Tarantula Ping Pong

[Amoeba]

Four days ago I was posting in this thread (http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?216317-Proud-first-time-tarantula-owner) and everyone's favorite author made this comment

They're spiders. That's what they do. Sometimes there's a purpose. Other times they're just doing something, anything to fend off the boredom. As an experiment, I would like you to put one ping pong ball in the cage with it. Nobody seems to believe me, but many tarantulas like to play with the ball in the middle of the night. If you hear a strange noise at 3:00 AM, just smile and go back to sleep. Or, grab your camera for a really unique photo!

Enjoy your little 8-legged ping pong champion!

So I took the liberty of testing this (and quoting it for my signature) so here are my results and pictures.


At 11:00 pm (eastern) 8/26/2011 I placed a white pingpong ball (after rinsing with tap water) in both my G rosea (~4.5-5") and A. metallica's (~3-3.5") kritter keeper. Then shut the the door to where they are currently being housed

I try and check on them daily but I cannot monitor them 24/7 (I am in a tricky housing situation where they cannot sit out in the open as a few of you may also be in) but upon checking today (8/30/2011) I found my G rosea in the corner with legs LI and RI as well as Pedipalps resting on the ping pong ball in the corner where she moved it. I however could not get a picture of this but will try in the future.

So in conclusion I believe you Mr. (or Mrs.) Schultz . I plan on leaving the ping pong ball in with my G. rosea but will remove the other due to lack of interest (didn't expect an arboreal to venture on to the ground but it was worth a shot)

 

[popcangenie]

very interesting but i doubt it was out of "boredom"

 

[Amoeba]

very interesting but i doubt it was out of "boredom"

Your guess is as good as mine to why she moved it and was touching it I should probably check for fang marks huh?

 

[darksidemxer]

Lol thats interesing, please report back if it has fang marks

 

[le-thomas]

That truly is amazing. I mean, the reason as to why the tarantula did this is so perplexing and interesting that I feel like there should be studies done on it xD
I laughed when I saw this in response to Pikaia's post. I was about to sig it, but didn't. Yep. Definitely gonna try this with my rosea. Now I just need to find some ping pong balls :?

 

[Amoeba]

There are a lot more important studies that should be done ahead of "Why a tarantula will mess with a ping pong ball" but this was something I was testing for myself to share with Arachnoboards. I just tried to retrieve the ball from her but the fattie threw me a threat posture... so I'll get it some other time when she isn't on that side of the enclosure.

 

[le-thomas]

There are a lot more important studies that should be done ahead of "Why a tarantula will mess with a ping pong ball" but this was something I was testing for myself to share with Arachnoboards. I just tried to retrieve the ball from her but the fattie threw me a threat posture... so I'll get it some other time when she isn't on that side of the enclosure.

She likes her ball I guess

 

[darksidemxer]

Lol possesive over her toy...interesting

 

[Amoeba]

No she just doesn't like to be bothered

<edit> just pulled the top off to grab the ball without interfering with whatever she has going on there are no punctures or scrapes on the ping pong ball. I moved it back to the center to see what she does.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Tarantulas like to keep a clean house so the behavior you're looking at is the spider trying to get the ball out of its way. The ping pong ball is rather large relative to the size of the container it is in. Remove the ball and replace it with another light-weight object like a balled up piece of paper and I bet it will end up in a corner. Same goes if you give it a lot of prey items all at once. When the spider is done eating and has left overs, that too should end up in a corner. This happens all the time with my tarantulas except for the arboreals with a tube they rest in. In a proper arboreal setup, they will throw out the garbage from the tube hides and not bother lumping it all together in a corner like a terrestrial.

 

[Amoeba]

I've never found a bolus from her only poop. but I will try the paper ball idea

 

[Amoeba]

Gonna update this: I took her out to do some cleaning since she likes to poop on the sides. When I placed her back in she took her frustration out on Señor Ping Pong...not wanting her to mangle a fang or any such unpleasant outcome, I have removed the ping pong ball and will replace it with a paper ball.

 

[newspidermom]

Thought this ping pong thing was interesting so I went out and got a few to put in with my larger Ts. I just check on them and the only T that has moved it is my newly aquired PZB..Xena. I had a feeling I'd get some action from her cause she's also a water dish flipper...lol. I had put it in the center and now it's shoved all the way into her hide...lol. She is sitting on the ouside back corner of her hide. Her hide is comprised of soft coconut husk and she has tightened up the inside to where it hugs her snugly, so the ping pong ball is in there snug too. I'm curious to see how she gets it out of there. There's no back entrance to the hide and no room for her to get around either side of the ball. Time will tell.

 

[deathkorps]

very interesting but i doubt it was out of "boredom"

it was probably more of a "what the deuce is this thing doing here? crazy hairless thing putting this here for no reason, to the corner with you mystery sphere!"

 

[boxofsorrows]

I also read the thread and decided to give it a try with my two Euathlus. The truculentus (sub adult) has moved the ball around from one corner to another a couple of times, the sp 'chile red flame' (juvenile) has so far pretty much ignored it.

 

[deathkorps]

im sure if this was tried with an OBT it would simply use the ping pong ball to create some device to eat everyones souls in its obvious conquest of the world.

 

[newspidermom]

Ok..like I said Xena my PZB put the ball into her hide last night. Got up this morning and checked and she did get it out. Probably had to climb over it to get behind it. None of the other Ts I gave one to have moved them. Only her. Here's last night and this morning pics.

 

[DaveM]

Hardcore! Good for you, FLAmoeba, putting people's claims to the test. I wonder why they do this? Seems from what you're saying that they don't always just shove the ball out of the way, but sometimes attack it. Interesting, and I want to know why.

 

[xhexdx]

They do this with water dishes, too.

Pretty much what AphonopelmaTX said - they're remodeling and don't like it where you put it.

 

[Anastasia]

Actually while back I remember there was couple pages discussion on this topic
I think this vid been presented
[YOUTUBE]dxCrykpx7k4[/YOUTUBE]