Slicksters dead, was it the temperature?

[phod]

I had 3-4 slicksters in here, plenty of CO2. They were happy, and laying eggs regularly. I decided to expand the room to the west a bit, hoping to maybe have a couple more in there eventually. Shortly after this renovation, they're all dead. Was it too cool for them? I just now added the carbon skimmer to take over part of their job. 

EDIT: The slicksters were originally eggs from the printing pod.

 

[RonEmpire]

definitely the temperature.

click on their database entry and it tells you what temps   are  their comfortable range and livable range.

[phod]

Well drat. I wish there were some sort of notification for that. There is a magma volcano right next to their cage, but I suppose 1726 degrees is a bit too much   Maybe I'll figure out a way to use it, or maybe just move their cage.

Thanks!

[Promethien]

Slicksters like it warm and if you can make it extra hot for them they will lay molten eggs which give petrol directly instead of oil. The tricky part with slicksters is creating a warm room for them that gets your CO2 without leaking heat all over.

[DarkMaster13]

Even if you can make the room warm enough for them to survive, it needs to be over 60 degrees C or else they'll lay useless longhair eggs.  That's tough to get without using aquatuners or the tepidizer.

[Coolthulhu]

22 minutes ago, DarkMaster13 said:

Even if you can make the room warm enough for them to survive, it needs to be over 60 degrees C or else they'll lay useless longhair eggs.  That's tough to get without using aquatuners or the tepidizer.

It's not the air that needs to be 60C, it's the slicksters themselves.

CO2 has low thermal conductivity so it will take many cycles for slicksters to lose body temperature to it. A freshly hatched slickster in 50C CO2 should still lay at least one or two plain eggs before switching mostly to longhairs. As long as it is kept out of any liquids.

1 hour ago, phod said:

I decided to expand the room to the west a bit

I see a solid tile in the western part of the screenshot. That's risky: slicksters can survive tens of cycles in CO2 well below their lethal temperature, but they may drip oil on solid surfaces and this oil will then increase temperature exchange rates several times. If the temperature of your chamber is low, make sure not to allow slicksters on any non-liquid-permeable tiles.

[phod]

Thanks for the info everyone, I did get a care package with 3 more slickster eggs, so I quickly made a new room for them down in the oil biome, and piped my CO2 to them. It's over 50 in there, but I understand now I may need / want even more heat. I see some other areas that are 80-90 degrees, I'll probably move it again once I get the oil relocated. I've also made sure there are only mesh tiles under the slicksters this time.

To be honest, this is the first time in approximately 15 bases I've played over the years that I really gave ranching a try. I just never learned the little details of ranching, and preferred to go with a more brute force sort of play style. I don't recall when exactly I started playing, but I remember that hatches would attack you if you dug them up, so it was before that. 

 

[ONIfreak]

Animals die if not in right temp without notification not just slicksters. Whicj become no1 priority to pay attention when using farms. I lost quite a few morbs like that. 

[Nightinggale]

If you place slickers in the oil biome and pipe CO2 there, you might as well make a long pipe to the bottom, meaning it goes through oil where the CO2 can be pre-heated before going to the slicksters. That will avoid the heat death and it's free to operate once built.

The question is how much you need slickers if you have a giant lake of hot oil to pre-heat the CO2. It could be a long term plan because even the largest oil lake won't last forever if you never add to it.