falling T's... what should i do?

[Widowman10]

i have a G. rosea and an A. seemani in 2 10-gal tanks. they are both fairly large individuals but i have a problem with them crawling up on the sides and top and then falling down. i don't want any broken legs or ruptured abdomens, so does anybody have any suggestions on what to do? i can't make the substrate 8 inches deep to prevent a long fall, i don't have that much soil/peat. help!

 

[Bothrops]

I think the only solution is buying more peat moss to add inside the terrarium. There's not another option...
Or you can always put them in a smaller terrarium, but I think it's easier buying more peat moss

 

[Cirith Ungol]

This can be a result from having the substrate too moist. Let the tank dry out and they'll most proberbly stop climbing the sides. But filling up the tanks substrate is always a good idea and should be done nontheless.

 

[jamesc]

Yeah a 10 is kinda overkill but you could build the substrate up higher. You don't want too much room, just enough where the space between the substrate and the lid is no greater than their legspan. In a 10 gallon most of the tank will be filled with substrate so that is why it is better to use a 5.5 gallon. They might be ok in the 10 but it is just wasted space as they are happy in a smaller tank.

If you just wanted something quick you could remove them from the tank, remove the substrate, put something in the bottom of the tank (rocks, styrofoam, just anything to take up space) and then add the substrate back in and it will be higher.

 

[ember]

I have very large G. rosea and an A. seemani, both in 10 gallon tanks. They have never climbed... we use coconut fiber ("bed a beast" style mock peat moss) and not too moist. I do have it really high in the tank, too, in case they do climb, but I have had ZERO problems.

Where are the tanks located? Is there a lot of light? Noise? Vibrations?
Ours are in a quite area of the house, on bookshelves where they are kept out of direct light.

Are you misting? If so, stop. That may help.

Are their ants on the substrate? The only time my Rosea seemed stressed I noticed that ants were in her tank.

Go to a hardware, garden, or department store. Take $10 with you. Find "Beats Peat" or similar product. It is cheap and goes a LONG way. Up the substrate in the tank, quit being a cheap whiner. This is NOT an expensive problem to fix, and it sure beats a dead spider (both of which cost at least $10, right? Go ahead and spend the extra pocket change to get their tank set up to be safe for them!)

 

[phil jones]

just use more substrate and that will help but the ( t ) should not climb that much unless some thing wrong in the tanks :? :wall: === phil

 

[ErikH]

I know it isn't the answer you wanted, but more substrate is the only way to keep them from having a fatal fall.

 

[Widowman10]

more substrate would prob do the trick. i live in CO and don't mist the substrate, so i KNOW the humidity is not too high. neither one is in direct sunlight- bright room tho. and they are in a very quiet part of the house, especially since i am not home too often. there are no ants. thanks for the help. the rocks below the substrate were a good idea, thanks jamesc.

 

[cacoseraph]

buy from a $1 store or "borrow" several VERY large tupperware. seal them up and use the existing sub you have to "bury" the tups. this is probably cheaper than getting more sub

alternately you could try coating the majority of the cages walls with a very light coating of olive oil. this should disrupt most/all of the mechanisms that let the spider glasswalk. this should be a TEMPORARY fix until you can raise the sub level however you are going to.