Pebbles in water dish?

[NukaMedia Exotics]

Does anyone feel its necessary to put a rock or pebble in a T's water dish? I personally don't add any, but I just got a copy of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide and saw this idea in it.

 

[mconnachan]

Does anyone feel its necessary to put a rock or pebble in a T's water dish? I personally don't add any, but I just got a copy of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide and saw this idea in it.

No, there's no need for them - unfortunately the TKG is so out of date now, tarantulas can swim, float, even fish for prey underwater, species dependant of course, just plain water always filled will provide water for your T and some humidity as well.

 

[Venom1080]

I rarely have dead crickets in mine. Pain to clean if I can't remove dishes with tongs too.

 

[BoyFromLA]

I would be so sad/mad if someone put rocks in my water cup.

 

[mconnachan]

I would be so sad/mad if someone put rocks in my water cup.

Density dependant though....

 

[volcanopele]

Yeah, they’re not all that useful. They make it harder to keep the enclosure clean because you would have to clean not only the water dish, but all those pebbles. Better to just use an easy-to-clean or easy-to-replace water dish (for many of my spiders, I just use a 2 oz deli cup, got the idea from EulerK). Besides, if a cricket drowns in the water dish, oh well, at least it isn’t bothering my spider anymore.

 

[viper69]

Does anyone feel its necessary to put a rock or pebble in a T's water dish? I personally don't add any, but I just got a copy of The Tarantula Keeper's Guide and saw this idea in it.

No. Pebbles are for crickets to prevent drowning, not for Ts. Ts can swim.

 

[Rittdk01]

It's for the crickets to get out. I hardly feed crickets to my tarantulas these days, but I used to have to fish them out of dishes once in awhile. Disgusting.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

No. Pebbles are for crickets to prevent drowning, not for Ts. Ts can swim.

I knew it was for the crickets, I was just wondering if it was useful enough that people actually use the method or not. Seems like not, so I'm going to keep my water dishes rock free.

 

[Paul1126]

Drop the crickets near the T if it's hungry it will grab it straight away, do people have problems with feeders drowning?
I've never seen a cricket suicide

 

[Ungoliant]

do people have problems with feeders drowning?
I've never seen a cricket suicide

Usually not, but if the sides are much higher than the water level, and a cricket falls in, it may drown.

That being said, I don't leave feeders unattended for long enough for them to end up drowning in a water dish.

 

[volcanopele]

I see it sometimes with my less enthusiastic eaters. While it would be nice to not leave feeders unattended, some of my Ts... I don’t know, don’t like to eat while they’re being watched, or more likely, are too freaked out by all the motion associated with me feeding them, when I have to pull the enclosure off the shelf, that they aren’t interested in eating right that second. I’ll come back the next morning to check on them, but yes, sometimes I see crickets that have drowned.

 

[viper69]

do people have problems with feeders drowning?
I've never seen a cricket suicide

Yes all the time. People have been observing this for decades. They hop into the water and they usually die soon.

The pebble idea that people mention for Ts is not from this hobby, it is a carry over from the reptile hobby. I've into herp long before Ts.

That being said, I don't leave feeders unattended for long enough for them to end up drowning in a water dish.

Actually, usually we do see drowning, hence the pebbles.

See above- in the reptile hobby we don't pull our feeders out as quickly as Ts.