They are one of the tough ones to keep alive. They don't refridgerate well. I think about two weeks is usually what they last if kept in the fridge. I've personally and have heard from others, that periodically allowing them to thaw and "wiggle" several times a week will make them last much longer. I'm pretty sure ten weeks is too long to keep them in the fridge though, even outside the fridge. They'd probably die or turn into moths by then lol but I wouldn't know because I bought the 25 count cups and used them in about two weeks or so. Don't forget to be careful if they are kept in pine shavings. Ever since my sad Chilo incident I'm going to start experimenting with these things, but with sooooo many other types of foods available I pretty much will say to everybody else, why bother.
How can you be sure that it was due to the worm or the oils? Just curious.
I simply wouldn't risk it. I can't say it would kill them but I will not say it's good either. What's funny is if you read my Chilo story above it sounds like pine can have devastating effects on T's, however I had been feeding waxworms occasionally to many of my other T's before the Chilo with no problems, including many Brachys, Pokies, and some other tropical OW and NW species slings and adults. I'm guessing this means some are much more sensitive than others, I don't really know. There could have been a monster pine flake stuck to the waxworm and it was ingested (another question, does T venom break down cellulose at all?). I don't think waxworms eat it either though, because like someone mentioned above waxworms eat honey, living in bee's honeycomb until they mature. As for keeping pine, I wouldn't at all. If you want to go with wood chips for whatever reason use safe wood like cypress, but avoid pine and cedar.
I'm certain most of the cases involved in death and/or symptoms from pine exposure were due to inhaling it orally (book-lungly?). However, since we are getting into chemistry, "phenol" is lethal if consumed also. To me it's logic that if something inhaled is harmful then consuming it or its source completely is probably just as bad if not worse. So if you are up to it, eat a bunch of pine shavings and watch your liver enzymes skyrocket, your respiratory system break down, and, last nights dinner come all the way back up. On the flip side, it's fiber?
Either way whether it's consumed by a human or inhaled by a spider, it can be deadly and should be avoided. So, glad you brought that up because that would answer desertdweller's question better than I. But anyway, to sum this up, pieces of driftwood and cork look much better than wood chips IMO anyway. Avoid pine and cedar.
Well, yeah. But the post/s I was responding to (especially desertdweller's) were about ingestion, which isn't the real concern. Hers went so far as "the tarantula won't ingest it so it's totally safe right?"