A question for A. Avic owners..?

[sunnymarcie]

Just exactly how important is the humidity level for this T?
And the temperature? :?

I have had a mite problem and I think it's cleared up.
The T is checked on every day at least 3 times a day
and I have not noticed anymore mites.

I'd like to get its environment as close to natural as possible
without having anymore problems. ( I know, I ask too much)
I think having it's cage too dry could be why my T maybe
having problems. Still not sure on that.
She eats normally and hangs on the wall or the lid and
looks fine except for the crusty stuff on her mouth.
I have not seen any worms or any mites on her body.
:?
But if she does have mites that I can not see, would
constant grooming cause the crusty mouth?

I have her in a deli cup right now, so I can watch her better.
She's not real happy about her current living arrangements
and I'd like to put her back into her jar

 

[Vys]

Well, my adult has eaten one cricket since november last year So I'm not sure I'm qualified to speak, but before that she behaved somewhat normally with just a big waterdish for humidity (bone dry substrate) and a plant. Temps ranged between 20 and 26C.

 

[Code Monkey]

My take: humidity is absolutely not important with Avics. I firmly believe you will cause more problems than you solve by trying to keep them at high humidity levels.

 

[Buspirone]

I think alot of ventilation is an important factor with avics

 

[Vys]

För Gud, du har väl barnen kär?
Men ser du den som liten är?

Yes, both CM and me would be quick to agree. They don't need to live in a cyclone, but fresh air should be placed before humidity in a human keeper's mind.

 

[SpiderTwin]

In my experience with my Avic's, the higher I keep the humidity, the more problems I've had. I try to keep the substrate moist, but as the weather gets better and the heat goes up, I think at times the humidity is too high. I haven't been keeping the substrate as moist and have taken any cover off the screen tops to allow them as much air circulation as possible. But I will continue to spray the enclosures to keep some humidity.

It's hard to keep the perfect amount of humidity, I am trying to stay around 60-70%, but as the heat goes up, I may go a little lower just so their air dosen't get stail.

 

[Kenny]

My avics

Hi

I have an A.avic and a couple A.versicolors, and an A.braunheseni and I've had them for nearly a year and my setup has been like this.

I've kept substrate about bonedry, misting every day on sides of cages like a couple of times (morning/evening) and of course a waterdish in there all the time.

They have all molted succesfully and grown, my A.avic was an 1/5 inch s'ling, s/he is now about 2,5 inches and one of my versis has gone from small blue s'ling to juvenile in grown colors. The other versi on it's way.
No mites. ( ,,so far)
,,,,AND I have had a fan running on low about 4 feets in front of cages all the time, now: it dry out faster with fan so misting becomes important.
I should also say that in my case I haven't had my cages covered or anything, just a steady airflow with misting every day.

This have worked for me fine

 

[RugbyDave]

haha who are you writing swedish to Vys? Who else besides you and I speak swedish here?

And i don't elevate my avic temps really..
just ventilation...

nice big water dish, a bit bigger than other ones, but not like a pool.

good luck!
peace
dave

 

[Vys]

Kenny, but anyways there's little logic after one chimay too many :/

 

[sunnymarcie]

Thanks for the posts guys~:0)

I do not mist the enclosure very often and my substrate
is bone dry also. Lot's of air flow into the container to,
tons of holes. More than any of my other setups.
The room temp is 70F or a little higher, NEVER below 70F~:0)

So, with the water dish being the only moisture, how can
the mites survive?
:?

 

[Kenny]

man

du ska int' rök fö' lung' kan bli suart eller
sketen.

P.S. rugbydave: you speak swedish? give it to me!?
( without internet translators )

 

[SpiderTwin]

Hey sunny,

How are you at cleaning up the cricket and other food remains? I have mites at times in my terestrial set-ups and they can feed off of the cricket balls and swim in the water dish. I try to keep the cricket remains cleaned up and the water changed frequently.

 

[sunnymarcie]

I think I clean too much, if thats possible

I change the water dish everyday. And when the T's are fed
I pick up their mess the next morning.

So, its not a cleaning problem.

My Avic. has had mites 2 times. Both times I only saw them
on the jar wall, not in the substrate, or on the T

 

[SpiderTwin]

I have had them in my Avic set-ups many times. I think they come from the crickets. Eventually they go away on their own if I keep the cricket balls cleaned up. They are most likely scavenger mites and shouldn't hurt your Avic.

I will at times let the substrate dry out some and this helps get rid of the mites also.

 

[sunnymarcie]

I do not think they could be from the crickets, because all
of my T's eat from the same group of crickets.
If the mites were from there my slings would also be infested,
and their fine
Except for the slings, all of my other T's are in bone dry enclosures.

I raise my own crickets too, so I would see a problem in the cricket colony first I give up. I just do not want mites on the
whole collection.

 

[jen1302]

I got a A.Avic sling today and the fang area is full of mites heard drough is best way to go.

Which is a problem due to being a A.Avic is there anything i can do as iv'e heard many tarantulas die due to mite problems and don't want it to spead to my other Ts or for it to die and should i wait for a molt.

 

[desertdweller]

First of all, I fully admit I try to duplicate my Ts natural surroundings to make them really happy.

For my two versi's I have:

100% vermiculite substrate with potted plants underneath. That way when I water their plants it stays local.

Misting sides every day if not twice.

Tons of ventilation

Isopods to clean up any mites, bolus or rotting wood pieces-they do their jobs well!

Water dish-smallish

That's it. My Versi's are well fed and they tell me when they are in pre-molt by not eating.

Plenty of exercise as I play with them every day. Good Luck!