The Water Dish Saga

[starnaito]

I now truly understand the frustration of having a tarantula that constantly shovels substrate into its water dish. My male B. albiceps has done nothing but test my patience since he got here. (I swear, if you look at him funny, he kicks hairs. Should've named him Bald Butt.) His latest thing is scooping heaps of substrate over his water dish the night after I clean and refill it, completely soaking up all the water. Yet, as soon as I fill it again, he'll come over and drink. So he's thirsty, but... I don't understand tarantula logic, guys, haha. I think I will just ditch the water dish and wet the substrate for him instead. Oh, and I also made him a wonderful hide, and he simply covered the opening with substrate and forgot it even existed. Thanks, dude, you're a real friend.

This is a contrast from my male A. geniculata, who thinks all water is precious and must be protected from the evil hoomans. He has two water dishes, just so I can refill one while he's guarding the other.

(It's worth mentioning that all my females keep their water dishes pristine and don't put up a fight when I need to refill it. They also use their hides...)

Please feel free to share your own water dish struggles so I don't feel so alone in this battle. XD

 

[spookyvibes]

I have three waterdishes stacked on one another in my E. murinus enclosure because she always webs up the water dish to the point where if I try to free it, I’d destroy the rest of her webbing in the process. I had the same thing happening in my GBB’s enclosure, he ended up having like four waterdishes before I rehoused him.

The only way I know my P. cancerides is in premolt is when she stops filling up her waterdish with substrate.

My Hapalopus sp. Columbia likes to web up the inside of the waterdish, needless to say the water is wicked out in an hour or less.

I think I have more spiders that fill up their waterdish with poop/substrate/boluses and/or web them up opposed to spiders that keep their waterdishes clean.

 

[Greasylake]

One of my chromatus has completely buried its water dishes under a mountain of substrate. I have no idea where it went and it belongs to the mole people now.

Both of my fimbriatus web over their dishes every time I fill them and it wicks the water out.

One of my centipedes decided to live under the water dish and excavated a little cave which is fine with me, until it flies out of the cave to catch prey and substrate either flies into fhe dish or gets deposited into it as the pede excavates.

 

[spookyvibes]

One of my chromatus has completely buried its water dishes under a mountain of substrate. I have no idea where it went and it belongs to the mole people now.

Ha. Wish I could say I couldn’t relate. I’ve lost a few waterdishes to my N. chromatus.

 

[Moakmeister]

Regina used to do that stuff constantly. She really doesn't anymore tho.

 

[sdeveikis]

One of my chromatus has completely buried its water dishes under a mountain of substrate. I have no idea where it went and it belongs to the mole people now.

Exact same!! There are currently 2 small bottle caps acting as structural support to an underground tunneling system that mine carved out

 

[Teal]

My adult female Aphonopelma idodius' substrate is half soil/half buried water bowls. She has at least half a dozen in there. You cannot take them out - she'll fight you for them LOL

One of my T. violaceus pleasantly deposits all bolus into his water bowl, then acts like he hasn't water in weeks when I clean and refill it the very next day.

Overall though, most of my Ts leave their water dishes alone!

 

[Scary Mary]

I now truly understand the frustration of having a tarantula that constantly shovels substrate into its water dish. My male B. albiceps has done nothing but test my patience since he got here. (I swear, if you look at him funny, he kicks hairs. Should've named him Bald Butt.) His latest thing is scooping heaps of substrate over his water dish the night after I clean and refill it, completely soaking up all the water. Yet, as soon as I fill it again, he'll come over and drink. So he's thirsty, but... I don't understand tarantula logic, guys, haha. I think I will just ditch the water dish and wet the substrate for him instead. Oh, and I also made him a wonderful hide, and he simply covered the opening with substrate and forgot it even existed. Thanks, dude, you're a real friend.

This is a contrast from my male A. geniculata, who thinks all water is precious and must be protected from the evil hoomans. He has two water dishes, just so I can refill one while he's guarding the other.

(It's worth mentioning that all my females keep their water dishes pristine and don't put up a fight when I need to refill it. They also use their hides...)

Please feel free to share your own water dish struggles so I don't feel so alone in this battle. XD

Bald butt!! Made my evening

 

[Minty]

My G pulchra treats its water dish like its arch enemy, who must be flipped over at every opportunity.

 

[Scary Mary]

My G pulchra treats its water dish like its arch enemy, who must be flipped over at every opportunity.

It sounds like tarantulas have got real personalities! I'm actually excited about getting a new one!

 

[Minty]

It sounds like tarantulas have got real personalities! I'm actually excited about getting a new one!

Yeah they’re all individuals, it’s great when you actually witness them being active!

Which species are you getting?

 

[Scary Mary]

Yeah they’re all individuals, it’s great when you actually witness them being active!

Which species are you getting?

I don't know the scientific name but it will probably be a chaco golden knee female again. Just buried mine 1st one today, took some really bad advice from a petshop owner and killed it with kindness.... Heat mat...

 

[Greasylake]

I don't know the scientific name but it will probably be a chaco golden knee female again. Just buried mine 1st one today, took some really bad advice from a petshop owner and killed it with kindness.... Heat mat...

Scientific name is Grammostola pulchripes (I used the italics to please @Chris LXXIX). This is a fairly common species so if you browse the classifieds here on the board you should be able to find some for a good price.

 

[Minty]

I don't know the scientific name but it will probably be a chaco golden knee female again. Just buried mine 1st one today, took some really bad advice from a petshop owner and killed it with kindness.... Heat mat...

All the best with the new one!

 

[starnaito]

It sounds like tarantulas have got real personalities! I'm actually excited about getting a new one!

I have a couple "pet rock" tarantulas who make me wonder sometimes whether they're really alive, haha. But, yes, for the most part, they have their own personality traits and quirks that don't always reflect what's considered normal for their species.

 

[aphono]

For a year from my start into the hobby, only one bothered with the water dish. A B. baumgarteni would get into periods of super neatly flipping the dish in the exact same spot several times a day and night. Fill. A hour or so later, it's upside down. Clean, but upside down. Another hour or two, it's right side up again in the exact same spot, perfectly clean, not a speck of sub on it.. Rinse, repeat for a few days. Pause. Take up that hobby again for a day or two.

Had some problems with GBB webbing over the water dish and wicking it out. Solved that issue by rehousing them to much larger enclosures and keeping dish well away from any decorations.

Now, nearing two years in the hobby- there's dishy troublemakers left and right. Finding dish on opposite end of enclosure.. buried.. incorporated into a 'turret'.. incorporated into their underground caverns... dish flipped over not long after a filling.. G. pulchra seems to hate the dish and absolutely insists on having it bone dry but watch out if YOU try to touch it... trying to fill it fills her with rage...

p.s. that baumgarteni hasn't bothered with the dish since then. Suspect it had been preaching the silken words about dishes being the enemy to the congregation and is just standing back, basking in all the chaos it caused...

 

[SonsofArachne]

When my Lp decided make a new exit to her burrow of course it was right under her water dish.

My X. immanis kept filling her bottle cap with dirt so I added a small deli cup. The next day I found the bottle cap floating in the deli cup.

My B. hamorii put her water dish on TOP of her hide.

Water dishes are Tarantula's favorite hobby.

 

[AnObeseHippo]

My B. albo burrowed and covered the water dish mostly in substrate. It then proceeded to web down the mound of coco fibre to make removing the water dish a pain in my.. So I just placed a new one in there

I also had a total oversight when making my M. robustum (my first heavy burrower) enclosure in not taking into consideration that the dug out substrate needs to go somewhere... The next morning the enclosure was filled to look like a giant anthole, of course filling half the water dish with substrate. (Pics attached)

 

[viper69]

None of my Ts do this at all.

 

[Greasylake]

None of my Ts do this at all.

I wouldn't be surprised if they flipped their water dishes a long time ago, but each time they did you'd threaten to break their legs if they didn't stop.