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first loss !!!

spidey noob

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tyne & wear uk
hi all, lost one of my avic versi today :( (im totaly gutted)
i had checked all my Ts last saturday when i feed & watered them, but when i was feeding them to day this T didnt look wright at first i thought it was maybe in pre moult as it normaly a lively little T, but upon a further look i could see some thing was wrong so i decide to have a closer look. i tryed to move it with a paint brush but nothing so i lifted the bark out a bit & still no movement, so i opend the web up a bit & seen the T was no longer with us !!!
(only the exo skelaton left)
then i seen these !!! ( WTF ???) they seem to have ate my little T !!! :mad::mad::mad:

do u guys / gals no what they are ??? can they affect my other Ts ???

P.S when i dismantled the enclosure i found dead crickets remains under the cork bark !!! seems alough the crickets i was feeding have hid under there & died there not been eaten like i thought !!! could that of caused this ???
 

Fuzzball79

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I don't know what those things are other than some kind of eggs, but I'm very sorry for your loss. :(. I reckon the uneaten crickets are rather a symptom of whatever was wrong with your Versi than the cause.
 

spidey noob

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tyne & wear uk
@ fuzzball
They were walking around !!!

@ juicyfruit
I did check the other Ts & there is no sign of them !!! (Thank God)

I'm going to remove all the bark from my avic enclosures & swap it for fake leaves glued to the side just to be shure ;)
 

spidey noob

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tyne & wear uk
hi all, i have lost another sling one of my Aphonopelma sp. "Malinche" has passed :(:(:(
last night i managed to find out what the unknown critters are mites !!! (but dont no what type yet)
so it must be ether high humidty or crickets being the source of them !!!
but finding that i had lost another Ts today has given me the answer i need, it has to be the crickets as the enclosure the sp. Malinche was not hummid enough (60/65 %) to cause a mite problem !!!
NO HERE IS THE PROBLEM !!!
when i buy crickets i buy in bulk 200/300 at a time & i put them ALL in an 80lt tub, witch i feed to all 30 of my slings so if there is some thing wrong with the them i have been feeding most of my collection with them ((f**k)

any idea of where i could go from here would be a huge help ???
 

Fuzzball79

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Oh no, not good. Are any of your other slings showing any symptoms? Would it maybe help to do a deep clean of all of the tubs just in case?

P.S.: I think I'm losing my P. Met sling :(. I thought he (or she) was in a long premoult, cos he'd been hiding a lot. Today I saw him squashed against the side of his tub with a very shrunk looking abdomen. He didn't seem to be able to move a couple of his legs properly (stiffness). He's not eaten for weeks, but had access to fresh water. Nothing changed in husbandry (around 78 F, dry substrate, drinking bowl and a slight misting every 1-2 weeks), but looking back I've noticed he had only eaten once since his last moult and stopped being active and started hiding more, which at first I thought to be normal for this species. I've put him in ICU for now (a first for me) and see how he goes. I wonder whether he had a bad moult the last time and I just didn't notice because he looked intact :( (feel like I failed him).
 

Enn49

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@spidey noob I'm sorry to hear about your little invaders. Mites oddly are members of the Arachnida class but I've only had experience of snake mites which are black, they can be awful to get rid of even when you can spray them. All I can suggest is that you clean their containers out every few weeks to make sure you get rid of any eggs they may lay.

@Fuzzball79 I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your P. met.
 

spidey noob

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800
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tyne & wear uk
@Fuzzball79
i was up till 5am this morning cleaning & rehouseing the avics, going to start the terrestrials soon.

@Enn49
i will do !!!

just to let u no where im up to !!!
there was a couple of tiny mites walking around on the in side of the avic tubs !!! but only the ones with the bark in it, no sign of mites in the ones with the fake leafs.
i scarled the top viv & i have totaly re done all avic enclosures.
i boil washed the tubs & microwaved then for 2 min each then put new substrate & decore, i checked all avics throughly & i cant see any mites on them.
im going to do the same with the bottom viv today. (all tubs & Ts !!!)

P.s im never feeding crickets again !!!
 

Enn49

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@spidey noob If you keep your T containers in a viv it will pay you to vacuum all the corners of the viv especially at the top as that is often where they lay their eggs.
 

spidey noob

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tyne & wear uk
hi all, bit of a better up date !!!
i have been checking all Ts daily & no sign of any mites !!! but i did find that the E,marinus enclosures were infested so i think thats were they started. (in the same viv as avics)
there has been NO more losses thank god :D:D:D
 

TabithasMom

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Unfortunately mites always pose a problem when it's necessary to wet the substrate and/or surrounding areas. The best cure is to find some armadillidiiae (or more commonly known as pill bugs, roly polies, etc.) and throw a couple in. They eat the mites and don't bother Ts. You can also cultivate them, and depending on where you live, they are plentiful during the non-frozen months,
 

Entity

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@spidey noob glad to hear u got it all straightened out! :) Maybe feeding crickets in smaller numbers one at a time to ur tarantulas would be a possible solution. I dont know if keep ur spiders off of crickets entirely is a good idea. They r a major staple. ...just a thought.
 

spidey noob

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tyne & wear uk
@Entity thanks :)
i only feed one cricket at a time :confused: slings 1cm / 5cm are feed dead crickets i put them in then remove them after 12/24 later if uneaten, once my Ts reach 6 cm i stop feeding cricket & use locusts as stapels as they have abought the same nutritional values.

as u can see there is not much diffrence between the two, so ether is fine for a staple ;) (IMO !!!) so no more crickets for me :D:D:D
 

Entity

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oh ok. thats cool! :) i dont have a place arounf me to get locust though so i dont have a lot of choice.
 
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