Aphids for sling food???

[Talkenlate04]

Anyone know if there is something I should worry about? I have a few large cultures going now of just big green aphids. I was thinking I could use them as sling food. I am probing for info on if this would be an ok food staple for slings or if they are fatty like superworms or bad in any other way............

 

[cheetah13mo]

Don't know but I can't see why you couldn't mix in a few other things every now and then just in case.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Ya I was thinking that too......... I just like aphids cause they are slow moving and soft skinned and reproduce like mad.

 

[cliff]

Sounds real interesting.

How do you culture aphids?

Cliff

 

[Amanda]

Also... do they fly, and do the "big green aphids" eat the same things as the ones eating our garden? We actually had to mail-order a couple thousand ladybugs to combat them. I wouldn't want to set off a new plague. Otherwise, they sound great to me.

 

[Talkenlate04]

I just got a small mini rose bush. Its in a small pot inside a big tub and it has a lid. I put 5 aphids in there a few weeks ago and I have enough now to feed all my slings for years. If they get out of control Ill just kill them.

 

[Thoth]

They should be fine as food source, but they will kill off that rose bush soon than later. Though I think they would be rather hard to handle being so soft (then again it can't be worse than pinheads)

 

[Talkenlate04]

I could care less about the rose bush lol. The cool part is when distrubed they fall off the buds right on to my hand and I just drop a few in with a sling.

If you have ever dropped a pinhead in and watched a small sling run for its life you know what I mean.

But when you drop an aphid in there the sling confidently moves in and kills. Its cool to watch.

 

[Snipes]

After reading this article, i strongly recommend against it to be safe:
http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v33_n2/arac-033-02-0582.pdf

 

[Talkenlate04]

After reading this article, i strongly recommend against it to be safe:
http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v33_n2/arac-033-02-0582.pdf

I gave up with that mission. I know they will eat at the eggs with legs stage. It was too much of a pain to try and make that work, and now I know that they only really eat because they have the chance to. And lastly I believe there is zero benefit to feeding them at that stage.
About all that is left for me to check into is if only future males are doing that, or if it's males and females. So far it's only males but that was only one sac one species.

But I still feed small feeding slings aphids and have never had a problem.

 

[Snipes]

Hope you never do have problems, that article is on harvestman anyways. I didnt know springtails were toxic to spiders though, it says it explicitly. Can't imagine either aphids or springtails being easier to get than fruit flies, although they probably don't get out as easily...:/

 

[Talkenlate04]

although they probably don't get out as easily...:/

They are much much easier to control. Plus they reproduce like the end of the world is near, and put up no fight what so ever. Soft bodied as well.

 

[sparular]

watch out for pesticides. Nursery plants are often really doped up with insecticides. I know that the aphids thriving seems to indicate that the pesticide levels are low, but aphids can become pesticide resistant.
I didn't read the following papers, but the titles show that aphids can develop pesticide resistance.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1692396
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/do...59.1966.tb00325.x?cookieSet=1&journalCode=ppa
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/112607113/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Otherwise I think aphids sound like a wonderful food. More convenient than harvesting pinheads.

 

[Talkenlate04]

watch out for pesticides. Nursery plants are often really doped up with insecticides.

I see your point but in a few days the next generation is born. It really does not take long to breed out that issue. I start my cultures a few weeks before I need them and when feeding time rolls around I have good healthy feeders.

 

[kingfarvito]

i was thinking of trying dermestid larva but i may use aphids instead

 

[matthias]

so where do you get the aphids? your garden or order them from somewhere?
If you keep them on a rose do you keep the rose in a terrarium of some sort?

 

[Le Wasp]

Wow, I'm surprised that paper shows spiders with no survival after being fed only aphids. I'm not familiar with that type of aphid, but aphids tend to be filled with watery sugar, basically. I'd guess they're not very nutritious for tarantulas. They're probably the equivalent of raising a kid on pepsi and coke.