assassins on the hunt

[chuck]

i hate feeding nymphs, hopefully my hissers will give birth soon.
i can get a hand on some scuttle flies.
will they eat a freshly killed cricket?

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by chuck
.......

will they eat a freshly killed cricket?

Sure, but try a small one (as big as the nymph itself)

After 3 molts you can feed them bigger, dead crickets and small, live ones.

 

[chuck]

if i keep the eggs in a kritter keeper and allow the nymphs to live in that, will they be small enought to crawl thru the slits?
update on the eggs - found another 3, a total of 8

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by chuck
if i keep the eggs in a kritter keeper and allow the nymphs to live in that, will they be small enought to crawl thru the slits?
update on the eggs - found another 3, a total of 8

The nymphs are not able to climb on smooth surfaces, so they can't reach the lid.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Whoa! Platymeris nymphs can and will walk up the sides of the cage and leave.

 

[chuck]

who to believe? the guy with an assassin as his avatar or the guy with assassin in his name? :?

 

[MacCleod]

I keep my biguttatus nymphs in a glass tank, and I have never seen them walk the sides. Only the corners, because they have a good grip on the sillicone.

My "fresh from the egg" rhadamanthus nymphs are kept in a small plactic box with small holes in the side, and they can climb it using the holes as a grip.

But I'm talking about real smooth surfaces, IMO they are not able to climb it.

On the other side, the adults are very good at climbing smooth surfaces.

 

[chuck]

im about to get a pair of white spotted assassins, anyone try to cross breed these? what will happen, new colors, infertile young, kill eachother?

 

[MacCleod]

Originally posted by chuck
im about to get a pair of white spotted assassins, anyone try to cross breed these? what will happen, new colors, infertile young, kill eachother?

You can cross breed them, but it's not sure if they WILL breed.
But to get a "real" hybride (don't know if this is an English term :? ) you have to cross breed a lot of specimen...it's very complicated.

I wouldn't start with it it if I were you
Just keep the red spotted and the white spotted seperated...that 'll do

 

[chuck]

i know adults and young cannot be housed together, but can red and whites cohabbitate at the same size?

 

[MacCleod]

I guess it won't be a problem, if you provide enough food, space and hiding places.

 

[chuck]

i ordered a pair of 1" white assassins, and well theyre not white. theyre yellow. are these the mombos?

 

[Steven]

i ordered a pair of 1" white assassins, and well theyre not white. theyre yellow. are these the mombos?

do you mean yellow spots or yellow banded leggs?

-Platymeris B. have white spots and yellow banded legs
-Mombos have yellow spots and red banded legs
-Platymeris R. have all red

 

[chuck]

no spots and yellow banded legs. do only adults get the spots?

 

[biznacho]

I think the adults get spots when they molt into adulthood. I've no experience with these so I dont have any first hand accounts.

It's been nearly a months since you first posted finding eggs. any hatched yet? any look like they're about to?

biznacho

 

[chuck]

thanks for reminding me, its been a month exactly, 11/09/03 theyre still there, all 12 of them. keeping them at room temp - mid 70s, a misting every other day or so. would the female drop eggs and then the male fertilizes them?

 

[Steven]

no spots and yellow banded legs. do only adults get the spots?

correct !

would the female drop eggs and then the male fertilizes them?

the eggs are allready fertilized when dropped,...
2months should be the maximum time for them to hatch.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Even stranger, both the red spots and orange spots have red bands on the legs while there is a white morph of the orange spots with white bands on the legs but only on the nymphs.

On glass climbing: whoever you believe won't change the fact that the Platymeris have pulvulli structured in a way to allow them to climb glass.

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Also, you can't just change biguttata to biguttatus just because you want to. It was originally described as P. biguttata.
Why don't you change Pseudocreobotra to Pseudocreobroter?

 

[chuck]

33 days for my first assassins to hatch. i got 2 yellow / red little buggers trying to climb my deli cup. would a hisser nymph be too much for them? when will they be ready to eat?