Jake94
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2016
- Messages
- 20
Lots of baby crickets in my pink toe's palace. I've never encountered this before. what should I do?
Yes! I'd love to get started on dubia's; I've been considering it ever since I started browsing these forums. Any tips? I have a $25 gift card for amazon I've not yet used.A. Avics don't need much in terms of humidity specifications. The crickets lack the ability to hatch in dry substrate. As long as you provide a water dish at all times your avic will be fine with dry substrate and baby crickets will be less common of an issue. You could also just scrap crickets that's what I did. #teamdubia
You will want to put more holes around the top on the sides of the enclosure. Not on the top. But towards the top on the sides.http://imgur.com/a/pUevR
Here are the pics of the enclosure. I'm thinking now that I have too little ventilation, but since I have some in the top, I don't know exactly how much more I need. I'd like to find that out before I rehouse so I can go ahead and get that done tonight as well.
Okay cool. That makes sense. Thank you! I will probably do something like, two rows of 5 holes near the top on the long sides, and a relatively appropriate amount on the thin sides.You will want to put more holes around the top on the sides of the enclosure. Not on the top. But towards the top on the sides.
Keep your sub more dry and they won't hatch. My Avics have bone dry sub.Lots of baby crickets in my pink toe's palace. I've never encountered this before. what should I do?
Okay cool. I have heard conflicting information on Avics, some saying a water dish is enough, others saying they need damp substrate. I'll let yours be the final word on it though. Thanks.Keep your sub more dry and they won't hatch. My Avics have bone dry sub.
In my hands, I haven't seen a need for moist substrate. In my case, this is an example of a T keeper doing what works for them while observing their pet thrive, not just survive. It is more of a way for me to control mite issues than anything else. My Avic containers attract mites whereas my NW terrestrials do not.Okay cool. I have heard conflicting information on Avics, some saying a water dish is enough, others saying they need damp substrate. I'll let yours be the final word on it though. Thanks.
Hm. That's interesting about the mites. I luckily haven't encountered them so far. I hope no one thought my previous reply was sarcasm; I may have not used the best language by saying "damp substrate". I just meant that I've seen people say they wet portions of sub from time to time. Either way, I won't be doing that anymore. At least as long as my T responds well. Thanks.In my hands, I haven't seen a need for moist substrate. In my case, this is an example of a T keeper doing what works for them while observing their pet thrive, not just survive. It is more of a way for me to control mite issues than anything else. My Avic containers attract mites whereas my NW terrestrials do not.
Thanks for your help! I definitely have noticed fewer pinheads in there than there were originally. I need to do a rehousing anyway though to top off ventilation, and I want to try and position her cork bark tube and fake plant so that the leaves will provide anchor points and I assume more stability for the funnel web she'll built outside of the entrance to the bark. I don't have any more coco fiber on hand; would it be better to use sphagnum moss or the timberline top soil I have? I'm pretty sure the top soil is safe since it's mixed in with my A. hentzi's substrate, and crickets have lasted over night in there. I'm leaning towards the peat moss, maybe a mixture that's 3 parts peat, 1 part dirt.Unless you have a food source for the newly hatched crickets, they should die within a week from starvation after they've cannibalized each other. Most tarantulas web up and seal themselves with webbing, so they shouldn't be in danger from tiny crickets as they're not strong enough to get through to them. Larger crickets and roaches-especially burrowing roaches like dubia--are a definite danger as they could get through the webbing.
I keep my arboreals with dry substrate and provide them with drinking water and occasionally hydrate the substrate a little in order to periodically increase the humidity further. Arboreals are usually unlikely to encounter wet substrate in the wild high off the ground, so you should probably avoid keeping web substrate around them all the time. When I first started keeping tarantulas, I'd gone with the wet substrate method thinking it would keep things nice and humid like tropical tarantulas would enjoy, but switched when my avicularia slings started dying off and found experienced keepers recommending drier conditions.
Wait, are sphagnum and peat moss not the same thing? I've seen lots of people say peat moss is too acidic for mold to survive, without negatively affecting the T. Never heard of paper towels being used before. Seems like it wouldn't help much in case of a fall. I actually just checked and don't see any more pin heads in there anywayI would avoid sphagnum as it leaves too many spaces for uneaten prey to hide in. Peat moss is fine, but it can mold rather easily and is a great reservoir for spores if not sterilized before use. Avoid using substrates meant for use in the garden, it's uncertain what goes into its production in terms of whether or not the organic matter going into it had come into contact with unwanted chemicals and it's not sterile and could be a source of mites, nematodes, fungi, bacteria, and a whole lot of other potential issues.
If you are out of substrate, arboreals can do fine with just paper towel lining that you can easily clean up. It's not aesthetically pleasing, but it's practical and can be an easy temporary alternative in the meantime.