Newbie with lots of questions! (B. klaasi possibly)

[Thomas Loomis]

The handling question is a land mine. There are certainly valid reasons not to handle. That being said, no one should suggest that you have to heed this advice. As long as you know that your spider will never "enjoy" being held, then do what you will. Plenty of people handle, plenty do not. Neither group will ever change the other.

 

[Leila]

Wow, that is a plump abdomen!
The cool thing about slings is that they do not linger in pre-molt for an excessive amount of time like their adult counterparts might.
For example, I have 2 Brachypelma albopilosum: one is an adult (5ish inches DLS); the other is around 1 inch DLS. The larger T spent a month or so (I didn't log the time, so I am just guessing?) in pre-molt, while the smaller one spent maybe a week and a half (again, this is not a 100% accurate time-table.) My point is this: your sling will molt sometime soon.

Congrats on the new addition!

 

[Mithricat]

Update: still in premolt with no signs of making a molting carpet, webbing or laying on its back. With such a fat abdomen and being a sling and all I expected it would be preparing to molt by now, oh well...

It always comes out of the hide at night, doesn't stray far from it but I've see it close to the heating pad part of the faunarium, could be that it gets a little cold at night and it's trying to find warmth.

As for the feeders, the B. lateralis absolutely LOVE their heating pad, they rarely move to the cool side of their enclosure. The Dubias are indifferent. I'm trying to find the sweet spot that will let them grow fast enough to breed.

 

[Mithricat]

I was wrong, it's moving substrate around! A lot of it! I noticed it kept moving around a lot so I took a closer look at the entrance to his hide with a flashlight. The little monster was actually holding (!!!) a piece of earth from the substrate in its front legs (I think) and I could see that the entrance to the hide was becoming "hilly" from new material moved there.

Right now about half the entrance to his hide has been sealed off! I think it's getting close to molting

 

[The Grym Reaper]

The little monster was actually holding (!!!) a piece of earth from the substrate in its front legs (I think)

They use their pedipalps

View media item 46683

 

[Paul1126]

Slings can be premoult for ages, my 1cm boehmei sling was premoult for a month and my 1.5cm vagans sling last moult was 31/10/17 about 3 weeks pre moult.

My 6cm hamorii blocked his hide off and it took him close to 3 month to eventually moult.

 

[Mithricat]

It has been carrying materials from the burrow for hours with barely any breaks, I've never seen it so active. It's fascinating to watch. The amount it has carried is like 3-4 times its body size and still keeps going!

 

[Mirandarachnid]

It has been carrying materials from the burrow for hours with barely any breaks, I've never seen it so active. It's fascinating to watch. The amount it has carried is like 3-4 times its body size and still keeps going!

That's one of my favorite things my T's do. Just a joy to watch them redecorate and see how the enclosures change overnight.

 

[cold blood]

but I've see it close to the heating pad part of the faunarium

And this illustrates why heat pads are dangerous...ts are drawn to heat, much like a moth is drawn to a flame...and like the moth, the t can be drawn to its demise.

I gave you an easy and safe way to heat with a pad, I suggest you think about that. Use the pad to heat a larger enclosure, put the ts enclosure within that heated larger enclosure...this is significantly safer and much more effective.

 

[Mithricat]

And this illustrates why heat pads are dangerous...ts are drawn to heat, much like a moth is drawn to a flame...and like the moth, the t can be drawn to its demise.

I gave you an easy and safe way to heat with a pad, I suggest you think about that. Use the pad to heat a larger enclosure, put the ts enclosure within that heated larger enclosure...this is significantly safer and much more effective.

Right now I'm keeping the entire room warm because the heat pad produced a weird sound up close and I'm not taking chances with electrical equipment.

Will using a precision thermometer with a probe to balance the enclosure temperature with another heat pad do? Putting the enclosure in a larger heated tank would force me to move the T to another room and I'm trying to avoid this if possible.

 

[cold blood]

Right now I'm keeping the entire room warm

good call.

Putting the enclosure in a larger heated tank would force me to move the T to another room

This doesn't even make sense at all. Its not like you need a 12ftX12ft larger enclosure...just one big enough for the current enclosures to fit in....it would be a consolidation of your current enclosures and shouldn't take up any more room than the enclosures themselves. A $3-4 sterilite tub would be all you need.

 

[Mithricat]

Happy updates:
My B. klaasi molted a little more than a week ago. I put fresh water in its water dish and it came out and hanged out half in and half out of the water. It looked like it was drinking. Afterwards I gently opened its burrow entrance and found the old exoskeleton inside. It grew up a lot too, I'd say it's about 25% larger at least.

A couple of days ago I threw a large Blatta lateralis in there and by morning it was gone. I'm very satisfied with the progress it's making, I only wish it stayed out in the open a bit more. It has barricaded itself in the burrow again...

 

[Paul1126]

Happy updates:
My B. klaasi molted a little more than a week ago. I put fresh water in its water dish and it came out and hanged out half in and half out of the water. It looked like it was drinking. Afterwards I gently opened its burrow entrance and found the old exoskeleton inside. It grew up a lot too, I'd say it's about 25% larger at least.

A couple of days ago I threw a large Blatta lateralis in there and by morning it was gone. I'm very satisfied with the progress it's making, I only wish it stayed out in the open a bit more. It has barricaded itself in the burrow again...

People will encourage you not to open the burrow, the spider will do this itself once it's ready (I know frustrating, you just wanna see your T)
I don't think it's unusual for it to barricade itself back into the burrow post moult, my sabulosum done this after he moulted.
Your T will emerge once it's ready.

 

[Mithricat]

Sorry, my mistake, I meant I opened the burrow while she was outside, I didn't dig her out.

 

[Paul1126]

Sorry, my mistake, I meant I opened the burrow while she was outside, I didn't dig her out.

Ah, that's fair enough. Did you manage to take any snaps before she hid again?

 

[Mithricat]

As a matter of fact I did! They are a bit dull and colorless because of the lack of light in that room that forced me to use flash but you can see her quite well and you can see her "drinking" from her water bowl. The lovely red hue on the legs is unfortunately not visible in the photos...



Edit: the heat mat is always off, I just left it there

 

[Paul1126]

Lovely, the enclosure looks kinda big for her though which might be why she hides a lot. It's hard to tell though.

 

[Mithricat]

Of course... The day I make a happy post about how she's eaten I find the roach intact wandering the enclosure...

I've been watching her enclosure like a hawk so the only place this roach could have hidden (given that B. lateralis are not burrowers) is within the corkbark nest itself! It lived with my tarantula for over 2 days and she didn't get eaten...

 

[Thekla]

Of course... The day I make a happy post about how she's eaten I find the roach intact wandering the enclosure...

I've been watching her enclosure like a hawk so the only place this roach could have hidden (given that B. lateralis are not burrowers) is within the corkbark nest itself! It lived with my tarantula for over 2 days and she didn't get eaten...

Maybe it was too big for her. I mean you can see the roach in her burrow on the second picture, and to me it seems pretty big. Try something smaller in a couple of days, a mealworm with its head crushed for example.

 

[boina]

Maybe it was too big for her. I mean you can see the roach in her burrow on the second picture, and to me it seems pretty big. Try something smaller in a couple of days, a mealworm with its head crushed for example.

Nah, that seems a pretty good size, I usually use larger prey. Same tarantulas may even ignore prey if it's too small.

The tarantula seems pretty well rounded, I think it's just not hungry anymore. It can easily make it to the next molt without eating.