Pygmy

[Lurdalar]

Went to the show in Wheaton, IL yesterday to get some supplies for my current feeders and gecko/frogs. Walked around a bit getting this or that(finally got a digital hygrometer!) and saw a single female pygmy for sale around 15$ by a frog vendor. Supposedly he visited a friend getting out of the breeding business, and received the pygmy and decided to sell it after about 4 months of having her. The only thing he didn't know was whether it was wild caught or of her former breeding stock. Couldn't pass it up either way, as the pyg looks healthy minus very slightly sunken eyes.

So I bought her and started heading home. On the way I was trying to figure out whether to gut my old 20g and put her in there(50-60$ of work), or whether my unused mesh cage would be fine, when it hit me: why not use the 45T you set up months ago!

Now, if I can figure out how to insert pictures, I'll show off what I can for critique. The enclosure was being run in stasis basically: I kept watering the plants(found out I was horribly underwatering them), but I had planned on gutting it when I moved at the end of the month. So today I am taking another Pothos from upstairs to fill the void you see on the left in a hanging cyclone manner(the pothos has 3-5 strands off the center body that are each 5-6 feet long). She loves the bamboo and the boxwood, but explored everywhere else as well, including the cave. She drank as well right away, but today I offer her first meal; hopefully she takes it.

Please excuse the clutter and crap focus, don't know how to get the camera to stop blurring like that. The wiring is the thermo/hygro and a second thermo. You can also see the cricket breeding junk on top and the feeder prep stuff below. Also, I know she wants a walled off background and as much clutter around her as possible, which is where the bamboo was supposed to come in. She climbed it for hours last night before settling into the boxwood, so I'm working on incorporating a bunch of bamboo alonside umbrellas and Pothos once I move in Sept. The bamboo looks dead right now due to poor watering, but under the tan outer covering, it is rejuvenating right now and might survive. This might be strictly watering issues or it might be nematodes(have them) or more likely an issue with the plant runners being right on the glass of the enclosure.

There're more words and junk after the pics.

Now let me get to those pictures.

Today I'm heading out to finish prepping the tank as well as food for her.

Current temps, if double thermos can be trusted, are:

76 on the low side
77 on the high side
Hygrometer reading 70%
The basement I'm in drops to the mid60s right now at night.

These are a little high, and I suppose partially due to the double lights on top, as they create enough heat for me to put a cricket breeding container on(with a buffer, as the lights themselves are about 102 degrees). I'm going to cut down to just the off-purple plant light and try to finagle a basking spot.

I'm also going to be getting a proper sprayer, rather than my dinky hand mister, this is the direct cause of the plant issues beyond the nematodes on the Boxwood.

 

[Shawntea]

ask around about basking spots. There is a lot of varying opinions about whether pygmies bask or not, from what I've found if you offer a large enough space for her to escape the basking spot then give it a try and see if she uses it.

 

[Lurdalar]

Well the concern specifically was that I had a high ambient temp, which makes setting up a basking spot difficult. I went and got a big yard&garden pump hand sprayer to make the misting and watering easier.

Lastly, I couldn't find another umbrella plant that was of the proper size, so I got a beastly sized ivy plant. It's checked out and is the same species that has been used by other members successfully.

So I've planted it and looked across a few stores for some tiny rubber suction cups with hooks, to no avail. I've placed an order online for 100 of them, it'll be here in a few days.

For now, this is a packed aquarium and I've stretched some of the vines around and twist tied them to the one suction cup I have. I feel she needs more cover above her head, so once I get the shipment, I will be criss-crossing them to weave a flat net at the top with laddering down the middle.

At this point she's eaten a few crickets and just stayed put in the boxwood all day. Hopefully this opens her up more, but right now I feel she's just annoyed at all the moving I've done in her enclosure. For now I will relax and let things settle. She's eating and drinking, that's all that can be asked of a new cham.

 

[Lurdalar]

Welp, now it's been a week and she's still here. Success so far. I've been trying both Hydei fruit flies and 1/8 to 1/4 crickets for her. I know she's interested because she moves down by them, but I have not been watching her closely to see any actual strikes. She seems to hate fruit flies, since they tend to climb on her, so I'll be cutting them out of her diet in favor of two new feeders once they get online.

I've got a horridly successful Hydei and Melanogaster colony for the frogs now, since she won't hit them. The dubia and six spotted roaches have mated, but I have not seen any nymphs yet to see if they're even an option. What I can say is that I've recently become successful at breeding my first batch of isopods. Once they give out a second batch, I'll transfer most of them to her tank for a new food source. Also, I've been catching flour beetles(dunno how we have so many, the food is sealed tight with no beetles in them), and hope to have some larva for another food source soon. In a month or so I hope to get and try some mini-mealworms as well, depending on the health level. Reptiworms are also on the table depending on the next expo having them(this sunday). The other choice would be finding giant springtails and breeding them, which I'll start next month as well.

She is pooping, though, so she's eating food at some point. I don't see her drinking, but water is almost always available for a long time after a thorough mist, and her eyes look about the same as when I got her. Weird thing is that she seemed fat when I got her, and now she seems about proper weight considering she's obviously been eating. Might be acclimation or stress causing that, or might have been eggs. I don't know.

Lastly, I've gotten a bunch of mushrooms growing in there. They don't seem to be causing any trouble, so theyre staying as food for the springtails. The flies seem to prefer hanging out on the caps, giving her a closer target(assuming she even eats them when I'm not looking).

Oh well, here's hoping everything works out. Temps and humidity have been stable for her needs, with slight temp drops at night. Once she is comfortable, and I have a better camera, I'll get some more pics.

 

[EvilLost]

the first set of pics were oh noes!

but the second set...NICE! She'll be living it up in there.

Be wary on feeding dubia nymphs. I have tried on multiple occasion, and although they do eat them, the dubias tend to run into a corner and hide forever.