cricket "colony" in spider terri

spruce257

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Hi,

somehow one of these crickets must have made it ... during its short life in the spider terri, it has laid some eggs before being killed by my always hungry spider (see image). Now, the interesting question is what to to with the cricket newborns - should I leave them in there and wait until they are big enough to be eaten by my little lady (there are four little of these cricket babies, each about two millimeters long, including everything), or should I evacuate my spider and clean the terri? Since she got a new house just some weeks ago, I would rather not move her again, but what I want or nto want is not of uttermost importance when it comes to the safety of my spiders!

Thanks in advance,

Dennis
 

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Cirith Ungol

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Best idea would be to pick them out, but I doubt it's only 4. There could well be more comming or some of them might be hiding. Is that the case then you better take the T out, clean the entire tank, throw away the substrate and check all other stuff you have there for hiding crickets.
 

spruce257

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Hm ... I kinda feared you would say that ... of course, I am not sure whether these four guys are the only ones lurking around, so I will buy new stuff for the terri tomorrow and move lady ... damn.

Thanks for the reply!
 

Cirith Ungol

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Well, you could always put the substrate into a plastic bag and throw it into the freezer for 2-3 days... that should kill off all those pesky crickets.
 

odinn7

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I had the same problem and all I did was let them keep drowning themselves in the water dish. It took less than a week and all I had to do was change the water every day.
 

Varden

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I would be worried that the little crickets would gang up on the T and chew on her in the time it takes to drown them all. I would move Lady, toss the substrate and start again.
 

dOOb

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nuke 'em

I've never had lil baby crickets in my T enclosures... but the odd time if i end up with mites, i will put the critter keeper in the microwave to kill little buggers. OF COURSE make sure you remove your T before doing this. Leave the encloser outside for an hour or two to cool off... you are now ready to reintroduce your T. I find this a fast and effective way to get rid of freeloaders... also saves money in having to replace the substrate.
 

spruce257

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Varden said:
I would be worried that the little crickets would gang up on the T and chew on her in the time it takes to drown them all. I would move Lady, toss the substrate and start again.

All right well I am going to make her a new home tomorrow eveing ... just in case - although I haven't heard any gang songs being recited yet :)

But there is another question that came into my mind: suppose lady hasn't molted for a long time, what is the worst that could happen if she molted with these tiny ones inside? Are they ready to attack her??? I mean, they are still so small ...
 

xgrafcorex

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..

while freezing and nuking sound ok, id probably just go ahead and change it all out. that way you wont have decomposing crickets all over your terrarium
 

Cirith Ungol

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spruce257 said:
Are they ready to attack her???
Crickets are monsters! ;) I'd not trust them one bit. Adults would do it if they were hungry enough and I'd not try my luck with those tiny monsters...
 

spruce257

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Cirith Ungol said:
Crickets are monsters! ;) I'd not trust them one bit. Adults would do it if they were hungry enough and I'd not try my luck with those tiny monsters...
I know what you mean ... I have seen some molt and eat their old skin immediately after coming out of it - so yes, I don't trust them very much. But, what should I feed if not crickets? I've tried roaches for my bigger one, but she/he simply knocked on the top of it - as if it was going to say "Hello? Anybody home?" but then just went away - so I finally had to freeze the roaches I had bought.
 

Cirith Ungol

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Well, nothing wrong with feeding them crix I guess. Just keep an eye on them. To make it even easier for your T you could use my age old favorite trick and pull all the crickets legs of before tossing it in. It might then just wiggle enough to make the T curious {D
 

Stefan-V

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Is that substrate as wet as it looks like? Maybe that's why it goes up the walls. It's too wet if you can squeeze out water with your hand.
 

Arlius

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You didnt even need to change the substrate. Pinheads need food to grow, they wont get past another molt. They wont live longer than 2 weeks. They are too small to cause rot/mold/mites.
Just need it decently dry and let the crickets starve to death/drown in water.
They are also too small to be a danger to the T. Mites are a danger, about the same size, but they have adaptations (mouth parts) that allows em to get through the soft parts.
Maybe if it was a first instar sling I might be worried, but not a full grown T.
 

spruce257

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Yeah, actually its kinda wet ... but she'd go up the wall with dry substrate as well! The substrate has changed now - its almost dry (I use compressed stuff that needs to be dumped in water, but it dries pretty quickly). Anyhow, the humidity does not bother her at all - during the night, she moved in ;-) Moved half the earth and created a new home!


Thank you all for your information and comments!
 

Marcelo

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What I have done, if you do not want to change the substrate is to remove the water container, for a few days 4 or 5 days, the pinkhead crikets should die.

But I recomend you to move your T and change the substrate for a clean and freshy one.
 

Lorgakor

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Is that a heat lamp inside your tank? If it is I would recommend that you take it out. A roaming spider could injure itself on such a bulb, as they tend to get hot. Even if it is a regular red light bulb it could probably get hot enough to cause injury. Putting it on the outside of the tank would be much better for the spider.

As for the baby crickets, Arlius was right, it was not neccessary to remove the substrate. They don't last that long. And if you pick some out, you have free crickets! Just so you know if it happens again. Nice T by the way!
 

Dark~Angel

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Dec 24, 2004
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Can you let me know what species this spider is please...pm if you can so i know

mine lookes exactly the same as this one, and iv been told from the photos iv submitted to different boards, iv been told different things, so iv still no idea what mine is, but yours is exactly the same as mine.

thanks
 
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