Cricket laying eggs in tarantula enclosure?

[PidderPeets]

TLDR version: Should I dig out substrate from my possibly premolt T's enclosure that might have cricket eggs in it?

Full version: So I fed all my tarantulas a few hours ago, and ended up giving my adult, probably female A. avic a large and rather plump female cricket. I noticed afterwards that most of the Avic's web tunnels are sealed off (which was probably only done yesterday or early this morning), so I'm expecting a molt some time soon. I left the cricket in however, as one tunnel was still open and I wanted to leave it at least until next morning so my girl has a chance to grab it in the dark if she's hungry. But I just went over to check on if she took it or not, and noticed that the cricket appears to be laying eggs. It was repeatedly sticking it's ovipositor into the substrate, and frantically digging up dirt in the area where it was sticking it's ovipositor. I just took out the cricket, but I'm concerned about the possible eggs in with my T. There was a few different spots where she seemed to be laying, and one of them isn't really accessible to me. I don't know how much damage freshly hatched crickets could do to a 4 - 5 inch tarantula even if she ends up molting with them around (and I'd be putting cricket food in there with them so they don't have the need to go up to the canopy of the enclosure), but should I take out all the dirt where the cricket was digging anyway? I intend to raise them if they are eggs, as I have mostly slings that would love them, so I want to avoid killing the eggs, but if I need to in order to keep my Avic safe I'm willing to. I'd prefer not to have to dig up my girl's home if I don't have to, but I'm suspecting that's the necessary course of action. Just wanted to confirm with others before doing so.

Here's a picture of what the cricket was doing in the enclosure. You can't really see her ovipositor, but she has it dipped down into the substrate under her.

Please excuse the tarantula poop in the foreground. Lol

 

[Ellenantula]

There is so much wrong here.
Don't feed female crickets if you want to breed them.
If you only have a female cricket to offer, then cut the ovipositor off.
Cricket egg conditions need damp substrate -- your avic's enclosure should be dry.
Don't breed crickets in your T enclosures. Don't feed crickets in your T enclosures.
What you are doing here is a set up for a big mess and a lot of stress on the T and yourself.

My advice?
Dry out avic enclosure and count any 'eggs' as a loss.

 

[Venom1080]

Crickets shouldn't be able to lay eggs on a properly set up Avicularia cage. Let it dry out and keep it that way.

 

[PidderPeets]

There is so much wrong here.
Don't feed female crickets if you want to breed them.
If you only have a female cricket to offer, then cut the ovipositor off.
Cricket egg conditions need damp substrate -- your avic's enclosure should be dry.
Don't breed crickets in your T enclosures. Don't feed crickets in your T enclosures.
What you are doing here is a set up for a big mess and a lot of stress on the T and yourself.

My advice?
Dry out avic enclosure and count any 'eggs' as a loss.

1) I had and have absolutely no intention of breeding crickets. I just figured if she laid eggs, I might as well make use of them
2) It honestly didn't cross my mind that I had a mix of male and female crickets, so it didn't cross my mind that she might be gravid. I fully admit the error on my end there
3) The cricket was laying them right next the the water bowl that I had literally just refilled, and some water spilled onto the surrounding substrate, so it should only be that area of substrate that's damp. Everywhere else looks blatantly dry. That was the only area she was laying them. But I'll let everything dry up, and get a taller water dish to avoid any future spills

I should have specified the part about the water bowl, but I realize that isn't really an excuse, and I'll probably remove the damp substrate to put drier stuff in. Hopefully the conditions aren't actually as bad as I originally made them out to be. I'll post some pictures shortly of the area of substrate where the cricket was laying eggs versus the rest of the enclosure. I will avoid feeding female crickets to my tarantulas in the future though. Sorry for the stress I caused you guys out of concern for my T, and the potential stress I caused my girl. I'll remove the damp substrate immediately

 

[Ellenantula]

Whew! I figured you for a real naturalist wanting to set up your own ecosystem with Ts and crickets. I felt "I gotta tell her not to try this!" lol
Hopefully the spilled water around the dish will dry out quickly for you.

(And, outside of a T enclosure, nothing wrong had you wanted to breed crickets -- many here do).

Good luck!

 

[PidderPeets]

Whew! I figured you for a real naturalist wanting to set up your own ecosystem with Ts and crickets. I felt "I gotta tell her not to try this!" lol
Hopefully the spilled water around the dish will dry out quickly for you.

(And, outside of a T enclosure, nothing wrong had you wanted to breed crickets -- many here do).

Good luck!

Don't worry! I may not have a ton of experience under my belt, but I definitely know enough to not attempt some type of self-sustaining tarantula/cricket set up. I originally meant if it was okay to leave the eggs in until they hatched so I could remove actual crickets instead of having to dig out eggs. I definitely left out quite a few VERY important factors in my original post After I took out the cricket, I put her in a deli cup with some freshly expanded eco earth, and she took right to laying more eggs, so that's definitely what she was doing in the T enclosure. I took out as much of the damp substrate as I could, replaced it with dry substrate. I also replaced the water bowl with a small storage cup because upon further inspection of the original bowl, I think it may have been a bit porous. But more than half of the substrate (probably closer to more than 3/4 of the substrate) in the enclosure was bone dry. I think it was just a matter of some perfectly aligned coincidences that resulted in something potentially bad. Of course, I just HAPPEN to put a gravid female cricket in a normally dry enclosure after spilling water onto the substrate so there just HAPPENS to be a damp spot for her to lay eggs. That is exactly my luck. But hopefully all should be well now.

Here's some pictures of the substrate before and after I took out the damp stuff, just to assure you I'm not keeping her in a swamp.
Before changing the substrate. The only part that confuses me is that the damp parts are in different groups, but that's what makes me think the bowl was porous: In this one, the damp part on the left looks REALLY damp, but I promise it's just the way the lighting is. The majority of the enclosure is as dry as it looks:
After switching out the substrate and water bowl. I figured the few damp patches left will dry out on their own and shouldn't be too bad for her:

I genuinely appreciate your obvious concern for the safety of my tarantula. Sorry I made you worry so much because of my lack of including all the information I should have! Hopefully my adjustments are acceptable, and hopefully I won't have any chance instances like this again. I can't imagine a more perfect combination of terrible coincidences

 

[cold blood]

Cricket eggs or even pinheads are of no consequence...ignore them....in fact, with an avic that seals its self away to molt off the ground wont be bothered if you left the adult cricket in there.

 

[PidderPeets]

Cricket eggs or even pinheads are of no consequence...ignore them....in fact, with an avic that seals its self away to molt off the ground wont be bothered if you left the adult cricket in there.

I thought that pinheads wouldn't be too much of an issue, but I removed the eggs just in case. As for the webbing, I think my Avic may still have left an opening to get to the water dish (or at least she got lazy and didn't seal it fully), so I think there was a spot for the cricket to get in. But I removed the cricket and the eggs, so everything should be fine. The fact that my girl is even sealing off any of her web tunnels at all is enough to make me hold off on feeding her for a bit anyway

 

[spotropaicsav]

I thought that pinheads wouldn't be too much of an issue, but I removed the eggs just in case. As for the webbing, I think my Avic may still have left an opening to get to the water dish (or at least she got lazy and didn't seal it fully), so I think there was a spot for the cricket to get in. But I removed the cricket and the eggs, so everything should be fine. The fact that my girl is even sealing off any of her web tunnels at all is enough to make me hold off on feeding her for a bit anyway

So glad you are taking care of it, I was going to agree with previous posters. Ive had a bad experience with crickets laying eggs in a pets enclosure many years ago, avoid!!!!

 

[PidderPeets]

So glad you are taking care of it, I was going to agree with previous posters. Ive had a bad experience with crickets laying eggs in a pets enclosure many years ago, avoid!!!!

I switched out all the substrate where the cricket was laying eggs, so hopefilly everything is golden now. Ultimately I'm glad I dealt with it now instead of waiting. As an after thought, it dawned on me that it's probably MUCH easier to remove a bit of substrate in the enclosure of a likely premolt tarantula with her den mostly sealed off, than to have to try to wrangle an undetermined amount of tiny hopping insects while avoiding the wrath of a fresh, hungry tarantula on the hunt for human flesh