A. moderatum question...

[Static_69]

my A. moderatum that i've had for about a month and a half now has been a real climber...but i've read that they really arent climbers....in his critter keeper there is about an inch and a half of potting soil and a sponge for moisture....is the humidity too high for him and causing him to climb or what?

 

[MrDeranged]

Is the substrate moist? They like dry substrate.

GET RID OF THE SPONGE!!! Just put a small water dish in the enclosure. Sponges are worthless except for cleaning dishes

Scott

 

[Static_69]

ah i see...thanks.

 

[Chris]

How old is it? For some reason a little voice in my head is saying "that sounds like a male spider to me"

 

[Static_69]

well i'm gonna have to say its a juvie because its only about 1 1/2 inches to 2 1/2 inches big.


Risto

 

[Ephesians]

First of all, ROFL @ Scott's siggie. Secondly, I agree with Scott on the substrate quark. If it is damp, keep it dry. And keep the humidity around 60%, and really unless it just molted it doesn't even need to be at that. You should, however increase the depth of the substrate to decrease the amount of room it has available to climb. Just because it climbs a lot doesn't mean it's a male. Don't always go on what you read, spiders have many times differed in personality regardless of species aquisations. It took my B. albo about 2.5 months to quit climbing and finally get used to her enclosure. Now she hardly ever even chills in her burrow. Hope this helps a bit.

Marcus

 

[MizM]

Mine prefers things on the dry side. When I mist, she runs to her "dry place", a rock in the corner that I never get wet. Just like my G. rosea, she won't walk on water!! She'll hang around on the rock till the substrate dries.

 

[Static_69]

i changed the substrate to make it dry and he seems to come down on the ground for a little...then climbs some more, then repeats.

 

[Ephesians]

I really wouldn't worry about it all that much. Just make sure you have something like 2/3 substrate - 1/3 height space. You don't want him to have a lot of room to climb, they are really fragile. In my experience I have had Ts climb and fall and never hurt themselves, but accidents to happen. All in all, I say give it about a month to chill out, if he doesn't have a lot of floor space it may just be using every capacity it has to move around. JMHO.

Marcus

 

[Henry Kane]

Originally posted by Static_69
i changed the substrate to make it dry and he seems to come down on the ground for a little...then climbs some more, then repeats.

That's very common with new substrate. For some reason, many T's don't immediately take to fresh dirt. That's the thanks we get for giving the little monsters the best of everything, huh. Provided that it's not wet this time, just give it a little while to get some webbing down and do a little earth moving. Before you know it, he'll be right at home.

Atrax