Heterochaeta Orientalis randomly died

[ChitandChat]

Greetings,

I'd gotten a Heterochaeta (named Cinnamon) about 2-3 weeks ago that was between L3-L5. I set them up in a specially-designed deli cup with various climbing points and tulle fabric glued to the sides along with a thin layer of Repti-soil as substrate. I kept the cup on the edge of a UTH to maintain temps around 82F and humidity was kept between 40%-60%. I usually misted the sides (and sometimes a very gentle and careful squirt of a droplet or two in the space in front of Cinnamon) every other day or whenever humidity was around 40%. Last week I had a massive dip in population for my d. hydei culture so Cinnamon went without feeding for about a week but I managed to get 2 flies in that week. I managed to bolster the population and feed about 4 flies a few days ago. However on the 11th, I found him near the bottom of the cup, I tried to feed him a small housefly to see if he would take it, but he didn't even pay attention to it even if it touched him. The following morning I found him on the ground dead. His body seemed well-formed with no sign of having experienced a mismolt or anything.

I want to order another one because I like to raise each species to adulthood but I'm not sure what I did wrong.

EDIT: I was looking around his deli cup and I found a exuviae underneath a piece of sphagnum moss but I'm not sure if it's old.

 

[Synapze]

It may be possible that he fell after molting and the damage wasn't visible. 

I doubt that starvation was the cause since I've had plenty go longer without eating, but at this stage they should really be offered food every few days. 

When you say you maintained a temperature of 82°, was that 24/7? I've successfully kept this species for about 2 years and I've found they seem to do best between 68°-80°. They really don't need any additional heat source unless your temps fall below 68°. I keep my groups at room temperature, which for me is 68° (24/7) during the winter and usually 78° (24/7) during the summer. Other than offering a little water every couple of days, I don't mist the substrate for this species. 

This species is VERY hardy and I don't see anything that looks terribly out of line with your environmental conditions, so don't beat yourself up about it. I suggest you just keep them at room temperature and not worry about supplemental heat. Provide just enough water for drinking every couple of days. They don't need any additional humidity. You might want to consider less decor while keeping in a 32oz... they usually molt from the fabric lid at early instars anyway. Around L5 I move them into something larger. 

This is such a great species... I'd definitely recommend getting another. 

Hope you find this helpful. Good luck with your next. 

 

[ChitandChat]

It may be possible that he fell after molting and the damage wasn't visible. 

I doubt that starvation was the cause since I've had plenty go longer without eating, but at this stage they should really be offered food every few days. 

When you say you maintained a temperature of 82°, was that 24/7? I've successfully kept this species for about 2 years and I've found they seem to do best between 68°-80°. They really don't need any additional heat source unless your temps fall below 68°. I keep my groups at room temperature, which for me is 68° (24/7) during the winter and usually 78° (24/7) during the summer. Other than offering a little water every couple of days, I don't mist the substrate for this species. 

This species is VERY hardy and I don't see anything that looks terribly out of line with your environmental conditions, so don't beat yourself up about it. I suggest you just keep them at room temperature and not worry about supplemental heat. Provide just enough water for drinking every couple of days. They don't need any additional humidity. You might want to consider less decor while keeping in a 32oz... they usually molt from the fabric lid at early instars anyway. Around L5 I move them into something larger. 

This is such a great species... I'd definitely recommend getting another. 

Hope you find this helpful. Good luck with your next. 

Thank you so much for the detailed response! Yea, 24/7 pretty much since that's what most of the few care sheets I could find would suggest. But if room temp worked for you then I'm going to try that for sure. I already ordered another one! I'm going to remove the green climbing stick this time to reduce the clutter. Thank you again!

 

[Synapze]

You're welcome. Hopefully someone with more experience will have something to add.

 

[lizzie]

I agree about the room temp. I've definitely had random deaths with this species, but they're generally more hardy than other species I keep. My house is generally around 73 but gets down to the upper 60s on cool nights. Mine are in mesh cages so the humidity has been as low as 30% during the winter.