cobalt blue from pet store, i thought i would be nice

[EDED]

i bought one that looked like a mature female, in a bad housing, i thought i would be nice and save her and get myself another burrower.

well, now im kinda regretting it cuz its not moving at all , just stuck in one corner of the burrow with its legs covering its carapace as if its too bright inside a cage that i made for her which is NOT

5'' peat/vermiculite wet mix, water dish, inside my closet, very quiet and dark, i dont know what her problem is,,,i guess shes still stressed out.

the pet store guy told me they got her about two weeks ago, and said it was captive bred, i dont think its captive bred, but anyhow it was in a very large container, substrate barely covering the bottom, two shelters and a black light, and she was crawled up against one corner with legs covering her carapace,,,,bad set up i thoguth so i bought her for 55 bucks, no shrunken abdomen although she could use some food, she didnt look too terrible.

weird thing was when i put her inside my housing, she didnt move at all, i had to move her with a stick then she finally moved a little, when she moves she moves fast, but very rarely, very odd, i thougth it was a defensive spider,,,no defense, doesnt walk around, just stuck right now,,,

i read some other posts, the best way is to just leave her dark and warm, but I AM kinda stressed out now,,,what do you guys think? will she live?

 

[becca81]

It's stressed out.

If possible, you may want to give it even more than 5" of peat moss to burrow in. When you say wet, do you mean dripping wet or a little damp?

When the legs are drawn together like that it usually means the spider is stressed out and just needs some time to adjust to its new surroundings. Leaving it in a quiet place for awhile in an appropriate setup sounds like the best idea.

I've seen several H. lividum housed in petstores and they all look about like that.

 

[cryptly]

Just like Becca said, she's stressed. Give her some time to adjust to her new surroundings and she'll be fine.

 

[EDED]

yeah, stressed spider = stressed out me

thanks for fast replies

the substrate is damp, i might have overdone it but its not dripping wet, i just wanted her to get some humidity that she missed at the pet store right away.

 

[Nerri1029]

the peat right from the bag is usually VERY humid..
Just supply a water dish and leave her to adjust..

If my 1st cobalt was any clue then it may take a few weeks for it to adjust..
and dig a burrow..
however I just recently did the same as you and rescued a C.B. from a pet store..

She dug a huge burrow over night..

so .. you never know.. during the moves she was NOT VERY DEFENSIVE..
I was shocked and relieved for this..

GOOD LUCK..

I like H. lividum's they are cool T's to observe.. when you can see them..

 

[Rico]

I had the same problem when I rescued a cobalt not too long ago from a pet store. This poor little thing had been in a K.K. for four months or so. All it had for substrate was bark. It looked very sad hiding under a log. When the petstore guy opened it up and showed it to me there he was hiding under there looking like he was about to die sometime soon. So I picked him up for 35 bucks brought him home and now, its as happy as can be. Took a few days for him to get adjusted to living the good life, but he's enjoying it now.

 

[JimBaskey]

Got my first 1 the same way. Too small an enclosure, and about 1/2" of nasty moss. After a week in her new tank, she turned into an 8-legged frontend loader. Definately need more than 5", though. Got mine in a 5 1/2 gal. tank full except for about 2" from the top.

 

[Apocalypstick]

Ed...hope the mix isn't too wet. Why don't you try to make a hole(hide) in the substrate right beside her. She probably has no idea she can burrow now. The maybe give her a little urging to the hole. Put the water bowl close to the burrow. Maybe doing these couple of things will make her less stressed.

 

[EDED]

zapped

no sign of happiness yet,

still crouched in one corner,,,actually now its on top of the cage corner,,,when i first moved her in she didnt move at all, enough push made her move real fast to one spot then stopped moving again,,,so weird,,,,something is very wrong with this lividum,,,no burrowing, no biting, no webbing,,,it doesnt even walk around to check out the cage,

ive been keeping the cage dark 24hours a day havent bothered her other than daily checking to see if she has done ANYTHING,,,zero,,,, since sunday, the spider is at the same spot any random time i take a look at it,

i will wait a few more weeks like you guys said, it probably will take more time to adjust,,,i certainly believe its WC otherwise it should adapt fast dont you think?

 

[Jmadson13]

Hopefully it isn't anything extremely serious. You could have a cobalt in premolt; stranger things have happened.

 

[becca81]

Both WC and CB tarantulas can become stressed. Is the substrate too moist?

Sounds to me like you're doing the right thing - just keep doing it and hopefully it'll calm down. Might want to up the temp a little bit and it may help get it moving.

I've got an A. avicularia that has appeared stressed out since I got it about 6 weeks ago and it's just now starting to look like it feels better.

 

[Nerri1029]

no sign of happiness yet,

still crouched in one corner,,,actually now its on top of the cage corner,,,when i first moved her in she didnt move at all, enough push made her move real fast to one spot then stopped moving again,,,so weird,,,,something is very wrong with this lividum,,,no burrowing, no biting, no webbing,,,it doesnt even walk around to check out the cage,

ive been keeping the cage dark 24hours a day havent bothered her other than daily checking to see if she has done ANYTHING,,,zero,,,, since sunday, the spider is at the same spot any random time i take a look at it,

i will wait a few more weeks like you guys said, it probably will take more time to adjust,,,i certainly believe its WC otherwise it should adapt fast dont you think?

Patience young padowan.. the ways of the T are not always obvious. .. be open to their behavior and let them do what they will..
OK enough Star Wars.. ..

They ARE survivors.. and can adapt (deal) to harsh conditions ( pet stores )
My H. lividum took 4 weeks to burrow... so hang in there.. give it LOTS of quiet and plenty of dark.. not too much .. the light helps with keeping mold under check.

and always lots of luck.




.

 

[Windchaser]

I agree with the others. Your H. lividum is showing signs of being extremely stressed. It will take some time for it to calm down and get comfortable. I had one stay like after for several weeks that a cage transfer. And this happened after living in ideal conditions for a couple of years. Don't worry about it and enjoy the time you have now to actually see it. Once it burrows, you will rarely see her.

 

[Rico]

I was never really fond of keeping my T's in complete total darkness and never letting them see the light. It just seems unnatural to me. If you think about it, would you go hide in a hole or dig one for that matter if it felt like you were already in a hole (complete and total darkness) Just a thought.

 

[EDED]

YES, if i was a nocturnal animal that lives in a burrow during the day and at night comes out to feed,,,,darkness would be comforting then.



update as of today, it finally found the 'burrow' i dug out for her,,,its sitting in there, i say thats an improvement.

 

[Kittycat784]

a little off topic...

.... but this makes me mad

I went to my local pet store a couple days ago (soldans in saginaw) and they had a tank labeled "female cobalt blue $25.00" so I'm thinking cool! I have a little extra cash. Well I'm looking all over this really horridly setup tank and I don't see no spider. well the associate tells me it died and they don't know why. I look at the tank and they were selling it as a set up for $60.00! it included water bowl blah blah blah.... but get this it also included a heating pad and a heat lamp! inside the water dish was those little water gel things that were all dried up! I decided that they fried the poor thing. Only wish i would have gone there a couple days earlier, darn it!

sorry, just had to get that off my chest "normal" people don't really care.

 

[TmanPhil]

Good Luck

Seems like that is often the case in pet stores. Most have fairly limited KNowledge of old world T's. My H. sp. "Longipedum" took almost a month to get acclimated, Now she needs more substrate.....looking forward to an exciting move this weekend. And I get to Go pick up a new H. Lividum. YAY! Just keep it warm and very humid, (my haplos seem to like it around 85% at 85 degrees F) and give her time. dont freak out if she doesnt eat or move. you sound like you are doing the right stuff. she'll come around.
Phil

 

[EDED]

update/good

update.

good news i guess...

that punk turned around and bit the forceps that i was using to take the water dish out! VERY quick! aggression in lividum,,,always a good healthy sign.

so...i guess shes getting better, im gonna try to feed her tonight.

 

[JimBaskey]

Look at it this way. Enjoy her while she's out. Mine's been in her burrow sealed up for 2 months now.

 

[Apocalypstick]

Congrats Ed... you did everything right!