I want to start off by saying that I am not telling this story to gain sympathy or anything like that. Tbh most of this I probably could’ve avoided. I am Definitely completely and utterly destroyed by this though...
I had to leave for a family vaca for Thanksgiving. We were gone for 4 days. Didn’t know **** could hit the fan in that little time. Just to be clear though most of my collection is fine. But of course it was my favorite species that had to be the ones to get blown apart. I had prepared for this trip by giving plenty of food and making sure the substrate would hold the humidity good enough. Though I was a little short on time between school, packing, and regular everyday stuff.
Jesus... absolute disaster with the Heterochaetas while I was away... Dumped a ton Melos and hydei in and completely gave the moss a spray as well as the mantis. Started out with 10. Now I have 4 and a mismolted one. Two fatal mismolts... one of the older females and a one younger one. Another two missing which I’m guessing is cannablism. One on the floor dead. I’m down to 4 healthy ones and a mismolted one. My humidity is fine. I’m providing birch sticks. ###### is going on. This species is giving me some real pains.
My Heat lamp died while I was away that was with my idolomantis diabolicas... my most expensive and rare species. My last female idolo passed away from idk what... I kept the enclosure full of flies. She looks to be plump. Gonna guess it’s becaeue the heat lamp died. But my room stays in the high 70s. There goes that expensive and amazing breeding group.
My violin mantis are ruined now as well. Cats somehow got into my room by sliding open a heavy *** door and completely destroyed their net cage. Only Male is dead. One female is about to die. The other female disfigured... those guys were my favorite.
At a loss for words. My favorite species have been flushed down the drain. I guess I just wanted to tell the story and get it off my chest. Feeling pretty guilty for these poor insects. I know that some of you big timers that I’ve been growing to become don’t think this is much. But it’s definitely a blow that hurts. Between the attachment with the mantis and the fact that this financially hurts... but I ain’t going away. I got other species that are ready to breed and hopefully I’ll have some babies being produced here soon. This is just a couple/ a lot of steps back.
I had to leave for a family vaca for Thanksgiving. We were gone for 4 days. Didn’t know **** could hit the fan in that little time. Just to be clear though most of my collection is fine. But of course it was my favorite species that had to be the ones to get blown apart. I had prepared for this trip by giving plenty of food and making sure the substrate would hold the humidity good enough. Though I was a little short on time between school, packing, and regular everyday stuff.
Jesus... absolute disaster with the Heterochaetas while I was away... Dumped a ton Melos and hydei in and completely gave the moss a spray as well as the mantis. Started out with 10. Now I have 4 and a mismolted one. Two fatal mismolts... one of the older females and a one younger one. Another two missing which I’m guessing is cannablism. One on the floor dead. I’m down to 4 healthy ones and a mismolted one. My humidity is fine. I’m providing birch sticks. ###### is going on. This species is giving me some real pains.
My Heat lamp died while I was away that was with my idolomantis diabolicas... my most expensive and rare species. My last female idolo passed away from idk what... I kept the enclosure full of flies. She looks to be plump. Gonna guess it’s becaeue the heat lamp died. But my room stays in the high 70s. There goes that expensive and amazing breeding group.
My violin mantis are ruined now as well. Cats somehow got into my room by sliding open a heavy *** door and completely destroyed their net cage. Only Male is dead. One female is about to die. The other female disfigured... those guys were my favorite.
At a loss for words. My favorite species have been flushed down the drain. I guess I just wanted to tell the story and get it off my chest. Feeling pretty guilty for these poor insects. I know that some of you big timers that I’ve been growing to become don’t think this is much. But it’s definitely a blow that hurts. Between the attachment with the mantis and the fact that this financially hurts... but I ain’t going away. I got other species that are ready to breed and hopefully I’ll have some babies being produced here soon. This is just a couple/ a lot of steps back.
I'm headed on my yearly pilgrimage back home next month and will be gone for 7 days so this post makes me nervous... wish you all the best in recuperating your collection.
