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shogun8

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
13
Hi
I have a 2' B.Smithi kept in a kritter keeper with coco earth a small water dish and a hide. Her hide is up against the side of the kritter keeper and a hole is dug under so she can go inside and I can still keep an eye on her. Everything went fine for the first 2 weeks then all of a sudden she blocked off the entrance to her hide with the substrate. I assumed she was in premolt and didnt want to be disturbed so I left her in there. After a month she is still in there and has not done much so out of curiosity I put my finger in front of her from the outside of the kritter keeper and she attacked it like it was a cricket. I was intrigued so I grabbed a mealworm and i dropped it in a small tiny gap between the hide and the side of the KK and she ate it without hesitation. So im wondering should I still be feeding her even though she completely caved off the front entrance because she still ate the mealworm i dropped in there? Or did she cave off expecting bugs to still slip down the other side, because if she is its not gonna happen without me actually pushing the cricket or mealworm down the tiny gap on the side.
 

Rob1985

This user has no status.
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
866
in all the time I have been keeping T's I have only had one Brachypelma sling. I have a 1.75" B.vagans that actually uses the side of the hide and has webbed up dirt then put in the side of deli cup. That's where it sits 90% of the time.

Many T's will have a different instinct to do certain things... do you have pics s we can see exactly what the enclosure looks like?
 

Rue

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 24, 2011
Messages
239
***note to self: Do NOT stick finger down tarantula hole...:D
 

Big_nito

TRISKELION
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Messages
255
***note to self: Do NOT stick finger down tarantula hole...:D
+1.... Never, never, never stick your finger in a burrow especially on their entrance... Your T is just probably rearranging his/her enclosure. Some Ts do that though. They are like interior designers. They move their water dish to another area, dig some burrow, rearrange the set up and everything. Just use a long forceps to deliver the food on his/her burrow gap/entrance.
 

RyTheTGuy

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 2, 2011
Messages
233
Just take a long logical look at the action of sticking your finger in a tarantula's burrow......:?:. You dont need to be a T owner to know this:. :D
 

malevolentrobot

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
310
burrowing with Brachypelma has been hit or miss with the seven i have. some have never shown any inclination, some still love to hole themselves off if given the chance, and some have grown out of it.

both of my smithis did similar until about 2.5" with the first one. the second is barely at 2" and now enjoys pushing around sub often, and constructing then reconstructing burrows. they are little mischief makers!

i noticed with both just leaving food in the enclosure for 24 hours, it would often "disappear". my best guess is that it didn't teleport into the burrow, but rather the T unplugged its burrow while i was sleeping or away only to replug it again. such shy eaters sometimes ;)
 

gmrpnk21

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 1, 2010
Messages
319
My smithi used to hide away in it's burrow until recently. My vagans did until it caved in earlier this week and I buried a flowerpot for it. Now its has happily walled itself in it's new home. My Pulchripes decided to ignore the hide and dig a hole behind it instead. Tarantulas are strange sometimes...
 

webbedone

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Messages
410
its what i would call a pet hole. you feed your pet hole, you slightly mist the pet hole so that the t can drink from substrate and some time in the future the t will come out after a fresh molt when it needs to strech out. My L.parahybana sling is doing the same thing right now. Dug a tunnel on the side of my KK and just sits at the mouth of his little cave or retreats down into the tunnel if it senses a disturbance, still eats and drinks fine so i just leave it alone.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
Are you sure it actually ate the prey? Some Ts while in premolt will kill imposters, just to keep their area safe. Our P. regalis will also web them up in its dirt curtain. She pounces like she is going to eat, but is in fact killing it to get rid of it.

If it did actually eat, you can put prey in and leave it overnight to see if it is eaten. If it is hungry, it will eat.
 

Spidershane1

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 11, 2010
Messages
170
Nothing wrong with poking your finger around a T's burrow if you don' mind getting a little tag. A 2in smithi wont really hurt you anyway. I personally use tweezers though, lol.
 
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