Tellorcha
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2019
- Messages
- 64
Update on my P. biguttatus colony for anyone who was following this or is interested in the results of my trials:
They are doing amazingly and reproducing vigorously! I have been keeping all the adults and older nymphs in a 5 gallon with cork bark to crawl around on. The substrate is top soil, sand and peat moss mixed. Pretty close to equal parts. I keep the adult enclosure substrate completely dry, but do spray the wood and walls with water once or twice a week. The adults do rush over to have a drink. I haven't had much luck with them laying eggs in the designated moist deli cup in their enclosure, instead they just lay eggs all over wherever they please. I periodically sift through the substrate to remove corpses, feces and collect as many eggs as possible. My first batch of over 100 eggs hatched about a month and a half ago over the course of 2 weeks, and many of the nymphs are 2-4 molts in by now. I have a second batch of eggs I collected about a month ago that has not hatched yet. Probably at least another 100 eggs. They are kept in a deli cup with a mesh lid used for fruit fly cultures for ventilation. The ventilation helps prevent mold on the eggs. Also, I let the substrate mostly dry out before spraying the top layer of soil again to keep the eggs at a steady humidity without allowing for much mold growth. My first batch of eggs hatched using this method, and I am hoping the second batch will also hatch soon!
I have separated the newly hatched nymphs into tall fruit fly culture deli cups with the mesh lids. About 20-40 nymphs per cup. A thin layer of play sand at the bottom and either a piece of cork bark or egg flat for them to climb and molt on. I noticed the newly hatched nymphs aren't hungry for 4 days to a week after hatching, but I offer D. hydei fruit flies immediately just in case. It is possible that the fruit flies stress the nymphs for the first few days, so it would probably be okay to wait to feed them too. Once they start eating they are voracious. They will eat tons of fruit flies and will also suck on freshly killed crickets. I do not spray any water at all in the cups with the nymphs. There is some cannibalism and some deaths due to bad molt, but, for the most part, they are thriving in these conditions.
Hope this is helpful to anyone who was interested in a follow up. There were a lot of things I felt like I was winging it on with them, so I wanted to come back and share my success so far!
They are doing amazingly and reproducing vigorously! I have been keeping all the adults and older nymphs in a 5 gallon with cork bark to crawl around on. The substrate is top soil, sand and peat moss mixed. Pretty close to equal parts. I keep the adult enclosure substrate completely dry, but do spray the wood and walls with water once or twice a week. The adults do rush over to have a drink. I haven't had much luck with them laying eggs in the designated moist deli cup in their enclosure, instead they just lay eggs all over wherever they please. I periodically sift through the substrate to remove corpses, feces and collect as many eggs as possible. My first batch of over 100 eggs hatched about a month and a half ago over the course of 2 weeks, and many of the nymphs are 2-4 molts in by now. I have a second batch of eggs I collected about a month ago that has not hatched yet. Probably at least another 100 eggs. They are kept in a deli cup with a mesh lid used for fruit fly cultures for ventilation. The ventilation helps prevent mold on the eggs. Also, I let the substrate mostly dry out before spraying the top layer of soil again to keep the eggs at a steady humidity without allowing for much mold growth. My first batch of eggs hatched using this method, and I am hoping the second batch will also hatch soon!
I have separated the newly hatched nymphs into tall fruit fly culture deli cups with the mesh lids. About 20-40 nymphs per cup. A thin layer of play sand at the bottom and either a piece of cork bark or egg flat for them to climb and molt on. I noticed the newly hatched nymphs aren't hungry for 4 days to a week after hatching, but I offer D. hydei fruit flies immediately just in case. It is possible that the fruit flies stress the nymphs for the first few days, so it would probably be okay to wait to feed them too. Once they start eating they are voracious. They will eat tons of fruit flies and will also suck on freshly killed crickets. I do not spray any water at all in the cups with the nymphs. There is some cannibalism and some deaths due to bad molt, but, for the most part, they are thriving in these conditions.
Hope this is helpful to anyone who was interested in a follow up. There were a lot of things I felt like I was winging it on with them, so I wanted to come back and share my success so far!