool.

 

[Venom1080]

Honestly, dry substrate w/overflow solved all of my problems. If you can keep it moist and avoid mites (which was my biggest issue), cool.

what ever works.
ive found peat moss to be really good with preventing mold, which in turn prevents mites.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

What I found is that if I used a shallow, ceramic water dish and let some water overflow, I had a very moist area directly under the dish. But yeah, otherwise the substrate was bone-dry. I had a Haitian giant lay eggs and nearly all babies survived. I had no mold, no mites. Nothing. I've kept subspinipes this way too. All of my centipedes. Pure peat moss, dry, overflow from the dish and occasional misting.

Well, a good ventilation, and spot on cleaning, always helps to prevent molt and else. But what's important IMO is considering where someone live. My 'bone dry' is different from EulersK 'bone dry', since he lives in a desert environment, for tha matter. Same if someone lives in a tropical nation.

Granted, a nice sized water dish always helps, and while substrate should be moist (if needed for certain species) and never wet, and that exaggerating with water isn't advised, still I fail to realize how it's possible to keep an 'Haplo' (example) on bone dry substrate, man

 

[Crone Returns]

Always use tongs to remove water bowls, uneaten prey,bolus etc.. I have had more close calls by breaking this rule than any other...

So THAT'S how you got that face on your avatar....

 

[viper69]

You are right about a need to compare them rather than saying poor eaters. I am guilty of saying that as well. Perhaps we could say they eat less when they eat or eat less often. My slings have a fat abdomens, but leave lots of cricket parts to be cleaned up. It is hard to know if they took a few bites when they are this small, but I never see them eating.

I've watched all of mine eat esp at the 1/4"
Size to make sure they are eating, and to k serve their behavior.
It's very different than any other T I've seen re prey capture.

I get a single bolus. I haven't observed partial eating.

 

[Jeff23]

I've watched all of mine eat esp at the 1/4"
Size to make sure they are eating, and to k serve their behavior.
It's very different than any other T I've seen re prey capture.

I get a single bolus. I haven't observed partial eating.

My slings are all burrowing so it is kind of hard to catch them eating. My crickets are usually over-sized as well so I have to break them up in pieces. I usually spread the pieces out over a 1/2" distance to insure the T finds the food.

But I have seen the adults eat plenty and they definitely eat the whole cricket.

 

[Thaneem]

Well, a good ventilation, and spot on cleaning, always helps to prevent molt and else. But what's important IMO is considering where someone live. My 'bone dry' is different from EulersK 'bone dry', since he lives in a desert environment, for tha matter. Same if someone lives in a tropical nation.

Granted, a nice sized water dish always helps, and while substrate should be moist (if needed for certain species) and never wet, and that exaggerating with water isn't advised, still I fail to realize how it's possible to keep an 'Haplo' (example) on bone dry substrate, man

Sure. At the same time, bone dry substrate doesn’t necessarily = low humidity. I’m not saying I kept centipedes in low humidity environments. I’m saying only that I found other ways to increase the humidity without moistening the substrate (save for under the water dish). Seriously – I never had any issues with any of my spiders or centipedes doing this, but had constant issues with centipedes prior to doing this. Granted, it could’ve amounted to me way overdoing the moistening. Idk.

I live in a tropical area now, but I’m from New England. Summers are humid, but during the winter we crank up the heat and it dries the air horribly. Even in those situations, I had zero problems with my animals on essentially bone dry substrate. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but it’s worked for me.

 

[grayzone]

Hardest lesson i learned was when it came to the breeding aspect.
I learned to just let nature take its course and let the mom tend to the sack. I got way to anxious on a few of my first breeding attempts and pulled the sacks, only for them to go to waste during the incubation process.

It is way easier to lure the angry mother into a catchcup (once the slings hatch) than it is to attempt to play god

 

[cold blood]

What I found is that if I used a shallow, ceramic water dish and let some water overflow, I had a very moist area directly under the dish. But yeah, otherwise the substrate was bone-dry. I had a Haitian giant lay eggs and nearly all babies survived. I had no mold, no mites. Nothing. I've kept subspinipes this way too. All of my centipedes. Pure peat moss, dry, overflow from the dish and occasional misting.

That's nice...living in a naturally humid area has its advantages In the winter its exceedingly dry here, so I need to add large amounts of water to the substrate on a regular basis.

And that's actually a tough lesson to learn Understanding that what works for some in one area, won't always work or will need adjustments in other areas or even during other seasons.

 

[Thaneem]

That's nice...living in a naturally humid area has its advantages In the winter its exceedingly dry here, so I need to add large amounts of water to the substrate on a regular basis.

And that's actually a tough lesson to learn Understanding that what works for some in one area, won't always work or will need adjustments in other areas or even during other seasons.

Oh absolutely. Maybe I'm on the verge of learning something new, though.
For me, moist substrate was an issue almost solely because of mites which were introduced into the enclosures with feeder crickets. This was a constant issue, so much so that I’m not understanding why those of you using moist substrate aren’t experiencing it constantly.

My question becomes: what was I doing wrong/what are you all doing right?

 

[Jeff23]

Oh absolutely. Maybe I'm on the verge of learning something new, though.
For me, moist substrate was an issue almost solely because of mites which were introduced into the enclosures with feeder crickets. This was a constant issue, so much so that I’m not understanding why those of you using moist substrate aren’t experiencing it constantly.

My question becomes: what was I doing wrong/what are you all doing right?

Were the mites with your crickets or did they show up after you placed them in the enclosures?

 

[Thaneem]

Were the mites with your crickets or did they show up after you placed them in the enclosures?

Well my assumption was that they were on the crickets. It was only crickets, too. Never had any mite issues when I fed out hissing roaches. Moist substrate + crickets = mites for me, almost always. And this wasn’t over the course of a month, either. It was years, with probably 50 some odd inverts and crickets bought from many different stores.

Why/how would mites show up after crickets were placed in the enclosure unless they were on the crickets to begin with?

 

[Jeff23]

Well my assumption was that they were on the crickets. It was only crickets, too. Never had any mite issues when I fed out hissing roaches. Moist substrate + crickets = mites for me, almost always. And this wasn’t over the course of a month, either. It was years, with probably 50 some odd inverts and crickets bought from many different stores.

Why/how would mites show up after crickets were placed in the enclosure unless they were on the crickets to begin with?

I only asked because you are asking how other people don't have this problem. I have only used crickets and don't have mites.

EDIT* I am not sure of anything special that I might be doing. But I do have moist species of tarantulas.

Well my assumption was that they were on the crickets. It was only crickets, too. Never had any mite issues when I fed out hissing roaches. Moist substrate + crickets = mites for me, almost always. And this wasn’t over the course of a month, either. It was years, with probably 50 some odd inverts and crickets bought from many different stores.

Why/how would mites show up after crickets were placed in the enclosure unless they were on the crickets to begin with?

I just wonder if there are more mites native to Florida year around since many of the rest of us have cold weather seasons.

 

[cold blood]

Were the mites with your crickets or did they show up after you placed them in the enclosures?

Any time you introduce a cricket, you are introducing mites...they go hand in hand.

@Thaneem I think a lot has to do with ventilation and air movement...but also the fact that evap happens so much slower in humid climates, so it never dries out....I always let damp enclosures dry before re-wetting...this little dry period occurring on a semi-regular basis is good at keeping mites in check...they die in dry.

I've had them pop up, but when I see them, I just dry everyone out for a period, and the population quickly disappears (or shrinks to toe point I don't see or notice them). I have noticed less of them now that I am more reliant on a home grown roach colony.

 

[MetalMan2004]

Just because you have enough room for lots more sling enclosures doesn't mean you have room for that many adult-sized enclosures when they all grow up!

I've talked myself into and back out of buying lots of slings after remembering how small a space I have to keep them.

 

[Thaneem]

I just wonder if there are more mites native to Florida year around since many of the rest of us have cold weather seasons.

Oh ok, I understand now. No, I moved to FL about 3 years ago. Prior to that, I was in CT. Understand, I've kept many high-humidity species on dry substrate with no issues. My question would be: 1. has anyone ever had a spider die due to dry substrate, assuming there is a water dish and occasional misting? 2. has anyone ever had a spider die due to overly moist substrate? I know the answer to #2 is yes.
The ideal situation would likely be to keep high-humidity species on moist substrate IF you can avoid mite infestations. For me, though, I couldn't avoid them so long as I used crickets. Hissing roaches never introduced mites, but they were too big to feed to most of my animals.

Any time you introduce a cricket, you are introducing mites...they go hand in hand.

@Thaneem I think a lot has to do with ventilation and air movement...but also the fact that evap happens so much slower in humid climates, so it never dries out....I always let damp enclosures dry before re-wetting...this little dry period occurring on a semi-regular basis is good at keeping mites in check...they die in dry.

I've had them pop up, but when I see them, I just dry everyone out for a period, and the population quickly disappears (or shrinks to toe point I don't see or notice them). I have noticed less of them now that I am more reliant on a home grown roach colony.

Yeah I think if I ever get REALLY back into the hobby, I'm going to start up a roach colony. Freaking hate crickets, lol. And I may be overly-paranoid about moist substrate because of numerous bad experiences.
Ironically, I have a difficult time keeping humidity up in my snake cages despite living in south FL. Reason being, the AC is always on. The air circulation cuts the humidity down to 40% or so very quickly, and I find myself having to use all of the same 'tricks' as I had to use in CT.

 

[Jeff23]

Any time you introduce a cricket, you are introducing mites...they go hand in hand.

@Thaneem I think a lot has to do with ventilation and air movement...but also the fact that evap happens so much slower in humid climates, so it never dries out....I always let damp enclosures dry before re-wetting...this little dry period occurring on a semi-regular basis is good at keeping mites in check...they die in dry.

I've had them pop up, but when I see them, I just dry everyone out for a period, and the population quickly disappears (or shrinks to toe point I don't see or notice them). I have noticed less of them now that I am more reliant on a home grown roach colony.

I wonder why I am not seeing them. I use a magnifying glass on my really small sling containers that are always moist. And I do occassionally fail to get out prekill cricket parts for a little extra time. Maybe I'll look a little closer on my next feeding.

 

[viper69]

My slings are all burrowing so it is kind of hard to catch them eating. My crickets are usually over-sized as well so I have to break them up in pieces. I usually spread the pieces out over a 1/2" distance to insure the T finds the food.

But I have seen the adults eat plenty and they definitely eat the whole cricket.

I don't feed oversize crix to E sp Reds/Yellows at any time. They are rarely interested. They are very careful hunters for Ts, sometimes stalking for hours.

 

[Jeff23]

I don't feed oversize crix to E sp Reds/Yellows at any time. They are rarely interested. They are very careful hunters for Ts, sometimes stalking for hours.

My E. sp red slings are eating plenty so they have no problem with the cricket pieces. Their abdomens are huge. I am feeding twice per week. But I feed live crickets to my adult females and they are proper size crickets.