Difficult Molt? Help.

[LoveBug]

You need mesh, and better for him would be a flat topped lid so he can sit on the lid, mesh is critical, he will not eat for a couple days perfectly normal, but his feet simply cannot grip plastic indefinitely, gat some Kevlar window screening for him, it should work great, gender can be determined by his fifth instar, should I say "it's"

Just to be sure I understand, are you saying he'd rather hang from a flat top than hang on the side of a domed lid? I'll certainly either use mesh on a flat top or add some to the dome, based on your response. And thanks for reassuring me about his fasting.

I'll get the hang of this yet. ;-)

 

[soundspawn]

They certainly like flat surfaces more, so if there's a way to pull fabric across the bottom of the lid I'd do that.

 

[LoveBug]

They certainly like flat surfaces more, so if there's a way to pull fabric across the bottom of the lid I'd do that.

I have some aluminum screening. Is the aluminum bad for him? Would fabric or cloth mesh be better?

 

[soundspawn]

Fabric is best for gripping and keeping flies in... but if the aluminum is fine enough it should be fine. Once he's bigger you'll want screen for better ventilation

 

[LoveBug]

Fabric is best for gripping and keeping flies in... but if the aluminum is fine enough it should be fine. Once he's bigger you'll want screen for better ventilation

OK, thanks very much.

 

[LoveBug]

Update: Today Frank has been moving around more normally in his cup. Also, this afternoon I found him with a fruit fly head in his hands. A good sign .... :- )

I'll get him a flat mesh top for his cup and will try not to worry so much in the future.

Thanks everyone. From my heart.

 

[LAME]

There's many materials you could use for your lid that are probably right in sight. For my budwing nymphs there were times where id take a piece of toilet paper, separate the two plys and rubberband a Ply to each deli container. Good way to keep fruit flies in compared to mesh screen. Many people use pantyhose as well... Once its eating bigger flies or crickets mesh is the way to do it.

main thing to consider is ventilation. I don't really use the t.p method unless it absolutely boils down to having nothing else.

Do you have any photos of your little friend?

 

[LoveBug]

Sorry to be so late in replying to this. Frank went through his second shed beautifully and seemed to be doing just fine. Then last night I gave him a very, very small cricket from the pet store. He grabbed it and seemed to have a good time eating most of it. This morning I found him clinging to the plastic screen on the top of his cup. I spritzed a little water through the screen on the other side of the cup. A short time later, I found him on the paper towel. I thought maybe he was drinking water from the paper towel and left him. A bit later, although he hadn't really moved much, I put in a few fruit files. He batted them away and tried to climb up the plastic but couldn't. At that point I got the flies out of the cup and let him be. He died later in the afternoon.

What happened???

He seemed to be doing so well. Sad.

 

[Danny.]

Sorry to be so late in replying to this. Frank went through his second shed beautifully and seemed to be doing just fine. Then last night I gave him a very, very small cricket from the pet store. He grabbed it and seemed to have a good time eating most of it. This morning I found him clinging to the plastic screen on the top of his cup. I spritzed a little water through the screen on the other side of the cup. A short time later, I found him on the paper towel. I thought maybe he was drinking water from the paper towel and left him. A bit later, although he hadn't really moved much, I put in a few fruit files. He batted them away and tried to climb up the plastic but couldn't. At that point I got the flies out of the cup and let him be. He died later in the afternoon.

What happened???

He seemed to be doing so well. Sad.

What happened is he ate a bad cricket!

 

[LoveBug]

But Danny, why would a pet store bought cricket that I had gut loaded with cricket food be bad?

 

[Ranitomeya]

Store-bought crickets should be quarantined for at least a week and fed a healthy diet for just as long--cricket food is a poor substitute for fruits and vegetables and crickets--and all other insects--tend to do poorly on cricket diets in comparison with a diet of fresh food.

If you've ever seen the inside of a cricket bin at most pet stores, you'd avoid touching them with your bare hands. They tend to be kept in disgusting conditions and dead crickets frequently get left in there to rot and spread disease. Cricket diets are usually fed in these conditions because it's abnormally resistant to spoiling--which is not a good sign for food.

There is nothing wrong with feeding healthy crickets. Most people that encounter problems when feeding crickets purchased and used them without quarantining them and making sure the crickets weren't sick.

 

[Mantis Man13]

This is why I don't feed my mantises grasshopers and crickets. I have fed wild caught ones to mantises and my mantis had watery poop and died