- Joined
- Oct 11, 2012
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- 255
I'm assuming they'll need to feed in order to complete their next molt. Most invertebrates molt and pump air into their bodies to increase their exoskeletal volume before hardening. Once hardened, they're pretty empty inside and have the minimum muscle mass required to function. In arachnids, the young hatch from eggs and molt once--sometimes twice depending on the species--before they're moving around freely and feeding and they can do so because of the very large amount of yolk they still have. Once they've molted and become free-moving, you can assume they're quickly going through the remaining yolk and will soon need to feed. If they don't feed, they won't have the nutrients to successfully molt again.
Crabs are a great example of how empty an invertebrate becomes after a molt. If you catch a barnacle-encrusted, old-looking, pre-molt crab, it's going to be filled with meat with barely any empty space inside. If you catch a clean, freshly-molted crab, you'll cook it only to find that it barely has any meat inside of it and wasn't worth catching and cooking. Invertebrates need to feed and put on mass after a molt in order to molt again. In many juvenile invertebrates, you'll find that there is a critical mass, or minimum mass required in order for them to complete a successful molt.
I would try small, live prey items. Fruit flies and pinhead crickets would probably work best. It may be possible that they need to go dormant after hatching and will only become active and start feeding after dormancy is broken. I know of some butterflies that hatch out as caterpillars late in the year and immediately go into diapause and will only begin feeding the following spring. Try as many things as you can with various life strategies in mind. We can definitely use more information on these neat critters--maybe then more people can successfully keep them alive for their actual lifespan and manage to breed them.
Crabs are a great example of how empty an invertebrate becomes after a molt. If you catch a barnacle-encrusted, old-looking, pre-molt crab, it's going to be filled with meat with barely any empty space inside. If you catch a clean, freshly-molted crab, you'll cook it only to find that it barely has any meat inside of it and wasn't worth catching and cooking. Invertebrates need to feed and put on mass after a molt in order to molt again. In many juvenile invertebrates, you'll find that there is a critical mass, or minimum mass required in order for them to complete a successful molt.
I would try small, live prey items. Fruit flies and pinhead crickets would probably work best. It may be possible that they need to go dormant after hatching and will only become active and start feeding after dormancy is broken. I know of some butterflies that hatch out as caterpillars late in the year and immediately go into diapause and will only begin feeding the following spring. Try as many things as you can with various life strategies in mind. We can definitely use more information on these neat critters--maybe then more people can successfully keep them alive for their actual lifespan and manage to breed them.