Balfouri Communal Set up advice

Chebe6886

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Getting five 2i slings soon. Considering doin a small communal set up but curious as to when is the best stage to introduce them to same enclosure?
 

moricollins

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Getting five 2i slings soon. Considering doin a small communal set up but curious as to when is the best stage to introduce them to same enclosure?
I'm going to go with "Never". Not a fan of communal setups.
 

cold blood

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I'm going to go with "Never". Not a fan of communal setups.
Neither am I, I think the term leads soooo many keepers down the wrong path....but balfouri is the one species I consider to be the exception.
 

Liquifin

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2i M. balfouri is a puny size for sure. As a matter of experience, M. balfouri at 2i is one of the smallest 2nd instar I've ever had to deal with that wasn't a dwarf species. 2oz delicup is a perfect enclosure size. But getting them to eat anything pre-killed is very complicated since they're quite shy, but once they learn to feed on pre-killed prey, they thrive quite well. They do eat better as a communal, so better to set them together whenever you get them.
 

EulersK

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If they spend any significant time apart, they will become irrevocably cannibalistic. I haven't seen any long term M. balfouri communal setups work other than those where the sac was raised with the mother and left to hatch in the enclosure.
 

Chebe6886

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This is the only species I would really consider it with. I’ve seen several very healthy long term results. Haven’t seen when they officially were housed together to start though. I guess my thought process was to make sure each is feeding properly on its own for a bit prior to putting them together. Which very well may be a mistake. figured I’d feed them flightless fruit flies, as that’s what I have access to for small prey, till they molt again then onto something more substantial
 

Liquifin

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This is the only species I would really consider it with. I’ve seen several very healthy long term results. Haven’t seen when they officially were housed together to start though. I guess my thought process was to make sure each is feeding properly on its own for a bit prior to putting them together. Which very well may be a mistake. figured I’d feed them flightless fruit flies, as that’s what I have access to for small prey, till they molt again then onto something more substantial
I don't recommend fruit flies whatsoever. M. balfouri slings will feed on pre-killed prey as mother M. balfouri's will leave pre-killed for them to come and scavenge. 2nd instar M. balfouri are very shy and will not likely take live prey whether it be the right size or not. They are highly reliant on mom for meals most of the time until big enough to hunt. What I recommend for you is to use chopped mealworms and let the little ones scavenge for it since there isn't a mother around to do to hunting for them.
 

Chebe6886

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Apr 24, 2018
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Awesome thanks. So put them all together right away and leave pre killed prey. Easy enough. Thanks for the advice guys
 
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