Adult enclosure FINALLY finished and Toothless moved in! - Page 3

Toothless · 04-16-13, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadlyDesires

oh ok lol sorry i didnt see that, just looked at the pictures. i think the weight wouldn't be an issue, i live in an apt and have mine full of dirt. and i have no issues, do you have supports running through the bottom of the enclosure?

I do have supports running along the bottom of the enclosure, but as I'm on the second floor I'd like to keep the weight of the entire enclosure under 1000lbs until an appartment on the ground level opens up (or I move, whichever comes first

). It is a very well built building, and probably would hold the weight, but I'm not one to take chances. I figure this way if the super asks about the weight, I can always say that if the floor will hold 4 200lb guys sitting on a couch during a football game, then it can handle my enclosure. lol (especially since the weight of mine is distributed on more than just four focal points).

Toothless · 04-16-13, 03:53 AM

It appears as though Toothless hasn't moved a muscle since yesterday morning (you can see the end of his tail if you lean down and look under the shelf). I got a little worried this morning, wondering if he was ok, so I decided to take a glove and stick it under the shelf to touch his tail just to see if he moved.
Turns out he's just fine because he hissed at the glove, then moved further underneath the shelf. Makes me feel much better

. I know I'm supposed to leave him alone, but I was quite worried and just wanted to make sure he was ok.
How long should it take him to acclimatize and start eating again? I left a few dubais in there, but he hasn't touched them yet.
I know he's stayed in his burrow for 5 days straight before and was perfectly fine- I guess I'm just being a worry-wart but I can't help it

.

infernalis · 04-16-13, 03:59 AM

Curiosity will take over sooner or later, initial exploring will likely take place when no one is around.

in a week or two things should be settled to normal.

DeadlyDesires · 04-16-13, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Curiosity will take over sooner or later, initial exploring will likely take place when no one is around.

in a week or two things should be settled to normal.

took mine about 3 weeks i believe to get used to me opening the cage and being around it, maybe try and cover the window to give him more privacy,that is what i did.

Toothless · 04-16-13, 01:51 PM

Good news! I came home from work today and crept up to the enclosure quietly. When I looked in I saw I big dirty face staring up at me from halfway out of his little hidey-hole

. Mind you, he ran back under the shelf as soon as he saw me, but at least he's starting to explore a bit. I'll just continue to throw in some dubai's and let him eat whenever he's comfortable until he's ready to take them from tongues again.

Quick question in regards to the dubais- I'm only comfortable leaving the male dubais in the enclosure and was wondering what the ratio of male/female should be for the colony? I don't want to take out too many of the males.

stephanbakir · 04-16-13, 02:42 PM

I've eaten Dubias before (lost a bet) not sure how comfortable I'd be feeding a sav with my tongue tho

tongs maybe?

smy_749 · 04-16-13, 02:46 PM

i try to do 1:5 , if your scared leaving females will cause an infestation in the cage it wont. But no point in wasting females, stick to nymphs and males.

stephanbakir · 04-16-13, 02:52 PM

I ran a 1-5 a 1-10 and a 1-5, got best growth with 1-10, then ran 3 colonies of 1-10 with different food combos, got crazy growth with dog food (dry) and oranges without peels as a combo

stephanbakir · 04-16-13, 02:52 PM

Even the smallest Dubai nymphs can be sexed, don't ever feed females unless you have too many

Toothless · 04-16-13, 05:03 PM

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm not sure exactly what my ratio is at the moment, but I probably have about 40 males now, and well over 200 mature females. I'm getting plenty of babies, but I think the colony needs a break for a month to replenish as most of the babies are still quite small.
I don't think I could ever have too many females

. I'm sure if I put Toothless in the bin, he would eat every single adult in there in a matter of minutes- mind you he would probably look like a giant balloon afterwards.

Toothless · 04-16-13, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

I've eaten Dubias before (lost a bet) not sure how comfortable I'd be feeding a sav with my tongue tho

tongs maybe?

You mean you don't tongue feed your animals

? It makes for a very intimate relationship...don't diss it until you try it. After a while, you no longer feel the pain when they accidently bite it.

stephanbakir · 04-16-13, 05:11 PM

I'd buy another colony, the size of yours and leave it alone for 6-8 months, only feed out of you current colony. Your sav will grow faster then your colony if you don't give your colony time to explode for a while. We had close to 6000 breeders and that was barely enough to feed the sav.

smy_749 · 04-16-13, 06:23 PM

Stephen how do you sex a nymph? I haven't of this before and it may save me from wasting potential future baby makers.

Also I tried the dogfood, they tended to not love it like they do with greens and oranges, and it made my colony smell terrible. I use romaine lettuce, carrots, broccoli and oranges now.

stephanbakir · 04-16-13, 06:47 PM

You sex them by the final scale close to their ***, females have a huge one, males have a tiny one...

Dog food is there in case I forget to feed them, and trust me, dog food did not make you cage smell, lack of ventilation did. I had a ton of Dubias, a few kinds of dog food and fruit in there with a good smell, not a bad smell.
Mold will demolish your colony faster then anything else.

Take a small sandwich container and cut off the lip, then sandpaper the crap out of it with a large grit sandpaper and out your fruit in there. They can still climb it, and it keep the moisture out of the roach cage.

Toothless · 04-17-13, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

I'd buy another colony, the size of yours and leave it alone for 6-8 months, only feed out of you current colony. Your sav will grow faster then your colony if you don't give your colony time to explode for a while. We had close to 6000 breeders and that was barely enough to feed the sav.

Only problem with that is its impossible to find them here. I had to make a 9-10 hr (approx. 5 hrs each way) road trip just to get the guys I have now and it took me months just to find them.