papilio_
Well-known member
My female Idolo has been sub for over three months , so it should be any time now! Partially through reading old posts about the problems Idolos tend to have with their maturing molts, and also with the generous advice of Precarious, I've come up with this enclosure. Largely putting aesthetics aside and designing the housing in such a way that she'll have little option of choosing to hang from a spot too near the ground as they often do, I'm hoping that this will offer the best chance for success.
While browsing at Target this white, foam-covered shelf lining immediately caught my eye, and my observations to this point have been that the material is nearly perfect for the task. In her previous enclosure within which I had tried all sorts of types of twigs on which she might move about, it seemed that no matter how well-textured the branches she would nearly always have a difficult time establishing a firm footing, typically I'd see her taking numerous stabs at the twigs before her tarsal claws found their grip. With this material nearly every step she takes is immediately secure and I've not, since she was much younger and smaller, seen her able to maneuver with such ease. The foam clearly poses no threat of damaging her feet the way wire window screening has been known to do, and it also appears to be far more secure than the surface of the common net style enclosures.
The housing is an acrylic T enclosure, 6x6x12 and set on end. On my first construction which had the foam hot-glued across the ceiling and completely down each side I discovered that the heat lamp was providing little effect with that foam in the way (I've chosen to have it shining from the side so as not to obstruct my view), so this newer version leaves an opening lower down on one side, with only vine branches hot-glued across it should she need to find her way across the gap. There is a 2-inch deep tub on the floor filled with humidity foam and topped with spag moss in order to keep the humidity up, and with the heat lamp turned on during the day at a distance of about a foot the environment remains at about 90F and 60% humidity (with the humidity climbing at night as the lamp is switched off by the timer).
As an indication of her ease in moving about the new housing, I've put 5 or 6 BBs in at a time and found them all gone within about ten minutes. When she had only the twigs on which to maneuver this would typically take far longer, and I had always felt bad for her watching the way she'd had to struggle to get around. Those are such tiny feet for an enormous insect like this.
As I didn't wish to mess up the acrylic by hot-gluing directly onto it, I've used these strips of masking tape as anchors. I'd always thought that hot-glue adhered to pretty much everything! Surprisingly, I found that it adhered securely neither to the tape nor the foam, so on my second re-build I first applied a thin zig-zag of glue to the tape before adding the bead of glue for the foam, and then applied another bead above the foam which drips through the mesh well enough to adhere to the glue beneath. What remains to be added is some type of perch from which she'll be able to find the correct angle at which to expand and dry her wings, but that will need to be something which won't be an attraction for her to hang from while molting.
One thing I've always loved about these T housings is the high quality of the acrylic walls, I'm able to take very sharp photos right through it. And I've moved her from my inverts room up here to my desktop, not only so that I'll have a greater chance of watching the molt when it happens but also so that I'll be able to intervene if possible should she get into any trouble. The earlier maturing molt of my male Idolo would have ended in its death had I not happened to be there right then, it had chosen a spot near enough to the bottom that it would have hit ground before completely exiting its exuvia and I had to reach into the enclosure and lift the branch by a couple of inches, holding it there throughout the second half of the molt.
Any suggestions or comments are most welcome!
While browsing at Target this white, foam-covered shelf lining immediately caught my eye, and my observations to this point have been that the material is nearly perfect for the task. In her previous enclosure within which I had tried all sorts of types of twigs on which she might move about, it seemed that no matter how well-textured the branches she would nearly always have a difficult time establishing a firm footing, typically I'd see her taking numerous stabs at the twigs before her tarsal claws found their grip. With this material nearly every step she takes is immediately secure and I've not, since she was much younger and smaller, seen her able to maneuver with such ease. The foam clearly poses no threat of damaging her feet the way wire window screening has been known to do, and it also appears to be far more secure than the surface of the common net style enclosures.
The housing is an acrylic T enclosure, 6x6x12 and set on end. On my first construction which had the foam hot-glued across the ceiling and completely down each side I discovered that the heat lamp was providing little effect with that foam in the way (I've chosen to have it shining from the side so as not to obstruct my view), so this newer version leaves an opening lower down on one side, with only vine branches hot-glued across it should she need to find her way across the gap. There is a 2-inch deep tub on the floor filled with humidity foam and topped with spag moss in order to keep the humidity up, and with the heat lamp turned on during the day at a distance of about a foot the environment remains at about 90F and 60% humidity (with the humidity climbing at night as the lamp is switched off by the timer).
As an indication of her ease in moving about the new housing, I've put 5 or 6 BBs in at a time and found them all gone within about ten minutes. When she had only the twigs on which to maneuver this would typically take far longer, and I had always felt bad for her watching the way she'd had to struggle to get around. Those are such tiny feet for an enormous insect like this.
As I didn't wish to mess up the acrylic by hot-gluing directly onto it, I've used these strips of masking tape as anchors. I'd always thought that hot-glue adhered to pretty much everything! Surprisingly, I found that it adhered securely neither to the tape nor the foam, so on my second re-build I first applied a thin zig-zag of glue to the tape before adding the bead of glue for the foam, and then applied another bead above the foam which drips through the mesh well enough to adhere to the glue beneath. What remains to be added is some type of perch from which she'll be able to find the correct angle at which to expand and dry her wings, but that will need to be something which won't be an attraction for her to hang from while molting.
One thing I've always loved about these T housings is the high quality of the acrylic walls, I'm able to take very sharp photos right through it. And I've moved her from my inverts room up here to my desktop, not only so that I'll have a greater chance of watching the molt when it happens but also so that I'll be able to intervene if possible should she get into any trouble. The earlier maturing molt of my male Idolo would have ended in its death had I not happened to be there right then, it had chosen a spot near enough to the bottom that it would have hit ground before completely exiting its exuvia and I had to reach into the enclosure and lift the branch by a couple of inches, holding it there throughout the second half of the molt.
Any suggestions or comments are most welcome!
