A. Seemanni Behavior?

[jesses]

I have a female A. Seemanni which I just bought from a Petco about 8 days ago. I have her in a large enclosure with about 4" of a peat and vermiculite mixture, with a peice of hollowed out tree bark which makes a nice spider-cave. I put in a cup for water and I mist the subtrate once or twice a day just to be sure the humidity is high. The temperature is usually between 70 and 80 degrees.

Since I got her, I have only seen her come out of her spider-cave once. She does not burrow. If I put a cricket in her enclosure, she will not go after it, even for hours, unless the cricket walks into the cave. I'm not sure on the age, but her midsection is about 2" with a 3.5" legspan.

I'm just wondering if this is normal Seemanni behavior, or if maybe she's just taking a long time to get used to her new environment.

 

[Buspirone]

That sounds about right so far. My A. Seemanni took a lot longer than my other tarantulas to "settle in" . They are skittish and seem to take a long time to adjust to change and to feel safe. Mine acted just like you are describing for over 2 weeks before it would come out of its shelter to catch food and eat. I see mine out walking around late at night or predawn now. You'll have a better chance of seeing it come out of its shelter if the lights are very dim in the room,almost dark, or at least that has been my experience which I admit is still limited. Good luck with your new T.

 

[jesses]

Does your Seemanni like anything besides crickets? Mine will not eat meal worms... I'm wondering if she will eat something like a pinky mouse.

 

[Buspirone]

Mine has eaten superworms,waxworms and the lowly cricket. I've never tried to feed a pinky.

 

[Arachnopuppy]

I have noticed that tarantulas have more individual personalities than we give them credit for. Yes, they do fall under categories such as aggressive or docile and whatnot, but I have gotten to know that my tarantulas each have different behaviors even though they are of the same species. In other words, there is nothing wrong with your tarantula and that it is perfectly normal.

About the crickets and mealworms thing, I have noticed that some tarantulas are somewhat selective of their food. My guess is that the mealworms don't move around enough for the tarantula to take interest. It's kinda like "I want the best of everything" kinda attitude. Take my T. blondi for example. I can't get her to eat anything except mice and small rats. She just ignores everything else.

 

[Arachnopuppy]

By the way, nice avatar, Agent Smith.

 

[Maggie]

My female A. seemani is very skittish, she rarely comes out of her hide unless it is late evening/early morning.

 

[skinheaddave]

I have two. "Fluffy," the larger of the two, is quick to settle in. I moved her to a new enclosure a couple months ago and within a few days she had dug a huge burrow. The other has been much slower to settle in, taking weeks to even start a burrow.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[jesses]

My Seemanni hasn't yet come out when I'm around but I see that she at least moved some subtrate around and gave herself a better enclosed spider-cave.

I just got a new H. Lividum. Now thats one angry spider!

 

[sunnymarcie]

Sounds like pretty normal behavior, if you want to call ANY
T normal
Mine hides in her cave to, and only comes out when she is
hungry Late in the day most times.
My A. moderatum is the same way. But I do see her more.
When I drop in a cricket she shoots out of her cave to get it.
And goes right back in!:}

 

[Mister Internet]

Originally posted by jesses
I put in a cup for water and I mist the subtrate once or twice a day just to be sure the humidity is high.

It has been my experience that misting has almost nothing to do with humidity. All misting does is get stuff wet, but humidity is a measure of water in the air. It is MUCH more effective to provide a more closed (less ventilated) enclosure than to mist constantly... I have several of my centipedes in low ventilation containers in a heated tank, and the humidity stays at 80 and I almost never mist... just something to think about...

 

[MrT]

If it webbed itself in its hide, or blocked the cave up with substrate, it sounds like a molt is coming soon.
IMO

Ernie

 

[jesses]

Originally posted by Mister Internet
It has been my experience that misting has almost nothing to do with humidity. All misting does is get stuff wet, but humidity is a measure of water in the air.

Actually I came to the same conclusion a few days ago. Besides not really raising humidity, I don't think the spiders like it (at least mine don't seem to like it.) I'm now pouring water in instead of misting, and covering the top if necessary.

Also, to answer Ernie's post, my Seemanni didn't block herself in, but built a half-web on one side of the cave, and moved some of the subtrate from the middle to the edge, so when something walks in, it also falls into a shallow pit that the Seemanni is sitting in .

My H. Lividum hasn't shown herself yet but is eating as many crickets as I give her. Her living conditions in the store were not good (bright lights, 1cm of subtrate, sponge) and her abdomen was very small when I got her.

 

[nocturnalpulsem]

My seemanni is actually really strange. She'll stay in her burrow for weeks and weeks and weeks, only to come topside for a few days get bored and go back LoL

She should be molting soon. She hasn't eated much lately, and she's getting a baldspot that's (very) slowly getting darker. She started spinning her little mat on the substrate a few days ago. Now she just sits in the corner, rarely moving.

And about feeders, mine will absolutely NOT touch the worms. My smithi ate them almost exclusively for months, but won't touch them now, either. The seemanni took a pinkie once, but never again. That doesn't bother me all that much though. Have you ever seen how disgusting that looks when they eat those things??? Icky!

Humidity...I had the most annoying humidity issues. Finally, I took the advice of several people on this board (thanks guys!) and put a wet towel on top of the screen lid. This and the water dish keep it at about 80% most of the time. I usually wet it down again the following morning. This works GREAT. Not aesthetically pleasing, but it does the job well.


N.

 

[MizM]

The one I bought Sunday went into it's little PVC burrow and never came out. I was photographing last night and tried to tickle her out with the paintbrush, but she was dead. She looked REALLY healthy too! I took her back to my friend Rob at Prehistoric Times where I got her and said I'd buy the other one he had. He wouldn't let me pay for it, made an exchange cuz he knows I take great care of my Ts. I think I'm going to tickle this one often to make sure she's o.k.

As far as humidity goes, I have about 2" of peat/vermiculite in each enclosure. I slowly POUR about a cup of warm water into the corner of each one usually once a week. The water goes to the bottom, the evaporation makes for good humidity, and the top stays dry! Good for the G. roses, who DO NOT like their widdle toes getting wet!!

 

[jesses]

The shallow pit under the tree-bark has now turned into a very deep hole and I can no longer see my Seemanni at all .

I'm afraid to lift up the tree-bark, last time I did that, I found out how fast a Seemanni can go into a threat posture (faster than my H. Lividum ).

I hope I'll see her again soon!

 

[MizM]

Two words: LOOOOOONG TONGS!!!

 

[jesses]

Well my Seemanni has burrowed so deep that I can't even see her by shining a flashlight into her cave... My Lividum has completely webbed both entrances to its tree-bark, so I don't know how I'm going to feed her since she never comes out of her enclosure.

I guess I need to get a third tarantula now :? maybe an arboreal that I'll actually get to see once in a while? Or a G. Rosea?