Horrid King Assassin Bugs dying for no reason?

[sschind]

I keep my adult P. horrida in a bone dry tank with no substrate and a 16oz deli cup with lid on and a hole cut in the side and about 1/2 full of damp coco fiber for egg laying. My original group started maturing and I put the first laying container in with them in November. After a few weeks I started to see the eggs. I wanted to keep the sizes somewhat consistent so I replaced the cup on December 1st and placed the first one in a larger plastic container on a damp piece of paper towel with a few pin holes poked in the lid. I replaced the cup with a new one again on January 1st and again on Feb 1st. The December and January cups have a lot of eggs but I didn't sift them. I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not so I left them alone. Now comes the interesting part. February was half over and I was starting to get worried. Nothing was hatching and the November cup was starting to mold over. Then one day (my birthday actually) I looked and and found three bright red nymphs IN THE JANUARY CUP. It's been a little over a week now and I have a total of 12 nymphs all hatched from the January cup. Still nothing from the November or December cups. The December and January cups are pretty much identical so I have no idea why the January ones are hatching sooner. Well, that's not quite true. In late January I redid my animal room and I placed my incubating cups on a new shelf over my albino boa cage. Since I was expecting eggs from the December cup first I placed it on top of the Januaru cup. I'm guessing the January cup got warmer due to the heat from the lights on the snake cage below it and it sped up the hatching process. So far the adult show no signs of stopping and I'll be removing the February cup in a week or so. I've moved the nymphs into a dry jar with some egg carton and a fine mesh lid and put in some 1/8" crickets and a few of the older ones have already eaten. I placed the December cup directly on the shelf now as well so hopefully I'll start getting nymphs from it soon as well.

Just my experiences with them. Only 12 so far but hopefully many more to come.

To Tellorcha: I'm not sure what happened in your case. How big were the nymphs when you got them? The whole cricket thing scare me too as I have heard that the bugs may ignore prey that is too small so I have resorted to using larger crickets than I would like. Smaller crickets would presumably be less of a threat to a freshly molted assassin bug but if they aren't going to eat them what good are they. I'm hoping that after they go through their first molt I can switch them to newly hatched orange head or dubia roaches. I'm not really worried that a roach will attack the bugs.

 

[Tellorcha]

Keep in mind - "multiple" is only one or two mistings a week, depending on how dry it is. When the weather is cold and the furnace is running a lot, it's more likely to be two mistings a week. When the furnace is not running (or when I get lazy) it may be only once a week. It's not like they're getting watered every other day!

This is good to know! I definitely made the over-misting mistake with my P. biguttatus when I first got them. I was spraying them 3-4 times a week with too little ventilation. It ended up really slowing down their growth and health for a month until I figured out my mistake.

 

[Tellorcha]

I keep my adult P. horrida in a bone dry tank with no substrate and a 16oz deli cup with lid on and a hole cut in the side and about 1/2 full of damp coco fiber for egg laying. My original group started maturing and I put the first laying container in with them in November. After a few weeks I started to see the eggs. I wanted to keep the sizes somewhat consistent so I replaced the cup on December 1st and placed the first one in a larger plastic container on a damp piece of paper towel with a few pin holes poked in the lid. I replaced the cup with a new one again on January 1st and again on Feb 1st. The December and January cups have a lot of eggs but I didn't sift them. I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not so I left them alone. Now comes the interesting part. February was half over and I was starting to get worried. Nothing was hatching and the November cup was starting to mold over. Then one day (my birthday actually) I looked and and found three bright red nymphs IN THE JANUARY CUP. It's been a little over a week now and I have a total of 12 nymphs all hatched from the January cup. Still nothing from the November or December cups. The December and January cups are pretty much identical so I have no idea why the January ones are hatching sooner. Well, that's not quite true. In late January I redid my animal room and I placed my incubating cups on a new shelf over my albino boa cage. Since I was expecting eggs from the December cup first I placed it on top of the Januaru cup. I'm guessing the January cup got warmer due to the heat from the lights on the snake cage below it and it sped up the hatching process. So far the adult show no signs of stopping and I'll be removing the February cup in a week or so. I've moved the nymphs into a dry jar with some egg carton and a fine mesh lid and put in some 1/8" crickets and a few of the older ones have already eaten. I placed the December cup directly on the shelf now as well so hopefully I'll start getting nymphs from it soon as well.

Just my experiences with them. Only 12 so far but hopefully many more to come.

To Tellorcha: I'm not sure what happened in your case. How big were the nymphs when you got them? The whole cricket thing scare me too as I have heard that the bugs may ignore prey that is too small so I have resorted to using larger crickets than I would like. Smaller crickets would presumably be less of a threat to a freshly molted assassin bug but if they aren't going to eat them what good are they. I'm hoping that after they go through their first molt I can switch them to newly hatched orange head or dubia roaches. I'm not really worried that a roach will attack the bugs.

What a great birthday present to have your first nymphs hatch! Congratulations on that, and happy belated birthday! Your experience is interesting, that seems like maybe temp plays a bigger role than we realize. I moved my egg tub to a higher shelf that's a bit warmer after reading your post yesterday, so we'll see if I have any luck. I mean, the eggs look plump and ready to hatch, some even with very dark caps. The anticipation is killing me lol I hope you have luck with your December cup soon, as for November.. well, seems like it's an initiation to both of us to mold our first batch.

The ones that died were both last or 2nd to last instar before adulthood. They were quite large. The cricket does seem a likely killer in the first case as the nymph had just freshly molted. Still zero clue why the 2nd one died. It had just eagerly enjoyed a meal the night before. I agree that roaches are much safer to leave in with them than the crickets, but the dubias are also professional hiders. The crickets elicit a much greater prey response as where the dubias sometimes hide frustratingly well. My guys have been so hungry they practically tong feed, so I haven't had to leave any prey in with them. I'm curious to try red runner roaches, buuut I'm not sure I want to give my apartment complex a reason to kick me out XD

 

[Hisserdude]

Reading your experience is very useful. It does sound like your temps are a bit higher than mine, though your misting is pretty similar to what I'm doing now. Perhaps I will keep my space heater on more consistently for a week or two and see what happens.

That's a good point regarding varying opinions on success in a colony. I'm one of the weardos who would welcome hundreds, so I'm aiming for minimal die off. I can understand why many people would consider some die off to be more sustainable though, as it sounds like you could end up with 5 tanks of these things in a couple years. That would be a lot, oh my!

Thanks for your reply about the hide too, good to know what to avoid. My P. biguttatus male actually faced a similar fate as he molted in the shipping tube on his way to me. He has one tiny leg. Not ideal, but he still seems to be thriving lol

Hopefully a temperature bump will get them hatching soon then!

Yeah, I go for optimal reproduction rates in all my species, if they aren't breeding as well as they could be, I always feel bad and do what I can to change that, even if it's not a species that I actually want hundreds of, (not that that's a problem with Pystalla, there's a big market for them, especially if you sell below the "market price").

Yeah, unfortunately in my case the damage was severe enough that he couldn't grasp his prey, and he did end up dying prematurely... :/ All my others molted successfully though, and went on to breed and live normal lives, heck the adults were still going strong by the time I sold my colony!

 

[SonsofArachne]

What are you feeding them? The breeder I bought mine from said as nymphs they don't do well on crickets, he only fed them roaches. Also kept them bone dry.

 

[ignithium]

I wouldn't mist them at all. I keep my substrate very very slightly moistened, basically dry but not bone dry, and provide them with a small water dish. I'm also keeping them in the low 20's Celsius. I have friends who were keeping them in humid conditions and had many issues with the animals dying. So I tend to agree with the rest of this thread, drier is better.

 

[Tellorcha]

Hopefully a temperature bump will get them hatching soon then!

Yeah, I go for optimal reproduction rates in all my species, if they aren't breeding as well as they could be, I always feel bad and do what I can to change that, even if it's not a species that I actually want hundreds of, (not that that's a problem with Pystalla, there's a big market for them, especially if you sell below the "market price").

Yeah, unfortunately in my case the damage was severe enough that he couldn't grasp his prey, and he did end up dying prematurely... :/ All my others molted successfully though, and went on to breed and live normal lives, heck the adults were still going strong by the time I sold my colony!

Sorry for late reply! Yes, I definitely agree with you. I like my creatures to be reproducing and thriving to the greatest capacity I am able to provide. I have been keeping the eggs on a higher shelf that gets more heat, and have kept my space heater on for cold nights (usually stays around 75F - 78F in here, but may drop to 73F at night). I've been misting them daily or every other day depending on evaporation rate for the past 3 weeks or so. Still none have hatched, though they all look bloated and ready to burst any minute. About half have dark brown caps. The anticipation is killing me! I know I have a male and two females of the adults, so I imagine at least some of them must be fertilized. I am wondering if I was misting them too infrequently for the first two months, so maybe they hadn't begun to develop until a few weeks ago when I bumped up the humidity? I have read the P. biguttatus eggs can remain dormant for a long time until proper conditions are met. Aahgh! Hopefully the adults will live at least 2 years, but I'm definitely paranoid of failing to cultivate any nymphs before they pass. They have already been adults for about 3-4 months now.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss to a bad molt, it is always a sad day when something goes wrong with our beloved critters. Sounds like it was a helpful learning experience for you though.

 

[Tellorcha]

What are you feeding them? The breeder I bought mine from said as nymphs they don't do well on crickets, he only fed them roaches. Also kept them bone dry.

Sorry for late reply. Thank you for this information. I have fed them mostly dubias though they have received a few crickets here and there, especially my smallest nymph which can mostly only kill pinhead crickets for the time being. The smallest nymph has eaten a few baby dubias, and will be switched to dubias completely once large enough. I think I have read before that a pure cricket diet can be unhealthy for them, I will definitely keep that in mind. Thankfully, my 3 remaining nymphs are still alive and well, though none have molted for several weeks. Assassins all seem to grow at a much slower rate in my care, and I have no idea why. My P. biguttatus took like 4-5 months to reach maturity. Strange, as I've adamantly followed all the care information I've read.

 

[Tellorcha]

I wouldn't mist them at all. I keep my substrate very very slightly moistened, basically dry but not bone dry, and provide them with a small water dish. I'm also keeping them in the low 20's Celsius. I have friends who were keeping them in humid conditions and had many issues with the animals dying. So I tend to agree with the rest of this thread, drier is better.

Thank you for your input, I have been keeping both my P. biguttatus adults and my P. horrida nymphs almost completely dry. I never mist the P. biguttatus (they're doing great), but I have misted the P. horrida nymphs a tiny amount maybe once every other week. I haven't noticed them go for a drink at all, so I will heed your advise and stop misting all together. You're referring to the living animals and not the eggs, right? I am trying to hatch my first batch of P. biguttatus eggs at the moment, and I mist those quite frequently. They are kept in a separate tub from the adults.

 

[Hisserdude]

Sorry for late reply! Yes, I definitely agree with you. I like my creatures to be reproducing and thriving to the greatest capacity I am able to provide. I have been keeping the eggs on a higher shelf that gets more heat, and have kept my space heater on for cold nights (usually stays around 75F - 78F in here, but may drop to 73F at night). I've been misting them daily or every other day depending on evaporation rate for the past 3 weeks or so. Still none have hatched, though they all look bloated and ready to burst any minute. About half have dark brown caps. The anticipation is killing me! I know I have a male and two females of the adults, so I imagine at least some of them must be fertilized. I am wondering if I was misting them too infrequently for the first two months, so maybe they hadn't begun to develop until a few weeks ago when I bumped up the humidity? I have read the P. biguttatus eggs can remain dormant for a long time until proper conditions are met. Aahgh! Hopefully the adults will live at least 2 years, but I'm definitely paranoid of failing to cultivate any nymphs before they pass. They have already been adults for about 3-4 months now.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss to a bad molt, it is always a sad day when something goes wrong with our beloved critters. Sounds like it was a helpful learning experience for you though.

Yeah keeping them too dry can definitely prolong the hatch time, it rarely kills them unless they've been kept bone dry for a week, but dryness does prolong the incubation process for sure. Hopefully with the added moisture they'll hatch soon!

Yeah it was a bummer, but hey, that was a couple years ago, and my success with that species greatly overwhelmed the bad, so I'm happy with my time keeping Pystalla.