HELP! First time with babies (Pink Toe)

Kimix

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
40
I purchased a pink toe and within a few weeks I noticed she had an eggsac. She stopped eating but according to my tarantula books that is normal. Never having done baby spiders, or even knowing if she was fertile, i decided to leave the eggsac with the mom rather then remove it as my books suggest. Yesterday, at 7pm I walk up stairs to whole bunch of baby spiders. The mom is still down in the bottom of her burrow, and I fear shes dead. I have to remove all the babies and pull the cage apart to get to her to know for sure.

According to my books, the new born spiders should be transparent, and hairlesss, 2nd instar should have some color, and at this point the yolk sac is absorbed, and they would soon begain eating food..

my babies have lots of hair, and color.. So question #1.. how old are my babies? Did they hatch earlier and we just didnt know about it? Or do they not physcially leave the egg sac till this age?
(see attachment for the photos)

Question #2 - At the size they are, I assume they should want to eat bugs.. I put fruit flys in today, and they ran from them. Perhaps they have been eating each other and are not hungry?

Question #3 - I went and purchased small plastic cups and lids. At their size/age should i sepearate now, or leave them togeather a bit longer. I have no problem with them eating each other down to a slightly smaller colony size, but im so lost on the age of them now, im not sure what to do.

Question #4 - Best way to maintain temp/humidity in the cups. I'm in chicago, and my house is freezing. Currently all my babies are sitting on the side of the bowl shaped web nearest the heat lamp, so they definally want the warmth. I'm thinking the easyest way would be to put the cups all in a sweater box, but im unclear as to how people heat them.. i would assume herp heat tape or a herp heating pad.. but how do you ensure consistant heat thru the whole box. And using a sweater box method, are you better off with lots of air holes in the cups and keeping humidity up in whole box, or individal misting of each cup.

Thank you so much for any help. I want to make sure these little guys survive.

-Kim
 

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Count Tarantula

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 17, 2006
Messages
39
Hay alot for the price of one!

Hey if it helps at all I live about an hour outside of chicago and I would be willing to take as many as needed off your hands. If not and you want to keep them just seperate them and put them in a closet with the heat lamp on the other side to try to keep them warm with out keeping them directly in the light but still at a warm temp. That's awesome though and again I'd be willing to take as many as you can't handle and I could come to you. Just pm me if this helps you at all.:worship:
 

bigo

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 1, 2006
Messages
92
Well congradulation and it seems that they are ready to be seperate. they are passed 2nd instar. once they set down in the deli cups they should eat. As for heat i use a space heat but how cold does it get in your house. if it is lower then 70 then yes you need heat i keep my 1st instar G.rose at 75. for humidity just keep the substract moist.
 

PinkLady

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
347
Congratulations sure is in order. You need to get yourself some tall pill bottles. Put about half an inch of substrate in the bottom. Every 4 days you can put a couple drops of water in the bottle with a dropper and give them micro crix. Wolfy and I have avic babies and they are very easy to take care of and I'm sure lots of people out there will take some off of your hands if you like.
 

Merfolk

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
1,323
What about the Mom????

Is it normal if she died???
 

ShadowBlade

Planeswalker
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 1, 2006
Messages
2,591
Is it normal? No, is it possible, yeah. Did she show any problems before her death?

If you're gonna house all those, you're gonna want to order a box of Vials from Thornton Plastics.
 

Snipes

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 25, 2005
Messages
1,385
...avics burrow? :?
Probably means tube web. Congrats on the successful raising!
Your babies are past the hairless transparent egg yolk sac stage. Usually people open the sacs themselves at an earlier time and that is when they were at that stage. In their natural habitat, they molt and absorb the yolk and then emerge from the sac and that is what happened to them. Vials are in order, and perhaps some selling. Congrats again.
 

Arachno~Raver

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
43
if you want to keep them all nice and warm you could buy a vivarium and place them all in vials in the vivarium this is how i see most pet shops keep lots of Slings but is is qutie expensive

gav
 

The Red Queen

Mrs. TarCan
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Messages
1,038
Ok, quick question by question answers:
#1: Most baby Avics will start to emerge from the eggsac after 3 months of incubation. They have probably had color for at least a week or two, and they will not leave the eggsac until they reach this stage.

#2: Avicularia spiderlings can sometimes be slow/shy to eat. Leave food with them and they will take it eventually.

#3: If you are going to separate them, it is best to do it while they are still small. You might want to try keeping them in small groups... if they are well fed and provided with hiding places you should be able to keep cannibalism down to a minimum. I have done this in the past with few losses.

#4: You might want to try placing small wet cotton balls in the cups to keep humidity up... you will have to periodically change the cotton, but it holds humidity better than substrate alone and you will not have to mist the containers as long as the cotton is moist. If possible, I would use a heat lamp rather than heating pads. If you are worried about the heat being inconsistent, you can simply turn the box under the lamp periodically. Also, Avics need LOTS of ventilation... be sure your cups have penty of air holes.

As for the female, I assume she is wild caught and was mated in the wild. If so, and if she has died, it could be that the stress of being taking from the wild combined with the loss of resources and energy needed to make an eggsac could have weakened her enough to cause her death. But check on her ASAP... she may not be dead, but just in a weakened state and in need of attention.

Just my 2 cents:)
 

Kimix

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Messages
40
My Mom did die :( As for how she was doing before the babies.. i only had her a few weeks before she made her eggsac. She was eating very well when i first brought her some, once she made her sac she stopped eating.

I didn't realize she could be wildcaught... I figured as an easyer to breed species, she would have been captive born.

My room usually sits at about 70degrees although droppping down to 68 or so at night isnt uncommon. I have several empty aquariums so i think ill just put the cups into one of them and try to heat that as consistantly as i can.

I pulled 25 out today and put each into a cup with a fruitfly. Theres still alot in the tank, but i'm going to make sure i have these settled happily before i pull the rest out.
 

PinkLady

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
347
Sorry to hear about the mama passing. It's hard to say how many sacs she had dropped before you got her with her being wild caught. I know our p.murinus passed due to the amount of sacs she dropped that was sad to say unstoppable. My female a.avic has had 2 eggsacs full of healthy babies and Wolfy and I have stopped breeding her. They are a pretty strong sp. but I would hate to see anything happen to her considering she was a Christmas present to me from Wolfy. Have fun with the babies. They are a lot of fun to watch grow.
 
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