Gyna spp. care

TheSwarmThing

TheSwarmThing

Second Instar
Hi everyone,

I got small Gyna caffrorum and Gyna lurida colonies just a few days ago. Yesterday I found some dead adults in both enclosures, and the live ones are pretty inactive. Nymphs seem to be doing fine, but they aren't very active either.

I keep them in large plastic containers with 4 inches deep soil layer (mixture of peat, soil, pieces of bark and leaves). I gave them dry cat-food, orange and apple pieces for food. The temperature is about 25 degrees Celsius. I spray the wall of the container - on one end - with tapid water in every 2 days, so they could drink. 

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Could you give me any suggestion? Thanks so much for the help!

 
Gyna tend to have pretty quick lives, so once they reach adulthood they don't live all that long. I don't know how long the moisture stays, but you may want to water less frequently. They prefer drier conditions overall, but are still pretty hardy. They'll get the moisture they need from fruits and vegetables. There also tends to be a lot more activity after dark, though once you have a large colony there will be at least a few running around at any time. 

 
pannaking22 said:
Gyna tend to have pretty quick lives, so once they reach adulthood they don't live all that long. I don't know how long the moisture stays, but you may want to water less frequently. They prefer drier conditions overall, but are still pretty hardy. They'll get the moisture they need from fruits and vegetables. There also tends to be a lot more activity after dark, though once you have a large colony there will be at least a few running around at any time. 
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Really, they like it drier? I've bern keeping my G.lurida very moist, though now that I think about it there is one corner of the cage that dries out a lot for some reason and my nymphs love hanging out there. I'm gonna try keeping them less moist now, thanks for the info Panna!

To the OP, like @pannaking22 said, the adults have a pretty short lifespan, your conditions sound pretty good, so old age is the most likely reason your adults are dying off. 

 
Thanks @pannaking22 and @Hisserdude!

Do you know by any chance what "short lifespan" means in their case? Weeks, months? I'm just curious because I don't have many adults now... I'm wondering how long it is gonna take for my nymphs to reach adulthood.

 
My Gyna lurida adults have lived about four to five months, with the females living longer than the males. 

 
Hisserdude said:
Really, they like it drier? I've bern keeping my G.lurida very moist, though now that I think about it there is one corner of the cage that dries out a lot for some reason and my nymphs love hanging out there. I'm gonna try keeping them less moist now, thanks for the info Panna!

To the OP, like @pannaking22 said, the adults have a pretty short lifespan, your conditions sound pretty good, so old age is the most likely reason your adults are dying off. 
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No problem! I've kept mine on the moist side as well and they still did alright, but once I started letting things dry out some they just exploded. I lightly spritz once every week or two and they get pretty much all their moisture from their food. I'm sure there's still some residual moisture from when I first put the substrate in, so some of that could be present in the deeper layers. 

It'll take about 6 months from newborn to adult and adults will live for 4-5 months, like hisserdude said. 

 
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