assassins on the hunt

[MacCleod]

Each egg "should" contain one assassin, but not all eggs are fertilized.

If kept in good conditions, the assassins will lay a few eggs in a space of 24h.

Your first sentence I don't really understand :?

 

[chuck]

Your first sentence I don't really understand :?

is there any way i can keep them together and have them not mate?


how the hell will i be able to spot brown 2mm eggs on dirt? i know there will be a few loose assassins in my room :?

are they able to lay eggs whenever they want/need to? or is there a mating period?

whats the name of a good book on these bugs?

 

[MacCleod]

They 'll always mate if you keep them together

There's no mating period.

But don't worry too much about the eggs, because not every egg will give you an extra assassin.

I breed the eggs in a seperate small box with 1/2" of substrate which I keep moist all the time.
The hatchlings I raise also in a seperate small tank, cause they need very small food, like dustcrix, dead flies, small (but dead) crix...

I don't know if there are any books about assassins.
I've got an encyclopedia about all kinds of exotic pets that you can keep in a tank (reptiles, amphibians, inverts), and in there is a caresheet about assassins, but it's in Dutch.

 

[Wade]

Elytra and Antenna offer a nice little book on assasins and other true bugs:

www.angelfire.com/oh3elytraandantenna

Has anybody ever seen terratorial behavior between male assasins? I have two male Arilus cristatus who have been engaging in some sort of non-lethal combat. They only fight with their forelegs, not with thier rostrums.

Wade

 

[Steven]

don't know how the behaviour of wheelbugs is,. but i never seen any of my platymeris attack eachother,... only some struggles if they have to share a cricket or so =D

 

[ahkiu]

these guys are interesting !
never considered keeping them before, what are their life spans like?

anyone got any links to some basic husbandry for keeping assasin bugs?

 

[MacCleod]

Good question about their life span! That's something I don't know too :?

Here are some heplfull links:

Assassin bugs caresheet

Caresheet 2

 

[Steven]

and don't forget this link:

nederlandstalige roofwantssite

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by gongyles
and don't forget this link:

nederlandstalige roofwantssite

Mja, daar gaan de meesten hier aanwezig weinig van begrijpen hé

But it's a great site anyway

 

[Steven]

lifespan of an adult assassin max 2 years as i remember :?

 

[Spike]

How about from nyph to adult how long do they live?

 

[Steven]

it takes about 6months to grow from nimf to adult so their entire max. lifespan should be 30 months (don't know for sure though)

 

[chuck]

is there a mating season when they only produce eggs? i have a place for them to lay their eggs, a small cup with wet peat and i still have no eggs!!!!!

 

[biznacho]

maybe all yours are the same sex?

These sound really interesting. I'd love to get some but they are a bit on the expensive side here in the US. That and I don't have anywhere to keep them, but that can be fixed with a quick trip to a Petco/PetSmart.

biznacho

 

[chuck]

found 2 eggs =D
going to go read up in my book to see what i should do
how many more should i expect?

im using a shallow dish with moist peat. i set that into a deli container with many tiny holes on top. and then put some more water on the bottom of the deli cup. does that sound ok, or will mold attack the eggs?
whats a good temp?
and how long should i expect them to hatch?

 

[MacCleod]

I put the eggs in a small box, with about 0,5" of moist peat in it. Keep it moist, not wet. You should keep the box warm, at about 25° C. That's all.

The eggs will hatch in about 1 month.

Once a week you should check the substrate of your tank, and remember, the eggs can be under the substrate too

 

[chuck]

youre right, i found 3 more under the peat =D

i see that some are a light brown and some are dark, that mean anything, (how long ago they were laid)?

 

[MacCleod]

The difference in color is very normal.
You 'll notice that the eggs become "fatter" by the time.
Right before they hatch, the eggs turn reddish - brown.

 

[chuck]

will they be larger than the egg when they hatch?
what can i feed the nymphs?

 

[MacCleod]

Of course they are larger than the egg

I feed them curl flies (or how do you name those in English). These flies can't fly, and the nymphs tackle them whithout any problem.
You can also feed them fruit flies or micro crickets.