Bulldozer!

nomadofthehills

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
36
My little chaco likes to move his substrate around at night. It was originally flat, like this:



Now it looks like this:






He eats great, but I was wondering how long before he might molt? He's about .5 inch long.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
8,656
At that size if kept on the warm side 75+ and fed well once a month for 2-3 months is normal. Then the time line starts to stretch out some. She will skip a month, then 4 the 7 the 10 the be up to once a year. Not in that exact order ofcourse but that was just to give you an idea.
 

ErikH

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
Messages
841
They are bulldozers all right! Mine had almost completely excavated the bottom of the mason jar I was keeping it in. There were two pillars of substrate holding up the entire surface, and the rest was a cave. Since I rehoused it, it seems content to just make hills and valleys.
 

padkison

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2005
Messages
901
They may be attempting to burrow. I have three 3/4" slings in 50 dram vials with about 1.5" of substrate and they have all burrowed.
 

Mushroom Spore

Arachnoemperor
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 14, 2005
Messages
4,588
This species LOVES to play in the dirt--I've never heard of them really burrowing, they seem to prefer to just dig a "scrape" like yours did. My little bug does the same. :)

Given the massively dark bum in that third picture, I'd say sometime in the next month it'll probably start refusing food and go into premolt. Probably sooner. Just be very careful--slings can sometimes start molting with little or no warning, and you do NOT want crickets in the enclosure when it begins.

I avoided the problem entirely by killing regular-sized crickets in the freezer and giving slings the carcass. They eat what they can, and the leftovers are easy to pick out, and can't chew on the sling. :)
 

nomadofthehills

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
36
I feed him small dead or crushed head crickets, so to avoid any accidental injuries I havn't seen him eat, but the cricket is always gone the next morning.
 
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