Panchlora nivea

[Scary]

Has anyone any experience in keeping these? Any tips at all? Thanks in advance!

 

[Merumontanus]

Greens

Yeah, you take about escape artists superb!!!!!
My gosh, we gave up on these guys after a couple of attempts.

We were really wanting them to flourish, but enough was enough.

Kenn

www.justbugs.com

 

[Elytra and Antenna]

Use a bucket cage and they won't escape. Admittedly feeding time can be another story.
Keep at least a decent section of the substrate wet ALL the time.
Put in an old log (any hardwood) they can chew on.
They won't eat much dog food unless you have a monster culture.

I've had the same ones in a cage (ten-gallon w/velcroed lid) since 1994 and have never had to clean it. Right now I've got some Nephila females in there that look like big grapes and all the Panchlora in the webs looks a little wasteful.

 

[Scary]

thanks for the info!

 

[Vys]

Use a bucket cage and they won't escape. Admittedly feeding time can be another story.
Keep at least a decent section of the substrate wet ALL the time.
Put in an old log (any hardwood) they can chew on.
They won't eat much dog food unless you have a monster culture.

I've had the same ones in a cage (ten-gallon w/velcroed lid) since 1994 and have never had to clean it. Right now I've got some Nephila females in there that look like big grapes and all the Panchlora in the webs looks a little wasteful.

I'm currently striving to keep my P.nivea alive (could be that enough simply manage to escape..I've noticed small kritter-keeper lids aren't entirely escape-proof ) and would like to know what kind of substrate you are using?

I think I'm going to try just rather large pieces of vermiculite because I'm sick of seeing bits of peat mold(bad peat from bricks, admittedly).

Also, by 'old log', do you mean something slightly damp and with bark, or something more dry and skeletal? With a velcro lid you are lucky I guess, since that ventilation should be good enough for old logs not to rot/mold&decompose.

Another thing I'm wondering is whether there is a 'minimal habitat-size' associated with these things? Will small living-spaces simply result in small colonies, or rather struggling and eventually extinct ones?

 

[fantasticp]

I keep mine in a one gallon plastic jar half filled with eco-earth. It has tiny holes drilled in the top, and vaseline on the top inch or so where the jar bends in before the lid. I have a heat mat wedged between the jar and another tank. I thought originally it would get too hot in the jar with such low ventilation, (feels like about 95F-100F in there) but I only had 2 doz one month ago and now I shake the jar and see nothing but baby roaches. It's insane. There's more than 100 already. No water dish, just moist dirt and veggies that don't mold.

 

[Gsc]

I use the bucket method also.

Room temp ~82 degrees
Substrate: Peat/coco fiber & rotten wood mixture

For ventelation I cut out small squares with my dremil... I went to the local "head shop" and bought screens that are normally used for smoking pipes... It's more less microscreen cut into round circles...you can usually get a dozen LARGE round pipe screens for about $1.

I then glued the pipe screens to BOTH the inside and outside of the bucket covering my holes.


P. nivea nymphs are EXTREMELY small..they would march right through window screen.

Good luck... once they get established they really produce!

 

[Vys]

March through window screen, yes likely, but they don't climb at least. It's when they've just turned green I've seen that they are both relatively tiny and super-fast and escapistic.

Is rotting wood a good idea then? Wood goes moldy first for me, and I've seen a couple of roach-corpses covered in mold. Additionally; what vegetables don't mold? Panzer-potatoes?

It seems relatively easy to get a lot of little nymphs, (i.e humidity & heat), but how to do that and not get mold or escapes..hmm.

 

[fantasticp]

what vegetables don't mold? Panzer-potatoes?

Anything that is a leaf like spinach or romaine, or a root like carrots or taro. If you use bean sprouts, you can even have a nice bean plant forest growing in there for a while.

 

[Vys]

Hmm, I shall have to try that. Thanks for the advice. With sweet and moldy stuff, it's sometimes hard to see if a few adults have eaten, as they're not exactly gluttons. Although they do seem to like marshmellows.