A. Chalcodes in water dish

TyjTheMighty

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Messages
57
Hi, long time listener, first time caller. My A. Chalcodes has recently started spending a lot of time near and in her water dish. As I type this she's currently chilling in her water dish. She appears to be fine, she just REALLY loves her water dish I guess. Buy why?
I keep the substrate bone dry since she's a desert species, and she has a hide and plenty of space.
 

Leila

Arachnobaron
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
525
She's a thirsty gal, I guess.
I don't know what it is about a tarantula in a water dish- but omg, it is so adorable! :embarrassed::embarrassed::embarrassed:
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
3,686
Maybe a deeper waterdish to use in case it runs dry too soon.
It is weird though, i never see my Psalmopoeus or Ephebopus drinking, and they are moisture loving (to a certain degree). My two GBB's on the other hand are drinking or sitting next to the waterdish, even though they are desert species.
Maybe experiment with a spot that is more moist in her enclosure and see what she does? Don't know about the humidity in your region,maybe it is even too dry for a desert species? In the wild they live in burrows, maybe humidity is slightly higher in those?
 

TyjTheMighty

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Messages
57
It's pretty humid in my area. I live in KCMO and it actually rained late last. But I over flowed the water dish this morning so that she has a decent sized wet spot on her enclosure. I'll see how she likes it when I get home
 

smitje

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 24, 2016
Messages
75
Maybe a deeper waterdish to use in case it runs dry too soon.
It is weird though, i never see my Psalmopoeus or Ephebopus drinking, and they are moisture loving (to a certain degree). My two GBB's on the other hand are drinking or sitting next to the waterdish, even though they are desert species.
Maybe experiment with a spot that is more moist in her enclosure and see what she does? Don't know about the humidity in your region,maybe it is even too dry for a desert species? In the wild they live in burrows, maybe humidity is slightly higher in those?
I found that (accidently) the T's that are kept dry visit their waterdishes far more often then when kept moist. No matter what species. They do seem to loose moisture, looking at their behaviour, when kept dry. Seems to me they just compensate which makes me wonder if you need moist enclosures at all.

I dont really like moist enclosures as they can cause unwanted things like molt and mites pretty easily.

At the moment I keep all my spiders dry. Except for topped up waterdishes. I have been doing that for little over a month now and even my avic sling is doing fine and just molted again.

Extra bonus, even the species that normally hide come out to drink. So far I see no negative effects on any of the T's.
 

TyjTheMighty

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Messages
57
I found that (accidently) the T's that are kept dry visit their waterdishes far more often then when kept moist. No matter what species. They do seem to loose moisture, looking at their behaviour, when kept dry. Seems to me they just compensate which makes me wonder if you need moist enclosures at all.

I dont really like moist enclosures as they can cause unwanted things like molt and mites pretty easily.

At the moment I keep all my spiders dry. Except for topped up waterdishes. I have been doing that for little over a month now and even my avic sling is doing fine and just molted again.

Extra bonus, even the species that normally hide come out to drink. So far I see no negative effects on any of the T's.
I think you're right I over flowed the water dish and she hasn't been near it all day. I think I'll just keep doing what I was doing (keeping the substrate bone dry) and get her a bigger water dish, lol so she can climb in it a lot easier.
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
Yeah that water dish looks a bit shallow @TyjTheMighty . Might want one a little deeper so it holds a little more Water in there. Shallow dishes seem to dry out really fast especially in Winter.
I use souffle cups. Water lasts a good amount of time in these and they're easy to get a ton of them for cheap which makes cleaning easy since all you have to do is swap a nasty one for a fresh clean one.

The only enclosures that I keep noticeably moist are the ones that house my P. imperator and Heterometrus spp. specimens (neither of which are Tarantulas).
Everything else is kept dry. At present I don't have any tropical Tarantula or Scorpion species (excepting the aforementioned Scorpions) that I would be concerned with any moisture levels so its easy for me.
 
Top