Where's the water going?

[SergioCR]

Hello, quick question about water bowl:

I have a 4 inch. sphaerobothria hoffmanni (yes, from my backyard also ) which seems to be doing something with the water bowl (dont know what yet) but for some reason the plastic container keeps drying itself every day... no holes on it, no high heat in the room (25celcius most of the day) and not moved from where it is since it's secured with two small round stones, is it possible for the tarantula to drink that much water in one day? the bowl is about 2" diameter.

 

[Whiskeypunk]

There is a piece of web that is pulling the water out. Clean out the dish and it should be fine unless the T lays more webbing inside it.

 

[Fini]

Certain substrate will wick the water out too. I've noticed this about the coconut peat.

 

[jbrd]

Certain substrate will wick the water out too. I've noticed this about the coconut peat.

coconut peat?

 

[Annie]

I had this happen with my female B. klaasi. Every day I'd fill up the water bowl, leave, come back ten minutes later and it would be empty. Eventually, I caught her in the act of dumping out the water. I had just fed her a cricket when she walked right over to her water bowl, put a foot on the rim, and tipped the bowl up in the air, spilling all the water out. Then she just walked away. Maybe yours is doing something like this too.

Annie

 

[AfterTheAsylum]

coconut peat?

Club Dread? "I think you mean Pina Coladaberg... a little number I wrote 7 and a half _ years before Margaritaville was even on the map!"

jbrd... what can I say? You rock.

And for the real question - it is probably your humidity and substrate.

The Sickness

 

[AussieTkeeper]

coconut peat?

havnet you guys heard of coconut peat
Well it is called "coco peat", but its just made up of crushed and ground coconut shells and husks etc

Jase

 

[G_Wright]

or it may just be warm. It does evaporate you know

 

[Bearskin10]

havnet you guys heard of coconut peat
Well it is called "coco peat", but its just made up of crushed and ground coconut shells and husks etc

Jase

Hear in the States is sold as bed-a-beast, echo earth and a few other names, comes in the form of a brick... Greg

 

[Arachnobrian]

I had this same problem with my A. seemani for months. It seems the substrate 50% potting soil, 50% peat moss, with the help of some webbing was wicking the water away into the substrate.

I have now set the water dish on top of some small river stones (1/4" diameter), the problem was resolved.

As for a tipping the dish, try a heavier dish.

 

[slingshot71]

My A. Seemani loves to bulldoze his substrate and sometimes leaves a clump hanging over the side of the dish which results in the "wicking" effect mentioned. I now keep a lower water level (so the substrate doesn't get soaked when this happens) and add water more often.

 

[Fini]

My A. Seemani loves to bulldoze his substrate and sometimes leaves a clump hanging over the side of the dish which results in the "wicking" effect mentioned. I now keep a lower water level (so the substrate doesn't get soaked when this happens) and add water more often.

Yeah my G. pulchra enclosure looks like a tractor pull sometimes from all the substrate being tossed around everywhere.

Make sure you have "enough" water left in the dish that your T can still find it. A lot of times I notice when the water gets low, they don't use it.

 

[Nerri1029]

My A. Seemani loves to bulldoze his substrate and sometimes leaves a clump hanging over the side of the dish which results in the "wicking" effect mentioned. I now keep a lower water level (so the substrate doesn't get soaked when this happens) and add water more often.

Mine does too...

there's always a wet area under the water dish..
and being a glass petri dish I know it's not leaking..

 

[matty J]

I believe that it is just mother nature. Evaporation happens like crazy in an aquirium. I have the same problem in my one cage. It has a meshed top so the water evaporates out everyday. Sometimes it does last the day. My other cages with a canopy on top take longer to evaporate for sure. Try seran wrapping the top if you have a meshed top. This slows the rate of evaporation. But poke some holes for ventilation.

 

[SergioCR]

...molting...

well... after all the options i guess what's happening here is web pulling out the water... (or t. dumping it after 20mins...) but for some reason i think that's done with some purpose, maybe to increase humidity inside since all around the dish and very close to the t hiding is wet (not damp wet but wet) and now it's upside down molting... it's been acting "strange" about 1 month ago refusing food also and that's when the water thing started to happen... i'll get pictures as soon as i can of the fresh molted t. i'm so dam@#% nervous now... i hope everything goes ok... it's about 4" by now and that's supposed to be the full grown size of this t.

 

[maxamillian]

Yeah, I've noticed that my tarantula water bowls will dry up overnight. The water bowls that I have that are about a centimeter deep and 3 or more centimeters wide tend to dry out overnight. I've also noticed that the water bowls that I have that are over 2 centimeters deep and less than 3 centimeters in width take about two weeks to dry out. I have most of my T's on "Bed a Beast".