Finally, my conscience is at ease :)

[LucN]

Ok,

Let's have a look at the 1st picture. What's wrong here ?

Substrate level is low to non-existent. This was a couple months back. Smotzer (I hope I got his username right) was kind enough to remind me. And after years of keeping my Ts on low sub, I finally went ahead and upped it to almost the middle of the cage's height.

The result is in picture # 2.

What a difference, huh ?

Of my 4 babies, the porteri is obviously displeased for having moist sub. It'll dry up in a few weeks time, girl. And I also swapped those oversized plastic aquarium decorations for the classic flower pot. Half buried in sub, it looks like a cave, which my B. boehmei and T. albopilosus took to immediately upon being rehoused. My boehmei can make laps on the ceiling all she wants now, I'm no longer concerned with her taking a bad fall.

Also, this exercise boosted my confidence greatly. I try to disturb my Ts the least possible. I took my time and prodded them gently with the paintbrush. No threats, just a little bit of flicking from the boehmei and hamorii. The porteri and albopilosus were well-mannered ladies, a bit stubborn, but they eventually went into the small KK I used as a catch cup. Hands off handling, the only way to work with Ts, am I right ?

The new setups may be on the boring side, but they work. Sometimes, simple is best. Now excuse me while I blast (kinda) TV Crimes from De-freaking-humanizer, one of my favourite Sabbath Dio songs

 

[Jess S]

Well done . It may have been a bit of a daunting task to contemplate, corralling 4 tarantulas. That's understandable, because doing 4 in one sitting is quite the undertaking. I bet you're so proud of yourself that you got it done, and so you should be.

 

[LucN]

Well done . It may have been a bit of a daunting task to contemplate, corralling 4 tarantulas. That's understandable, because doing 4 in one sitting is quite the undertaking. I bet you're so proud of yourself that you got it done, and so you should be.

It was the starting point that got me nervous. I decided to get my boehmei out of the way first since she is my largest T (5"+ to nearly 6" easily) and because of her size I do find working with her a bit initimidating. She had attempted to make a break for it before once I opened the lid. She has an unpleasant habit of hanging on close to the lid, so I needed to "convince" her to go to ground level for a little bit.

Once that was done, it took a bit of prodding to corral her in the small KK. She did flick a bit, so to avoid getting haired, I put the lid on for a moment, giving a moment for any stray hairs to settle down, then continued prodding her until she finally went it and settled down. Once she was out, the rest was easy. Taking out the old hide with tongs, remember this is a boehmei's residence, so it could have been littered with hairs. I took no chances. Once that was done, I also took advantage of the situation and did a thorough cleaning, removing many old boluses and webbing. Then came loads of fresh, moist sub and placing the flower pot hide in the corner, burying it halfway. Putting her back in was a snap, she basically rushed into the flower pot hide and that was it.

The porteri gave me no real issues, except that she was a little bit stubborn to go into the KK, so I had to re-position both the T and the KK a few times before she finally went it. I basically did what I done with the boehmei's enclosure. Of course, upon walking onto the moist sub, she immediately took to he side and is still hanging there now.

The hamorii wasn't too bad either, but she did flick a bit before going into the KK. Once I was prodding her back into the enclosure, did she sprint a little bit, which startled me.

The albopilosus like the porteri earlier was just stubborn, but eventually complied. No threats, no hair flicking. I'm sure she loves her new digs, because not long after being reintroduced, she walked over to the top of her flower pot hide and proceeded to groom herself.

Now that this task is done, I do feel a great sense of accomplishment and relief. Tho, I'll have to keep an eye on Ts more during feeding and maintenance. They have much less vertical ground to cover if they try to make a break for it. Especially my big boehmei girl, but with the new fresh sub, maybe she'll be less likely to climb now. Time will tell.

But yes, I'm proud of myself for finally doing something I should have done from the beginning, almost 12 years ago ! Though, at the time, I had used Stan's book and Jon3800's early videos as a visual guide. Of course, now we know better than to give terrestrials the bare minimum of sub.

 

[Jess S]

The funniest thing will be if none of them bother burrowing but at least you've given them the opportunity to do what comes naturally to them. And there's no height issue/fall risk now.

All those species I keep on dry (with an occasional overflow of the water dish) but my albopilosuses like a little more moisture in the substrate so I tend to give them a more heavily overflown dish.

You are right that they can more easily bolt out of the enclosure now. But I bet you they won't as they've been in those enclosures a long time and are well settled. So definitely be vigilant as that is the best way a keeper can be, but no need to worry.

By the way, I totally identify with your mentioning of the stubbornness to move! I find a stubborn t quite challenging sometimes when they just refuse to budge lol I had to give up with the paintbrush one time and just scoop it up with a tub and lid as it wasn't going anywhere for me haha

 

[LucN]

Thus far, my boehmei is just standing smack in the middle of her enclosure, looking pretty. If only she didn't have a half-bald bum from occasional kicking, she could win T beauty contests

 

[USNGunner]

Thus far, my boehmei is just standing smack in the middle of her enclosure, looking pretty. If only she didn't have a half-bald bum from occasional kicking, she could win T beauty contests

That is what the grandson's did too. Then one day it turned into a bulldozer tunnel digging fool. All the way to the bottom and spread out across the bottom. We were really dreading the cave in. LOL.

 

[Matt Man]

m ore dirt, more better. I mostly give them the option to dig, if they don't, it's on them

 

[LucN]

Ok, almost a week later and my Ts seems more or less settled in. B. boehmei and B. hamorii seem the least bothered by the still moist sub. T. albopilosus wanders on the sides mostly. Last, but certainly not least, my G. porteri finally came down (sorta) from the side and she is standing above the hide. She laid down a thick sheet of web there, so there's two definite possibilities why.

1. She doesn't want her tootsies on the still damp sub.
2. She could be in premolt.

It looks like the remnants of a sperm web, but I can guarantee she's a gal via ventral and longevity. I've had this T for 7 years so far, has molted at least three times. If it were a male, it would surely had its maturing molt on the last time.

Also, strangely enough, a small plant has begun to sprout from the sub ! I'm using coco fibre, so what are the odds of a plant growing in that when I haven't placed any fertilizers ?

What do you people think ? My guess is that the plant will eventually die off as the sub dries off. To find the plant, look for the speck of green near the floor.

 

[PoeciIotheria]

Great work! Proud of you

 

[cold blood]

If you use a pot, it should always be broken. Hides should never have bottoms...they aren't the house, they are the front door. And they are more effective if they are buried so there is just enough space to get into...tight hides are better than open ones....fwiw.

 

[LucN]

If you use a pot, it should always be broken. Hides should never have bottoms...they aren't the house, they are the front door. And they are more effective if they are buried so there is just enough space to get into...tight hides are better than open ones....fwiw.

An open hide ? Well, first before I make further changes, I'd like to see what they'll do once they really start to move around. My T. albo had a small half-log for 3 years and she barely used it in that time. She always prefers to sit on top of it. Not ignoring your advice at all, but chances are they may very well ignore the hides and not even bother to burrow. If I notice that they are trying to dig further into the pot, I'll make a switch or adjustments if necessary. I'll keep updating this thread as I notice new behaviours.

 

[LucN]

Ok, people, time for an update.

The Ts are more or less settled in. The boehmei and the hamorii seemed the most at ease in their revamped enclosure. The porteri and the albopilosus still hang on to the sides. I know the porteri will be a drama queen until th sub is dried up to her satisfaction. The albopilosus is just the oddball. Anyways, just a few days ago I noticed a bit of mold popping up around the hides. My guess is that I had hydrated the cocofiber a tad much. For the boehmei, hamorii and porteri, it's almost unnoticeable. With the albopilosus, seems mold went to town on that one. There's a carpet of fuzzy, white mold which is an eyesore.

Instead of panicking and asking questions that have been answered before, I spent some time researching the boards and read up on it. According to @boina, the resident microbiologist we have here, this type of mold would be considered harmless and can be ignored. My understanding is that as the sub dries off with time, the mold should eventually disappear. With winter's dryness on the horizon, I shouldn't have major issues regarding this.

Last, but not least, I decided to toss a couple of crickets in each enclosure to see how they'd react. No hesitation from any of my 4. All grabbed their prey. The porteri took a while to grab cricket #2, but that's a porteri for you, they do everything in slow motion Pictures of each enclosure incoming. Please standby.

Boehmei


Hamorii


Porteri


Albopilosus (See the mold ? Unsightly ! Ugh ! I hope the winter dry air kills it soon enough)


Anyways, that's the update so far. Will post again as changes and new behaviour develop. Cheers all !

 

[PoeciIotheria]

Ok, people, time for an update.

The Ts are more or less settled in. The boehmei and the hamorii seemed the most at ease in their revamped enclosure. The porteri and the albopilosus still hang on to the sides. I know the porteri will be a drama queen until th sub is dried up to her satisfaction. The albopilosus is just the oddball. Anyways, just a few days ago I noticed a bit of mold popping up around the hides. My guess is that I had hydrated the cocofiber a tad much. For the boehmei, hamorii and porteri, it's almost unnoticeable. With the albopilosus, seems mold went to town on that one. There's a carpet of fuzzy, white mold which is an eyesore.

Instead of panicking and asking questions that have been answered before, I spent some time researching the boards and read up on it. According to @boina, the resident microbiologist we have here, this type of mold would be considered harmless and can be ignored. My understanding is that as the sub dries off with time, the mold should eventually disappear. With winter's dryness on the horizon, I shouldn't have major issues regarding this.

Last, but not least, I decided to toss a couple of crickets in each enclosure to see how they'd react. No hesitation from any of my 4. All grabbed their prey. The porteri took a while to grab cricket #2, but that's a porteri for you, they do everything in slow motion Pictures of each enclosure incoming. Please standby.

Boehmei
View attachment 367435

Hamorii
View attachment 367436

Porteri
View attachment 367437

Albopilosus (See the mold ? Unsightly ! Ugh ! I hope the winter dry air kills it soon enough)
View attachment 367439

Anyways, that's the update so far. Will post again as changes and new behaviour develop. Cheers all !

Props to you for doing your research. IMO i'd suggest removing the mold even if winter/dryness is coming soon. Though the mold might be harmless, I prefer to err on the side of caution as to not risk anything. No need to change the substrate or anything, just spot cleaning should be suffice. Your T's are looking great though

 

[Matt Man]

Can you post some pix of the mold? Concerned it may just be a web mat

 

[LucN]

Can you post some pix of the mold? Concerned it may just be a web mat

I'm pretty sure it's no web mat. I've had slight mold issues in the past, pretty much always following a rehouse that I needed to use the cocofiber brick and wet it down at first.

Here's the corner from 2 angles and then the full enclosure. Most of the sub is peppered with mold.







How bad does it look ? I'm on the fence about taking my albo out and pull the most I can. Hopefully as the sub keeps drying, it should prevent further mold growth. What do you guys/gals say ?

 

[LucN]

Ok, after a couple of days of hesitation, I finally went ahead, got my albo out and tore out the mold to the best of my ability. Mixed up the top layer of the sub a bit, that should help. The white stuff you see in the middle is Sunday's feeding mat. Hopefully the mold won't pop up again. I'll keep an eye (or even two !) on it.

So, here's a few quick pics following my little cleanup.







It may not seem much, but I'm sure my albo will appreciate little to no mold on her sub.

 

[USNGunner]

Well, now my conscience is dark.

I'm pretty sure I killed my C. Leetzi. She had just fed but her cup was packed with dirt and moss so I went ahead with the rehouse I had planned. At first I didin't even see her. Then my wife spotted her. She was buried and super pale. I think I interrupted her molt. I haven't seen her since.

I'm keep the enclosure slightly damp and praying for the best. We'll see.

 

[bobbibink]

Could it be webbing and not mold? Just asking bc sometimes my big T’s web the ground which makes it look kind of like your photo.

Oooop. Nevermind— just read the rest of thread.