Dumb Questions

Frostbyte

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
327
My Red Knee sling doesnt want anything to do with her new home ... she sits in the shallow water dish . Its peat with vermiculite. My green Bottle has webbed himself into a cave ... I cant see him anywhere and my Curly Hair has destroyed his home , filled the water dish with peat and turned his hide over and burried that . What am I doing wrong here ? Man did I get in over my head with 3 new slings at once? Besides my 6 dart frogs 2 scorpions , cat , hamster and wrecked new car Im having a nervous break-down ! Thanks . . . . .
 

pategirl

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2002
Messages
788
I don't really think you're doing anything wrong...they're just being T's. Tarantulas often have different ideas about their home than we do. If the redknee's sitting in its water dish, it might benefit from an increase in humidity. The greenbottle might be getting ready to molt or something. I've had a few T's that also bury their water dishes...I don't think there's much to worry about that. Not exactly sure why they do it, though.
 

pelo

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2003
Messages
938
I was having problems with the T's not liking the substrate(mix of 50/50-verm-peat).I switched the substrate to appr. 70% potting soil and 30% mix of verm/peat.They seem to like it much better...peace...
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
i think the city of Boston should employ my curlyhairs as bulldozers.

pg hit it right on the head -- i think they're just being Ts.
i've noticed a few of mine continually filling in water dishes (not by accident, but actually fanging dirt over to the dish specifically) -- i take it as a sign of them trying to screw around with the humidity.

are these the ones you got from kentucky? I don't know, you may want to try a new substrate for the redknee... but i don't think that would help anything.


chalk one more up to 'T's being T's' :)

peace
dave
 

skadiwolf

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
May 6, 2003
Messages
645
i have two B. albo myself. :) the female LOVES to dig herself under in burrows so that i have to really search to find her.

the male loves to excavate huge trenches here and there. i honestly think he's enjoying himself rather a lot. :)

both are great Ts, very docile and friendly. i love handling them and they are just awesome. the male is large enough 1 1/2" to have started getting some of those CUTE as hell hairs on him...heheehe, he's all fluffy. i love it.

the female is still rather bare...but i have faith!

however...the QUEEN of burrowing Ts that i own is my teeny PZB sling. she has given me near heart failure many a time... such a sweet little beauty though. :)
 

Godzilla2000

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 14, 2003
Messages
947
Well, my curlyhair has for some odd reason constructed herself a mound and webbed it up. Don't ask me why she did it. Perhaps she's starting her own religion and just worships the webbed up mound. I've found that my Emperor likes to call her waterdish home as well.
 

RugbyDave

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Messages
1,428
oh man, the webbed-mound huh? i fell into that whole deal my junior year of college.. it started off with a movie and a free 'personality test', and then they got me...talk about downward spiral: some meetings here, and some local webbing there, but then they just suck you in, and all of sudden its "flick"this and "cricket"that.. i was weak, naive.. what can i say? i was looking for myself.

interventions usually help.

let's just say this: if a Brachypelma albopilosum asks you if you want a free personality test, say no.. just walk away from it.

but back in reality, Ts just do what they want. so don't worry too much over it.

thats the whole fun of this thing :)
peace
dave
 

skadiwolf

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
May 6, 2003
Messages
645
perhaps she is simply constructing a mock-image of the Great Pyramid to not-so-subtly complain about the amazing lack of humidity.

then again, maybe she just likes her mound of dirt. :)
 

Godzilla2000

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 14, 2003
Messages
947
I'm just guessing she's a New Age Tarantula. Or perhaps she's watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
 

skadiwolf

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
May 6, 2003
Messages
645
well, in that case, perhaps you can look carefully at her little mound and see if she has inscribed any words of wisdom from the ancients upon it...

now, remember, if she has, make sure to record it all and sell it for millions okay?

but first, tell us. :) i'm sure it would mostly be incredibly useful and long-sought-after bits of T husbandry wisdom for which we would all be most grateful.

so...what honorific should we use when addressing her from now on? her enlightenedness? ;)
 

Godzilla2000

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 14, 2003
Messages
947
Well there were inscriptions on the mound and they read, "Must feed me more crickets."
 

Bry

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 22, 2003
Messages
773
I've had my B. albopilosum for just over a month, and the first week or two, she practically turned the cage upside down. The cage is more to her liking, and she doesn't bulldoze as much anymore. She spends quite a bit of time working on burrows, not to mention that most of her substrate is covered with a thin layer of webbing. She doesn't cover up her water bowl anymore now that she likes her setup. T's will be T's. :)

Bry
 

sunnymarcie

Celestial Spider
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
1,294
Sounds like they are normal to me:)

Our Curly changed its house around to.
And our A. seemani isn't called "digger" for nothing.
He fills his water dish to, I have seen it.
I keep his home pretty dry, so he uses the water dish
to improve the packing quality of the substrate when he
is changing his home around. Pretty smart, if you ask me:D
 

AllenG

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
168
i see it was only slightly mentioned, but in my search for "what substrate i should use" on the web i have seen many people say some of their T's don't like vermiculite and they will hang from the top of their cage or sit on the water dish...or maybe he/she is dehydrated, or maybe he/she just feels dirty and feels the need for a bath ;)


My g.rosea only spends time pretty much in one corner of his enclosure where he made a webbed....and on his log, i used to mist the opposite side, but i am not now to see if he moves around, so far nothing, he likes his one corner...


oh but the people that said their T's don't seem to like vermiculite said eventually the T just puts a layer of web down then goes on its business....
 

Mendi

Arachnowolf
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
1,385
Originally posted by AllenG
i see it was only slightly mentioned, but in my search for "what substrate i should use" on the web i have seen many people say some of their T's don't like vermiculite and they will hang from the top of their cage or sit on the water dish...or maybe he/she is dehydrated, or maybe he/she just feels dirty and feels the need for a bath ;)
For my diggers, I use about 60% peat and 40% vermiculite. The mix isn't unpleasant to their feet and holds the burrows very well IMO. It also holds moisture much better than just using unmixed peat. If you're dealing with a more "desert" T, you may want to bring the vermiculite down to 25-30%

Sitting on the water dish is probably a signal to raise the humidity in the enclosure
 

Kali

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 23, 2003
Messages
294
my little curlys (and i have 4, thanx vayu son!) are the same way! they are housed above my computer on the shelf thing, and my conclusion was that they watch my roomate play her civilization create/destroy game too often, and try to mimic this. either that or i have been ignoring their obvious flares for the construction industry.

Kristin=D
 
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