Idolo death mystery!

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Psychobunny

Psychobunny

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I got my very first ever idolos, 4 of them, a few weeks ago from Yen (I think!!??). One has alredy molted twice, and

2 are big enough to put in 12'' net cages.

Well, one of them (in a 12'' net cage) was found dead on the floor of the cage yesterday!

There was no unusual discoloration nor any discharge coming from the body.

There were a few small stains inside which may be vomit, unknown!!??

I feed it only BB's, which it ate the day before it died.

I keep them on a UTH (Ultratherm from Bean Farm) at 90F and the room RH is 50% via 3 humidifiers going 24/7.

The other 3 idolo's are fine.

I can not figure out why on earth this one died so suddenly!!

Any thoughts???

 
My friends 2 idolos did the exact same thing, and we could NOT figure out what caused it...I have been lucky I guess with mine

 
Normally, when I find a dead one on the floor, there are signs, like discharge from mouth or anus, or body

discoloration, or black eyes, or something!!

This body was perfect! I almost expected it to wake up in my hand!!

Very strange. It was a new cage as well, so no cleaning chemicals or anything like that!!

 
Yeah same thing with mine. No clue why to this date. I could be something to do with the conditions. My conditions are all most the exact same as yours and I had the same problem. It may be a coincidence but idk.

 
Your idolo was in perfect coloration because it died very recently, sorry.

Does your room have a lot of plastic?

How clean is it?

Humidifiers can cause a bed for bacteria to party in...

Idolos seem fairy susceptible to bacterial infections.

Do you have any pictures of their net cages? I wash mine every month, regardless of how white it looks.

Did your idolo come from a wild caught ooth?

Sorry for your loss. In my experience, 'some' idolos do not digest their food as fast as other idolos. I believe it has to do with what ooth they came out of, depending how healthy the females was. Another 'guess' of mine is that if a nymph does not have much space to walk around in and exercise, it does not digest it's food as well as it would if it had much more space.

Suggesting your nymph from dying of fecal impaction, was his/her belly very fat?

 
I guess I'm about to die, because everyone knows I'm full of %$^&. :clown:

anyway, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I have no idea why it could happen, but I agree with Brian in that humidifiers need to be cleaned often and the room too.

Harry

 
About one out of ten can die this way on average, I feel it's just a bad molt before it happens from what I've noticed, it's always a Idolo that is old in it's instar, I've had the mystery death many times in 300 or so tries at adulthood...

If you have 2 L2-3 Idolo your chances at a adult are 50-50 or so, well that's my best guess anyway for someone that hasn't got some to adult before?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yeah - I saw losses at L1-L2 that were unexplainable. But most times, I witness odd behavior prior to death, and had already separated them from the others. It did seems to happen near molting time.

 
Brian Aschenbach said:
Your idolo was in perfect coloration because it died very recently, sorry.

Does your room have a lot of plastic?

How clean is it?

Humidifiers can cause a bed for bacteria to party in...

Idolos seem fairy susceptible to bacterial infections.

Do you have any pictures of their net cages? I wash mine every month, regardless of how white it looks.

Did your idolo come from a wild caught ooth?

Sorry for your loss. In my experience, 'some' idolos do not digest their food as fast as other idolos. I believe it has to do with what ooth they came out of, depending how healthy the females was. Another 'guess' of mine is that if a nymph does not have much space to walk around in and exercise, it does not digest it's food as well as it would if it had much more space.

Suggesting your nymph from dying of fecal impaction, was his/her belly very fat?
Click to expand...
You are right, esp the cool mist type of humidifiers.

I use Holmes Humidifier Bacteriostat concentrate in the water. It's a great, and needed product.

All my idolo's are captive bread.

There is one thing, I tried an experiment using a IR heat emmiter placing over the edge of one of my Idolo's

12'' net cage.

I have it about 6'' from the cage and measured the warmest spot at 109F.

I provided a temp gradient so the idolo could move about and find the temp he likes best.

Lo and behold, he parks himself directly under the heat emmiter and loves it!!

This tells me, given the choise, they will gravitate to the warmest spot if given the opertunity.

So, I am forming a theory the one who died was due to dropping night time temps.

So maybe temp is the culprit here!?

 
Psychobunny said:
Lo and behold, he parks himself directly under the heat emmiter and loves it!!

This tells me, given the choise, they will gravitate to the warmest spot if given the opertunity.
Click to expand...
Could be. I kept pushing the limits, and eventually had the lamp sitting on the top screen in a metal housing (so the bulb was maybe 2 or 3 inches away at most). This was the threshold for them... they'd sit around the edges, but not directly in it. Soon after that, I mounted the lights about a foot above the enclosure, which kept most of my Idolos in the 100-105 range at the top (during the day). Just had to be more diligent about keeping the enclosure hydrated above 40%RH until adults hood.

 

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