My first Africans (and a question)

[Code Monkey]

Well, took the plunge into the world of Old World Ts this week. Two decades of exclusively keeping New World Ts and the curiosity of the orange bitey things got the best of me. I now have two little 1/2" Usambara slings (which weren't nearly as fast as I was expecting from the posts on this board - reality did not measure up to my imagination )

My question is, how long do they need to be babied as far as moist substrate goes? If I were to use my intuition, I'd guess until they were about 1.5" which is where most Ts become mini-adults body wise. Is this too long to wait, or too soon to expect them to go it Rambo style?

 

[Alonso99]

Hey Cm

Welcome to the African club

 

[Joy]

[
My question is, how long do they need to be babied as far as moist substrate goes? If I were to use my intuition, I'd guess until they were about 1.5" which is where most Ts become mini-adults body wise. Is this too long to wait, or too soon to expect them to go it Rambo style? [/B][/QUOTE]

I'd say your intuition is right. For me, the dividing line is when they were big enough to have a water dish, and 1.5" is just at that point in my experience.

Joy

 

[Vayu Son]

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My usumbara like it very dry. For awhile i just lightly spritzed the webbing and the walls of their vials, now at 3" it has a gatorade cap for a water dish.


-V

 

[Wade]

I've raised a lot of those things and I'd say they don't even need that much babying even when small! I've had the best luck simply moistening a spot in the deli cup every few days rather than keeping it all moist. Of course, my animal room is relativly high humidity anyway.

Wade

 

[galeogirl]

Don't worry, CM, the little facehuggers will pick up speed as they get older!

I've never really babied my Usumbara slings, a little mist now and again on the side of the cage and they seem to do fine. Most of them will web so much that it's hard to mist them anyway.

 

[Wade]

They almost always make like a column from silk and substrate, right in the middle of the cup, effectively attaching the top to the bottom. They live in the donut-shaped area they've created. The webbing these guys do is amazing!

Wade