A. Avicularia questions

[jesses]

I've just got a new A. Avicularia (probably female) from a petstore. Her body is about 1.5" with about 2" legspan.

This is my 4th tarantula and I am having a hard time understanding her behavior.

I gave her a 10 gallon tank filled 2/3 with peat/vermiculite. Also a cork bark burrow, which she has walked through and decided not to use.

She has built a verticle half-tube web in one of the corners of the tank. She has climbed up the side of the tank so that she is inside the tube-web.

At first, I thought this was some kind of way for trapping insect food, but today she has improved on it and made it 100% enclosed so there is no way a cricket (or anything) can get into the web enclosure.

I put a cricket in the tank 4 days ago. She has bumped into the cricket several times (a good enough run-in to know that the cricket is food) but will not eat it.

I know that sometimes a Tarantula will not eat when they are put into a new enclosure (or sometimes for months at a time for no reason that is apparant to us).

I guess I'm wondering what their normal webbing and eating behavior is... Is the cricket supposed to get trapped in their web, or will they periodically break out of their web, look around for food, and then reconstruct the web after going back?

Also for anyone who owns H. Lividum, mine has just decided to block both sides of her cork-bark with dirt so there is no way in-or-out. Is this some kind of pre-molting thing?

 

[RugbyDave]

first of all, is it a tall cage? If you bought it at petco, usually their Avic cages are like normal kritter keepers, NOT on their sides, just normal..


You need a tall cage.

secondly, your avic built a very normal avic web. Normally, they will get food once it runsinto the web, but one of mine is an active hunter. Well not ahunter, but she doesn't even really have a tube web, she just hangs out behind half a broken pot.

Also, it could be pre-molt. It could be nervous from the ride home -- Is it in a new tank? Give it a couple days.

Just don't start worrying. take a deep breath and try in a couple days.

Make sure the humidity is up, but not stagnant in the cage.

It's not a burrow, thats why it isn't using your made burrow.. They live in the trees -- This is a totally different T than the ones that live on the ground...

otherwise, they are like any other T -- they hang out, wait for food, molt, and then spend the rest of their time plotting and conspiring about how to make us go crazy

good luck!

as for the lividium -- most likely.. Or, it could just want total privacy. I have some T's that block the entrance, Just make sure it didn't cave in.

Remember, the lividium isn't the BEST 'show' T for the simple fact that it burrows. It's a great T, though.

Your T's all sound 100% (though you may not believe me) normal. Check back with us in a couple days though!

peace
good luck!
dave

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by RugbyDave
first of all, is it a tall cage? If you bought it at petco, usually their Avic cages are like normal kritter keepers, NOT on their sides, just normal..

It's not a burrow, thats why it isn't using your made burrow.. They live in the trees -- This is a totally different T than the ones that live on the ground...

The tank is 20.5" / 12" / 10.5", much bigger than most enclosures that I've seen people put their tarantulas in. I've filled it with subtrate so that theres only 5" between the top of the subtrate and the top of the tank.

Since this is an arboreal spider, should I get rid of the cork bark and replace it with something she might want to climb on like a little tree thing?

 

[RugbyDave]

They usually won't pay attention to any decoration, and its usually said the decoration is there for you

you don't need a HUGE cage, and the pics you see on this site are pretty much the perfect size (though they may look small to you).

In most A.avic enclousures, the soil isn't so high up (they're much better at climbing, but thats not to say they can't fall, because they're quite the butter-pinktoes when they're slings!). I'd say you don't need SO much substrate. I like to give mine a solid 7 inches between the cage top and the substrate. Gives them ample running-around-the-wall space

Plus each time i've gone in the wild. I never see them very close to the ground. Although, I've only been to martinique a few times, so I don't know where they always hang out, but.. you know..

it also might be a good idea to put something in the tank for S/he to anchor the web to, but i think you actually already said she made a tube web, huh? can you take a pic?

and they don't always climb around on trees. I mean, mine just hang out in the tube web (and the one that doesnt have a tube web sits behind half a pot standing up!)

I'd say put a hide in there (though you generally don't need one if theres a tube web made, but still.. go for it!). You know, half a flower pot, or those snake hides that are U-shaped. Just make sure you stand it on its end, so it can crawl down..

please, try to take a pic! doesn't sound too bad to me! If i'm not too tired, i may go out on a limb and say you have a really really big cage, which may not be necces. Mine is about 11" high, and its round (possibly 9-10"ish in diamter? I'm not sure). But that's a fine cage for her size (4.5") -- how big is your T again? 1.5"?

man, that thing needs to be in a deli cup right now. If the cage is too big, it may not be able to find food, and it will (maybe) be stressed out.

T's feel comfortable (we think) when they are close to their surroundings. In other words, the tube web is akin to the terrestrial burrow. They do this in the same way that we build houses.

However, they don't pine for size and open spaces like humans do (most at least)... In fact, its the opposite.

They are opportunistic burrows (some at least) who will find a nice comfortable burrow.. .note that in the wild they are 25 inches deep they build them big enough to finagle their bodys in, molt, and eat.

Think about it!
I'd say move it into a tupperware container / deli cup / pill vial for the time being. Check out my SLING 101 post.. i think its on page 2 or 3 of this forum. I, along with other people, posted pics about where we're keeping T's of the same size as yours!

Check it out!
go with what we got for the most part (untill you get more knowledgable about T's) -- I don't mean that in a bad way, and i'm not implying youre stupid. I'm saying that when you first get into something, you really don't know all that much. None of us did!

so enough of that. Hope this answers many more questions to come

enjoy the night!
peace,
dave

peace
dave

 

[Lostkat]

jesses you Avic could be premoult. When I got my geroldi sling, all it did was web itself a pretty thick tube web, seal the entrances, and hide in that all day. About a week or so later it moulted.

It has built a new tube web now, but if I disable a cricket (crush back legs and jaws) and place it in the entrance to the web, it snaps it up. It also sits with the front legs poking out of the web.

Same story with my versicolor. I recieved it and it did absolutely nothing for 3 days and then moulted On the last moult, it build a thick tube web, completely sealed up and sat in it for a week - just as the geroldi did. Since the moult it has another tube web, but again, it sits at the front of the web with feet poking out. I've discovered that I can actually feed this one by hand! I dangle a cricket in front of it's legs and it snatches it away. Quite cool really.

I've noticed that my Avics will either sit at the entrance to their web or come out and actively hunt for food when hungry. When premoult, they sit around and do absolutely nothing all day.

 

[SpiderTwin]

Hey Jesses,
I also think your Avic. is premolt. I have a number of Avics and they all do the same thing. When they get close to a molt, they build up their web and seal off the openings. Once they molt, they start coming out to look for food. Avics build a web to live in, most of the time you will find them in their web during the day, and out and about at night. Yours sounds normal, there is no need to put the food in the web, they will come down close to the substrate and wait for the prey to pass by.

The amount of substrate you have in the container is too much. My Avic. enclosures are 11" tall and I have around 3" of substrate. I keep the substrate moist, but not saturated.

Keep asking questions here, you'll learn all you need to know.

 

[jesses]

My little pinktoe finally ate a cricket today. I had to grab the reluctant cricket with pliars and put it into the tiny hole in the top of the tube-web

 

[SpiderTwin]

Strange, normally when my Avics are between molts, they keep their webs open. Most of the time they are in their web or hanging around on the sides of the container waiting for food to walk along on the substrate. I thought for sure when you said it had fully enclosed itself, it was getting ready to molt.

I'm glad that it is eating though. Keep an eye on it, it may still be close to a molt, but not as close as you may have thought at first.

 

[pixi14369]

a burrow huh? my best advice, 2 inches of substrate, and a piece of bark to anchor the web..

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by pixi14369
a burrow huh? my best advice, 2 inches of substrate, and a piece of bark to anchor the web..

I called it a cork bark burrow but what I meant wasn't burrow really but the U shaped peice of cork bark, which my Avic is using to anchor her web. And I have already brought the subtrate down to the correct level (gave the excess to my Lividum)

 

[pixi14369]

i wasnt trying to be insulting...but when someone type anything over the net it loses translation a bit...

 

[RugbyDave]

i fully agree!

So everythings working out huh?

nice!
peace
dave

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by RugbyDave
i fully agree!

So everythings working out huh?

One Avic. eating, one not. But the one not eating is kinda fat in the ass, so I'll give her a week or two before I start worrying.

 

[skadiwolf]

my A. avic still hasn't eaten that i've seen. (sigh) she has groomed and all though, and she's staying on the wall and not looking sickly, so hopefully, she's doing okay. i'm still watching her like a hawk and being the nervous mother of course.

 

[RugbyDave]

youse all gotta stop worrying
If you're gonna be keeping T's, get used to lots of "no-eatings" and "not-doing-anythings" =D

seriously. I know we want to take care and all, but sometimes you gotta let em go a couple of weeks with no eating...

I KNOW i'll be backed up on this ;P

as long as they have enough water, they'll be fine.
i know all the info is daunting at first, but it'll all fall into place pretty soon!

hows it shakin skadi?!

good luck everybody!
pce
dave

 

[Vys]

Hmm...so with certain Avics you get to feed the web eh? I thought my Avic Avic was the pretty inactive one at first, when she would only come out of her web in the morning and evening that I could see, to sit for an hour or so on the cork-bark, ala Hunter's Pose.
Then she molted and I had to revise my view. She's eaten 1 cricket in..well forever basically, and she almost never comes out of her web, that I see. Before, she wasn't afraid of a little light from a torch, but she sure is now I won't even notice when she's up for a molt ..even the sealed web thing she has done without molting.

 

[TheDon]

I have 2 A. Avics right now. A Juvenile and Adult. They are both different in the way they act. They are both out all the time walking around or just chilling on the side of the tank. I dont have any corkbark or anything like that in the juveniles cage because when I bought it, it had already constructed a web attached to the lid and side of the tank. Although when I decide to move her I will be adding vines and a log of some sort. With my adult she never seems to like to catch her own food, she has a couple times but only when it climbed up the log and came within a couple inches of her. So usually i just feed her with long needle nose pliers which she just snatches the cricket out of. But anyways, just curious do u have your pinktoe in an entire 10 gallon to herself? if so I would divide it so that she doesnt have to walk miles to catch its prey.

Anyways Good Luck with your new T

TheDon

 

[SpiderTwin]

One thing you can say about T's, they are just like people when it comes to every individual being different.
Some of my Avic's are no different, I can see some during the day just hanging out, and the others I may see if I get up in the middle of the night.

Like Dave said too, as long as they look healthy, don't worry about them not eating, they will when they are ready. As for feeding them, I just throw the crickets in and they disappear, it may take overnight, but they disappear.

 

[Vys]

TheDon:

Why would it be bad for a tarantula to move?

 

[That_Guy]

Mine stays close to the ground..Funny really. It took my almost 3 weeks making a custom cage for it. And it hangs around on the ground. Unless it walks around when im sleeping Ive caught it a few times wandering around at night.