Curly Hair Water Mystery?

[Shpaidurr]

We recently picked up (rescued) a pet store curly hair(about 4in, i assume wild caught) this past weekend that seems to have an amazing thirst?

It was sold unsexed, but I assume male due to price and because the abdomen was so skinny when we got him. Although, Coco(daughter named) has already taken down 3 crickets so the skinny abdomen may have been due to pet store mishandling. The abdomen is looking much healthier now.

Anyway, we put him in a nice sized enclosure with what I would consider a large water dish. Coco was not in his new home 5 minutes before making his way to the water dish and begin drinking. To this point, we have not seen our other young Ts(3 in the 1-2.5in range) drink at all, so we have no baseline to compare. The next morning, the dish was empty of water, but not disturbed at all, so I don’t think Coco dumped it. We scratched our heads and refilled the dish and went about the day. Later in the day, the dish was empty again, same circumstances. We refilled, went to bed, and this morning the dish was empty again?

I pulled the water dish, refilled and placed on a dry paper towel on my bathroom sink, thinking I would find a pinhole leak on the dish. I came back a few hours later and the dish was full, towel dry?

Can spiders really drink this much water?

 

[Vanessa]

No, they cannot. The water might be being wicked out by something. If it isn't obvious, then it is likely a piece of webbing. All it takes is one very thin piece of web. All you need to do is lift it out and place it back, or take your tongs and use the tip to trace around the lip of the bowl. That should suffice in breaking the web.
There is also a chance that it is evaporating as well, that is a very shallow dish with a huge surface area. Replace it with a deeper one and that should resolve the evaporation issue.

 

[Ungoliant]

Even the most thirsty tarantula won't drink a whole dish; I never even notice a change in water level.

What you are likely seeing is the result of wicking, where a little substrate or even silk touching both the water and the substrate acts as a conduit to drain the water. Is the surrounding substrate damp?

 

[cold blood]

It was sold unsexed, but I assume male due to price and because the abdomen was so skinny when we got him

Abdomen size is in no way an indicator of sex, it merely indicates where it is in the molt cycle...small abdomen means its recently molted.

The next morning, the dish was empty of water, but not disturbed at all, so I don’t think Coco dumped it. We scratched our heads and refilled the dish and went about the day. Later in the day, the dish was empty again, same circumstances. We refilled, went to bed, and this morning the dish was empty again?

Its wicking away...ts don't drink often, or enough volume to empty even a small water dish...much less multiple days in a row.

 

[Shpaidurr]

Cool, thanks for the many prompt replies!!

During the first feeding, some strands of spag moss made their way into the dish, which I assume was the culprit.

 

[Poonjab]

Cool, thanks for the many prompt replies!!

During the first feeding, some strands of spag moss made their way into the dish, which I assume was the culprit.

Yep. Moss or web as others have replied

 

[Smotzer]

I’ve been having the same issue with my Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens!! I was refilling the water dish a few times a week.
Figured it out, it must have gone dry at some point and he webbed some inside of it and every time I would out water in it it would be wicked out within a day. I took pair of tongs and ran around the rim and inside of the bowl and it stopped happening.

 

[viper69]

wicking