High Psytalla horrida death rate

[Flammendehaar]

I'm wondering if anyone can chime in on this.

I started with 10 Psytalla horrida nymphs at the start of this year. One died after a failed moult very early on, but the rest almost all made it to their final moult. In that final stage, I've lost 5 more.

I have 4 adults, one of whom is a big hefty female who has laid me some 25 eggs in a week or two, but to have lost so many so late in their growth time has really disgruntled me.

They're my first invertebrate, but as far as I know everything has been as recommended for their care. They're in a big vertical enclosure with a range of angled surfaces to climb and places to hide. There's a heat mat at the back making the back around 24-25C. I used to have them over coco fibre but now they're over sand because it makes cleaning way easier. I keep them mostly dry but mist occasionally. I feed them crickets, locust and mealworms. I'm just at a total loss as to how I've lost so many of what I understood to be a hardy species.

One had a mismoult, but the rest seem to have just weakened and died before even attempting to. The last one to go ended up some 2 or 3 months behind the others that had moulted to adulthood, and looked ready to moult but just never did. What on earth could have gone wrong here. Did I just get an unlucky batch?

 

[Tentacle Toast]

You might want to try using the site's search function; I recall someone posting about these things some time ago (& being floored by how badass they look coming out of a molt). Wasn't that long ago...
Good luck, friend. I hope you find some suggestion.

 

[Joey Spijkers]

Sounds like a virus swept through or something, since it was in a short timeframe. They are usually really hardy and your care sounds good.

 

[BoyFromLA]

I never used heat mats, I misted like once every three months or so.

 

[Flammendehaar]

Sounds like a virus swept through or something, since it was in a short timeframe. They are usually really hardy and your care sounds good.

I didn't even know that could be a thing! It did happen over a good few months really. One looked partially moulted but like it gave up halfway through, another had a tiny opening on its back like it was just starting to moult and then died. It's just really baffling.

 

[DustyD]

If you want, could you share a picture or two of these animals. Not the dead ones. I think people like looking at pictures of what is being discussed, at least I do.