Gyna lurida visibility?

A

arachyd

Third Instar
Does anyone have any ideas what I could do to coax my Gyna lurida into spending some time above the substrate? They are pets so I want them to enjoy their home but I really would like to see them once in a while :unsure: At the moment their substrate has been reduced to about 1" of a mix of peat, coco fiber and a small amount of aspen shavings but they are still able to hide very well. I know they are in there because every now and then the substrate twitches :blink: Are they a totally under cover species or will they perch on things if provided?

 
??? Mine generally stay on the surface during the day and burrow in at night. They may stay burrowed if thier only source of humidity is the moisture in the lower substrate... ??? :huh:

arachyd said:
Does anyone have any ideas what I could do to coax my Gyna lurida into spending some time above the substrate? They are pets so I want them to enjoy their home but I really would like to see them once in a while :unsure: At the moment their substrate has been reduced to about 1" of a mix of peat, coco fiber and a small amount of aspen shavings but they are still able to hide very well. I know they are in there because every now and then the substrate twitches :blink: Are they a totally under cover species or will they perch on things if provided?
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There is always condensation around the top 1/3 of their container. They also have a small dish of water gel. The substrate seems to have dry patches and wet patches randomly, depending on where the condensation trickles down. Do they need more moisture than this? I haven't found much information about them.

 
arachyd said:
There is always condensation around the top 1/3 of their container. They also have a small dish of water gel. The substrate seems to have dry patches and wet patches randomly, depending on where the condensation trickles down. Do they need more moisture than this? I haven't found much information about them.
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I would let it dry out a little... moisture in my tub is barely noticeable.

 
Ok, thanks for the advice. A little late since I just dampened it :huh: . Oh well. On a good note, I got to see some of the nymphs I haven't seen since I put them in there :lol: . Then they promptly burrowed again to a dryer spot. Do you have any information on the habitat they come from? Are there wet and dry periods? Would light be what is causing them to hide (since yours do not hide so much)? They are in clear plastic.

 
arachyd said:
Ok, thanks for the advice. A little late since I just dampened it :huh: . Oh well. On a good note, I got to see some of the nymphs I haven't seen since I put them in there :lol: . Then they promptly burrowed again to a dryer spot. Do you have any information on the habitat they come from? Are there wet and dry periods? Would light be what is causing them to hide (since yours do not hide so much)? They are in clear plastic.
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Mine are in clear plastic also. They come from Africa where it is almost always humid to a degree, and part of the year is monsoon season and the other is dry season. So in short thier natural environment goes from saturated to dry but there is always some humidity (in the regions there G. lurida may live)

 
This is the first time I've gotten pets and not done thorough research first. At first I figured roaches are roaches and they can live anywhere (how wrong I was). I literally can't find much at all about these guys online other than that they can fly and they can be yellow. At least the dubia have a good bit of information online. I'm going to have to make time to check out the library. Thank you for the information. At least with such extremes in their natural habitat they should be pretty hardy.

 
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The adults are day active and regularly seen but the nymphs stay in the substrate most of the time. If yours came from a stock bred for yellow they should throw 50-75% yellow at the present time but if they're from somewhere else you may be lucky to see 1% yellow.

 
The nymphs are barely visible, since they live almost entirely burrowed. I give food in a low dish so they can't nibble from the underside of the food and have to climb in it to eat which increases visibility. They are fond of fish flakes so when I add some in their dish the floor starts to move, quite spectacular.

The adults are almost always visible, they even fly in and enclosure of 20 x 20 x 20 cm.

The trick with roaches is often that you need a lot of them to see them. I started with 20 nymphs and the first year my terrarium was just a pile of leaves. When I left food in it, the next day some nibbling was shown and that was about it. After a year or so, I could see more and more signs of life. Now they are always visible.

 
I think Orin and Maarten have provided the most accurate info you will get on these roaches. 100% correct by my experience.

 
All the information is appreciated. What I haven't done already I will do. I'm very surprised that such a pretty species (even the brown ones) has so little information online compared to other species.

 
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