efmp1987
Arachnoknight
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2017
- Messages
- 150
First off, I'm so in love with this species! Pretty little spider really and really recommended! 
I mentioned in another thread how she has been causing me so much stress: refuses (or does she really?) to hide, and man is she bold and nasty! Kicks hair (doesn't affect me), threat poses, and twice, got up from a crouching position and dashed towards my hand!
Not so much the nastiness, but the fact that she is not hiding stressed me out... stressed, because my gut-feeling, my intuition told me that she is NOT a happy spidey. Check out that unwanted cork tube on the left - it is unoccupied. She doesn't like it, the interior is too smooth I think, and angled diagonally, almost vertical. Crouched in a corner, slightly darkened coloration. She was existing, but NOT thriving.
Could it be? I did my research! They inhabit rocky montane areas (upland or elevated habitats), and are frequently found in between cracks, while juveniles burrow under rocks. I theorized that going downwards is against their instincts, hence the noted dislike for the cork tube, and the preference for the cork bark on the foreground where she frequently sits atop.
So I went to the pet shop, got an artificial hide constructed from concrete (texture to resemble a rock), went home, cupped her out of the enclosure (because no way in bloody hell am I going to shove my hand in there with her still inside). Uprooted the useless cork tube, positioned the new hide at the same level as the cork slab basking spot, and...
VIOLA! She spent 2 hours inside this morning, redecorated the interior by taking out a few teaspoon of subtrate! She just ate an inch-long dubia and hid inside again. She still comes out a lot, make short dashes, stop, dash off again, nonchalantly walks around, I find it funny really. That said, she remains extremely bold and I cant make her scuttle away and hide when disturbed. To conclude, she's seems happy, which makes me very very happy, and the dubia happy, too (in cockroach heaven anyway ).
Moral of the story for newbies like me: our T's depend on us for survival. I always believe that even among animals, there is a difference between existing and thriving. It's always nice to try and be sensitive to the needs of our pets. Identify negative cues, and work to fix them.
Now my next problem is the very fat Peocilotheria metallica (pre-molt) which can no longer fit inside it's cork tube!
I mentioned in another thread how she has been causing me so much stress: refuses (or does she really?) to hide, and man is she bold and nasty! Kicks hair (doesn't affect me
), threat poses, and twice, got up from a crouching position and dashed towards my hand!
Not so much the nastiness, but the fact that she is not hiding stressed me out... stressed, because my gut-feeling, my intuition told me that she is NOT a happy spidey. Check out that unwanted cork tube on the left - it is unoccupied. She doesn't like it, the interior is too smooth I think, and angled diagonally, almost vertical. Crouched in a corner, slightly darkened coloration. She was existing, but NOT thriving.
Could it be? I did my research! They inhabit rocky montane areas (upland or elevated habitats), and are frequently found in between cracks, while juveniles burrow under rocks. I theorized that going downwards is against their instincts, hence the noted dislike for the cork tube, and the preference for the cork bark on the foreground where she frequently sits atop.
So I went to the pet shop, got an artificial hide constructed from concrete (texture to resemble a rock), went home, cupped her out of the enclosure (because no way in bloody hell am I going to shove my hand in there with her still inside
). Uprooted the useless cork tube, positioned the new hide at the same level as the cork slab basking spot, and...VIOLA! She spent 2 hours inside this morning, redecorated the interior by taking out a few teaspoon of subtrate!
She just ate an inch-long dubia and hid inside again. She still comes out a lot, make short dashes, stop, dash off again, nonchalantly walks around, I find it funny really. That said, she remains extremely bold and I cant make her scuttle away and hide when disturbed. To conclude, she's seems happy, which makes me very very happy, and the dubia happy, too (in cockroach heaven anyway ).
Moral of the story for newbies like me: our T's depend on us for survival. I always believe that even among animals, there is a difference between existing and thriving. It's always nice to try and be sensitive to the needs of our pets
. Identify negative cues, and work to fix them.Now my next problem is the very fat Peocilotheria metallica (pre-molt) which can no longer fit inside it's cork tube!
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