Celeste
|
I hope mine survive longer than Dave's did!My female vinegaroon was blowing up like a balloon over the past week or so, so I just checked in on her and caught her in the act:
I just hope they last longer than Dave's did! :-> (I fed her just last night 'cause I wanted to make sure her tummy was full when she laid 'em).
Does anyone know what happens next? How long things take? Etc.?
-- Celeste
|
a1_collection
|
Amazing how the sac just hangs out of her.
|
ogershok
|
Good luck Celeste! I obviously have no useful info but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. One of the things that occured to me is that they normally use a subterranian chamber to pop their babies in and that could have been my problem. Best wishes.
|
Steven
|
How much substrate do you have? Id give it (hopefully them!  ) tons of substrate...as much as i could ...with a subterranean "lair".
ahhh,,funny just read ogershoks post ...ok..."chamber" a more pleasant word. 
They take care of their young ...if I remember correctly? Tons of young too?
If you could successfully raise em ... that would be very cool  !
The reason I have never bought into these ...and I DO think they would be a great invert pet ...was the fact that they dont seem to do that great in captivity. But Im thinking people are just not keeping them right. ...same old story I guess.
|
balam
|
The way I keep my girl is 6-7" substrate in a semi-round container (approx 6" diameter). I put a twisted piece of driftwood in there and covered it with the substrate. As long as I keep it humid the coco fiber holds up, and she loves to dig under the branch creating the so called chamber.
Don't get me wrong, she loves to move substrate around, a chamber will only exist one-two weeks tops (at least under my care )
|
balam
|
Hey Celeste, how are this little guys coming along?
|
Celeste
|
They're kind of turning brown and yukky looking... it doesn't look very promising. Still attached to the mom. We'll see...
|
balam
|
brown like they are darkening? ... let's hope it is promising *crosses fingers*
|
Celeste
|
Egg sac is gone from the mom as of night before last. But I *think* I see a crumpled little yukky brown blob in one corner of the cage, so I am not sure if they just rotted and she partially ate them or what. It is very hard to tell.
I'm not hopeful.
|
Celeste
|
I removed the brown blob and tried to pry it apart to see what the condition of the eggs was. A couple of them are still round (but brown and dessicated looking). Most are granulated and decomposing-looking. At least one looks like it is split open.
I found two bizarre little critters in the clump:
See the two elongated dark brown things at the top of the image? They are about the size and shape of grains of rice. They appear to contain maggot-like things that poke their heads out of one end of their cocoon-like wrappers and drag themselves along (almost like a caddisfly larvae in its cocoon). I found several of these maggot-like things around the egg mass. I've never seen anything like them in any of my enclosures. I don't know if they have something to do with Vinegaroons, or if they are just some kind of disgusting little scavengers feeding on the decomposing eggs. Sorry I couldn't get a picture of them. They are too small to photograph without a macroscope, and I couldn't hold the flashlight, the camera, and keep the macroscope focused on them all at the same time (they move out of the frame too quickly).
I have buried the egg mass under a thin layer of damp substrate just in case.
The female vinegaroon is eating crickets with gusto.
-- Celeste
|
ftorres
|
Sorry to hear this, the eggs are no bueno anymore.
good luck next time.
francisco
|
ogershok
|
Arrggghh. Sorry to hear that Celeste.
|
balam
|
 .
Guess these little guys are a tad harder to raise than expected huh.
I think this should become a SCABIES mission as of now... ok, ok, I would like to give it a try.
I'm officially looking for a male on breeding loan (I know it's not the correct section to post it in  )
EDIT:
FOUND A MALE M. giganteus, thanks
|
balam
|
This is my girl.
Her little entrance.
Enclosure:
Of course she has moved everything around now, but the piece of wood is still there and serves as support for her chamber.
Patiently awaiting her bachelor...
|
Celeste
|
Well, I checked on this female again last night, and I swear she looks like she might be gravid again:
She's on the same feeding schedule as the male and my newest female, and neither of them looks *anywhere* near as bloated as she does.
I *did* cohabit her overnight with the male a month or two after the eggs went bad, and they were doing *something* bizarre, so maybe they mated???
Anyway, I'll keep you all posted... Meanwhile, maybe I'll try creating some artificial chambers for her (the substrate I have her on doesn't appear to support a tunnel very well).
|
balam
|
Good job Celeste, let's hope those *bizarre* doings are going to lead to baby vinegaroons
|
MUD
|
Has anyone been successful at breeding any of these? Maybe a few years back?
|
|
|
