Be watchful of your tarantulas, it’s fun!

[BoyFromLA]

You get to know / learn lots of things by just watching them. Often times, what tarantulas are doing right now become clues for their very next move.

Let me write down a few as examples:

When tarantulas are first introduced to new enclosures, at some point they will start roam around. If you watch them carefully, as they roam around, on ground, on walls, on cork barks, on fake leaves, they are installing alarm / navigation system by putting down web mats.

When tarantulas were given much larger food than usual, they may take it into their hides, burrows, then seal the entrance, for they certainly do not want to be bothered by anything until they finish it. Once they are done with it, they will again open their hides’, burrows’ entrance.

When tarantulas are stretching out of blue, many times, they are slowly getting ready to molt. In coming days, and weeks, they will start roaming around to find a spot to molt, then will start putting down web mats. For same reason, some tarantulas may scratch their abdomen hard to get their urticating hairs off prior to their molt, then spread them around their hides to turn away any intruders that may come around while molting.

By just watching them, you will get to know your tarantulas a lot more!

 

[BoyFromLA]

When tarantulas molt, try not to take their old skins right away. Chances are, they will throw or move old skins away on their own:

1. In order to declutter their own spaces.
2. In order not to attract any unwanted guests.

You may get to observe a thing or two by not taking their old skins right away:

1. You may observe them hydrate themselves from their still fresh old skins.
2. You may take that as a sign that their new exoskeletons are somewhat hardened enough, once their old skins are thrown or moved away.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Before poking, touching, bothering, putting into so called ICU, worrying, please understand that for tarantulas, being less active can also mean being very active.

When all of sudden tarantulas are less active, a temptation slowly emerges. Oh no! Are they still well, healthy, alive?

It’s not that being concerned is a bad thing, but understanding tarantulas and assuming tarantulas are two very different things.

Honestly, tarantulas are not very active animals to begin with. Often being called ‘pet rocks’, you will clearly get the idea that they are not Border Collies.

Once tarantulas accumulate enough foods to fill their molt trigger full, they will somewhat become less active.

You get to observe this from tarantulas provided with no hides, and minimal substrates, mostly terrestrial slings in my cases. I do not recommend this kind of set up for non slings, at all.

Since they have no way to block the entrance nor to burrow, they would just stay still in a corner of their enclosures, often curl themselves. However, do not be fooled, they are being very active inside, generating new larger bodies within their current bodies, while being less active outside.

Chances are, soon, tarantulas will prepare to molt if not molted already.