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Why we use "mechanical moms" and ICU units!!!

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entomology

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Wow that just goes to show mine in mechanical mom dnt do that at all. Do u know why they eat each other in the sack then??? I can tell u now why.... it's due to dehydration!!! Ur humidity must be too low. To increase body mass and grow they need good hydration
 

Ceratogyrus

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Humidity is high in my enclosures when the female is on a sac, so don't think it's dehydration. Just picking off the weaklings I think. In the incubator they don't feed on each other as they don't lie on top of each other and EWL obviously can't walk around.
 

Martin Oosthuysen

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I believe in leaving the sac with the female as they have somehow managed to do this for centuries without our help. I have also personally had good success leaving the sacs with the females. If the conditions were good enough to drop they will be good enough to hatch in the same conditions. Also by leaving the sac with the female till 2nd instar it gives the EWL and 1st instars a chance to pick off the weaklings. I think by pulling all the weaklings through we are weakening the gene pool.

Okay here you said 2nd instar.
I now point to below 21 days or EWL
I used to leave the sacs till 21 days and then pull it. You often would see EWL with dead eggs in their jaws. While leaving the sacs with the females now I find the 1st instars are much fatter when they emerge from the sac with fewer babies but stronger
So which is it now ? I'm confused.
 

Ceratogyrus

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Not sure what you mean. The slings emerge at 1st instars from the sac and I separate them at 2nd instar from the female
 

entomology

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But the mom will automatically rotate the egg sack!!! That's the function of a mechanical mom. So u think the year off the weak ones so once again it's an assumption??
 

Martin Oosthuysen

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That's my point, its conflicting now at what stage this separation happens, also now its left with the mom and then its taken away so I think me the tarantula the mechanical mom you and him won't know where these babies are at the moment.
 

Ceratogyrus

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You probably have losses then before you take them out of the mechanical mom I guess, but once you put them in an icu unit they are not in contact with each other anymore. Yeah, at 21 days I used to pull the sac at EWL stage and there were EWL feeding on each other.
 

entomology

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Once the sack is removed you have full control and can properly record numbers etc( population dynamics) as if u dnt it's only guessing.
 

Ceratogyrus

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Suppose that's an advantage of the mechanical mom. Like I have said, there is no right or wrong way, just different ways. :) Don't worry, my son will be here in a month and a half and then he will probably keep me quite busy and ill stop asking you these interesting questions. :)
 

Ceratogyrus

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So there is light at the end of the tunnel :)
Just think. Without people like me, who would make people think out of the box?
Other than all the insults in this thread from you, there have been some interesting points. :)
Like I said, my son should keep me busy, but I'll still pop in to check on you two. :)
 

entomology

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Just a quick statement you made earlier I would like to rectify with you. Tarantulas or any spider for that matter don't have " jaws" as u stated earlier. Only insects have :)
 

Ceratogyrus

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Just a quick statement you made earlier I would like to rectify with you. Tarantulas or any spider for that matter don't have " jaws" as u stated earlier. Only insects have :)
Sure everyone understood what I meant. :)
Kinda like tarantulas have haemolymph, not blood. I still understood what you meant though. :) If you really want to pick everything apart, just let me know. :)
Please submit your data report and blood smear results differentiating the difference between the 2.
 
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