My Turles Died :(

W

wraith

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
37
For one reason or another my turtles have both died. They were young red cheeked sliders and died very suddenly this morning. I morn their passing but I have a lot of money invested in their enclosure. It's a 30gallon aquarium, pump, two heating lights, turtle dock, and cherry wood stand. I'm still wanting to make use of it but I've gotten more into insects lately and am planning on using the same setup, minus the pump, for some display insects.

I have around 10,000-12,000 Blatta Lateralis I was using to feed my turtles, started with 100 from James at Blaberus.com in August then added another 1,000 from a kind gentleman on the boards Jay Host298.com, and I don't want to just kill them off (also have a good $100 invested in their setup). So I'm wanting, if this is possible, a communal insect species that I can breed, I've found I really enjoy doing it, that is carnivorous and preferably non-venomous I can use for the setup I already have with additional purchases being kept to a minimum. My current preference is a scorpion or mantid species but I can't find any that are non-venomous, for the former, or communal, for the later. What advice do you folks have for me?

Edit: lol The thread title obviously should be "My Turtles Died :(" blasted lack of sleep and no contacts. :)
 
M

mike12348

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Messages
59
Sorry for your loss :(

Since you were talking about scorpions..why not try a communal setup with a Centruroides species? Would be neat to see them all living together.
 
A

Acro

Aziz! Light!
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
234
Since you have a full aquatic set up with some "land space", I would suggest trying to get some african water scorpions. These are not scorpions at all, but check out some pictures here:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna/MantidsAssassins/Nepa_sp..htm
You can find a book about them here:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna/
And a source for them is here:
http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/browse1.htm

I have kept them in the past and they are amazing animals that are easy to care for. You can even breed them, but it is a little challanging. As for your roaches, they should take Blatta Lateralis up to adults, but you will still be left with a lot of roaches. The African water scorps only eat like once a week, if I remember correctly.

There really are a lot of fresh water inverts you can keep. From insects to crustaceans, you could do a lot with your setup, maybe even add in a little more "land" space too.

Let us know what you decide to do!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top