Chaco golden knee behavior

[Cl0wNy]

Hi

Uhm I was wondering of someone could help me identify the sort of behaviour my T is doing, i got him/her saturday and he is still quite small,

Saturday i took my t out and he was fine, walking on my hand like a normal one

Then sunday came and when i took him out again he walked from my palm to my knuckle and he just froze, with 1 middle leg up and then he moved again and then he froze again with 2 legs up. I’ll ad some pics so you can see, im just curious about this behaviour cause i have never heard or seen it.

She is currently now crawled up in a bundle on her water bowl by the heat pad of the cage and does not move.


Any help or advice will be usefull cauz i really want the best for my T and really want her to be happy.

Regards
Edwin

 

[RonnyT]

Couple things:

1. NO heat pad, room temp. is great and all it does it dehydrate tarantulas fast.

2. Don't handle, if it falls, it can burst its abdomen, which can kill it

Please send some pictures of the enclosure its in, that can help us.

 

[Cl0wNy]

Couple things:

1. NO heat pad, room temp. is great and all it does it dehydrate tarantulas fast.

2. Don't handle, if it falls, it can burst its abdomen, which can kill it

Please send some pictures of the enclosure its in, that can help us.

I just took her enclosure of the heatpad.

 

[RonnyT]

I just took her enclosure of the heatpad.

That enclosure seems way to oversized. However if you want to keep it, increase the substrate level so that the lid to the spider is only 1.5 times its legspan. Get a better hide such as a cork bark.

Good you got rid of the heatpad.

 

[Nightstalker47]

Handling is not a great idea. Your tarantulas temperament can/will shift at any time, even relatively docile specimens may turn defensive. This has been reported multiple times..especially after excessive handling.

Falls can be fatal as well, and if you get bit you are likely to fling your T through reflex. Not much to gain from handling, lots to lose though. I would discourage doing so in the future, your spider will thank you for it.

She is currently now crawled up in a bundle on her water bowl by the heat pad of the cage and does not move.

Being in SA I doubt you need any extra heating, unregulated heat mats placed on the bottom of an enclosure will slowly fry your spider. Temps in the range of 65-85 are fine for this species.

 

[Cl0wNy]

That enclosure seems way to oversized. However if you want to keep it, increase the substrate level so that the lid to the spider is only 1.5 times its legspan. Get a better hide such as a cork bark.

Good you got rid of the heatpad.

I have a smaller enclosure that i rather can use, i just moved my mexican red rumo to a bigger enclosure, and her old enclosure is much smaller, do you recommend that one for now rather?

 

[RonnyT]

I have a smaller enclosure that i rather can use, i just moved my mexican red rumo to a bigger enclosure, and her old enclosure is much smaller, do you recommend that one for now rather?

Yes and send a picture of the enclosure.

 

[Cl0wNy]

Yes and send a picture of the enclosure.

Its way samller than the enclosure she is in now, i just checked in on her again and shes under the tree bark now,

 

[RonnyT]

Its way samller than the enclosure she is in now, i just checked in on her again and shes under the tree bark now,

I think your other enclosure is fine then, just add much more substrate

 

[Cl0wNy]

Handling is not a great idea. Your tarantulas temperament can/will shift at any time, even relatively docile specimens may turn defensive. This has been reported multiple times..especially after excessive handling.

Falls can be fatal as well, and if you get bit you are likely to fling your T through reflex. Not much to gain from handling, lots to lose though. I would discourage doing so in the future, your spider will thank you for it.

Being in SA I doubt you need any extra heating, unregulated heat mats placed on the bottom of an enclosure will slowly fry your spider. Temps in the range of 65-85 are fine for this species.

I baught the golden knee because its an beautifull spider and they are very docile, altough i know her temper can change at any moment i really wanted to handle her, but i would rather leave that out.

When i baught her they recommended an heatpad for the winter and its almost winter here so it gets quite cold,

Thank you for the advice i took her off the heatpad and hoping it would make an improvement

 

[Cl0wNy]

I think your other enclosure is fine then, just add much more substrate

She seems quite happy in the enclosure but some people say they dont need so much substrate because they dont burrow at all, and then i read they like to burrow while they are still juvenile

 

[RonnyT]

She seems quite happy in the enclosure but some people say they dont need so much substrate because they dont burrow at all, and then i read they like to burrow while they are still juvenile

Its not about burrowing, if it decides to climb, and it falls, it can rupture its abdomen

Thats why you want to reduce the height it can fall

 

[Cl0wNy]

Its not about burrowing, if it decides to climb, and it falls, it can rupture its abdomen

Thats why you want to reduce the height it can fall

Ohh i understand,will do that.

Thank you for all your advice really appreciate it.

 

[RonnyT]

Ohh i understand,will do that.

Thank you for all your advice really appreciate it.

No problem, make sure you increase the substrate so that there is only 1.5 times the spiders legspan or less from the top.

 

[Cl0wNy]

No problem, make sure you increase the substrate so that there is only 1.5 times the spiders legspan or less from the top.

Will do that thank you very much, if i want to move T should I rather pick it up and move it or find another way without hurting my T?

 

[RonnyT]

Will do that thank you very much, if i want to move T should I rather pick it up and move it or find another way without hurting my T?

I would just put it in a cup

 

[Cl0wNy]

I would just put it in a cup

Okay thank you very much.

 

[Sinned]

and its almost winter here so it gets quite cold,

What is "quite cold"? As long it's room temperature (around 68F/20C) the T should be ok. If you ever do have to use a heatpad (not recommended, as others pointed out), put it on one of the sides of the enclosure. The T can the at the very least move away from the heat source.

Using something of a space heater (+thermostat) for the room is always preferable.

 

[Lil Paws]

Beautiful G. Pulchripes! I love mine. They are beautiful, and she has a lot of personality.

We keep our house mid to high 60sF in the winter. I keep our larger Ts (including my G. Pulchripes) in those temperatures, and they all do fine. They just don't eat as often and grow as fast versus when it's warmer. IMO, this can be a helpful thing for Ts who turn out to be a male (if you want to slow down their growth to maturity and extend lifespan)—or if you want to slow down a young T's growth rate so you don't have to keep upgrading the enclosures as often.

Our small slings and our GBB stay in a heated room until it gets warmer here, and I actually like hanging out in there on cold days.

Of course there are other factors involved that impact growth rate such as genetics, but spiders tend to have faster metabolisms in warmer situations. However, they have a much broader range of comfort/digestive ability than other cold blooded animals and do not need heating pads or lamps to digest like many pet reptiles do.

 

[PidderPeets]

Its way samller than the enclosure she is in now, i just checked in on her again and shes under the tree bark now,

Something that I noticed in this pic that I don't think was brought up yet is that it looks as though you're misting your enclosures. If you need to add moisture to an enclosure, you're best off pouring water directly onto the substrate. Misting doesn't get water deep into the substrate, which is what more moisture dependent species need. Because the water only reaches the very top layer of substrate in that scenario, it requires water being added much more frequently.

That being said, G. pulchripes prefer it relatively dry. You could overflow the water bowl every so often to keep a section of substrate moist, but your current setup looks way too moist as is. Slings need more moisture even if as adults they prefer it dry, but yours appears well past the sling stage and should be kept as you would keep an adult.