Today in the Spider Room?

[l4nsky]

My orange head roach colony is about a year away from producing feeders. Maybe I’ll just stick to that as my second species . I really wanted lats but most my Ts are over 5”. Comes down to whose more prolific orange roaches or lats.

Lats are more prolific hands down, but you'll have to feed off 4 or 5 adults for every adult dubia/orange head.

http://imgur.com/a/d4S4omB

My colony can produce between 4k to 6k pinheads per week on average if I let them (I cull ootheca 3 out of every 4 weeks to keep them manageable).

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Lats are more prolific hands down, but you'll have to feed off 4 or 5 adults for every adult dubia/orange head.

http://imgur.com/a/d4S4omB

My colony can produce between 4k to 6k pinheads per week on average if I let them (I cull ootheca 3 out of every 4 weeks to keep them manageable).

Wish I had your problem I’m feeding once or twice month for my adult Ts otherwise I might run out of male Dubias. I can’t keep up with Lasidora appetites. Wish I had loads of oothicas lol

In my t room almost-half my Ts are in premolt. Everywhere I looked to buy lats was expensive.

 

[NMTs]

Lats are more prolific hands down, but you'll have to feed off 4 or 5 adults for every adult dubia/orange head.

http://imgur.com/a/d4S4omB

My colony can produce between 4k to 6k pinheads per week on average if I let them (I cull ootheca 3 out of every 4 weeks to keep them manageable).

Unfortunately that looks like my backyard right now. The local roaches had a very successful breeding season this year. I introduced the clean up crew a couple weeks ago, so hopefully they'll make a dent before it gets too cold - otherwise spring is going to be very, very roachy...


It's really too bad that the neighbors would frown on me establishing a colony of T's out there. City folk...

 

[NMTs]

Today I rehoused this Citharognathus tongmianensis juvenile. It said "thanks for letting me use your brush to get close enough to tell you... THIS - GRRRR!!"



Then when I took my brush back, it said "hey, this is actually kind of scary - I'm a fossorial species, you know..."


Eventually it got settled and stayed in the same position for about 6 hours before deciding to check out the new digs.

0.0.1 Citharognathus tongmianensis

• NMTs
• Sep 16, 2023
• 2
• china citharognathus citharognathus tongmianensis fossorial tongi stout leg tongmianensis

This juvenile is about 2.75" DLS, so it got moved out of it's sling vial into a 32oz deli cup. A...

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Unfortunately that looks like my backyard right now. The local roaches had a very successful breeding season this year. I introduced the clean up crew a couple weeks ago, so hopefully they'll make a dent before it gets too cold - otherwise spring is going to be very, very roachy...
View attachment 455835

It's really too bad that the neighbors would frown on me establishing a colony of T's out there. City folk...

Release Jabba the hut 🛖!! Crush those pests !

 

[taranbandido]

View attachment 451878
Unsexed Avicularia avicularia M2 (ex Avicularia braunshauseni) enjoying a lateralis during the feeding rounds today. Unfortunately, I lost my confirmed male due to a sucking stomach issue this week. I was really hoping he would've molted out of it, but he kept getting weaker and weaker these past few months and finally lost the fight. Anyways, I'm hoping this one will end up being a male for my female.

Good afternoon from Spain..Last week I received a Spiderling from a "sister" of Avi m2, (I published a thread but I don't know how to share it)..I have some questions: Does any of my colleagues have a file on the species?..Thank you, Diego..

View attachment 451878
Unsexed Avicularia avicularia M2 (ex Avicularia braunshauseni) enjoying a lateralis during the feeding rounds today. Unfortunately, I lost my confirmed male due to a sucking stomach issue this week. I was really hoping he would've molted out of it, but he kept getting weaker and weaker these past few months and finally lost the fight. Anyways, I'm hoping this one will end up being a male for my female.

 

[l4nsky]

Good afternoon from Spain..Last week I received a Spiderling from a "sister" of Avi m2, (I published a thread but I don't know how to share it)..I have some questions: Does any of my colleagues have a file on the species?..Thank you, Diego..

My go to Avic morphotype knowledge repository is this thread:
https://arachnoboards.com/threads/avicularia-morphotype-identification.337729/

If instead you're just after general care information, they don't differ in care from other Avics in general and there is plenty of threads on their proper care here on the boards .

 

[MariaLewisia]

During the last few days, all seven of my new Cyriocosmus perezmilesi slings have begun moulting to L2. They have been feeding very, very well on springtails but now it was time to try a roach. I gave C. perez. number 11 a smushed lateralis.
Number 11's verdict: spoopy. Sneak up. Might eat? Hm... not sure if food. Aah legs wriggling! Threat pose!! I much big! ... not working?! Run away!



So stinking cute.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

My colony can produce between 4k to 6k pinheads per week on average if I let them (I cull ootheca 3 out of every 4 weeks to keep them manageable).

Meanwhile, I can't get feeder roaches at all in Korea, so it's entirely mealworms and cricks (the bimac kind; good when you're trying to feed Ts above 4") and the occasional locust, and the latter two (especially the locusts) cost a fair amount with a collection of my size (and there is a fucking cricket epidemic going around wiping out suppliers and causing price increases)....and I have too many arboreals and fossorials to make mealworms viable as my primary feeder....

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

My daughter accidentally forgot to turn off the big, window fan when she went to bed night before last and it was 63 degrees in the spider room yesterday morn. I quickly grabbed her space heater (luckily not stored away) and got the room up to 68 before I had to leave for work, asking her to please turn it off at 70. Then texted her as soon as I got to work. As my apartment soaks up the sun all day and overheats, I had both the heater and the AC running in the same day. I was concerned about my smallest slings, but everyone seems to be fine.

 

[Tbone192]

Meanwhile, I can't get feeder roaches at all in Korea, so it's entirely mealworms and cricks (the bimac kind; good when you're trying to feed Ts above 4") and the occasional locust, and the latter two (especially the locusts) cost a fair amount with a collection of my size (and there is a fucking cricket epidemic going around wiping out suppliers and causing price increases)....and I have too many arboreals and fossorials to make mealworms viable as my primary feeder....

I have similar issues here in the frozen tundra. It is illegal to acquire cockroaches here due to laws regulating fast-breeding herbivores and their importation.

I have started breeding my own mealworms and crickets. This way I can save a bit of money and I can guarantee the health of my feeders.

I am wondering when I should remove the cricket egg laying dish, they've been using it frequently and it has been just under a week. What is the optimal time to remove the cricket eggs into their own bin?

 

[Tbone192]

My daughter accidentally forgot to turn off the big, window fan when she went to bed night before last and it was 63 degrees in the spider room yesterday morn. I quickly grabbed her space heater (luckily not stored away) and got the room up to 68 before I had to leave for work, asking her to please turn it off at 70. Then texted her as soon as I got to work. As my apartment soaks up the sun all day and overheats, I had both the heater and the AC running in the same day. I was concerned about my smallest slings, but everyone seems to be fine.

I also share this issue. Sometimes my room can get really cold in the winter, should I be using a space heater or should I move them to the basement where temps are more stable?

 

[l4nsky]

... and the occasional locust, and the latter two (especially the locusts) cost a fair amount with a collection of my size

https://zoosnippets.com/post/how-to-breed-feeder-locusts-successfully-ultimate-practical-guide

Locusts are the one thing we can't get in the US.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

https://zoosnippets.com/post/how-to-breed-feeder-locusts-successfully-ultimate-practical-guide

Locusts are the one thing we can't get in the US.

They're not exactly easy to get here, either (only one supplier and he only supplies them from spring to fall, plus they're by far the most expensive feeder option). I also don't have the space needed to set up a locust breeding facility on that scale (the aforementioned supplier has a bunch of big greenhouses to work with).

I do think there's merit for them, though, because they're big enough to feed even the biggest Ts and Scolopendra. I've also found they sometimes elicit better feeding responses and are more likely to run into arboreal Ts and predatory insects.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

My daughter accidentally forgot to turn off the big, window fan when she went to bed night before last and it was 63 degrees in the spider room yesterday morn. I quickly grabbed her space heater (luckily not stored away) and got the room up to 68 before I had to leave for work, asking her to please turn it off at 70. Then texted her as soon as I got to work. As my apartment soaks up the sun all day and overheats, I had both the heater and the AC running in the same day. I was concerned about my smallest slings, but everyone seems to be fine.

@Tbone192
I don’t let them get below 68F (accident aside), especially the small slings. A room heater is the best, but some here swear by heating pads and sling “nurseries” when it gets cold.
If you go the heating pad route, here’s a great post on their proper use (not below).

The proper use of heat mats

Mods could you please make this a sticky as there's so much misinformation about heat mats? So heat mats are perfectly safe to use IF they're used properly. They're like a mini space heater when used properly. 1) Heat mats MUST be plugged into a thermostat. That's a thermostat NOT a...

arachnoboards.com

 

[MariaLewisia]

Today I could confirm one of my very, very old and scrunkly males, a huge Psalmopoeus pulcher that has been mature since late 2022, has finally kicked the bucket. I found him yesterday and although he wasn't a pretty sight, I wasn't 100% sure he was actually dead yet so I flipped him and gave him water. Today however he smells slightly of decay. He will get buried in the garden later. Rip little dude and thank you for being nice to my female.

 

[Mike Withrow]

My monthly roach bin cleaning and nymph sorting. Made sure I got a good nostril full of frass. Fed what spider's were ready and was out this morning to be fed. Had one that was I knew ready to eat,but decided to sleep in. I got home at 1:00 pm this afternoon and she was all the way out except one back leg.

Among other random tasks is coming up with or copying someone's setup to keep their dubia colony breeding in the winter months.
The temps where I live at night have started to fall to the low to middle 50's. I noticed at lot less eggs this morning while cleaning my breeding bin. The winter is dry here and getting a system set up to hold the humidity and temp for them is what I do not have access to my own this year like I did the past year or so when I made my mind up to learn and hopefully be successful at it.

Picture is of the miss snooze a lot that was ready for her meal.
That was taken right after I opened the lid that's as far as she went back in.
If you look back at pictures of her enclosure from two years ago. And a year ago.
You'll see she did some major remodeling to her burrow. I learned to not remove the lid higher than I have to now if she's like that.

If you drop the roach early or not the area you want "I try and drop prey to the side" but she's gave me a extra bit of wakeup with my coffee shooting out of her tank.

 

[l4nsky]

My monthly roach bin cleaning and nymph sorting. Made sure I got a good nostril full of frass.

N95's are a requirement for me when cleaning the feeders lol. This is ~12 days worth of frass from my colonies lol. Top is dubia frass, middle is lateralis frass, and bottom is the "ootheca concentrate" frass from the lateralis that got sifted and set up to incubate.

 

[Mike Withrow]

View attachment 456232
N95's are a requirement for me when cleaning the feeders lol. This is ~12 days worth of frass from my colonies lol. Top is dubia frass, middle is lateralis frass, and bottom is the "ootheca concentrate" frass from the lateralis that got sifted and set up to incubate.

Lol! Wow! Yeah mine are not big and apparently still not 100% happy to breed as yours. I feel like mine are at N95 level,and yours are fully encapsulating hazmat suit level
Lol.

 

[l4nsky]

Lol! Wow! Yeah mine are not big and apparently still not 100% happy to breed as yours. I feel like mine are at N95 level,and yours are fully encapsulating hazmat suit level
Lol.

Lol they're not quite up to hazmat levels, atleast not normally lol. I let the lats go awhile between cleanings to get a lot of ootheca to reset my pinhead incubator in one fell swoop. Usually, they get cleaned every 3-4 days.

The dubia get spot cleaned frequently for deceased, but generally produce less waste then the lats (or go through as much food.... ). Plus the nymphs tend to live in the frass.

Do you have them on any heat? Are they being exposed to the 50's or is that just the nighttime outside temperature? Honestly, I keep things simple with both colonies and it seems to work. They get a commercial dry diet, big bowl of water crystals, supplemental heat via a thermostat controlled seedling heat mat (which I've actually had off for the dubia to curb the colony's growth for a few months), large amounts of top ventilation, eggcrates, no substrate, and kept clean.