Disgruntled E. campestratus?

belljar77

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Hey folks- I have a lovely 4"ish female E. campestratus that I've been keeping pretty dry. For the last few weeks she's stayed in her hide, I assumed she was in premolt. Last night I wet her enclosure a bit (doling out some H. miles) and she's been WAY more active. Have I been keeping her incorrectly? Maybe she needs more than a water dish overflow?
 

Motorkar

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It needs 60-75% humidity and it musn't fall below 60%! Thats all that you need to look for.
 

Moltar

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I wouldn't say it's anywhere neer as critical as Motorkar implies. (No offense Motorkar) In my experience these guys are pretty comfortable with arid conditions. They're not as tolerant as, say, G. rosea but they don't need much. I'd give a good soak to 1/2 the tank every 4-6 months so they can get their soak on (nearly all tarantulas enjoy this every once in a while) but other than that just overflow the water dish every so often.

I honestly don't pay much attention to measuring relative humidity. It changes too rapidly to really make a difference and most care sheets that reference such knowledge are full of crap anyway. Just use a humidifier in the room to take the edge off and do the rest through observation of soil moisture.
 

belljar77

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Okay, thank you! I'll up her humidity a bit. I've missed seeing her pretty face.
 

gvfarns

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I wouldn't try to increase the humidity. Precious few tarantulas care about humidity, but lots hate moist substrate. Lots of T owners have previously kept amphibians or sensitive reptiles, which is why they woirry about humidity. It's almost never an issue with tarantulas (T blondi's being the most notable exception). Too much humidity is much more stressful and dangerous (causing mold, etc) than very little as long as there is a water dish available. That is, humidity in the air isn't a problem, but wet substrate is or can be a problem for many, many T's.

I take it that you have tiny creepy crawlies of some kind in your enclosure, which is why you are putting H miles in there. That's indicative of having too much moisture already since things don't rot and give those little guys something to eat when the substrate is dry.

Another thing I would like to point out is that "active" behavior is more likely to be an indicator that your tarantula is uncomfortable than hanging out in the hide is. Tarantulas are not active critters by nature. If your tarantula is moving around the enclosure a lot or climbing the walls, that's likely to mean it's uncomfortable. If it's hanging out in it's hide with a couple of feet visible and that's it, it's a happy little critter.

In short, Mortokar's advice is pretty much the opposite of what actually makes sense in this situation.
 
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Moltar

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Okay, thank you! I'll up her humidity a bit. I've missed seeing her pretty face.
Not... really what I was suggesting exactly. Gvfarns makes an excellent point about moist soil. There should just be a little patch around the water dish that is a bit moist and the rest should stay dry. They really don't like walking around with wet feet.

This is a very shy species in my experience. If they're really active and just dancing around the cage something is wrong and moist substrate would make them do just that. (well not really dance exactly...)
 

belljar77

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Sorry, just had an overlap of answers. Thinking about it, I'll just leave her be. She didn't really have mites to speak of, but my husband's H. gigas did, and he's a bit mite-aphobic, so everyone got the H. miles. Overkill, but whatever. She's tucked away again, I'll just wait for her usual 3am stroll to see her. We usual keep pretty dry tanks, works for me.
 

pato_chacoana

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If you can, give them the opportunity to make a burrow. I've seen them in the wild, the burrows they construct are amazing, more than 1 meter deep and populations can be found on grasslands, not inside forests. It's true that Chaco has a dry season, but it's not an arid region. Just, don't let the substrate become too dry, as Ethan said.

This could be useful maybe:

E. campestratus habitat









Pato-
 

Vespula

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I agree that you should keep it pretty dry. Maybe she's just shy and soon will want to show her beautiful face! :)
 

belljar77

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pato_chacoana- thank you for all the info/pictures. It's always so cool to see a T in it's natural environment.
 

pato_chacoana

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No problem. ;-) My thought is that deep down in their burrows, it's not too dry.

I think they would appreciate a slightly moist substrate (not wet, of course), at least on half part of their enclosure.

Best regards
 

jb62

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Jun 21, 2010
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my PZB has a 50/50 mix of peat & verm and in her enclosure she has a water bowl and cork log that she hides in and she dug a trench to make it deeper.
her substrate is 2 inch deep and she is around 3 to 4 years old and has been sexed so she is a 100% female.
She comes out and moves around her enclosure and seems happy.
She is also in premoult and has been since I got her
28th of last month and she won't eat that much.
I like to get a white collard also as I've been told they are good also.
I found this and wonder if these are in the hobby.

Eupalaestrus guyanus (Simon, 1892)
Eupalaestrus spinosissimus Mello-Leitão, 1923

John
 
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