P. metallica about to lay a sac, but possible problem!

[robc]

I have no experience with this, but this is what I was thinking as well. Let her lay a sac, and just pull it at the first sign of trouble. There's always the chance the eggs won't handle the incubation, but I know people have had success pulling a sac as soon as the day after it was laid.

I have pulled them at 1-3 days and turned them for 5 days, cut it open and incubated them with sucess....my T-room is at 82-84 degrees and 85% humidity thru the air...so the eggs won't dry out LOL....this is a option, but the trouble could be inside the sac were I can't see....this is driving me nuts!!! LOL

 

[Talkenlate04]

I would move her to a clean setup.
I have rehoused females many times before when they were close to laying and sealed inside their hides and got sacs 1-2 days later so it does not increase a chance of no sac ime. I never had an expecting mother not lay a sac from a late in the game tank transfer ether.
I moved mine for mites as well.

 

[DanHalen]

I wish you lots of luck mate. My female moulted out yesterday unfortunately. She had a huge abdomen, which glowed bright yellow. Had lots of nice, thick web, and even dug bowls of substrate - All was looking good, but not quite good enough I guess. She teased me for a couple of months, which was quite frustrating, but it looks like it was for the best. The week after she stopped eating, I bought a batch of contaminated locusts. They killed off my fiance's mated pederseni after abrupt and devastating DKS, and my sub adult metallica and mated miranda are currently in ICU showing DKS symptoms. If she hadn't had gone into premoult, she would have eaten from the batch too.

Anyway, personally, I'd not want to take the risk with the mites. It could only take a few to ruin an entire sac. I'm aware that P. metallica are quite a nervous species, but they can also take 8 weeks to make a sac after sealing themselves in, so at this point you could still have a good while to go before she actually drops. I remember a talk from the BTS lectures last year, which in part focused on poecilotheria. The talk described, with slides that pokies in their natural habitat often don't adopt a single hide, but move from hole to hole throughout the night. To me, this shows that they are quite adaptable and opportunistic.

I also think that tarantulas are more resillient than people give them credit for. How many stories do you hear of people buying wild caught spiders, only to end up with a sac a couple of days after moving them into their new enclosure? I can also remember a few years ago, when one of my parahybana made (unknown to me) a successful sac while I was smashing a giant wooden cupboard to bits with a hammer in the same room.

Whatever you decide to do mate, I wish you all the luck in the world.

 

[micheldied]

Rob.I would def let her be. You said yourself they arent too many. Let her be, let her drop a sac and then if you are scared of a huge infestation just pull the sac and try incubating it yourself.

If all that webbing is the beggining of a sac, messing with her will give you a really high chance of no sac at all.

This way at least you will get your sac,taking her out of that enclosure will most likely ruin it.

PS: If she didnt lay too much, and you dont think half way laying is done, then the only kinda safe way to do this would be making a tank first, get everything
ready to go, then transfer her.

thats exactly what i was thinking!
you're sure theyre mites and not maybe springtails since you said they were fast?
if predatory mites are available,try those as well!
leave her be!

 

[UrbanJungles]

Rob
Do you have a vacuum cleaner?
Cup your female metallica and pull her out of the enclosure, vacuum out as much substrate as you can without ripping the whole cage apart, try to conserve as much webbing as possible. Add new substrate and return the female.

By vacuuming out the substrate you will remove a large percent of the mites which will at least cut down on them a bit. Add new substrate and return the female. Hopefully the cage won't smell all that different to her when you return her and she will just continue what she was planning. Like Ryan siad, I don't think you will put her off of laying her sac anytime soon...when it's time it's time.

Spider egg sacks are well constructed for a reason...the sac will offer good protection from the majority of the mites with all of those silk layers, they won't easily penetrate it so soon and you should have plenty of time to pull the sack after laying. I don't think you'll want to leave metallica eggs sitting around for too long anyhow....

Before anything though...are you sure they are not springtails? Mites are relatively slow moving and quite round. They don't move very fast so it may not even be anything to worry about.

I don't think you will too easily put the female off from laying...good luck!
(This advice will cost you 5 slings, thanks)

 

[Spyder 1.0]

i vote for the vaccume idea. just stick in the nossle and turn the vacume on for a few seconds to suck them up, then add isopods right in the hole. I would not move her.

 

[Talkenlate04]

So the bowl for the eggs is being put down by her already or she just sealed herself in?
If she just sealed herself in and that's it just take her out and go to town cleaning and put her back in. But if she has started the bottom of the bowl already, guess you are waiting it out and letting her do her thing.
I'm tired, goodnight.

 

[robc]

I would move her to a clean setup.
I have rehoused females many times before when they were close to laying and sealed inside their hides and got sacs 1-2 days later so it does not increase a chance of no sac ime. I never had an expecting mother not lay a sac from a late in the game tank transfer ether.
I moved mine for mites as well.

Thank you Ryan!!!

 

[JimM]

Leaning towards letting her be as well Rob...good luck sir.

 

[BrynWilliams]

Don't know if i missed it at all, but in the vid you said she stuck a prey item in the bottom of her hide. Have you at the very least removed that? (I realise that's an intrusion to do so but it would help remove a focus for the mites I think)

 

[TiberiuSahly]

I would leave her alone. You should only be careful about the numbers. Mites are harmless for animals, basically feeding on left-overs. The problem is when there are ALOT of mites in the enclosure, because they run out of food and start looking for other sources, even the live animal itself.
Regards!

 

[robc]

I would move her to a clean setup.
I have rehoused females many times before when they were close to laying and sealed inside their hides and got sacs 1-2 days later so it does not increase a chance of no sac ime. I never had an expecting mother not lay a sac from a late in the game tank transfer ether.
I moved mine for mites as well.

Hey, Rob's wife here - I was home at lunch and just checked on her and it appears she's ready to lay any minute now. She's actively forming the bowl now. There aren't that many mites in there and with her being so close to laying the sac, is it still worth it to move her and rehouse her? Side note: the mites are an inch or two below the bowl portion. There is a chance that these 'mites' are actually baby isopods - does anyone know how small those are? Be a good thing to know. This might all be for nothing if that's what it is. LOL There are a lot of isopods down there with the mites.

Thanks in advance, guys! We really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond!! We're very excited about this sac!!

 

[Exo]

Hey, Rob's wife here - I was home at lunch and just checked on her and it appears she's ready to lay any minute now. She's actively forming the bowl now. There aren't that many mites in there and with her being so close to laying the sac, is it still worth it to move her and rehouse her? Side note: the mites are an inch or two below the bowl portion. There is a chance that these 'mites' are actually baby isopods - does anyone know how small those are? Be a good thing to know. This might all be for nothing if that's what it is. LOL There are a lot of isopods down there with the mites.

Thanks in advance, guys! We really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond!! We're very excited about this sac!!

At this point it isn't worth stressing her, so I'd leave her be. Rob will probably pull the sac anyway, so I don't think the mites will do any harm.

 

[violentblossom]

I say let her be, and cross your fingers.

Best of luck.

 

[Talkenlate04]

Hey, Rob's wife here - I was home at lunch and just checked on her and it appears she's ready to lay any minute now. She's actively forming the bowl now. There aren't that many mites in there and with her being so close to laying the sac, is it still worth it to move her and rehouse her? Side note: the mites are an inch or two below the bowl portion. There is a chance that these 'mites' are actually baby isopods - does anyone know how small those are? Be a good thing to know. This might all be for nothing if that's what it is. LOL There are a lot of isopods down there with the mites.

Thanks in advance, guys! We really appreciate everyone taking the time to respond!! We're very excited about this sac!!

Ya if it she is that far along then leaving her is the only option.
All you can do is hope for a bit of luck now. I am sure everything will go just fine.

 

[hellraizor]

Thats a toughy Rob. Normally Id say leave her, but mites are so tough to get rid of. Yes, she will lay down more web, but keep in mind most of its going to be pulled and rolled. So you may end up with some of those mites rolled into the sac with the eggs only layers of webbing away. I would move her ASAP because that sac is coming one way or another. Best to come in a clean setup.
ps. I didn't see she was already making a bowl. Too late, leave her and hope for the best.

 

[Ariel]

There is a chance that these 'mites' are actually baby isopods - does anyone know how small those are?

I might not beable to help with the situation, but from what I've noticed with my isopods, the babies can be really really small, I just looked at my small colony and the smallest one I could find measured to be around 1/5 cm, and I've seen smaller.

I really hope everything works out.

 

[AllieCat]

I admit, I know absolutely nothing about this subject, but I think the idea of at least vacuuming out some of the substrate would help decrease the mite population and buy some more time without having to move her or stress her out too much.....

We are all excited about this sac and I think you will have absolutely no problems figuring out what to do with the babies.....

 

[robc]

Ya if it she is that far along then leaving her is the only option.
All you can do is hope for a bit of luck now. I am sure everything will go just fine.

Thank you for your advice - I appreciate it. She is about ready to lay now...so I'm glad I left her alone. Your advice was right on, Ryan...unfortunately I found the mites too late.
I did talk to Stan Schultz today. He said basically let her lay the sac since she's that far along and then pull the sac at 5 days and cut the sac open and artificially incubate the eggs. Any opinions on that thought? I will be taping her laying the sac - she's right at the front and is easily viewable so I don't have to disturb her. She's webbed a lot more than my other pokies did - just an observation.

 

[robc]

I might not beable to help with the situation, but from what I've noticed with my isopods, the babies can be really really small, I just looked at my small colony and the smallest one I could find measured to be around 1/5 cm, and I've seen smaller.

I really hope everything works out.

That's about the size of what I was seeing...after she gets the site rolled up, I'll try to get some close-up pics of whatever they are so at least I'll know. Thank you for the info!!