my G.aureostriata is getting punchy

[earthgirl]

I have my very large G.aureostriata in a 15 gallon tank with a metal mesh top. The other day while I was online I heard a loud "plink" and saw that she was upside down hanging from the screen. I went over there to see if she was stuck and saw that she had pushed one of her very large fangs into one of the holes in the screen and made it bigger than the rest (she wasn't stuck at least). Well today I noticed 3 more holes. They are not large -- imagine you poked a pencil tip through the wire mesh and that is the size.

Has anyone here actually had a large T (or any size for that matter) escape in this manner?

She has been antsy lately, she has dug up all of the peat moss and made a pile, and covered up her water dish. I took the peat moss back out of her water dish and she rolled the substrate into balls and loaded them back up on the water dish.

I have to admit it is pretty entertaining. :clap:

Thanks for your wisdom!

 

[Cigarman]

Someone else here posted a pic of their T with its fang through one of the vent holes on the side of the enclosure. You could see little scrape marks so I guess either it wants a chew toy or perhaps its just cleaning its fangs or trying to escape. My chaco likes to decorate its house with substrate and web to hold it all together. When its feeling like a walkabout, it clings to the lid of the keeper and puts its legs through and feels around for something to touch. Weird but very funny to watch. So far it hasn't tried to fill up its water dish but its just a youngster so Im sure there is more entertaining behavior ahead.

 

[earthgirl]

Thanks Cigarman!
They are fun to watch!

 

[Sandra]

Yikes, I don't know if I'd be able to sleep at night after witnessing that. :} hehe

I wonder if your Chaco could be a mature male, ready to look for a girlfriend. ?? I understood they are normally so docile. (Our young one sure is.)

Later on I want to post a tank top (hope you don't mind) that we have but haven't tried yet, as our guy has yet to grow into that particular enclosure. Wonder if it might be more suitable...but then I've not seen anyone else using it here.

 

[nowhereman]

I've never seen this behavior from any chacos. Our A. geniculata use to use her fangs to hold onto the roof ! fang it crawl a little and so on. This is one reason why all of our tanks are on their sides. The other ,more floor space and less height.

 

[Sequin]

On the other tarantula site someone posted about an avic species sling escaping this way. I seriously doubt a large chaco is going to pierce enough holes to escape tho...haha... I cant picture a tarantula spearing mesh over and over to escape, it sounds so comical
~Meagan~

 

[earthgirl]

"plink" and "bam"

I am pretty sure she is a female. When she moulted I checked and did see a ridge above the book lungs (forget what the scientific name is).

She was always so docile. I had posted about her earlier, that she didn't eat for six months before she moulted. She had also holed herself up for several months. Now she is all over the place. I love to watch her catch crickets. If a cricket happens to be by the glass, she grabs it with such force it makes a "bam" noise against the glass, not unlike a bird flying into a window.

Along with the "plink" of the screen top and the "bam" of the glass, she is the noisiest T I have ever had... <grin>

I love having such a big T!

It is interesting reading all your responses. Maybe it is a little too much to think that there was a danger of escape through punching holes in the screen, I was worried that she might somehow weaken the screen if she punched it enough. She is so big, I can't help but think that if she REALLY wanted to, that she could break out of the enclosure. I will just have to keep her well fed and happy...

 

[Windchaser]

Screen lids

You may want to keep on eye on her. I had a B. boehmei crack a fang, twice. I am not sure if he did it on the screen top or some other way. The fangs grew back after a molt, so he is fine. BTW, after he cracked the fnag the first time, he forced a molt shortly after that. I never was able to determine how he cracked off the tips of his fang, but the screen top is certainly a candidate.

I am in the process of replacing all of my tops with plexiglass, just to be on the safe side.

 

[earthgirl]

You may want to keep on eye on her. I had a B. boehmei crack a fang, twice. I am not sure if he did it on the screen top or some other way. The fangs grew back after a molt, so he is fine. BTW, after he cracked the fnag the first time, he forced a molt shortly after that. I never was able to determine how he cracked off the tips of his fang, but the screen top is certainly a candidate.

I am in the process of replacing all of my tops with plexiglass, just to be on the safe side.

The plexiglass sounds like a good idea. Do you have it specially made? Is there a little "door?"

 

[Windchaser]

The plexiglass sounds like a good idea. Do you have it specially made? Is there a little "door?"

I am making them myself. I simply cut them to size for each tank. I have not been putting in doors. I also drill holes along the edges for ventilation. I keep the holes fairly small to prevent the T's from getting anything stuck in them. I also added Velcro straps on the ends to secure the tops to the tank.

 

[BakuBak]

My b albopilosum male lost 2 fangs in this way ,,

but i am "feeding" him with woter+ C6H12O6 + -ooccnh2ccoo- and he work fine

 

[metzgerzoo]

Wow, I'd be getting a different lid with a heavier guage metal screen. One of my blondi's will do that (use it's fangs to hang on to the lid) so will my rosie. They can indeed injure a fang doing that and since changing out lids they've stopped. (now they just get claws stuck :wall: ) If it's that large that it can utilize a 15 gallon, then it should by all means be mature and if it was a male, should be easy seeing it's hooks, so if you think it's a female, it probably is....unless it's under 6 inches of course.

 

[Sandra]

I'm back with that picture. I got this in advance for our G.a., who turned out way too tiny to put in it, but we're holding onto it for the future. It's a 5 gal, and the top as you can see is wire, very strong, holds on super tight. The spacing of the wire bars is about 1/8" (4mm). Would that be suitable for a bigger T, and safer in general than the mesh??

 

[Mike H.]

I'm back with that picture. I got this in advance for our G.a., who turned out way too tiny to put in it, but we're holding onto it for the future. It's a 5 gal, and the top as you can see is wire, very strong, holds on super tight. The spacing of the wire bars is about 1/8" (4mm). Would that be suitable for a bigger T, and safer in general than the mesh??

That would work for a large T. just make sure they cant sqeeze threw the openings....spiders are escape artists...they have 24/7 to find a way out...

Regards, Mike

 

[Sandra]

Oh yes, for sure! Ours has a few years of growing yet before he "graduates." (But then, who knows what else might come before then!)