Massive Ghost Deaths

[cloud jaguar]

Really angered by something that happened yesterday and a couple of days before. Recently we transferred our L1 Ghosts from 32 oz deli cup (w/ humidity foam and excelsior) to a larger hex enclosure with humidity foam and excelsior.

First Incident:

We have maintained adequate humidity for the ghosts by spraying them daily with distilled water. The ghosts are fairly large as L1s - apparently as soon as we placed them in the hex they started to molt - many seemed to get stuck in the excelsior and mismolted.

Second Incident:

2 days afte the mismolt that killed about 10, as if that was not bad enough, yesterday, we found 10 more nymphs hopelessly stuck INTO the humidity foam or crushed underneath it. This is a mystery to us why the heck they went down there and jammed themselves under it since they had water droplets even on the sides of the enclosure like usual. It has been unusually hot lately but the nymphs have been watered and ventilated properly.

We are really p.o'd about this. As soon as we realized what was happening we quickly opened the hex container in a mad ditch effort to remove the foam which was crushing them. In the process about 5 or so nymphs were inadvertantly flung out of the container. We probably found most of them but this really sucked even more.

Our final solution is to get the remaining ones and PUT THEM ALL INTO A 1' CUBE NET CAGE - never again will we keep these with any excelsior of with any humidity foam. I dont know what the heck happened as we have never had any problems with nymphs and excelsior and humidity foam in the past but hopefully the net will work ok.

The reason i put this post here instead of the Health Issues forum is because I am pretty sure it was environmental factors of excelsior and foam that killed them.

 

[kamakiri]

Sorry to hear about the problems, I've had some of that myself with my first and current batch.

We have the special challenge in Southern Cal of being widely variable in humidity.

I don't recall losing any L1s to 'dry' mismolt, but I think I did lose some at L2 and L3.

After that time I moved most of them to deli tubs with a second lid on it, some were doubled-up cloth and others with solid lids with a ~2" hole in it to only expose the inner ring of cloth holes. Most of the tubs got a screen ladder and humidity foam. I kept the spraying fairly frequent at 2+ times a day, in the morning before work and in the evening. I remember losing a couple more on days that I failed to spray. Most of those were in the double-cloth lids, so I switched most to the 2nd solid lid. Perhaps a little more reliable system for maintaining humidity, but certainly not good for circulation.

With the restrictive lids in place, I didn't lose any more to low humidity/dry mismolt.

Unfortunately, I did lose at least one more to a humidity foam accident when it's tub was tipped over.

After that, I changed all the rigid screen ladders to wedge the foam in at least two sides.

That seems to be working for me, but I am down to 5 ghosts: 1 L6 male, 1 L6 female, 1 L7 male and 2 L7 females. And I started ( after selling some ) with over 10.

Anyway, I'm thinking that the net cage is not the way to go here, unless you can also humidify the room...especially if you are running the A/C during the day like we are.

 

[ismart]

Are you sure no one by accident tiped over or knocked the large Hexagon enclosure on floor and put it back? For the nymphs to be getting stuck under the humidity foam seems strange. Is there that much of a gap between the foam and the bottom or the sides of The Hexagon enclosure for them to fit into?

 

[PhilinYuma]

I wondered about that. Tucker does that sometimes, but I can always tell from the "hangdog" look on his face.

 

[Kruszakus]

If I'm successful with Phyllocrania, then I'm going to write a complete guide based on how I kept mine. I had NO mismolts with nymphs I got as L1 - some with L2/L3 I bough later, but those were visibly kept in dry conditions. Almost no unexplained deaths or cannibalism and so on.

Maybe it will be of some use.

 

[hibiscusmile]

humm, odd, seems like a tipping over situtation to me to, never had that happen, ghost do so well, doent make any sense, I would switch to the moss, the excelsior could not hurt them, something else is going on here. All mine are kept that way, and nary a problem, could it be to hot and humid? dont know just guessing?

 

[kmsgameboy]

Really angered by something that happened yesterday and a couple of days before. Recently we transferred our L1 Ghosts from 32 oz deli cup (w/ humidity foam and excelsior) to a larger hex enclosure with humidity foam and excelsior. First Incident:

We have maintained adequate humidity for the ghosts by spraying them daily with distilled water. The ghosts are fairly large as L1s - apparently as soon as we placed them in the hex they started to molt - many seemed to get stuck in the excelsior and mismolted.

Second Incident:

2 days afte the mismolt that killed about 10, as if that was not bad enough, yesterday, we found 10 more nymphs hopelessly stuck INTO the humidity foam or crushed underneath it. This is a mystery to us why the heck they went down there and jammed themselves under it since they had water droplets even on the sides of the enclosure like usual. It has been unusually hot lately but the nymphs have been watered and ventilated properly.

We are really p.o'd about this. As soon as we realized what was happening we quickly opened the hex container in a mad ditch effort to remove the foam which was crushing them. In the process about 5 or so nymphs were inadvertantly flung out of the container. We probably found most of them but this really sucked even more.

Our final solution is to get the remaining ones and PUT THEM ALL INTO A 1' CUBE NET CAGE - never again will we keep these with any excelsior of with any humidity foam. I dont know what the heck happened as we have never had any problems with nymphs and excelsior and humidity foam in the past but hopefully the net will work ok.

The reason i put this post here instead of the Health Issues forum is because I am pretty sure it was environmental factors of excelsior and foam that killed them.

Im so sorry to hear that! Ghosts are some of my favorite creatures!

 

[cloud jaguar]

I investigated and there does not seem to have been any tipping. My wife and I bought some really nice hydei and mel cultures yesterday and we were just getting them down to feed them. I had misted them earlier in the day. Some small drops still remained on the inside of the plastic - but for some reason most of the nymphs had descended down to where the sponge was. the sponge is cut to exactly fit the bottom of the hex container - i have only had a problem with one nymph going down there before - i thought it was dead but it wa only stuck. the ones we found there yesterday were definitely dead and all plastered into the darned sponge.

They seem to be doing fine in the net which is completely full of fake foliage and flowers. I have sprayed with water 2x today to make sure they are humid enough. They seem to be doing fine except one which i found dead. I realize there is some danger of them drying out too much but i believe it can be compensated for with spraying 2x day instead of just once like we did with the 32 oz deli cups. You still dont think that is enough Kamakiri?

Also, Yen Saw lives in Tex which must be drier than Los Angeles - perhaps he has some recommendations for keeping ghosts in nets.

Earlier when I was typing for work on my desk at home a ghost nymph which must have escaped in the chaos yesterday walked right up my hand! I put him back with his brothers and sisters

 

[hibiscusmile]

He knew who daddy was! dont worry about keeping it that moist, they will do fine in there with the misting twice a day, once in am, once in pm.

 

[Katnapper]

I'm also sorry to hear about all the deaths and problems you're having. I keep mine in net cages, with one layer of paper towel (cut to fit) on the bottom... then I spray it and pat it down so it will stick and stay like that to the bottom. I mist usually twice a day... sometimes 3 times, but sometimes 1 time (depending on my schedule, time factors, etc.). But I try to mist twice a day. And they seem to do fine for me. I do have a console humidifier in the bug room, but I haven't been using it at all since it's been spring/summer. I really hope you don't have any more problems!!!

Edit: Oh... forgot to mention.... I also pour some water right through the top netting, enough so that it soaks the paper towel on the bottom. I do this about every other day.

 

[kamakiri]

It's not that dry at the moment here, but we are in desert conditions most of the time. I haven't had any problems lately, and it's hard to tell if the slightly higher ambient humidity is helping more than the dual lids and humidity foam. 2x spray might do the job, but I am doubting it if you are running A/C in your house. Not to discount the other advice, but most of our other members do not live in the desert.

And just about any L1 mantis can be drowned in the slightest bit of water. My guess is that's what happened to the ones stuck to the sponge. When they're that small, they are not strong enough to break the surface tension of even the smallest droplets and they will struggle til they drown. I'm guessing that's why you have them look like they are squished into the foam. I haven't had that happen to my ghosts, but did see the problem on occasion with religiosas which also need elevated humidity to molt properly.

 

[Rick]

That's why I say not to use excelsior. Or if you do use it make sure it is sparse. Some people cram that stuff in there. FOam doesn't work either as you just found out. Take it as a lesson learned.

 

[ismart]

I use excelsior for small nymphs. It works well if you don't over do it as rick stated. I'm not a big fan of the foam either. It seems to dry out rather quickly, and takes longer for me to clean.