1:OO a.m. fun with OBT slings

[Veneficus]

I always go into the T room before I go to bed, and I saw my OBT slings popping out of the lid I had on their tank!!! Ack!!! I was keeping these guys communally, and there are about 150 of them...so I freaked, and these guys were running all over the room. Luckily, I have an understanding husband who keeps scorps. Between the two of us, we managed to rustle up about 12 escapees...hopefully we got them all. My husband doesn't know much about tarantulas but he knows what an OBT is, so it was funny when he discovered what we were chasing after, lol. Matter of fact, he asked if he could keep one.

The interesting experience is after we had caught about 5 of them, we had put them into a container and set it on the other side of the room. I spotted 2 of them in a corner and when I went to get them, the one ran away. I lost him, while I caught the other guy, but lo and behold I discovered the second one clinging to the side of the container which held the group of 5. How in did he know his brothers were in this container on the other side of the room?!

We noticed that the escapee slings tended to stay together, and they all began returning to the original tank. We placed their tank into a larger tank with a lid they couldn't get out of. This morning I found an escapee we had missed last night on top of the lid where the rest of the group were. I have to wonder, how did he know? I have a room full of tarantulas--about two hundred-- and yet he went for the tank which held the rest of the group, even after we moved it to a new location.

 

[J.huff23]

Very funny lol. Hope you got them all!

 

[Protectyaaaneck]

that is pretty cool. I wonder how that little one knew where to go. I guess it was missing all of its brothers and sisters. :?

 

[Veneficus]

that is pretty cool. I wonder how that little one knew where to go. I guess it was missing all of its brothers and sisters. :?

I was wondering the same thing. I've never seen anything like it.

 

[Thompson08]

lol that is awesome

 

[JayzunBoget]

I suppose that communally occurring Ts would take advantage of safety in numbers. If true, they would gravitate, drawn perhaps by smell and taste, toward each other naturally until they hit a certain comfortable proximity.
I have read about them occurring in clusters in eaves in Africa. This would support this theory.

 

[WyvernsLair]

easy.. they lay guide web down as they run around... easy for them to track it back to their point of origin.

 

[Veneficus]

easy.. they lay guide web down as they run around... easy for them to track it back to their point of origin.

Yes, but I had moved their tank and they still found it.

 

[Veneficus]

I suppose that communally occurring Ts would take advantage of safety in numbers. If true, they would gravitate, drawn perhaps by smell and taste, toward each other naturally until they hit a certain comfortable proximity.
I have read about them occurring in clusters in eaves in Africa. This would support this theory.

I was wondering about smell and taste...where would this be located on them?

 

[JayzunBoget]

I was wondering about smell and taste...where would this be located on them?

Toe pads, I believe. I bet your husband knows, particularly if scorps have similar mechanisms.
There is a reference to experiments involving just that circumstance, (sense of smell and ones burrow/nest) in either The Tarantula Keepers Guidebook or a book called The Tarantula Scientist about Sam Marshall, author of Tarantulas and Other Arachnids.
It basically involved switching out burrow/nests between tarantulas and observing the results.

 

[Veneficus]

Just a quick update. I guess I didn't catch them all--I'm still finding some stray travelers. Last night I looked up at my light and saw one reflected through the lampshade! Another one was found walking into the hallway from my T room. I have a feeling in a few months we might still be finding OBT(s), except they'll be larger! What fun. I guess I better not tell my friends who come to visit, lol.

 

[oregongrown]

its a nightmare thinking if one of my juvies got out.. eeeek

 

[c'est ma]

Just a quick update. I guess I didn't catch them all--I'm still finding some stray travelers. Last night I looked up at my light and saw one reflected through the lampshade! Another one was found walking into the hallway from my T room. I have a feeling in a few months we might still be finding OBT(s), except they'll be larger! What fun. I guess I better not tell my friends who come to visit, lol.

Boy, are you ever set for Halloween!

 

[somethingbig]

that sounds like such fun!! good luck finding all of them...

 

[HcUnderoath]

i think OBT's are the best escape artists there freakin ninjas, and they aint fun to catch either, you try to get them to go into the deli cup and they can run in and out before my reflexes kick in

 

[Veneficus]

Boy, are you ever set for Halloween!

I am. I actually found another one in a corner--he had made a burrow there.

Last night a friend of my husband's came over and I asked my husband if he told him the story about our tarantulas getting loose. Our friend started looking around and getting scared! He even asked if we were serious or not? I thought it was hilarious and my husband told me to be quiet.

 

[HcUnderoath]

I am. I actually found another one in a corner--he had made a burrow there.

Last night a friend of my husband's came over and I asked my husband if he told him the story about our tarantulas getting loose. Our friend started looking around and getting scared! He even asked if we were serious or not? I thought it was hilarious and my husband told me to be quiet.

lmao, alot of ppl that come by my house and see my T's just freak out and run back to the front door.. or atleast women do.. plz dont hurt me:wall:

 

[Veneficus]

i think OBT's are the best escape artists there freakin ninjas, and they aint fun to catch either, you try to get them to go into the deli cup and they can run in and out before my reflexes kick in

You're right--they run fast! I just found another today, inside a folder I had on the floor! I keep thinking I got them all, and then I find another one.

 

[arachyd]

Maybe it's the same one with a talent for getting out!

 

[Veneficus]

Maybe it's the same one with a talent for getting out!

I wish, except I just added the new found one to a cup with the other one, because I haven't had a chance to put them back in the tank with all of the others!