- Joined
- May 23, 2012
- Messages
- 219
First, Don't Panic ! This is going to be a lot of fun !
I prefer to use an incubator so I can have greater control over the hatch when it comes to removing dead t's to prevent mold, cleaning up old exoskeletons, etc. It's easy and cheap to build. Go down to the dollar store and pick up two identical round Tupperware type containers and one pair of black tights. Try to find one with a clear lid if you can so you can have a look at the hatch.
I prefer to get round containers because sometimes the slings will dogpile up into a corner and it's more difficult for them to go this in a round container.
Any kind of pantyhose will do but I like black because it helps the slings show up better .
Take a good pair of scissors and cut the rim off so you end up with a dish about 2" high.
Try to cut it nice and even all the way around. This shallow dish is going to support the surface of the incubator and you want it to be as level as possible.
Next, take your 2nd container and poke a hole in the side, somewhat near the bottom about the size of a dime.
(Demonstration containers you want something thick and clear like the pics with the slings)
Next, cut one of the legs off the black tights.
Pull the tights over the shallow dish tight enough to make a level surface, but not so tight that it deforms the shape into an oval. We want it to match the outer container as closely as possible so there are no gaps around the edges.
Tie a knot in the tights and position the knot so it can poke out the dime sized hole in the 2nd container.
Press the covered dish firmly into the outer dish and adjust the tights around the edges until you get a nice tight corner between the tights and the wall of the outer container.
You don't want any babies sneaking into that crack because they do so love tight spaces. The hatch will sometimes pile up against the wall and the outer container needs to be tall enough so they can't make an escape ramp.
Poke some holes in the lid to provide a little ventilation.
Add some water to the bottom of the 2" dish. Fill it about 3/4 of the way, you want enough water in there that you don't have to add water often, but not so high that it touches the tights.
What you want is an environment for your slings that is both dry and humid. The tights are dry and fine enough weave that they will not allow the slings to get through, yet they breathe enough to allow the humidity of the evaporating water to keep the hatch at optimal molting condition.
Once you add them to the incubator they will pile up into an adorable little half ball, as though they are making a new egg sac.
As they molt through their next two stages you can monitor them and remove any that might dry out and die, or anything that looks like it might mold. Sometimes you catch one molting and in addition to being fascinating to watch you can help them get through a troublesome molt. Sometimes they will have their old molt hanging on by a leg or by the abdomen and you can tweeze it off of them. For this I use very small soft watercolor brushes and very small tweezers. You don't want to mangle them while you're trying to help and they are ever so fragile at this stage.
They will likely mature to their final molt all together over a week or so, so just check up with them at regular intervals and capture them by herding them up the wall and into one of your 1 oz solo cups with your fine watercolor brush. I get the ones with nice clear lids at my local restaurant supply store for a couple bucks per 250. You want a little coco fiber in there lightly moistened, basically just a miniature version of how you would keep an adult. I use wingless fruit flies for my first couple feeds, especially for those who had troublesome molts. I figure many small meals are easier to digest than one big one when they've had issues with their molt. My local pet store has a regular supply of wingless d. Melonogasters which are easy to culture because they only take a week to reproduce. They don't provide much nutritionally but I feel like my slings respond better to live prey. Plus I just love to watch them gobble up three or four at once. Flies can be somewhat difficult to deal with, but if you put a cupful in the fridge for 15-20 sec it stuns them long enough to drop a few into each solo cup without them crawling away everywhere. From there I go to d. hydei. They are larger and better nutritionally, although the cultures take a full month to get going, and I have to order them online. From there I go to 2 week old crickets, then roach nymphs. The faster you can get them to roach nymphs the better nutritionally.
Don't worry if you lose some, it's natural, but you can help them increase their odds with an occasional helping hand. As long as they successfully molt their fangs they can pull through missing almost everything else. I've watched 3 legged b. Vagans scramble around and devour prey with ease. They regrow legs so fast when they are small and in two molts they are indistinguishable from their brothers and sisters.
Look at it this way, if you only got a couple hundred babies you got off easy. I had a hatch of 1260 albo's last year, and they all molted to 3rd instar (ready to be separated) over the course of 3 days. That's an awful lot of tarantula wrangling! I got pretty good at feeding them but at 10 sec each it's still 4 1/2 hours to feed 1500. You won't have any trouble getting rid of them, just remember to keep a couple for yourself !
Take pictures and enjoy watching the little guys grow !
I prefer to use an incubator so I can have greater control over the hatch when it comes to removing dead t's to prevent mold, cleaning up old exoskeletons, etc. It's easy and cheap to build. Go down to the dollar store and pick up two identical round Tupperware type containers and one pair of black tights. Try to find one with a clear lid if you can so you can have a look at the hatch.
I prefer to get round containers because sometimes the slings will dogpile up into a corner and it's more difficult for them to go this in a round container.
Any kind of pantyhose will do but I like black because it helps the slings show up better .
Take a good pair of scissors and cut the rim off so you end up with a dish about 2" high.
Try to cut it nice and even all the way around. This shallow dish is going to support the surface of the incubator and you want it to be as level as possible.
Next, take your 2nd container and poke a hole in the side, somewhat near the bottom about the size of a dime.
(Demonstration containers you want something thick and clear like the pics with the slings)
Next, cut one of the legs off the black tights.
Pull the tights over the shallow dish tight enough to make a level surface, but not so tight that it deforms the shape into an oval. We want it to match the outer container as closely as possible so there are no gaps around the edges.
Tie a knot in the tights and position the knot so it can poke out the dime sized hole in the 2nd container.
Press the covered dish firmly into the outer dish and adjust the tights around the edges until you get a nice tight corner between the tights and the wall of the outer container.
You don't want any babies sneaking into that crack because they do so love tight spaces. The hatch will sometimes pile up against the wall and the outer container needs to be tall enough so they can't make an escape ramp.
Poke some holes in the lid to provide a little ventilation.
Add some water to the bottom of the 2" dish. Fill it about 3/4 of the way, you want enough water in there that you don't have to add water often, but not so high that it touches the tights.
What you want is an environment for your slings that is both dry and humid. The tights are dry and fine enough weave that they will not allow the slings to get through, yet they breathe enough to allow the humidity of the evaporating water to keep the hatch at optimal molting condition.
Once you add them to the incubator they will pile up into an adorable little half ball, as though they are making a new egg sac.
As they molt through their next two stages you can monitor them and remove any that might dry out and die, or anything that looks like it might mold. Sometimes you catch one molting and in addition to being fascinating to watch you can help them get through a troublesome molt. Sometimes they will have their old molt hanging on by a leg or by the abdomen and you can tweeze it off of them. For this I use very small soft watercolor brushes and very small tweezers. You don't want to mangle them while you're trying to help and they are ever so fragile at this stage.
They will likely mature to their final molt all together over a week or so, so just check up with them at regular intervals and capture them by herding them up the wall and into one of your 1 oz solo cups with your fine watercolor brush. I get the ones with nice clear lids at my local restaurant supply store for a couple bucks per 250. You want a little coco fiber in there lightly moistened, basically just a miniature version of how you would keep an adult. I use wingless fruit flies for my first couple feeds, especially for those who had troublesome molts. I figure many small meals are easier to digest than one big one when they've had issues with their molt. My local pet store has a regular supply of wingless d. Melonogasters which are easy to culture because they only take a week to reproduce. They don't provide much nutritionally but I feel like my slings respond better to live prey. Plus I just love to watch them gobble up three or four at once. Flies can be somewhat difficult to deal with, but if you put a cupful in the fridge for 15-20 sec it stuns them long enough to drop a few into each solo cup without them crawling away everywhere. From there I go to d. hydei. They are larger and better nutritionally, although the cultures take a full month to get going, and I have to order them online. From there I go to 2 week old crickets, then roach nymphs. The faster you can get them to roach nymphs the better nutritionally.
Don't worry if you lose some, it's natural, but you can help them increase their odds with an occasional helping hand. As long as they successfully molt their fangs they can pull through missing almost everything else. I've watched 3 legged b. Vagans scramble around and devour prey with ease. They regrow legs so fast when they are small and in two molts they are indistinguishable from their brothers and sisters.
Look at it this way, if you only got a couple hundred babies you got off easy. I had a hatch of 1260 albo's last year, and they all molted to 3rd instar (ready to be separated) over the course of 3 days. That's an awful lot of tarantula wrangling! I got pretty good at feeding them but at 10 sec each it's still 4 1/2 hours to feed 1500. You won't have any trouble getting rid of them, just remember to keep a couple for yourself !
Take pictures and enjoy watching the little guys grow !
