Feeding and maintaining feeders

[mconnachan]

Hes a sling, barely the size of my fingernail but a tiny bit bigger than my B vagans, ive had him for 5 days, rehoused once , temperatures are at an average 22C, housed with a waterdish and yea, i was origionally thinking that the store mixed them up, labeling the A Genic as the B vagans, because the vagans is so greedy.

EDIT: Pic was taken before he was rehoused in a less moist enclosure, he now has a hide and a waterdish, i was thinking he was in premolt because he barely moves, but im totally new to keeping and have no idea what to look for in regards to molts, im worried about the little bugger

It's so hard to tell from the pic and the sizes of the spiders they still look translucent, TBH. Try to get better lighting over them when taking pictures.

 

[Troopermk2]

Undoubtedly the better option, roaches over crickets every time , the roaches nutrition value, trumps everything about crickets.

I never actually seen any Roaches as feeders on the TSS website, thats why i went for the black crickets, ill definitely be looking into roaches in the future, most keepers that have had Ts for years recommend them

 

[Troopermk2]

It's so hard to tell from the pic and the sizes of the spiders they still look translucent, TBH. Try to get better lighting over them when taking pictures.

Unfortunately its the camera, the lighting is a superbright led stander, the camera just cant pick up small details even under a macro setting, although you can see he has a little black on his butt

 

[mconnachan]

I never actually seen any Roaches as feeders on the TSS website, thats why i went for the black crickets, ill definitely be looking into roaches in the future, most keepers that have had Ts for years recommend them

You definitely don't need a colony, not yet, but you can send for nymphs on eBay - good luck finding them, I'm sure you'll find them no problems.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I use vermiculite, in the bottom of the roach colony enclosure, it really does help, but as long as you keep them well maintained like everything else, they don't smell at all. I clean mines weekly, empty the bin into another bin, then remove all the frass then return the roaches, it's easy as....

I have quite a sensitive sense of smell (going past oilseed rape fields/perfume counters is kinda like being punched in the nose for me) so there is a detectable odour when opening their bin but, like I said, it's not that bad it quickly dissipates.

Hes a sling, barely the size of my fingernail but a tiny bit bigger than my B vagans, ive had him for 5 days, rehoused once , temperatures are at an average 22C, housed with a waterdish and yea, i was origionally thinking that the store mixed them up, labeling the A Genic as the B vagans, because the vagans is so greedy.

EDIT: Pic was taken before he was rehoused in a less moist enclosure, he now has a hide and a waterdish, i was thinking he was in premolt because he barely moves, but im totally new to keeping and have no idea what to look for in regards to molts, im worried about the little bugger

Yeah, my vagans sling is a glutton too. Possibly premoult, abdomen looks to be a good size and genics are usually pretty active (mine is, at least), the only time mine ever refuses food is when she's in premoult.

I never actually seen any Roaches as feeders on the TSS website, thats why i went for the black crickets, ill definitely be looking into roaches in the future, most keepers that have had Ts for years recommend them

They're listed in "other inverts" instead of "livefood" for some bizarre reason. I got mine from eBay though.

 

[mconnachan]

Unfortunately its the camera, the lighting is a superbright led stander, the camera just cant pick up small details even under a macro setting, although you can see he has a little black on his butt

Even use a torch/flashlight when you're taking the pictures, it really does make a huge difference, try it out and you'll see exactly what I'm meaning, even at the size they're at I think it would still be hard to tell which was which, maybe not, but better lighting would definitely help.

 

[mconnachan]

Unfortunately its the camera, the lighting is a superbright led stander, the camera just cant pick up small details even under a macro setting, although you can see he has a little black on his butt

That's like my P. sazimai and my B. albopilosum, if they weren't labelled you could barely tell them apart, I can but that's because I've had both species before as slings and adults, although they do look very, very similar. As I've said though try using a bright light of some kind just for taking pictures and we should be able to see the differences.

 

[miss moxie]

This was before I added in the crickets, notice I sprayed the greens and some of the paper towel with fresh water. Sometimes when I buy my crickets they are dehydrated/malnourished.

When I add them in they all gather for a drink, the water dries off within the night and the greens can be misted once in a while for some added moisture. Just be mindful not to over do it...

Agreed. I have my crickets shipped to me and the first thing they do is hit the water crystals. I love your set up, looks so tidy.

I really don't like the smell of crickets either but my Ts love them so my vote isn't all that important.

 

[mconnachan]

Agreed. I have my crickets shipped to me and the first thing they do is hit the water crystals. I love your set up, looks so tidy.

Here's my set up, not as clean and tidy, but it still serves a great purpose. These will all be gone by tomorrow, that was one apple and some pieces of pear. I'd just put the fruit into the bin, so the roaches hadn't started feeding on them yet.

The small bowl in the corner is for humidity, which helps with breeding!

 

[Troopermk2]

So i ended up making them a bigger enclosure, added some egg carton for hide much like the above pics and included bug gel in a fairly big bottlecap, mainly feeding them oats and some fruit removing the fruit after a day to prevent smell, but the smell was roundabout the same....i was using peaches for a while, but recently ive started using chopped strawberrys...and surprisingly the enclosure smells very much like strawberrys much to my joy, the bad smell has been completely eliminated!