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Tips on keeping humidity in between 70 and 80?

Nicolas C

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
686
Location
Corcelles-près-Payerne, Switzerland
Roaches are great feeding source, as have been said. The only issues I had with them, is:
- For dubia, the tendency they have to bury themselves (sometimes for months!) if not eaten immediately. The best way to prevent such thing is maybe to handfeed them?
- For red runners (Blatta lateralis), the tendency to stay hidden and motionless in very narrow places (for instance between the cork bark and the glass, in anfractuosities out of reach for my T)...

As you can see, OP, you have here several ways to keep your H lividum (C lividus???). All of them are okay, it's up to you to choose the one which suits you better.
 

SpiderDad61

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
797
Location
Warminster PA
exactly. the smallest order i could get of Dubai was 25, so if the T's decide to eat them after molting I'll have 6 weeks of food. I got 50 of the pinheads, good thing i was thinking ahead on these since my vagans loves them and ate 2 at a time before he started premolt. I'll figure i have about 6 weeks supply of those also for the 3 slings at 1/4"

My next order will be 200 turkish roaches, 100 pinhead for the small slings and 100 1/2" ish for the larger slings. As long as they live the full time that should last me 3 months or so :)
I bought my dubia starter colony on eBay. Adult makes, adult females, and 50/100 mix of all other sizes. Water gel powder, chow, egg flats for $25 shipped. Small colony, perfect for my 18 T's. I'll have to start a B lat colony next. That way I have every option lol.
U are all right, tho. They are cute.
 

Tomoran

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Tarantula Club Member
Messages
800
Location
Connecticut
Roaches are great feeding source, as have been said. The only issues I had with them, is:
- For dubia, the tendency they have to bury themselves (sometimes for months!) if not eaten immediately. The best way to prevent such thing is maybe to handfeed them?

I crush their heads before dropping them in. I know, it's gross, but it prevents them from burrowing. They will instead just roam around like zombies until the Ts snatch them up.
 

Nicolas C

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
686
Location
Corcelles-près-Payerne, Switzerland
I crush their heads before dropping them in. I know, it's gross, but it prevents them from burrowing. They will instead just roam around like zombies until the Ts snatch them up.

Excellent idea, I haven't tried yet, but I will (and for every head crushed, I'll chant To-mo-ran, To-mo-ran...!). Thanks for sharing!
 

DewDrop

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
131
Location
United States
Not sure u really understand the difference between feeder roaches and home pest roaches. These feeder roaches are clean, free of disease, and MUCH cleaner than nasty crickets. No noise, no smell and better nutritionally by FAR. I understand if ur scared of them but inform urself and u may change ur mind. I've read around that 1 dubia has the nutritional value of many, many crickets.
Not all my T's eat them...most do, and they're cheap and easy to start a colony


I know that the "lab" raised feeders are nutrient rich. I do realize the difference between feeders and wild and do not introduce wild feeders. However, living in a populated area, feeder roaches if they escape and make nests becoming a problem, a bill will follow for pest control. I have an aversion and a slight not medically significant allergen to ****roach dander. Crickets are nasty and will completely up and destroy a habitat with their soiling of the cage and shedding if left in too long. However there are stories in some folk lore about crickets being this great little bug that is a wealth in itself with such a nice little song that tells temp. It is more common that people are reactive to ****roaches but they can be reactive to crickets as well. A roach gone wild can carry disease a cricket gone wild isn't likely to infect a person. The crickets are not likely to survive long enough to populate if they escape while ****roaches might. Just kind of keeping my eye on the bigger picture one involving possible infestation that could lead to public health issues so ****roaches are out, while tropical crickets are going to perish if they escape. While the feeder ****roaches are likely tropical as well and would most likely perish if they escaped, a ****roach can literally carry disease that can make people sick if they are wild. See my point. It is easier to feed crickets and spend a little extra on non invasive butterfly caterpillars that are not monarch and use mealworms occasionally than risk ****roaches when neighbors are as close as mine are. I wouldn't want to live next to someone who had a colony of roaches to feed. I could tolerate crickets and mealworms. There is more to fathom about a single ****roach than I can fathom and in order to rule out any unknowns about the silly ****roach I do not know, I am not bringing them into my environment. Thanks for the question.
 

Thistles

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
Tropical roaches such as dubia do not present a risk of infestation as they require high temperatures to reproduce. An escaped roach likely will not die, but it also won't be able to produce offspring. Roaches are generally larger than crickets so you get more bang for your bug feeding a roach than a cricket. Some tarantulas don't seem to like dubia, but most will take red runners. Crickets are filthy. There's nothing "wrong" with one or the other, but both have advantages and disadvantages.

Different species of tarantula have different requirements. I can't think of any tarantulas with more opposite requirements from a cobalt blue than avics and rosies. An avic is arboreal. The rose is terrestrial and from one of the driest places on earth. The cobalt is an obligate burrowers from a rainforest. Please disregard the advice you were given in post #10.

The set up I use for my Haplopelma lividum (Cyriopagopus lividus) is about 8" of damp substrate with a starter burrow under a piece of cork bark and a full water dish. Keep yours moist but not soaking and give her room to burrow. No false bottom is necessary with tarantulas. Just ensure adequate ventilation and remove the uneaten remains of prey in a timely manner to prevent mold and mites. You also do not need any supplemental heating unless you live in a very cold house. As long as you're in the 70s you're okay. As has been said, humidity of the enclosure does not matter. The damp substrate will raise the humidity of the burrow, which is what counts. Your specimen looks thin, so offer her some chow. Crix or roaches are just fine.
 

MassExodus

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
5,547
Location
Outside San Antonio, TX
I know that the "lab" raised feeders are nutrient rich. I do realize the difference between feeders and wild and do not introduce wild feeders. However, living in a populated area, feeder roaches if they escape and make nests becoming a problem, a bill will follow for pest control. I have an aversion and a slight not medically significant allergen to ****roach dander. Crickets are nasty and will completely up and destroy a habitat with their soiling of the cage and shedding if left in too long. However there are stories in some folk lore about crickets being this great little bug that is a wealth in itself with such a nice little song that tells temp. It is more common that people are reactive to ****roaches but they can be reactive to crickets as well. A roach gone wild can carry disease a cricket gone wild isn't likely to infect a person. The crickets are not likely to survive long enough to populate if they escape while ****roaches might. Just kind of keeping my eye on the bigger picture one involving possible infestation that could lead to public health issues so ****roaches are out, while tropical crickets are going to perish if they escape. While the feeder ****roaches are likely tropical as well and would most likely perish if they escaped, a ****roach can literally carry disease that can make people sick if they are wild. See my point. It is easier to feed crickets and spend a little extra on non invasive butterfly caterpillars that are not monarch and use mealworms occasionally than risk ****roaches when neighbors are as close as mine are. I wouldn't want to live next to someone who had a colony of roaches to feed. I could tolerate crickets and mealworms. There is more to fathom about a single ****roach than I can fathom and in order to rule out any unknowns about the silly ****roach I do not know, I am not bringing them into my environment. Thanks for the question.
Lol, I was just as stubborn about roaches, until cricket stank forced me to face my fears. Now I keep a few species as pets. Remarkable little animals.
 

DewDrop

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
131
Location
United States
Lol, I was just as stubborn about roaches, until cricket stank forced me to face my fears. Now I keep a few species as pets. Remarkable little animals.


Great comedy. Gave me a smile. Thanks for sharing. Great info on here. It is just the cricket jumps and the A. Avic. catches it, seems like a better food for her to have the way she hunts and catches prey. I am not going to raise food for my Tarantulas, it is just a cleaner option to shell out the change to buy the half or bakers dozen than keep such a complex creature as a feeder around and actually breed them. My knowledge is too limited on the vast amount of things a cricket can carry and a ****roach can spread. I have no worries when I just buy the feeders, but getting a small population going of roaches and/or crickets is just too chancy for me. Even meal worms could pose a problem once they beetle. Those who have the know how and inclination with the experience can do the raising of the feeders, personally, I am not going to risk my lease, messing with it. I do not ever plan on selling my tarantulas or breeding them and there is a pet store within a couple miles to get crickets. So in my situation it would just be asinine to not go to the pet store, spend some time with the store parrot and get some crickets on the way out. Seeing the bird is well worth the cricket price. Having a store bird like they do I KNOW it's clean and I always get a good batch of crickets. They don't sell roaches and are pretty much next door to the game warden, so, THAT is the main reason I am not messing with it. I know I am not going to get some strange, diseased invasive outa them.
 

DewDrop

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
131
Location
United States
Tropical roaches such as dubia do not present a risk of infestation as they require high temperatures to reproduce. An escaped roach likely will not die, but it also won't be able to produce offspring. Roaches are generally larger than crickets so you get more bang for your bug feeding a roach than a cricket. Some tarantulas don't seem to like dubia, but most will take red runners. Crickets are filthy. There's nothing "wrong" with one or the other, but both have advantages and disadvantages.

Different species of tarantula have different requirements. I can't think of any tarantulas with more opposite requirements from a cobalt blue than avics and rosies. An avic is arboreal. The rose is terrestrial and from one of the driest places on earth. The cobalt is an obligate burrowers from a rainforest. Please disregard the advice you were given in post #10.

The set up I use for my Haplopelma lividum (Cyriopagopus lividus) is about 8" of damp substrate with a starter burrow under a piece of cork bark and a full water dish. Keep yours moist but not soaking and give her room to burrow. No false bottom is necessary with tarantulas. Just ensure adequate ventilation and remove the uneaten remains of prey in a timely manner to prevent mold and mites. You also do not need any supplemental heating unless you live in a very cold house. As long as you're in the 70s you're okay. As has been said, humidity of the enclosure does not matter. The damp substrate will raise the humidity of the burrow, which is what counts. Your specimen looks thin, so offer her some chow. Crix or roaches are just fine.


I did not give advice. I merely said what I was using. I have already stated multiple times I am not here to give advice. Yes, it does get cold here and yes mine do need supplemental heating. The G. Rosea is a captive raised, as is the A. Avic. G. Roseas come from Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Do I really have to continue by illustrating the climate, or even mentioning that salt flats can be found? How about high plateau or alluvial plane? Geysers? My set up is fine for my spiders. While the Atacama Desert area is considered dry, it does have places where the Geysers spew forth, hot springs exist and salt flats remain. Given that fact I don't think I am doing so bad with it's enclosure. It was a nice varied response at several posts. Thanks, Thistles.
 
Last edited:

Thistles

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
I surely couldn't tolerate a feeder colony. Those who do have feeder colonies however are sure to have lots of great information about how those are going. Might be a thread for that..
For 2 tarantulas there's no need to start a feeder colony. I don't blame you at all there. I've been into the rum, so I will refrain from addressing anything else at the moment.
 

DewDrop

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
131
Location
United States
For 2 tarantulas there's no need to start a feeder colony. I don't blame you at all there. I've been into the rum, so I will refrain from addressing anything else at the moment.

Rum? "“RUM, n. Generically, fiery liquors that produce madness in total abstainers.”

Ambrose Bierce quotes (American Writer, Journalist and Editor, 1842-1914) "

The quote summed it up. I do not drink alcohol. I do enjoy soda pop. It has been published that there is a trace amount of drinking alcohol in soda pop, however it is not listed on the label. Who'd of thought?

It is raining here. Yeay. DO take care Thistles. We will all be dry and warm inside.
 

DewDrop

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
131
Location
United States
Ah yes. The fiery madness..groovey. ;)


I have a cricket missing a leg that the G. Rose is going to feast on in a couple of days. It is all snuggled in some peat safely away from other crickets. We name our crickets sometimes before we feed them, around here. That one gets the name Rummy.
 

Joe williams

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
38
Tropical roaches such as dubia do not present a risk of infestation as they require high temperatures to reproduce. An escaped roach likely will not die, but it also won't be able to produce offspring. Roaches are generally larger than crickets so you get more bang for your bug feeding a roach than a cricket. Some tarantulas don't seem to like dubia, but most will take red runners. Crickets are filthy. There's nothing "wrong" with one or the other, but both have advantages and disadvantages.

Different species of tarantula have different requirements. I can't think of any tarantulas with more opposite requirements from a cobalt blue than avics and rosies. An avic is arboreal. The rose is terrestrial and from one of the driest places on earth. The cobalt is an obligate burrowers from a rainforest. Please disregard the advice you were given in post #10.

The set up I use for my Haplopelma lividum (Cyriopagopus lividus) is about 8" of damp substrate with a starter burrow under a piece of cork bark and a full water dish. Keep yours moist but not soaking and give her room to burrow. No false bottom is necessary with tarantulas. Just ensure adequate ventilation and remove the uneaten remains of prey in a timely manner to prevent mold and mites. You also do not need any supplemental heating unless you live in a very cold house. As long as you're in the 70s you're okay. As has been said, humidity of the enclosure does not matter. The damp substrate will raise the humidity of the burrow, which is what counts. Your specimen looks thin, so offer her some chow. Crix or roaches are just fine.
Yeah I'm on that I've been power feeding her just to fatten her up a bit thought she her abdomen looked small in comparison to other specimens I've seen. Thanks again
 

Thistles

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
914
Location
Virginia
I did not give advice. I merely said what I was using. I have already stated multiple times I am not here to give advice. Yes, it does get cold here and yes mine do need supplemental heating. The G. Rosea is a captive raised, as is the A. Avic. G. Roseas come from Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Do I really have to continue by illustrating the climate, or even mentioning that salt flats can be found? How about high plateau or alluvial plane? Geysers? My set up is fine for my spiders. While the Atacama Desert area is considered dry, it does have places where the Geysers spew forth, hot springs exist and salt flats remain. Given that fact I don't think I am doing so bad with it's enclosure. It was a nice varied response at several posts. Thanks, Thistles.

My post was addressing the OP, but it took your earlier reply into account. That whole thing was not directed at you. I did read your post and at the end you explicitly said you weren't giving advice, but that isn't how your post read. In the context, it certainly appears like advice. If someone asks how to paint their room and then I give a step by step of how I paint my room, following that up with, "but I'm not giving advice," doesn't really make much difference. I didn't want the OP to follow what you do for your spiders. Does that make sense? I wasn't criticizing you here, but rather trying to emphasize the differences between the animals you have and the one OP has. They have completely different care requirements.

As for the rest of that post, I can address it in the other thread about salinity.

Also, yeah, rum. I don't drink often (like maybe 1x monthly) so it hits me pretty hard. I just had one drink and I could feel it, so I didn't want to be stupid when I replied. Sort of like not dumping someone while PMSing, y'know?
 
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