As the title implies, I thought it would be a great time to post how my emps are doing.
Since I got them in october, they have all been doing quite well. I did lose 4 of them in the first couple of months, 2 from territorial disputes (they had just been settling in) and 2 from either illness or stress I'm not too sure.
The other 5 are flourishing though! I find they are happy digging burrows everywhere in the tank and the burrows interconnect from hide to hide. Most of that work was done by a subadult male nick named "The Constructor ()" parentheses and all. He is always tunneling and crawling about inside the tank.
My only adult which is a female spends most of the time heat basking and hydrating (even during the day). She eats once and rarely twice a week (I hand feed her 1 cricket and sometimes she gets lucky and catches her own). Even on this regimen, she is getting fatter and fatter as time passes. She is to the point where she woddles around rather than walks, the others eat in the same manner and they don't gain much size.
The the exception and great eater/hunter is Fontaine, a subadult male. He is by far the most ferocious hunter with great speed and accuracy when it comes to catching crickets. He will catch and consume anywhere from 3 to 4 crickets during a feeding! It can be difficult to get the others to get their share of the feasting with him on the prowl.
I don't hand feed the others in order to encourage hunting but when Fontaine is hungry, I am forced to hand feed. I try my best not to do this because all of my emps are quite fiesty and will try to tag my hand at every opportunity (even with long forceps!)
The only real issue I've had with my tank is the invasion of ants that had just decided to build a nest in the substrate. I tried to dig them out (there were thousands) but it was obvious that no amount of digging would rid them all. I felt they would return even if I changed the substrate. So I used Raid Ant Gel around the perimeter of the tank (outside the tank of course!) and the ants swarmed the stuff! After only 2 days, I haven't noticed any ants inside the tank or around it. I highly recommend the stuff if anyone has a similar problem.
All in all my emps are great.
