XtraordinaryPets

A blog on extraordinary, non-conventional pets

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Maintain Feeder Roach Colony at Home

Photo by Michael Minter / CC BY-NC 2.0.

Roaches are often used as feeder insects by many exotic pets hobbyists. Here’s a guide on how to maintain a colony of feeder roaches for your exotic pets which can save you a lot of money in the long run.

House the roaches in a ventilated, opaque tank. Apply 3″ wide vaseline on the inner wall and fill the container with egg cartons. Feed the roaches with vegetables and biscuits. Remove unconsumed food after a few days. A water dish is required. You should clean the tank once every few months.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Rearing Feeder Crickets at Home

Photo by Brian Gratwicke / CC BY 2.0.

The greatest hassle a carnivorous pet owner has is getting the feeder insects for his pet. This article guides you how to maintain a colony of feeder crickets at home for your mantis, tarantula, scorpion, and centipede.

Keep the crickets in an escape-proof, ventilated enclosure. Feed them vegetables and biscuits, and provide them with a water dish. To collect eggs, place a dish with 1″ of moist sand. The crickets will lay eggs inside the sand. You can either leave the eggs there or move it to a separate tank.

Keeping a cricket colony is really easy, and you should really consider this if you are keeping a mantis, tarantula, scorpion or centipede. Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more about keeping feeder crickets.

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Whip Spider Care

Whip spiders are probably the most bizarre-looking arthropods. Despite their horrifying appearance, they actually make good pets! So, how to keep keep whip spiders as pets?

Keep the whip spider in a tall and ventilated tank decorated with cork barks. Keep it away from light and feed it with 2-3 crickets every week. Juveniles should be fed more frequently with smaller feeder insects. Make sure the enclosure is always humid.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com if you want to know more on how to care for whip spiders.

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Velvet Ants Care Guide

Keeping velvet ants is very simple. Here’s a quick velvet ants care guide that can help you to take care of velvet ants easily.

House the velvet ants in a tank filled with sand. Feed them with syrup water. Keep the tank dry and ventilated. Give them 8-12 hours of light per day. And, that’s it!! 

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com if you want to learn more!

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Camel Spider Care Guide

If you are looking for a camel spider care guide, you are at the right place. In this guide, I’ll teach you how to keep camel spiders, aka solifuges.

Keep the camel spiders in a ventilated tank with a secure lid and 3-5″ substrates. Feed it with 1-2 crickets and water a corner of the substrates weekly. Females die soon after laying eggs. Separate the brood into individual containers after they molt. Feed them more frequent with smaller feeders.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more on how to care for camel spiders.

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Jumping Spider Care Guide

Jumping spiders are little creatures that are so common that we may encounter them inside our house. They make excellent pets as they are beautiful, cute, and easy to take care of. Here’s how to take care of a jumping spider:

Keep the jumping spider in an escape proof, ventilated tank. Decorate the tank to give it more surfaces to explore. Feed the spider twice a week with crickets or house flies and mist the enclosure weekly. Juveniles need more frequent feeding. Lighting is required since they are diurnal.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more about jumping spiders and how to take care of them!

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Avicularia Pinktoe Care Guide

The Avicularia tarantula, also known as the pinktoe tarantula, is one of the easiest arboreal tarantulas to keep. Here’s a quick guide on how to keep Avicularia for beginners.

Prepare a tall enclosure. Erect a cork bark along the wall of the enclosure and secure it with hot glue or silicon gel. Insert a big water dish at the bottom of the enclosure and house the Avicularia inside the enclosure. Feed the Avicularia with crickets once a week. Replenish the water as it dries.

Sounds easy isn’t it? Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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How to Breed Emperor Scorpions

Mother scorpion takes care of her brood. Photo by Chandan Singh / CC BY 2.0.

Want to breed your emperor scorpions, but don’t know how? You are at the right place. In this article, I will guide you on how to breed Pandinus imperator, the emperor scorpion.

To breed emperor scorpions, introduce the male scorpion into the female enclosure and let them mate. Remove the male once mating is completed. Gravid emperor scorpions lay 12-24 babies in 8 to 12 months. Feed the brood with crickets and house them individually once the juveniles are able to hunt by themselves.

Breeding of emperor scorpions is relatively easy because the mother scorpion takes care of her brood and the amount of litters is considered small in the arthropods world. Having said that, there are difficulties involved, especially in the preparation parts.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Giant Vinegaroon Care

Giant vinegaroon is one of the most mysterious groups of arachnids on earth. They are rare and worth keeping as pets. Here’s what you need to know about giant vinegaroon care, and how to breed them.

Place the giant vinegaroon in a ventilated tank with 5” substrates. Add barks and cave as decors. Keep the substrates moist and add a water dish. Feed it biweekly with 2-3 crickets. Juvenile vinegaroons can be kept together for the first few months but you must separate them after that to avoid cannibalism.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more on how to care for giant vinegaroon!

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Black Widows Care

Despite being notorious for her venom, the black widow spider is a good pet that you can easily keep. This is a quick guide on how to keep them as pets.

Keep the black widow spider in an escape proof, ventilated container with top lid. Add tree branches for it to climb and build webs. Feed it weekly with crickets or house flies, and mist the enclosure regularly. Remove any egg sacs and destroy them unless you plan to keep hundreds of widow spiders.

While the instructions sound easy, there are more things that you need to know if you want to keep a black widow as a pet. Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Giant Centipede Care Guide

If you are interested in keeping a giant centipede as a pet but don’t know how, you are at the right place. This guide will tell you all you need to know about keeping giant centipedes at home.

House the centipede in a ventilated container with 3 inches of peat moss, potting mix and coir mixture. Keep the substrates moist. Feed the centipede with 2-3 crickets once a week. Avoid handling centipedes bare hand because they are venomous.

That’s pretty straightforward isn’t it? Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Millipedes Care Guide

If you are looking for an exotic pet to keep with minimum effort, you should consider the millipedes. Here’s a quick guide for keeping millipedes as pets.

House the millipedes in a ventilated container with 3-5 inches of peat moss, flake soil and dried leaves. Keep the substrates moist and replenish the substrates when more than half are consumed. You can give them some snacks such as cut fruit or soaked dog biscuits but it is not required.

That’s pretty straightforward isn’t it? Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Emperor Scorpion Care

Emperor scorpion or Pandinus imperator is a gorgeous creature that can be kept easily as a pet. So, how can you do that?

To keep emperor scorpions as pet, prepare an enclosure with a proper lid and ventilation. Fill the enclosure with 3-8 inches of moist substrates. House the emperor scorpion and feed it with crickets once a week.

Sounds easy enough isn’t it? Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Tarantula Care

To keep a tarantula, prepare a container with vents and a secure lid. Lay some coir and put a water dish inside the housing. Then, house the tarantula inside. Feed the tarantula with crickets on a weekly basis. Replenish the water dish when it dries up.

A tarantula can be a cool exotic pet to keep. It’s also quite easy and hassle-free to keep a tarantula if you know how. Certainly, there are also safety aspects that you will also need to consider. Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Residential Beekeeping

I stumbled upon residential beekeeping when I brought my son to visit his classmate. It’s simply amazing! To do the same at my house, I’ve done some research. And here’s how you can start beekeeping at home.

To start beekeeping at home, buy a Langstroth hive and house the honey bees in early spring. Carefully inspect the hive every 2 weeks until the hive has become stronger. Once the bees produce enough honey, add supers to collect the honey surplus. Provide syrup to the honey bees if the honey supply is insufficient, especially in autumn.

Beekeeping may seem overwhelming as you are dealing with thousands of flying and stinging creatures. But it is not as difficult as you thought though, and it is very rewarding to keep bees at your house.

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more!

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Feeder Insects for Mantis

There are quite a number of feeder insects for mantis that you can easily maintain by yourself. Each has different characteristics and you should use different feeders under different scenarios. Here is the list of feeder insects that you can use for your mantis:

Springtails

Fruit flies

House flies

Crickets

Roaches

Mealworms

Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com to learn more about choices of feeder insects and how to rear them!

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How to Breed Praying Mantis

As you keep mantis, at a certain stage you may want to breed them. Not only is it interesting to breed mantis, it also saves you money in the long run. Here’s a beginner’s guide on how to breed mantis.

Place well-fed male and female mantis in the same enclosure with some twigs and let them mate. Remove the male after they mate and give the female adequate water. Remove her after she has laid egg cases. Feed the hatched nymphs with springtails, aphids or fruit flies. Separate them as they molt.

Breeding mantises is not difficult but it does require some effort due to the diet and size of the mantis. Continue reading at xtraordinarypets.com if you want to know more details on how to breed mantis.