Confused...

[veronyka]

I have an Usumbara Orange Baboon, and I was under the impression that she is a terrestrial burrower....however, when I put her in her cage she has rarely touched the substrate (which, by the way, is the same type she was in when I bought her) and she has made herself a nifty little web in the upper corner of the terrarium, where she stays when she's not wandering around on the sides. Is this normal? I was expecting her to dig a hole and hide, like others I've seen. Anyone have any ideas why she would do this? Or did I just find myself an oddball spider?

 

[Valael]

Some people say they're semi-arboreal. That's why, heh.

 

[Code Monkey]

Not odd for Usambaras, they vary widely in their chosen niche. Some essentially make tube webs at ground level, others may not even touch the ground and live almost exclusively in some crazy silk jungle gym of their own making like some whacked out semi-arboreal. Burrowing, to the best of my knowledge, isn't very common in captivity for older specimens so your impression is a little off.

 

[veronyka]

That makes sense. My Usumbara only comes down to eat or get some water.

 

[veronyka]

Sorry about the lighting, but that was the only way the camera would pick up the spider. Her web is thicker than that, now.

 

[veronyka]

OK That makes sense. I have yet to see her touch the floor of the terrarium, and she does have a thick bed of webbing in that upper corner. She comes down to eat and get water, and that's about it.