- Joined
- Jul 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,483
some of the practices from years ago have caused more trouble than they were worth
these include:
measuring humidity and trying to keep it at a certain number
mesh tops
feeding mice
leaving live feeders with the spider
etc.
×.
your basic setup is is fine, but consider that it will climb onto the mesh at some point in the future and have no way back down
it is ether going to fall, which can go one of two ways or it may get stuck and loose a leg & fall in the process
it may also chew through the mesh if it is aluminium
raising the soil level will help reduce the fall risk and giving it some highpoints it can reach from the mesh to climb down may help avoid a fall
the risk of getting stuck or chewing through aluminum remains
×.
don't just put in live feeders and assume it will eat
allways make sure you know if it has eaten or not
even Zophobas morio with crushed heads can sometimes survive and molt or pupate
so if they dont eat it within 24h remove it, if you can tell its not hungry you can remove it right after trying even
the biggest danger is feeding them live prey while they are in premolt/molting only for them to be eaten in turn...
x.
mice
there really is no upside to feeding mice, they don't need it and most spiders fed with mice turn into very fat spiders very quickly, and the more mass they have the more likely they are to injure themselves during a fall or slip, which can happen, especislly in premolt
we try to avoid the extremes, including ultra fat spiders, they will molt with moderatly big abdomes too
Zophobas have plenty fat content if you are worried about that
also there was an interesting thread about the kinds of pesticides many mice farmers use against mites.... could be deadly to your spider while beeing "harmless" to snakes and reptiles
x.
following humidity gauges has killed more spiders than i can count
they do fine in a large range of humidity, let it flucate, in nature it won't be static either
they do fine in a wide temperature range too, i have raised some of my own slings as low as 18°C so don't worry about heating them to a specific 26°C they will be fine, let the temperatures flucate as well
from 18-30°C you shouldn't run into any problems and that is already a conservative estimate
just keep some moisture in the substrate and let other parts dry out
these include:
measuring humidity and trying to keep it at a certain number
mesh tops
feeding mice
leaving live feeders with the spider
etc.
×.
your basic setup is is fine, but consider that it will climb onto the mesh at some point in the future and have no way back down
it is ether going to fall, which can go one of two ways or it may get stuck and loose a leg & fall in the process
it may also chew through the mesh if it is aluminium
raising the soil level will help reduce the fall risk and giving it some highpoints it can reach from the mesh to climb down may help avoid a fall
the risk of getting stuck or chewing through aluminum remains
×.
don't just put in live feeders and assume it will eat
allways make sure you know if it has eaten or not
even Zophobas morio with crushed heads can sometimes survive and molt or pupate
so if they dont eat it within 24h remove it, if you can tell its not hungry you can remove it right after trying even
the biggest danger is feeding them live prey while they are in premolt/molting only for them to be eaten in turn...
x.
mice
there really is no upside to feeding mice, they don't need it and most spiders fed with mice turn into very fat spiders very quickly, and the more mass they have the more likely they are to injure themselves during a fall or slip, which can happen, especislly in premolt
we try to avoid the extremes, including ultra fat spiders, they will molt with moderatly big abdomes too
Zophobas have plenty fat content if you are worried about that
also there was an interesting thread about the kinds of pesticides many mice farmers use against mites.... could be deadly to your spider while beeing "harmless" to snakes and reptiles
x.
following humidity gauges has killed more spiders than i can count
they do fine in a large range of humidity, let it flucate, in nature it won't be static either
they do fine in a wide temperature range too, i have raised some of my own slings as low as 18°C so don't worry about heating them to a specific 26°C they will be fine, let the temperatures flucate as well
from 18-30°C you shouldn't run into any problems and that is already a conservative estimate
just keep some moisture in the substrate and let other parts dry out
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