LeFanDesBugs
Arachnobaron
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2015
- Messages
- 574
Damn, how did I miss this thread!
First off, I wanna say that I, unfortunately, DO have a candidate in my care for testing and/or sample collection. An adult female E. rubripes platycephalus which should thankfully molt soon and recover, but then that means I'll be able to take some cuticle bits out of the container for study! If she does end up dying, which is still a possibility, I'd be willing to get samples and ship them to anyone capable of analyzing them.
Now, I do want to point out that some species are much more prone to mycosis than others. This species, for instance, is the only one that has ever developed mycosis in my care and I don't think that's a coincidence. I already lost my male to mycosis. The female was in pristine condition when she came to me.
Their original habitat seems very interesting to me: Solomon Islands.
I do want to shime in and stress the fact that we do not have a clear picture on the diets of these animals. Much like reptiles, don't they need additional nutrients and minerals that we simply don't provide them with? Lack of these nutrients could in fact lead to immune system failure, weakening the individual and exposing it to infections.
What drew me to this theory is E. rubripes platycephalus' habitat: Solomon Islands. A very humid habitat. Yet, obvisouly, the species isn't decimated by fungi in nature, in a place that's extremely humid. Why is that? I've come to think of a potential reason: salt. The Solomon archipelago is, obviously, surrounded by the ocean. There must be high levels of salt content everywhere, even inland. Something that we simply don't provide island species with. And salt dries out everything. This is something I thought about, and I believe it might be worth considering.
First off, I wanna say that I, unfortunately, DO have a candidate in my care for testing and/or sample collection. An adult female E. rubripes platycephalus which should thankfully molt soon and recover, but then that means I'll be able to take some cuticle bits out of the container for study! If she does end up dying, which is still a possibility, I'd be willing to get samples and ship them to anyone capable of analyzing them.
Now, I do want to point out that some species are much more prone to mycosis than others. This species, for instance, is the only one that has ever developed mycosis in my care and I don't think that's a coincidence. I already lost my male to mycosis. The female was in pristine condition when she came to me.
Their original habitat seems very interesting to me: Solomon Islands.
I do want to shime in and stress the fact that we do not have a clear picture on the diets of these animals. Much like reptiles, don't they need additional nutrients and minerals that we simply don't provide them with? Lack of these nutrients could in fact lead to immune system failure, weakening the individual and exposing it to infections.
What drew me to this theory is E. rubripes platycephalus' habitat: Solomon Islands. A very humid habitat. Yet, obvisouly, the species isn't decimated by fungi in nature, in a place that's extremely humid. Why is that? I've come to think of a potential reason: salt. The Solomon archipelago is, obviously, surrounded by the ocean. There must be high levels of salt content everywhere, even inland. Something that we simply don't provide island species with. And salt dries out everything. This is something I thought about, and I believe it might be worth considering.
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