Alternatives to Cork Bark in Amblypygids Enclosures

WeightedAbyss75

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Feb 22, 2014
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ah let's wait and see, I am now breeding the first F1, raising them to adulthood....
In my experience, nearly ALL Whips are fragile and hard at the beginning when you get them as WC on an Expo...but if you have success that the moult once, reproduce them etc. the next/and first real captive breed populations is easy as usual. The tricky and exhausting deal are always the low number of WC individuals and that the right Person with the skills and climate Chambers get them, once this step is done, they should be easily available for anybody, as I have done for now nearly 25 different species in the last years.
Wow, that is really cool! Saw some E. amanica, but it does seem that they all die for some reason or another. Can't wait to have more details on that species in particular :) That look is just too much. Hopefully it goes well for you.
 

Banshee05

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Now I want to share some shots of Whip Spiders from the Dominican Republic....
Phrynus marginemaculatus



Phrynus sp.


Phrynus decoratus


Phrynus longipes


Phrynus hispaniolae



Phrynus eucharis



Charinus bahoruco



Charinus dominicanus
 

Ghoul

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Beautiful! I love seeing the different species. :D
Also your icon always makes me think it's a baked chicken at first glance :hungry:
 

Banshee05

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Thx, in total I am right now breeding around 35 different species, and some in many different population from different countries as well, etc. It is quite a lot work, but hereby I generate my knowledge and get new inputs for my scientific work.
hehe, this was one of my first "real field trips" to Namibia, it is a Hottentotta conspersus specimen...Long time ago :D
 

BobBarley

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AW YEAH great pictures. Never enough Pygi here
Agreed wholeheartedly, us in the U.S. only have a handful of species to work with. Hopefully more come in soon, but I think the "problem" is that most people don't like small inverts and a lot of ambies are small. *shrug*
 

Vialheart

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I really liked the enclosures displayed in this thread, so I decided to try them out for my first ever whips (soon to be a pair of D. diadema). I did find the Rubbermaid containers that Aquarimax and others found at Target, but I wasn't pleased with them because they are kind of oddly shaped, and the plastic isn't completely clear. My Walmart, however, had these really nice Better Homes and Gardens brand containers.



They're made of a thick, crystal-clear acrylic, and have latch at the top that locks the lid into place. They're also a bit cheaper than the Rubbermaid ones, but they're a bit smaller too. The measurements are 12.3 x 8.2 x 3.8 in/ 31.2 x 20.8 x 9.7 cm. I'm worried that they're going to be a little too thin, but hopefully it won't make to big of a difference.

The lid is interesting. With care you can silently switch the latch on top open and soundlessly remove the the lid from the container.



The lids are too thick to cut or drill ventilation holes in, so I drilled eleven 3/16th inch holes near the lid on the sides.
And here are my completed enclosures with styrofoam and substrate.



(I hope that necroing this thread won't be too big of a deal. I didn't see anything in the rules about necros oTL)
 

InvertsandOi

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Now that this thread has been resurrected, I just want to say that my D. diadema has had many successful molts with this setup.
 

Aquarimax

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Those containers are a nice find! As long as they are wide enough for the your D. diadema to spread out sufficiently to molt (half their total width, including extended whips) they should work well.
Nice ventilation solution--do the cent holes change the way the lid seal works?


I will add that my 2 D. diadema that live in this style of setup have molted successfully several times as well.
 

Ghoul

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Y'all here with these simple cheap enclosures and I'm like

Luxus :happy: (picture taken around christmas as you can see)
Also an empty wallet. Oh well. At least Benji loves it. And the woodlice that live there with him. He loves hiding behind the bark and comes out at night. He has molted once on every bark piece now, so yeah they don't seem to mind vertical surfaces, though he got better grip on cork bark than on styrofoam (the background is styro). I've never seen him fall off of it yet tho, guess his advantage is having 6 legs for climbing :d
 
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Vialheart

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Those containers are a nice find! As long as they are wide enough for the your D. diadema to spread out sufficiently to molt (half their total width, including extended whips) they should work well.
Nice ventilation solution--do the cent holes change the way the lid seal works?

I will add that my 2 D. diadema that live in this style of setup have molted successfully several times as well.
The lids still function fine even with the holes! The lid doesn't form a vacuum. Instead, the bottom of the lid expands or contracts where the rubber rubber sits to form the seal

@Ghoul
Oh my gosh I'd love to have two big ol' Exo Terras for my whips, but the cheapness and size of the storage containers was just too alluring. Maybe someday.


Question: Where did ya'll get the isopods for your tanks? I'm kinda balking at potentially paying overnight shipping for some little dudes I could just walk outside and find. I know it's a terrible idea to introduce wild organisms to your enclosures cause they could be carrying who knows what diseases or parasites, but I'm still like :shifty:
 

Ghoul

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The lids still function fine even with the holes! The lid doesn't form a vacuum. Instead, the bottom of the lid expands or contracts where the rubber rubber sits to form the seal

@Ghoul
Oh my gosh I'd love to have two big ol' Exo Terras for my whips, but the cheapness and size of the storage containers was just too alluring. Maybe someday.


Question: Where did ya'll get the isopods for your tanks? I'm kinda balking at potentially paying overnight shipping for some little dudes I could just walk outside and find. I know it's a terrible idea to introduce wild organisms to your enclosures cause they could be carrying who knows what diseases or parasites, but I'm still like :shifty:
...From outside. I keep and breed isopods and the majority of the species I got were collected from the woods, the only exception being A. maculatum.
 

Aquarimax

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The lids still function fine even with the holes! The lid doesn't form a vacuum. Instead, the bottom of the lid expands or contracts where the rubber rubber sits to form the seal

@Ghoul
Oh my gosh I'd love to have two big ol' Exo Terras for my whips, but the cheapness and size of the storage containers was just too alluring. Maybe someday.


Question: Where did ya'll get the isopods for your tanks? I'm kinda balking at potentially paying overnight shipping for some little dudes I could just walk outside and find.
Good info about the lid...I may have to pick one up then!

I have one large Exo terra for one of my whips, with a cork tile silicones to the back and a large cork flat to hide behind, but I needed smaller enclosures for the other two...

BTW, there are lots of isopods that will do fine without overnight shipping, even in cool weather. Tropical isopods like Trichorhina tomentosa are a bit sensitive to cold, but any Porcellio scaber morph, for example, can ship in pretty low temperatures and do fine.
 

pannaking22

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Agreed, any of the native species that can live in the northern half of the US won't have any problems with priority shipping. Even the more tropical species can survive priority if there's a heat pack and styrofoam.
 

Vialheart

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Thanks for the info! :D it isn't particularly cold where I live, so I'll look into ordering some soon. Do any any of you have a preference to which species you keep with your whips?

(I also went outside and abducted some isopods to keep in a spare kritter keeper, just out of curiosity.)
 

wizentrop

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I usually stay away from thick lids (I too prefer to have the ventilation on top) but those are nice! I have two similar containers that I bought, they are more cube-shaped and I don't really like them. Might get rid of them eventually. The tall containers seem to do the job for whip spiders.
 

WeightedAbyss75

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Feb 22, 2014
Messages
921
I really liked the enclosures displayed in this thread, so I decided to try them out for my first ever whips (soon to be a pair of D. diadema). I did find the Rubbermaid containers that Aquarimax and others found at Target, but I wasn't pleased with them because they are kind of oddly shaped, and the plastic isn't completely clear. My Walmart, however, had these really nice Better Homes and Gardens brand containers.



They're made of a thick, crystal-clear acrylic, and have latch at the top that locks the lid into place. They're also a bit cheaper than the Rubbermaid ones, but they're a bit smaller too. The measurements are 12.3 x 8.2 x 3.8 in/ 31.2 x 20.8 x 9.7 cm. I'm worried that they're going to be a little too thin, but hopefully it won't make to big of a difference.

The lid is interesting. With care you can silently switch the latch on top open and soundlessly remove the the lid from the container.



The lids are too thick to cut or drill ventilation holes in, so I drilled eleven 3/16th inch holes near the lid on the sides.
And here are my completed enclosures with styrofoam and substrate.



(I hope that necroing this thread won't be too big of a deal. I didn't see anything in the rules about necros oTL)
Those containers are a nice find! As long as they are wide enough for the your D. diadema to spread out sufficiently to molt (half their total width, including extended whips) they should work well.
Nice ventilation solution--do the cent holes change the way the lid seal works?


I will add that my 2 D. diadema that live in this style of setup have molted successfully several times as well.
Just wondering, would a container that size work for P. marginemaculatus? Planning on getting some within the next week or so, and my first whip isn't doing so well. Not sure what's wrong with him, but that's besides the point. Would that size be too big or would they do fine? Love those pretzel enclosures, really want to try them with new whips! What styrofoam do you use? Or does it really matter?

Sorry if I hijack the thread, just want to make sure future whips will do well :D
 

Venom1080

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Is there any special care for these guys ? Any tarantula genera their care is similar to?
 
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