Directly Misting The Tarantula

freedumbdclxvi

Arachnoprince
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May 28, 2012
Messages
1,426
The OP has yet to elucidate what species of spider and the depth of the enclosure. As I said before, I have a 3" versi in a 4" diameter 6" deep deli cup where it has plenty of space. In lieu of information, people have been substituting hysteria of abuse and Gitmo torture and probably Benghazi before it is all said and done.

Edit: and in the Holy name of Al Gore, thank Jebus Viper made sure Godwin's Law remains ironclad!
 

Peregrin

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Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
21
On reputable sites, they just tell us not to do it. No explanation why. Induced stress, sure. I was sure to get hate bc not misting tarantulas was the norm. I want to know why it's the norm. Give me better reasons aside from it's not the right thing to do.

Enclosures are 4 inch in diameter and 7 inches in height. My Ts burrow all the time. Vagans, darlingi, pulchripes, albopilosum. I chose to give them height bc I want to see the intricate tunnels.

Before, i would give them lots of surface area but they don't do anything. So I cramped them up to see some activity. An it worked.

I've done so much research and I chose to do my own things. The norm is giving tarantulas so much space but they also molt in tight spaces. I had a 1 inch pulchripes in a 6 x 6 x 6 container half filled with coco peat and it still decided to molt in its brrow

I wanted to experiment and so far, i've grown my .2 inch slings to 3 inches. I like tunnels and I hate artificial hides. They said the tarantulas wouldn't grow well and die but Ts can handle so much shit so I tried somethin new.
 

cold blood

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On reputable sites, they just tell us not to do it. No explanation why. Induced stress, sure. I was sure to get hate bc not misting tarantulas was the norm. I want to know why it's the norm. Give me better reasons aside from it's not the right thing to do.

Enclosures are 4 inch in diameter and 7 inches in height. My Ts burrow all the time. Vagans, darlingi, pulchripes, albopilosum. I chose to give them height bc I want to see the intricate tunnels.

Before, i would give them lots of surface area but they don't do anything. So I cramped them up to see some activity. An it worked.

I've done so much research and I chose to do my own things. The norm is giving tarantulas so much space but they also molt in tight spaces. I had a 1 inch pulchripes in a 6 x 6 x 6 container half filled with coco peat and it still decided to molt in its brrow

I wanted to experiment and so far, i've grown my .2 inch slings to 3 inches. I like tunnels and I hate artificial hides. They said the tarantulas wouldn't grow well and die but Ts can handle so much shit so I tried somethin new.
I like this, it looks great. I put my B. vagans sling in a tall vial at 1/3", filled it with sub and gave it a smaller amount of room at the top, as it was a poor eater I wanted it to have to work as little as possible. It has dug many very cool intricate tunnels and every once in a while just changes it. As it grew, its tunnels became more complex, and with the complexity the little scaredy became more confident and is now eating reliably and molting faster as a result. Very interesting, I plan on doing on a larger, deeper scale for P. muticus in the future. Tunnels are very cool looking cool for sure. It does look very natural when you observe them. And the t certainly does not appear in any to be cramped in the least. All the tunnels actually make for a lot of expanded area for them to move and maneuver.

And to be fair, there have been many good reasons given.:)

Why not just mist when they're in the burrow?
 

MadMauC

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Messages
39
fictional case - entertainment for someone who is obviously bored - waste of our time


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miss moxie

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
1,804
On reputable sites, they just tell us not to do it. No explanation why. Induced stress, sure. I was sure to get hate bc not misting tarantulas was the norm. I want to know why it's the norm. Give me better reasons aside from it's not the right thing to do.

Enclosures are 4 inch in diameter and 7 inches in height. My Ts burrow all the time. Vagans, darlingi, pulchripes, albopilosum. I chose to give them height bc I want to see the intricate tunnels.

Before, i would give them lots of surface area but they don't do anything. So I cramped them up to see some activity. An it worked.

I've done so much research and I chose to do my own things. The norm is giving tarantulas so much space but they also molt in tight spaces. I had a 1 inch pulchripes in a 6 x 6 x 6 container half filled with coco peat and it still decided to molt in its brrow

I wanted to experiment and so far, i've grown my .2 inch slings to 3 inches. I like tunnels and I hate artificial hides. They said the tarantulas wouldn't grow well and die but Ts can handle so much shit so I tried somethin new.
Did you ever consider maybe they're burrowing because the environment you're creating for them on the surface is unfavorable?

And just because your techniques aren't what is typically taught doesn't mean it's new. I'm sure you're not the first person to directly spray their t. But in these decades the hobby has been around, the techniques were narrowed down into a few things that work the best. That's why they're commonly in practice. Yes there are always variations, and there is no "right" way to keep a tarantula.

There are several wrong ways however.

A little wary that your reasoning behind trying something "new" by direct spraying your tarantulas is because "Ts can handle so much crap". Because they aren't made of glass it's okay to test their boundaries? For what purpose? Your own curiosity? To tell everyone spraying their tarantulas won't kill them, but it also doesn't do anything beneficial either? Flawless thesis.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
The OP has yet to elucidate what species of spider and the depth of the enclosure. As I said before, I have a 3" versi in a 4" diameter 6" deep deli cup where it has plenty of space. In lieu of information, people have been substituting hysteria of abuse and Gitmo torture and probably Benghazi before it is all said and done.

Edit: and in the Holy name of Al Gore, thank Jebus Viper made sure Godwin's Law remains ironclad!

I said it for exactly that reason. I thought you or someone similar may notice hahaahhah. If only 1 person had replied I wouldn't have said that, but after all the posts in this thread, you bet!
 

Peregrin

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Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
21
Why not just mist when they're in the burrow?
They get out of their burrows when I do the misting. Lol. I do the misting bc when I used water dishes, they dumped their food in there. And without the water dish, I need to give it a new water source. It could suck some water out of that soil. There are also droplets on the wall of the enclosure but it evaporates too fast.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 04:25 PM ----------

Did you ever consider maybe they're burrowing because the environment you're creating for them on the surface is unfavorable?

And just because your techniques aren't what is typically taught doesn't mean it's new. I'm sure you're not the first person to directly spray their t. But in these decades the hobby has been around, the techniques were narrowed down into a few things that work the best. That's why they're commonly in practice. Yes there are always variations, and there is no "right" way to keep a tarantula.

There are several wrong ways however.

A little wary that your reasoning behind trying something "new" by direct spraying your tarantulas is because "Ts can handle so much crap". Because they aren't made of glass it's okay to test their boundaries? For what purpose? Your own curiosity? To tell everyone spraying their tarantulas won't kill them, but it also doesn't do anything beneficial either? Flawless thesis.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Define "favorable."

This is just like the classic case of people imposing that cockroaches are better than superworms as a feeder because of the higher protein content even though no one actually knows the dietary needs of a T.

State what I did wrong then prove that I'm wrong. Don't relate your arguments to human feelings. Help me learn. You forget to add examples along with your explanations.

I wanted to know how much Ts could handle before freaking out and dying with a little water shower. I don't drown the T in 5 inches of water. I just give it 1 spray which creates droplets on its hair and I don't do it every day. It's more of a twice a month thing.
There are so many tarantula keepers panicking that their t will die because they don't have a water dish, they stopped eating for a week, they are not providing the right humidity, and so many more. People panic over the tiniest reasons. Yes, I want to show that spraying a T won't kill it. I want to show that people can be confident about their Ts. I want to show that Ts can adjust, adapt and thrive even in conditions that are not "perfectly" suitable.

I want to show that people don't need to panic every <edit> time they don't exactly do something stated on the internet.

I started in this hobby and I always panicked because articles told me to put heatmats, create a mix of substrates, provide water dishes, mist every day, make sure the enclosure is 3 times larger, simulate night time and day time and the list could go on. I didn't have that much money because I'm just a college student and I really don't want to keep asking money from my parents.

Even with countless hours of research, no one told me that the bare essentials are more than enough to help a tarantula thrive and that this hobby allows huge leeway for those new to the hobby. All the articles on the internet explained tarantula care so rigidly and showed that tarantulas have so many needs even though they barely need anything.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 04:31 PM ----------

are you sure you are not describing the "flooding technique". This is used to rehouse fossorial T's when you want to get them out of their burrow to rehouse them. Flooding is the easiest way to get a T out of it's burrow and the T isn't going to live in a flooded burrow.


I'm sure it was being done to maintain humidity. After dousing the tarantula burrow with the glass of water, he would seal the enclosure with a saran wrap because he said that their place had a really dry environment which made maintaining humidity an obstacle.
 
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Python

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Did you ever consider maybe they're burrowing because the environment you're creating for them on the surface is unfavorable?
Or maybe they're obligate burrowers.

There are several wrong ways however.
Maybe, but no one has provided any source material supporting the theory that misting a tarantula is bad.

A little wary that your reasoning behind trying something "new" by direct spraying your tarantulas is because "Ts can handle so much shit". Because they aren't made of glass it's okay to test their boundaries? For what purpose? Your own curiosity? To tell everyone spraying their tarantulas won't kill them, but it also doesn't do anything beneficial either? Flawless thesis.
First, the entire reason for keeping tarantulas in the first place is "Your own curiosity". The spiders themselves did not volunteer to be kept captive, they were originally taken from their homes, put in collection jars, brought into a hobby where they are kept in little glass or plastic artificial worlds. Second, "testing their boundaries" is what makes science work. Without testing there are only theories, no solutions. Third, it doesn't do anything beneficial? Sources please? I think flawless thesis might be a bit harsh

As I said earlier, I do not mist at all, directly or indirectly. I don't even own a spray bottle although I could find use for one. I don't know if misting is good, bad or indifferent but I do know this, without proof, it's only a theory. I would really like to see some sort of information on this based on empirical evidence, not emotion, opinion or "everybody knows that". I don't care which way the argument swings either. If it turns out that direct misting causes brain rot and makes spiders implode, so be it but offering up the argument that it stresses the animal isn't valid unless you can prove it stresses the animal. I've been caught in the rain many times, I have to work in it in fact, but I was never stressed out about it. Granted, I got out of it as soon as I could but it had no negative impact on me whatsoever. I've seen more animals than I can count that actually liked to go out and play in the rain. quite a few of them were running around in it. Doesn't mean they were stressed just because they were running in the rain.

The biggest problem I have with threads like this is people's opinions play heavily into the subject. Like I said earlier, making a definitive statement without proof is akin to saying tarantulas are deadly poisonous. It makes a person no better than the mainstream media spreading misinformation without any fact checking whatsoever. This is where good ideas break down because people just take it as read that everyone before them was right without ever questioning how they know. Sometimes bad ideas work too. If no one ever questions it, does it make it a good idea?
 

miss moxie

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Messages
1,804
They get out of their burrows when I do the misting. Lol. I do the misting bc when I used water dishes, they dumped their food in there. And without the water dish, I need to give it a new water source. It could suck some water out of that soil. There are also droplets on the wall of the enclosure but it evaporates too fast.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 04:25 PM ----------



Define "favorable."

This is just like the classic case of people imposing that cockroaches are better than superworms as a feeder because of the higher protein content even though no one actually knows the dietary needs of a T.

State what I did wrong then prove that I'm wrong. Don't relate your arguments to human feelings. Help me learn. You forget to add examples along with your explanations.

I wanted to know how much Ts could handle before freaking out and dying with a little water shower. I don't drown the T in 5 inches of water. I just give it 1 spray which creates droplets on its hair and I don't do it every day. It's more of a twice a month thing.
There are so many tarantula keepers panicking that their t will die because they don't have a water dish, they stopped eating for a week, they are not providing the right humidity, and so many more. People panic over the tiniest reasons. Yes, I want to show that spraying a T won't kill it. I want to show that people can be confident about their Ts. I want to show that Ts can adjust, adapt and thrive even in conditions that are not "perfectly" suitable.

I want to show that people don't need to panic every [expletive] time they don't exactly do something stated on the internet.

I started in this hobby and I always panicked because articles told me to put heatmats, create a mix of substrates, provide water dishes, mist every day, make sure the enclosure is 3 times larger, simulate night time and day time and the list could go on. I didn't have that much money because I'm just a college student and I really don't want to keep asking money from my parents.

Even with countless hours of research, no one told me that the bare essentials are more than enough to help a tarantula thrive and that this hobby allows huge leeway for those new to the hobby. All the articles on the internet explained tarantula care so rigidly and showed that tarantulas have so many needs even though they barely need anything.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 04:31 PM ----------



I'm sure it was being done to maintain humidity. After dousing the tarantula burrow with the glass of water, he would seal the enclosure with a saran wrap because he said that their place had a really dry environment which made maintaining humidity an obstacle.
And you’ve already just brought up one of the classic reasons why misting is pointless. Because the water you mist into there evaporates too fast and doesn’t really do much of anything at all to hold moisture. And I feel like there may be a touch of back-pedaling going on. Now you say you're only doing it twice a month, but this is still in an attempt to prove the hardiness of tarantulas? Or is it because you "had" to introduce a new water source?

You didn’t do anything “wrong”, you’re not using cricket gel to water them and you aren’t keeping them on mulch. But my point that you aren’t grasping isn’t that misting is the devil, and here are ten reasons why. My point is that if a method is proven by someone who has had a lot more time and money and tarantulas than you, someone who has put decades into this hobby then why keep doing it? Specifically because you’ve no idea (no one does) if you’re hurting them or just pissing them off or not bothering them in the slightest. But the second part is mostly an after thought.

You say you want to prove to tarantula enthusiasts that tarantulas aren’t china dolls? Someone has already done that. The same person who also explained why misting is fairly pointless.

You say you want to mimic rain and nature? In Stan’s beginner website he states that there simply is no proof simulating nature is necessary. He says on his page about humidity that in the wild some tarantulas may not get a drink more than once or twice a year and survive without water completely if there is a drought. Then he goes on to say that keeping slings on moist substrate ensures a “higher, constant humidity around them” and also explains that as spiderlings begin to develop their waxy inner layer that keeps water in, you should start to dry them out. By drying them out, they respond by “producing a more impervious wax layer.”

So technically we could argue that they could possibly develop an insufficient wax layer if they aren’t exposed to dryer conditions. After all- is there any proof that this won’t happen? Any explanations? Has anyone proven or disproven this?

Stan also says “When most tarantulas are subjected to arid conditions, their first response is to drink more water. But, within a few weeks to a few months they develop a thicker, more impermeable layer of wax-like substance on their epicuticle to reduce water loss to the absolute, bare minimum. Many of the desert species are notorious for requiring little or no liquid water whatsoever, surviving almost entirely on the water held by their prey and from metabolic water (water produced de novo as food is metabolised for energy).”

And, the part that really spoke to me when I was first doing research:

"Decades of experience by literally tens of thousands of enthusiasts have amply demonstrated that within one or two molts almost all tarantulas larger than fifth or sixth instar babies, even most of the rain forest species, can not only survive but thrive in an effectively desert condition."

In your defense he does say that “we push the envelope to try and understand what full range of tolerances is for any given quality, and with a number of different species”. That being said however, what you’re trying to prove isn’t new. You aren’t the first person to try and prove they can adapt to basic and simple lifestyles. And unless you can make a sound argument why “forcing” them to drink and giving them cold showers is more beneficial to the tarantula, there is already a much simpler way to keep your tarantulas. But according to you, that isn’t what your constant watering is about. It’s so you can tell something that most people who do extensive research before plunging into the hobby already know. Tarantulas aren’t made of glass.

Now, onto misting. From Stan’s page on misting, he says, “The basic, underlying hypothesis is that one needs to spray or must a tarantula’s cage often in order to maintain an adequate humidity. Otherwise the poor creature that you just shelled out a day’s wages for was sure to crash and burn. But those were the days when we understood neither humidity not tarantulas worth beans. And worse, we’d been lies to for all our lives on both accounts!”

If your tarantula's cage is fully enclosed or has a cover that retards at least 95% of the ventilation in the cage, the water evaporating from the water dish almost surely has already raised the humidity to almost 100%. All your time and efforts spent misting were wasted even before you started.

If you don't have such a cover on the tarantula's cage to retard ventilation, all the precious moisture that you've sprayed into the cage will have evaporated and wafted off into the room almost before you can put the mister away. All your time and efforts were wasted within a few minutes of walking away from the cage. Bummer!

And, in an effort to maintain proper humidity for longer than just a few minutes, if you've wet the cage down so much that the substrate and furnishings are dripping wet and stay wet for more than an hour or two, you might as well be down on your knees, begging for a vermin infestation or disease infection. (There's a very good reason why we rant endlessly about maintaining a dry cage for almost all tarantulas. See Mighty Mites.)

As though that weren't enough, it is almost impossible to mist or spray a tarantula's cage without also getting a little spray onto the tarantula. From a tarantulas point of view, getting sprayed is almost as bad as someone scraping their fingernails down a blackboard. It sets off almost every sensory nerve on the spider's body.

And, almost all tarantulas abhor being wet or being kept on damp substrate, most especially the desert species. To these creatures, a damp cage is like a wet bed is to you!
I honestly don't know how much more explanation you need, and I realize this is all from one single source/person. However if I haven't seen just about 12 dozen posts referring people to Stan's website/book then let me be struck down by whatever higher power their may be. So, it seems to be a general consensus that his research and word is more than a little bit respectable.

You say:

Even with countless hours of research, no one told me that the bare essentials are more than enough to help a tarantula thrive and that this hobby allows huge leeway for those new to the hobby. All the articles on the internet explained tarantula care so rigidly and showed that tarantulas have so many needs even though they barely need anything.
And I say: "The second thing you need to understand is the K.I.S.S. principle, not to infer that you're stupid." -- Stan Shultz

In conclusion, you're wrong that there isn't some influential tarantula enthusiast out there who is telling new hobbyists that they don't need to stress themselves out over heat mats, mixed substrates, misting, simulating nature, ect. And by myself I was able to find Stan's website and research. It wasn't pulling teeth, I didn't have to scour the deepest, darkest parts of this forum or the internet. His name and that website is practically a mantra.

Also as an after thought, you may want to mind your temper/language. We're supposed to avoid "the roughest" four letter words.
 
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Peregrin

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Sep 17, 2014
Messages
21
If Ts can adapt to their surroundings by altering their waxy layer, then why are water dishes still in use? In case the waxy layer fails? Or misting shouldn't be done aolely for keeping mites away?

I never said there isn't an expert telling us to keep it simple. A new hobbyist would just base his info on the first few sites he could find such as wikihow, about or youtube. Someone new also wouldn't know the existence of Stan. Google tarantula care and see if stan's site or name pops up. Not everyone wanting to own a tarantula also has the patience to do research.

But your reply truly is golden.
 

Python

Arachnolord
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Mar 21, 2005
Messages
631
That's what I'm talking about, references to support theories and ideas. Lots of good information there. It doesn't address the question of whether it stresses the animal though. Sure, misting is unnecessary but is it actually harmful? I think you addressed that question by explaining the water retention properties of the spider as it ages but considering they are kept in artificial environments under controlled conditions I would imagine the tarantula would adjust accordingly.

Is it necessary? No
Is it beneficial? Probably not
Is it harmful? Who knows for sure?
 

cold blood

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When it rains outside all spiders, even fishing spiders that make their living on the water, head for cover.
 

freedumbdclxvi

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Joined
May 28, 2012
Messages
1,426
On reputable sites, they just tell us not to do it. No explanation why. Induced stress, sure. I was sure to get hate bc not misting tarantulas was the norm. I want to know why it's the norm. Give me better reasons aside from it's not the right thing to do.

Enclosures are 4 inch in diameter and 7 inches in height. My Ts burrow all the time. Vagans, darlingi, pulchripes, albopilosum. I chose to give them height bc I want to see the intricate tunnels.

Before, i would give them lots of surface area but they don't do anything. So I cramped them up to see some activity. An it worked.

I've done so much research and I chose to do my own things. The norm is giving tarantulas so much space but they also molt in tight spaces. I had a 1 inch pulchripes in a 6 x 6 x 6 container half filled with coco peat and it still decided to molt in its brrow

I wanted to experiment and so far, i've grown my .2 inch slings to 3 inches. I like tunnels and I hate artificial hides. They said the tarantulas wouldn't grow well and die but Ts can handle so much **** so I tried somethin new.
Nothing wrong with your enclosure sizes, especially with depth for burrowing. And like I said before, spraying them directly won't induce drinking. Spray the sub, the sides or the webbing and you're good.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 11:40 AM ----------

I said it for exactly that reason. I thought you or someone similar may notice hahaahhah. If only 1 person had replied I wouldn't have said that, but after all the posts in this thread, you bet!
I figured that's why. Made me laugh my arse off and I had to throw that edit in. :)
 

Peregrin

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Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
21
That's what I'm talking about, references to support theories and ideas. Lots of good information there. It doesn't address the question of whether it stresses the animal though. Sure, misting is unnecessary but is it actually harmful? I think you addressed that question by explaining the water retention properties of the spider as it ages but considering they are kept in artificial environments under controlled conditions I would imagine the tarantula would adjust accordingly.

Is it necessary? No
Is it beneficial? Probably not
Is it harmful? Who knows for sure?
I would like to second this person's statement.

Stan's claims are so brilliant, radical and counter-intuitive that i need to ask this question: what method did he use to arrive at that conclusion?

Did he publish the results of his experiment proving the existence of this waxy layer? How did he prove this existence? How did he prove that the amount of wax increases as time in a dry climate increases? Did he publish his results and data? What were the age of the slings? Were factors of molting, premolt and other stages of the life cycle of a tarantula taken into account? Was the feeding schedule, amount eaten, size of t, size enclosure and other factors properly documented? What would be his control in his experiement if there wqa any? So many questions must be answered. Sure, Stan is highly regarded. But we still need proof.

Can you show us data of his experimentation or method used to prove the existence of this waxy layer, miss moxie? No matter how reputable he is, i would only believe his claim of the increasing waxiness if he can completely remove the water dish and if he will share the data of his experiment
 
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Python

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Nice call Peregrin. You are correct that everyone just takes the TKG as gospel without questioning methods. Good point.
I myself have never read it and don't own it. When I got into the hobby it wasn't out yet so all of my learning at that stage was trial and error. Later, books became available but the information contained within ended up changing later. After a while, I gave up on the books and turned to other hobbyists. Then I found this site and just since I've been here methods have changed quite a bit. After a several year hiatus I found I needed to relearn the hobby. I was quite surprised. Anyway, the tried and true methods are the standard for a reason, just remember, standards change.
 

miss moxie

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Jun 13, 2014
Messages
1,804
If Ts can adapt to their surroundings by altering their waxy layer, then why are water dishes still in use? In case the waxy layer fails? Or misting shouldn't be done aolely for keeping mites away?

I never said there isn't an expert telling us to keep it simple. A new hobbyist would just base his info on the first few sites he could find such as wikihow, about or youtube. Someone new also wouldn't know the existence of Stan. Google tarantula care and see if stan's site or name pops up. Not everyone wanting to own a tarantula also has the patience to do research.

But your reply truly is golden.
I still am a new hobbyist. I got my first tarantula in June. And yet somehow I still managed to find it on my own within a day of joining this website, simply by digging through old threads.

I'm glad you enjoyed my reply, though it seems you don't have a real rebuttal for me.

---------- Post added 09-19-2014 at 06:04 PM ----------

I would like to second this person's statement.

Stan's claims are so brilliant, radical and counter-intuitive that i need to ask this question: what method did he use to arrive at that conclusion?

Did he publish the results of his experiment proving the existence of this waxy layer? How did he prove this existence? How did he prove that the amount of wax increases as time in a dry climate increases? Did he publish his results and data? What were the age of the slings? Were factors of molting, premolt and other stages of the life cycle of a tarantula taken into account? Was the feeding schedule, amount eaten, size of t, size enclosure and other factors properly documented? What would be his control in his experiement if there wqa any? So many questions must be answered. Sure, Stan is highly regarded. But we still need proof.

Can you show us data of his experimentation or method used to prove the existence of this waxy layer, miss moxie? No matter how reputable he is, i would only believe his claim of the increasing waxiness if he can completely remove the water dish and if he will share the data of his experiment
Sure, I'll just give his cell phone a ring.
 

advan

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Messages
2,086
And you’ve already just brought up one of the classic reasons why misting is pointless. Because the water you mist into there evaporates too fast and doesn’t really do much of anything at all to hold moisture. And I feel like there may be a touch of back-pedaling going on. Now you say you're only doing it twice a month, but this is still in an attempt to prove the hardiness of tarantulas? Or is it because you "had" to introduce a new water source?

You didn’t do anything “wrong”, you’re not using cricket gel to water them and you aren’t keeping them on mulch. But my point that you aren’t grasping isn’t that misting is the devil, and here are ten reasons why. My point is that if a method is proven by someone who has had a lot more time and money and tarantulas than you, someone who has put decades into this hobby then why keep doing it? Specifically because you’ve no idea (no one does) if you’re hurting them or just pissing them off or not bothering them in the slightest. But the second part is mostly an after thought.

You say you want to prove to tarantula enthusiasts that tarantulas aren’t china dolls? Someone has already done that. The same person who also explained why misting is fairly pointless.

You say you want to mimic rain and nature? In Stan’s beginner website he states that there simply is no proof simulating nature is necessary. He says on his page about humidity that in the wild some tarantulas may not get a drink more than once or twice a year and survive without water completely if there is a drought. Then he goes on to say that keeping slings on moist substrate ensures a “higher, constant humidity around them” and also explains that as spiderlings begin to develop their waxy inner layer that keeps water in, you should start to dry them out. By drying them out, they respond by “producing a more impervious wax layer.”

So technically we could argue that they could possibly develop an insufficient wax layer if they aren’t exposed to dryer conditions. After all- is there any proof that this won’t happen? Any explanations? Has anyone proven or disproven this?

Stan also says “When most tarantulas are subjected to arid conditions, their first response is to drink more water. But, within a few weeks to a few months they develop a thicker, more impermeable layer of wax-like substance on their epicuticle to reduce water loss to the absolute, bare minimum. Many of the desert species are notorious for requiring little or no liquid water whatsoever, surviving almost entirely on the water held by their prey and from metabolic water (water produced de novo as food is metabolised for energy).”

And, the part that really spoke to me when I was first doing research:

"Decades of experience by literally tens of thousands of enthusiasts have amply demonstrated that within one or two molts almost all tarantulas larger than fifth or sixth instar babies, even most of the rain forest species, can not only survive but thrive in an effectively desert condition."

In your defense he does say that “we push the envelope to try and understand what full range of tolerances is for any given quality, and with a number of different species”. That being said however, what you’re trying to prove isn’t new. You aren’t the first person to try and prove they can adapt to basic and simple lifestyles. And unless you can make a sound argument why “forcing” them to drink and giving them cold showers is more beneficial to the tarantula, there is already a much simpler way to keep your tarantulas. But according to you, that isn’t what your constant watering is about. It’s so you can tell something that most people who do extensive research before plunging into the hobby already know. Tarantulas aren’t made of glass.

Now, onto misting. From Stan’s page on misting, he says, “The basic, underlying hypothesis is that one needs to spray or must a tarantula’s cage often in order to maintain an adequate humidity. Otherwise the poor creature that you just shelled out a day’s wages for was sure to crash and burn. But those were the days when we understood neither humidity not tarantulas worth beans. And worse, we’d been lies to for all our lives on both accounts!”



I honestly don't know how much more explanation you need, and I realize this is all from one single source/person. However if I haven't seen just about 12 dozen posts referring people to Stan's website/book then let me be struck down by whatever higher power their may be. So, it seems to be a general consensus that his research and word is more than a little bit respectable.

You say:



And I say: "The second thing you need to understand is the K.I.S.S. principle, not to infer that you're stupid." -- Stan Shultz

In conclusion, you're wrong that there isn't some influential tarantula enthusiast out there who is telling new hobbyists that they don't need to stress themselves out over heat mats, mixed substrates, misting, simulating nature, ect. And by myself I was able to find Stan's website and research. It wasn't pulling teeth, I didn't have to scour the deepest, darkest parts of this forum or the internet. His name and that website is practically a mantra.

Also as an after thought, you may want to mind your temper/language. We're supposed to avoid "the roughest" four letter words.
You have a lot to learn. There are many, many things wrong with Stan's husbandry advice for many species. Not to mention all the other issues with the book that he likes to present as fact and are in reality his opinion.

Decades of experience by literally tens of thousands of enthusiasts have amply demonstrated that within one or two molts almost all tarantulas larger than fifth or sixth instar babies, even most of the rain forest species, can not only survive but thrive in an effectively desert condition.
This quote is absolutely ridiculous. Common sense should tell you, you need to research the place the species you are keeping is from and mimic the seasons, temperatures and humidity for the spider to thrive. How does keeping a Brazilian rainforest species the same as a species from the Sonoran Desert sound OK to you? That is surviving(not thriving) and borderline abuse. Keep researching and welcome to the boards. :)
 
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