After work swim?

[MarSea222]

So I had just got home today and was running around checking all my T's as usual, until I get to my p.irminia enclosure... and I just about had a heart attack. It was upside down in its water dish! Needless to say it could not have fallen in there because, A. the water dish is a bottle cap and the T has a 2inch leg span and, B. there's a rock in there for the crickets to climb out. It would have had to lift and push the rock out of the way and up to get under it. I had just misted the enclosure this morning and the water dish was full so all it had to do was place its mouth in the water to drink. I used a paint brush to tap a back leg and it flew at the brush and proceeded to climb back to its hide, followed by eating a cricket later. I just cleaned its enclosure a couple weeks ago, and the substate is dry except the side I mist. It has a new hide all set up and is all settled in. So why did it display this behavior? Ideas? Could it be mites it's trying to get rid of, or did it just decide to go for a moonlight swim?

 

[codykrr]

sounds like it was wanting to molt too me. that or desperately seeking a more humid spot.

try just over flowing the water dish so that the substrate is nice and moist.

 

[MarSea222]

it can't be pre molt just cause it molted almost three weeks ago. as for the water dish, i had thought it was overflowed enough? the substrate is wet for about an inch all around it. plus its on the side of the enclosure i misted this morning. do you think i should mist it more often?

 

[Ariel]

Thats not nessicarily true, at two inches, it's probably molting at a fairly quick rate, my 2.5"ish P. regalis just molted four weeks ago and is getting ready to molt again.

 

[Redneck]

It could have been molting.. I know this is a completely different SP. but my C. andersoni just molted today.. Its last molt was exactly 21 days ago.. (3 weeks!) Never mess with any of your T's if they are laying on their back...

 

[Ariel]

Never mess with any of your T's if they are laying on their back...

I agree, unless water was covering the book lungs, I would have left it be.

 

[Hobo]

That's odd.

I don't think it could be molting since you said it ate a cricket later. I own 3 slings, about 2.5" and they always molt in thir tube webs, and only use the bottlecap for boluses and dirt. I've also never seen this behavior, and I never mist, just overfill the dish occasionally. If she seems fine and eating, I wouldn't worry too much, but keep an eye on her.

 

[Mack&Cass]

That's odd.

I don't think it could be molting since you said it ate a cricket later. I own 3 slings, about 2.5" and they always molt in thir tube webs, and only use the bottlecap for boluses and dirt. I've also never seen this behavior, and I never mist, just overfill the dish occasionally. If she seems fine and eating, I wouldn't worry too much, but keep an eye on her.

Exactly my thoughts. If it was molting, it wouldn't have eaten a cricket.
Cassandra

 

[MarSea222]

i should also say that when i say it was upside down under the rock in the water dish, it was also completly submerged under water with just its legs breaking the surface of the water. it wasn't stuck or anything it was just chillin under water. i dont know how long it was there but it worried me. book lungs and everything under water. its still fine today was sitting in its tube and came right out to eat one tiny cricket. i dont know what it was doing but i had never seen or heard of them doing that.