Crawshayi question..

[Phil Hall]

Hey all , I have a huge female Crawshayi , over 8 inches and she has been 'dug in' now for about 3 or 4 months. If you look at the enclosure there are no signs that she has made a burrow at all from the top view.
I know they will barricade themselves in for ages but I have a question regarding the moisture they require. They love it dry in their natural habitat , but am I supposed to spray the tank at all , hoping she may catch some moisture in her cave? Or will she return to the surface eventually?
Occasionally I will drop an adult locust in , hoping she may sense it and come up for dinner , I also keep a water dish full at the top , but she has not yet surfaced.

:wall:

 

[butch4skin]

She'll come up looking for water when she needs it. If she didn't, and as a result died, I would have to seriously question how these animals survived for millions of years. Of course you could spray/flood occassionally to simulate seasonal change. That never hurts. Actually, I often wonder if this may have something to do with females often being non-receptive to breeding.

 

[Widowman10]

i'm sure she'll come up when she's good and ready. there also is a possibility that she comes up once every few weeks at night. i would make absolutely sure to keep a full water dish, just in case she comes out looking for a drink. other than that, like gsal said, they've survived so far, so don't worry

 

[Phil Hall]

Cheers for the replies, yes I imagine she may have come up , it's just that there are no signs on the surface so far, but the waterdish is topped up every week or so.

 

[spidersrclass]

My overgrown Crawshayi buries the water dish

 

[Annie3Ponies]

Mine is not full grown yet, but it was buried for about 4 months. I recently returned from a 2 week vacation, and surprise - there was an opening to the surface again! So, I dropped in a roach, and hoped for the best.

I have a small water dish on the surface, I overflow it a little once a week. I think (not know) that since these guys burrow amongst tree roots in their native habitat, they are finding more humidity down there than on the arid surface.

Once you see her again, I'd be very interested to hear how long she was "down".

 

[BurrowDweller]

I also have a female that is 8" plus and I have never seen her out of her burrow. Luckily she has dug down next to the glass so I can see her. The water dish sits in the corner over part of the burrow. Everytime I fill it a little water sloshes out and ends up soaking down and dripping into the burrow. She readily drinks from the puddle it creates.

 

[seanrc]

mine is only 2 and half inches! and i had it for about a year and some months! they grow so low! i cant wait till mine gets that big