B.Vagans and question

[BGL]

Hi, This is my first post here, thanks for having me !

I have two B. Vagans that are about 2". They spend virtually all their time in their burrows (separate tanks) or come out partially but scurry back in if I touch their enclosures. I've had them about two months.
Why are they so skittish?
I've been feeding them 1/2" dubias but I haven't seen them eating and the roaches burrow into the substrate when I put them in.
I'm concerned they're not finding the roaches.
Should I be putting the roaches into their burrows?

 

[Hellblazer]

I crush the roach's head before I put them in. It keeps them from burrowing, so I can tell if they got eaten.

 

[Veribug]

Skittish behaviour as a sling is what I'd consider normal. I hate opening up my poor ones' tubs because I feel like I'm upsetting them constantly haha. As previous poster said, try crushing the heads, burrowing dubias will prove to be more problematic and a bit risky if your slings decide to go into premolt (note that I don't know anything about dubias or if they nibble at Ts but I'm going on the assumption they do). Slings will often scavenge feed and if you crush the head the dubia may still wriggle to attract your slings to it. Take it out after 24hrs if uneaten or if they've had their fill.

 

[Trenor]

A lot of tarantulas are skittish. That's the way you would behave if some large human was looming/rattling around you. It's normal for them to duck and hide.

Like they mentioned in another post, crush the heads so they don't burrow. Dubia roaches shouldn't harm a molting T. They don't even eat their own dead that I have seen.

 

[Veribug]

Dubia roaches shouldn't harm a molting T. They don't even eat their own dead that I have seen.

Thanks for that, I never fail to learn something every time I'm on this forum.

 

[EulersK]

They don't even eat their own dead that I have seen.

They actually do cannibalize, just not very often. The newborn nymphs feed on dead adults (kill an adult and put it in the colony - it'll be an empty husk within a day), and adults will feed on nymphs if no food is available for long enough. They'll also feed on nymphs when under a lot of stress. I almost always see an adult female munching on a nymph when I'm cleaning the colony.

All of that being said, I very much doubt they could harm even a molting tarantula. It takes a lot for them to go after fresh meat. I crush the head primarily so they don't burrow, but tearing off the first pair of legs will make it nearly impossible for them to burrow as well.

 

[Trenor]

They actually do cannibalize, just not very often. The newborn nymphs feed on dead adults (kill an adult and put it in the colony - it'll be an empty husk within a day), and adults will feed on nymphs if no food is available for long enough. They'll also feed on nymphs when under a lot of stress. I almost always see an adult female munching on a nymph when I'm cleaning the colony.

All of that being said, I very much doubt they could harm even a molting tarantula. It takes a lot for them to go after fresh meat. I crush the head primarily so they don't burrow, but tearing off the first pair of legs will make it nearly impossible for them to burrow as well.

I've never seen that myself. I do keep two bins though. All my nonbreeders go in one bin and the breeders/nymphs are in the other till they are separated about once a month. Maybe I'm just keeping them with enough food that they don't have to.

 

[EulersK]

I've never seen that myself. I do keep two bins though. All my nonbreeders go in one bin and the breeders/nymphs are in the other till they are separated about once a month. Maybe I'm just keeping them with enough food that they don't have to.

Yeah, and I've just got two colonies - I don't separate at all. When I made a second colony, I started out with only adults and large nymphs. The smell of the dead was god awful, so I added in a few handfuls of freshly hatched nymphs. They readily eat the dead adults, even if food is available (I have dry food available 24/7, and fresh food every few days). It's the adults eating nymphs that is far more rare.

 

[Trenor]

Yeah, and I've just got two colonies - I don't separate at all. When I made a second colony, I started out with only adults and large nymphs. The smell of the dead was god awful, so I added in a few handfuls of freshly hatched nymphs. They readily eat the dead adults, even if food is available (I have dry food available 24/7, and fresh food every few days). It's the adults eating nymphs that is far more rare.

Huh, I don't have a lot of dead in the breeder colony (leftover pieces or whole roaches) and maybe I'm just not seeing it in the other colony. I clean it out 2 times a month and feed out of it daily. I keep it at room temp (72-74) so they are not as hot as the breeder colony (87-92) and maybe that slows them down which reduces the feeding need. I'll look through it good tonight and see if I can find any pieces of dead roaches.

 

[Arcana]

Oh, I must say, that crushing the head of dubias isn't always enough. I crushed ones head, it was nearly off the body and I found my "prekilled" dubia alive next morning After that I started to remove the entire head before feeding slings. Those dubias suprise me sometimes!

 

[Hellblazer]

Oh, I must say, that crushing the head of dubias isn't always enough. I crushed ones head, it was nearly off the body and I found my "prekilled" dubia alive next morning After that I started to remove the entire head before feeding slings. Those dubias suprise me sometimes!

They can live a long time with a crushed head. I just do it to keep them from digging.

 

[cold blood]

Hi, This is my first post here, thanks for having me !

I have two B. Vagans that are about 2". They spend virtually all their time in their burrows (separate tanks) or come out partially but scurry back in if I touch their enclosures. I've had them about two months.
Why are they so skittish?
I've been feeding them 1/2" dubias but I haven't seen them eating and the roaches burrow into the substrate when I put them in.
I'm concerned they're not finding the roaches.
Should I be putting the roaches into their burrows?

Slings tend to be skittish as mentioned...but throughout life, vagans are one of the most skittish members of their genus. The larger they get, the more time they will spend out in the open. My sub-adult female never hides (but she's still skittish)...my 2+" ones sometimes hide, sometimes theyre out, but if I open the top, they all scurry to their burrows....theyre great eaters though.

Dubia roaches shouldn't harm a molting T. They don't even eat their own dead that I have seen.

A member here @catfishrod69 somehow had a vagans sling end up in his roach bin...he knew nothing till he found it as a juvenile, healthy with a nice web hide....he left the t in the bin...and wouldn't ya know it, one of the next molts those roaches did indeed eat that vagans. So while its not commonplace for roaches to kill or eat a molting t, it is certainly something that the roach is capable of...and I imagine a roach lost in a t enclosure will get abnormally hungry as its never being fed, increasing the likelihood.

Oh, I must say, that crushing the head of dubias isn't always enough. I crushed ones head, it was nearly off the body and I found my "prekilled" dubia alive next morning After that I started to remove the entire head before feeding slings. Those dubias suprise me sometimes!

As mentioned, heads of roaches are not crushed to kill them, they can live for days without even having a head, that's the beauty as they keep kicking and attracting attention....the heads are crushed to prevent the roach from burrowing....that's something a roach with a crushed head cannot do.

 

[cold blood]

They can live a long time with a crushed head. I just do it to keep them from digging.

Man it took me a while to hit send...and then you beat me to it

 

[Trenor]

A member here @catfishrod69 somehow had a vagans sling end up in his roach bin...he knew nothing till he found it as a juvenile, healthy with a nice web hide....he left the t in the bin...and wouldn't ya know it, one of the next molts those roaches did indeed eat that vagans. So while its not commonplace for roaches to kill or eat a molting t, it is certainly something that the roach is capable of...and I imagine a roach lost in a t enclosure will get abnormally hungry as its never being fed, increasing the likelihood.

I didn't see that post. Not sure why you would leave a T in your roach bin but hey. Ok fair enough. I'm glad that I crush the heads on all my roach feeders.

 

[cold blood]

I didn't see that post. Not sure why you would leave a T in your roach bin but hey. Ok fair enough. I'm glad that I crush the heads on all my roach feeders.

In wasn't intentional.

The thread's got to be at least a year old.

 

[viper69]

hy are they so skittish?

It's a skittish species. If you conducted research on this species before acquiring them, you would have learned this; it's a very common piece of knowledge on this species.

As they get larger, ~3-4" DLS they may be a bit less skittish, but maybe not.

Don't put food into their burrows.

 

[EulersK]

In wasn't intentional.

The thread's got to be at least a year old.

But... why? I get that it wasn't intentional, but after it was discovered, why would they leave it in there? And how rarely do they clean their colony?!

 

[Poec54]

A lot of tarantulas are skittish. That's the way you would behave if some large human was looming/rattling around you. It's normal for them to duck and hide.

It's like Godzilla periodically ripping off the roof off your house to see what you're doing (posing in front of the mirror, watching TV in your underwear, etc). You'd probably never get used to it.

 

[KezyGLA]

Young B. vagans can be very skittish. They also act a bif different to most other species. You will see them scurrying around like mad sometimes. They even forget where they put their burrow now and then. Quite the funny little personalities.

As for feeding I would crush before throwing in the enclosure.

 

[Trenor]

Young B. vagans can be very skittish. They also act a bif different to most other species. You will see them scurrying around like mad sometimes. They even forget where they put their burrow now and then. Quite the funny little personalities.

As for feeding I would crush before throwing in the enclosure.

My 3+ inch male will defend his water dish. I went to clean it last night and as I was lifting it out with the tongs he threw a leg over the edge of the cap and would not let go. I had to get the little paintbrush to back him off so I could get it out. He is scheduled for a new enclosure, he is almost maxed that one out, so that should help.