# My tarantula cage is falling apart! help!



## agilder11 (May 16, 2013)

Hi Everyone,

I woke up this morning to the styrofoam on the back of my tarantula cage crumbling (see pic). You can see the exposed glass backing.  I can't figure out what happened. Has this happened to anyone else?

Also, I'm going to order a new cage, But should I cover this hole with something? If so, what should I use? Sorry the pic is rotated, I can't figure out how to fix it. 

Thanks!


----------



## Chris_Skeleton (May 16, 2013)

Looks like your T felt like redecorating. What kind of T is it?

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Rhodin (May 16, 2013)

That black thing I can see through the glass appears to be a heat mat, if it is then that would be your problem. Not only are heat mats not necessary for T's but they also will melt styrofoam like the kind your terrarium backing is made out of. You don't need to order a new tank, you could simply take the background off. You could even buy a replacement backing from exo terra(foam) or from zoo med(I believe they make a cork bark one that wouldn't melt). Regardless I would stop using the heat mat if I were you.


----------



## agilder11 (May 16, 2013)

Hi Chris,

It's a T. ockerti. I didn't realize she could have the strength to do that. Any advice on what to do next?

Thanks for the reply!

---------- Post added 05-16-2013 at 10:51 AM ----------

I will do that! thanks for the reply.

Im worried about her getting too cold. I have her at my work that is temperature controlled to 65 degree F. So I got her a heat mat to bump her cage closer to 75. any suggestions?


----------



## Rhodin (May 16, 2013)

I'm fairly certain your T will do fine at 65 degrees, it might eat a little less but ultimately that also means living longer aswell. I may be wrong and anyone can chime in to correct me. New world terrestrials are usually quite hardy

*If you would still like to use the heat mat you could buy a zoo med cork bark background, or just not use a background at all I suppose.
I believe the main gripe people have about heat mats is that they usually are placed where Ts like to go to for humidity and cooler temps, the bottom of the tank. Since yours is on the side the only worry I would have it is failing and getting too warm.


----------



## Shrike (May 16, 2013)

While I'm not a fan of heat mats, I don't think that's what damaged the styrofoam backing.  I agree with Chris--it looks like the tarantula pulled it apart, which they're very capable of doing.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## goodoldneon (May 16, 2013)

That looks like an aborted escape attempt. What an amateur.

Reactions: Like 3


----------



## PrettyHate (May 16, 2013)

Looks like someone got the late night munchies. While I love the exo-terra tanks, I hate the Styrofoam backs. Crickets also eat the Styrofoam, and often get trapped in behind there- which can be dangerous if your T molts, and super annoying once they start chirping.

If it were me, I would remove the background and make your own. Myself, as well as many others have made custom backgrounds. They are relatively cheap and easy to make - not to mention fun! There are lots of ideas and pictures in the terrarium section.

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Rhodin (May 16, 2013)

Shrike said:


> While I'm not a fan of heat mats, I don't think that's what damaged the styrofoam backing.  I agree with Chris--it looks like the tarantula pulled it apart, which they're very capable of doing.


You don't think that its possible that the heat caused the styrofoam to expand and explode? I mean maybe it isn't possible but it seems unlikely that a T would cause that much damage. To the OP: How long was the T left unwatched before you noticed this? A single night, weekend, longer?
Also if the background didn't explode from heat then why are the pieces scattered so far apart?


----------



## macbaffo (May 16, 2013)

Beside the need or not of a heat mat....why putting it behind something that insulate like styrofoam?


----------



## Formerphobe (May 16, 2013)

I'm leaning toward tarantula damage.  If the little eight legged can-openers (to coin Anastasia's phrase) can chew through acrylic and metal screen, then styrofoam is nothing.


----------



## vukic (May 16, 2013)

Looks like the T attacked the Styrofoam while it wa trying to redecorate... Just take it out and start with something else.. Cork bark or make something gorilla glue.. 

Tiger

Sent from my LT18i using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Shrike (May 16, 2013)

Rhodin said:


> You don't think that its possible that the heat caused the styrofoam to expand and explode? I mean maybe it isn't possible but it seems unlikely that a T would cause that much damage. To the OP: How long was the T left unwatched before you noticed this? A single night, weekend, longer?
> Also if the background didn't explode from heat then why are the pieces scattered so far apart?


A tarantula is more than capable of doing that much damage.  Chewing behavior is fairly well documented here.  One example:

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...ula-chewing-stuff&highlight=chewing+styrofoam

In my opinion, it's a more likely explanation.


----------



## Rhodin (May 16, 2013)

Shrike said:


> A tarantula is more than capable of doing that much damage.  Chewing behavior is fairly well documented here.  One example:
> 
> http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...ula-chewing-stuff&highlight=chewing+styrofoam
> 
> In my opinion, it's a more likely explanation.


I guess you're probably right, I've never seen someone have a problem like this before you posted that link. Still seems odd that pieces are all over the walls and some even made it onto the screen top but you were probably right.


----------



## Crysta (May 16, 2013)

Yeah my Ockerti likes to chew. I once had a L. parahybana pull the silicon off the corners of her 10g tank. lol... 

The reason why the peices are spread so far apart is the t. ockerti probably walked around with the styrofoam stuck to her before it eventually fell off. 

I see my spiders often placing little peices of dirt where they like it. lol


----------



## Chris_Skeleton (May 16, 2013)

Rhodin said:


> You don't think that its possible that the heat caused the styrofoam to expand and explode? I mean maybe it isn't possible but it seems unlikely that a T would cause that much damage. To the OP: How long was the T left unwatched before you noticed this? A single night, weekend, longer?
> Also if the background didn't explode from heat then why are the pieces scattered so far apart?


My G. pulchripes has one of those styrofoam burrows on the side of its aquarium. It frequently will rip pieces off and web them to different parts of the enclosure. Also, have you ever seen a T pick up dirt and fling it? I have a P. irminia that will pick up dirt with its fangs and then flick it across the enclosure with its pedipalps. I would guess that is another reason it's all over the place. And I'm not quite sure that a heat mat could output enough heat to damage the styrofoam, especially just a corner.


----------



## Fossa (May 16, 2013)

i'd go with chewing, my cresties have the exoterra foam backgrounds and heat sources and uv bulbs have never caused a styrofoam explosion lol. If you want to keep the background you could remove the T to another tank,  grout and seal the whole thing and then let it cure before putting the T back in? probably cheaper than buying a replacement.


----------



## Stan Schultz (May 16, 2013)

agilder11 said:


> ... I didn't realize she could have the strength to do that. ...


What were you thinking? They evolved digging in packed dirt and gravel (even though they may now be semi-arboreal). They tear things up for FUN!



agilder11 said:


> ... Any advice on what to do next? ...


Either set the cage up with the Styrofoam background OUTSIDE the back wall, or (because I'm heavily biased against setting up complicated cages with a lot of effectively useless junk) re-set the cage up for the tarantula instead of for you.



agilder11 said:


> ... Im worried about her getting too cold. I have her at my work that is temperature controlled to 65 degree F. So I got her a heat mat to bump her cage closer to 75. any suggestions?


Yup! Even if you're not a newbie read this. Sometimes all of us need a little review.


[size=+1]*STAN'S NEWBIE INTRODUCTION*[/size]​
*DID YOU HEAR THAT? THAT WAS THE NEWBIE ALARM!*

[SIZE=+1]*WELCOME TO THE HOBBY!

WELCOME TO THIS FORUM!*[/SIZE]

:biggrin:

Okay, so we're all newbies, often for a long time. We've done what everybody else does: Read all the Internet care sheets. Listened attentively to everything the expert down at the local pet shop told us. Wasted a lot of money on things we shouldn't have. Incorporated a lot of things that were useless or even dangerous. Stressed out over meaningless details while ignoring the real issues. Way overkill. That's not a criticism; I'm just delineating the problems. It's just the way humanoids are, I suppose.

We can deal with all that.

There's nothing wrong with being a newbie as long as you do something about it. After 45 years of keeping tarantulas, I still consider myself a newbie. We can trace a tarantula's ancestry back over *HALF A BILLION YEARS*. They've had that long to develop and fine tune their lives and lifestyles. They're incredibly complex and detailed creatures. We're gonna be playing catch-up (that's the newbie part) for a long, LONG, *LONG* time!

The first thing you need to understand is the *KISS principle*, not to infer that you're stupid. Inexperienced, maybe. Stupid, I don't think so. As proof, you can speak, read, and write English (arguably one of the more difficult languages on Planet Earth), and use a computer just fine. But, I digress. As long as you supply the basic necessities of life for your captive tarantula, the less you incorporate into its cage and care regimen, the less there is to go tragically *haywire*. KISS, indeed!

The second thing you need to understand is that tarantulas are like no other creature you've ever kept or even heard of before. All the ingrained assumptions and prejudices that you've been taught since childhood don't apply, and may even be dangerous to them. They're neither tropical fish, reptiles, canaries, nor gerbils, and you don't take care of them like any of those animals. One of the biggest problems with newbies is trying to get them to abandon all their prejudices and begin to look at the world from the vastly alien perspective of a huge, fuzzy spider.


*FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT.
MAKE SURE YOUR SEAT BACK AND TRAY TABLE ARE SECURED IN THEIR UPRIGHT POSITIONS.
THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE H*** OF A RIDE!*​
Because tarantulas are so bizarre and unique, you have a lot of homework to do. To begin, you need to read the following webpages.

1) *Stan's Rant*. *ESPECIALLY, READ THE PART ABOUT NOT TRUSTING ANYTHING A PET SHOP TELLS YOU! AND ESPECIALLY, [Strike]READ[/Strike] STUDY THE FOUR RECOMMENDED BOOKS.*

2) *Myths...*. Read the entire webpage tree.

3) *Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula*. *IF YOU HAVE A WILD CAUGHT CHILEAN ROSE TARANTULA (Grammostola rosea) YOU NEED TO READ THIS WEBPAGE!* If you don't have a Chilean rose you can safely ignore this one for now. Just remember that it's here for whenever you do get a rose. Or, you can read it out of curiosity. It contains a lot of hints applicable to other arid species.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The comments and instructions in *Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula* are applicable only to wild caught _G. rosea_. *CAGE BRED AND RAISED* _G. rosea_ are no different than any other captive tarantula and are best cared for just like any other arid species. See *Growing Your Own* for further information. 

4) *Substrate*. Because you need to know about this very basic, underlying part of a tarantula's existence.

5) *Growing Your Own*. This is a global, game plan for caring for your newfound little buddy. You need to figure out where it is in the vast scheme of growth and development, then start taking care of it properly from that point onward.

6) If you can possibly spare the time, at least skim through the entire *Spiders, Calgary* website.

Lastly, be aware that this system is not the only one available. Neither is it necessarily the best one. You'll see and hear all sorts of other ideas as you go along. But, Marguerite and I have spent decades selling tarantulas to all kinds of people of all ages, and fine tuned this system so as to make it pretty much as bullet proof as it can get. Use our system at first, until you begin to understand these weird animals. Then maybe you can experiment with some of the not-so-conservative approaches recommended by others.

You need to learn to look at the world from the vastly alien perspective of a huge, fuzzy spider. *READ THE BOOKS! READ THE WEBPAGES!*

___________________________________________

Especially, read the *Myths...* web tree and pay particular attention to *Temperature*.


Best of luck. Remember, your little 8-legged Yoda is going to be giving you pop quizzes daily!


----------



## friendttyy (May 17, 2013)

The heat could be baking it or it could be the T chewing the styrofoam.


----------



## Formerphobe (May 17, 2013)

Chris_Skeleton said:


> Also, have you ever seen a T pick up dirt and fling it? I have a P. irminia that will pick up dirt with its fangs and then flick it across the enclosure with its pedipalps. I would guess that is another reason it's all over the place. And I'm not quite sure that a heat mat could output enough heat to damage the styrofoam, especially just a corner.


+1
I had a rock throwing E. cyanognathus.  I had reused some substrate that had some pea-gravel in it.  As the spider encountered gravel in the course of burrow remodeling, it would fling them with enough force that there were audible pings when they hit the sides of the enclosure.


----------



## SuzukiSwift (May 19, 2013)

You'd be surprised at the strength of some Ts, if my a.genic grabs the tongs I have to let her have them (and steal them back later lol) 

What I'm confused about is howcome the tank has no back in the first place, only Styrofoam as the back but the rest is all glass?


----------



## satch (May 20, 2013)

I have an 8 inch female X.immanis and its the same thing, the styro back drop is getting mangled!
I have 68 t's and she is the only one I have seen do this!!


----------



## Stan Schultz (May 21, 2013)

satch said:


> I have an 8 inch female X.immanis and its the same thing, the styro back drop is getting mangled!
> I have 68 t's and she is the only one I have seen do this!!


Your _immanis_:*"AND, IT'S SO MUCH FUN! YOU SHOULD SEE THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE WHEN YOU CHECK ON ME IN THE MORNING. MAN, I WISH I HAD A CAMERA IN HERE!"*


Enjoy your little 8-legged demolition crews!

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## Heckboy (May 22, 2013)

Not the heat. The stuff won't explode from heat, it'll just melt; but a heat mat won't do the trick at all.
That there is fang damage.

*disclaimer: I work with polystyrene foam all day, every day. I cut, melt, expand, and bond the stuff so I can say two things some fair degree of certainty:
1)That heat mat is no threat to the foam whatsoever (and totally unneeded, imo, but that's another deal)
2) Your spider has a thing for interior decorating.


----------

