Funny or Cute Things Your Tarantula Does

[Troyantula]

Thank you very much, I appreciate all your inout but can't help feeling like I've hijacked your thread... I'm sorry...

 

[The Grym Reaper]

My B. hamorii likes to pretend that she's a P. cancerides.

My B. hamorii is still defective.

• The Grym Reaper
• Jul 23, 2017
• 8
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi hamorii mexican redknee tarantula threat threat pose threat posture

She still thinks she's a P. cancerides.

My G. pulchripes actually using her water dish for its intended purpose for once (instead of flipping it, pooing in it, filling it with substrate or completely burying it).
View media item 43427
I did catch my P. cambridgei throwing/flicking balls of substrate into its water dish once, that was kinda funny to watch.

 

[Troyantula]

Oh that threat pose is awesome! The more I see the more hooked I am on keeping T's, lol...

 

[miss moxie]

@Troyantula

Your tarantula looks very healthy, but there are a few things you should do to keep them that way. The light bulb in there is a bad idea. If they somehow get up there and touch it they can burn themselves very badly. It could also dry their exoskeleton out when they try to molt. G. porteri in general need dry substrate, but around the time they molt it doesn't hurt to dampen down a corner of their substrate to assist with keeping the exo pliable long enough for them to squeeze out of it.

You also should add a little more substrate to your enclosure as tarantulas are very susceptible to ruptured abdomens when they fall. The general rule of thumb for a terrestrial (ground-dwelling) is 1.5x their size. So if your tarantula is 4 inches, they should have a space of no more than 6" from the top of the enclosure to the substrate.

I'm not familiar with the substrate you're using, but it looks kind of like mulch which can puncture their soft abdomens. Have you seen Eco Earth for sale in pet stores? It's made of coco fiber and is better suited for tarantula substrate.

See how I keep my female G. porteri?

This is just an example, but you can have fun making that enclosure a little safer and adding some fake plants to give it some color.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Her enclosure is as it came, I can find or build whatever she needs, I just have to know the ideal habitat for her... from what you said I'm guessing she's at risk of harming herself in a fall... View attachment 249622

Yeah, the lid is not ideal, I'd do away with the light as your tarantula can burn itself on it, I'd also get rid of the dials stuck on the sides as they're about as useful as trying to drown a white walker (excuse the GoT reference lol).

If you want to do away with the lid entirely and you're not too shabby on the old DIY then you could modify the tank to facilitate an acrylic lid, I've done this for 2 old 6.5 gallon aquariums I had lying about that had no lids, cost me around £25 to convert each tank, sorry if it's not explained well as this was a while ago and I didn't document the entire process.

Attach 4 x 1cm thick square acrylic rods to the sides using aquarium silicone, your lid will sit on these.



Measure a sheet of acrylic to fit as a lid (3-5mm thick will do), drill plenty of ventilation holes into it (it's pretty easy to drill, just go high rpm with very little pressure, let the bit do the work), attach some handles and secure with neodymium magnets, 10 pairs with 1lb pull is probably the minimum you want to go with, 1 in each corner, 1 in the middle of each short side and 2 near the middle of each long side, just superglue them into place (I glued them to the rods, placed the corresponding lid magnet on top, put a drip of glue on top of those magnets and then pressed the lid into place so they matched up perfectly).



Finished product (before decoration) looks like this.



As already mentioned, you want more substrate to prevent injury/death from falling, the gap beween the top of the substrate and the top of the enclosure should be no more than 1.5 times the tarantula's diagonal leg span (e.g. a 6 inch gap for a 4 inch T), I'm not sure what substrate you have in there already but eco earth is ideal for this species, keep it bone dry as this species detests moisture (all they need is a water dish to drink from if they feel like it).

 

[darkness975]

Her enclosure is as it came, I can find or build whatever she needs, I just have to know the ideal habitat for her... from what you said I'm guessing she's at risk of harming herself in a fall... View attachment 249622

Hello,

You need to acquire a new home for your spider. I would suggest you get a large Critter keeper or similar type enclosure. There should be no more than 1.5 times the diagonal leg span of the spider distance from the substrate to the lid. Additionally, lighted lids and Screen Lids are both hazards to them, you should use either the lid that comes with a critter keeper or use a pexi glass lid with air holes drilled into it.

They do not require additional lighting or heating, as long as the room temperature is normal then it will be fine. If you live in the Arctic and leave the windows open then you might want to invest in moving it to a different room, but otherwise anywhere from the 60s into the 80s is average for most houses and is suitable for the spider.

The substrate should be Eco Earth or topsoil with no additives to it.

Feed it once every week or every other week, they have one of the lowest food requirements of any species of tarantula.

Make sure that it always has fresh water available. No sponges or anything weird like that, just a simple water dish with regular plain unchlorinated water. I use 2 ounce souffle cups that are easily disposable when they become nasty. You can get a pack of 500 of them for about $3 at Walmart. I stick one inside of another one in the substrate so that when I need to change it, I just pull the top one out and the bottom one stays in to maintain shape in the soil. See my attached image of my arid terrestrial species setups. I have them all set up the same way.

G. porteri

• darkness975
• Oct 10, 2016
• 3

B. hamorii

• darkness975
• Oct 10, 2016
• 4

Irene 1

• darkness975
• Apr 27, 2017

G. porteri

• darkness975
• Apr 16, 2016

Simple set up for G porteri (and other species with similar care requirements) for people that...

 

[Venom1080]

Where the heck did this thread go? Please just make a new thread if you have questions!!

 

[Paul1126]

My Emilia dug a tiny hole that isn't big enough to offer any sort of protection agaisnt predators and isn't very deep and just sits in it, usually climbs into it as I go to bed.

 

[Ellenantula]

I don't remember much anymore about my fish aquariums -- but I also wondered if current lid could be an escape risk. Seems mine had punch-outs for adding things. At very least, I'd add a dead/non-working lightbulb/tube until replaced.

[edited to stupidly add: or just turn off the light. It's been some crazy day here. lol]

 

[Troyantula]

Again, I apologize for hijacking the thread and would like to express the sincerest "Thank You!" to all who have offered up tips and advice, I've already set a plan in motion to initiate changes in the enclosure asap... as I said earlier, it is as I received it a few days ago... I have already purchased the suggested eco-earth to replace whatever is currently in there, I'll be replacing the lighted aquarium lid with plexi within a day or two and I'll try figure out how to start a new thread for continued technical support, it's most likely quite obvious by now that I'm gonna need it, lol...

Again, I thank you all for guidance, as well as your paitience

 

[miss moxie]

Again, I apologize for hijacking the thread and would like to express the sincerest "Thank You!" to all who have offered up tips and advice, I've already set a plan in motion to initiate changes in the enclosure asap... as I said earlier, it is as I received it a few days ago... I have already purchased the suggested eco-earth to replace whatever is currently in there, I'll be replacing the lighted aquarium lid with plexi within a day or two and I'll try figure out how to start a new thread for continued technical support, it's most likely quite obvious by now that I'm gonna need it, lol...

Again, I thank you all for guidance, as well as your paitience

It's no problem at all, we're always happy to see people interested in learning and improving.

 

[miss moxie]

As for funny or cute things as per the thread topic...

 

[Ungoliant]

I have posted this story (and the accompanying flowchart) a few times before, but for those of you who have not yet heard of her exploits:

Last year, I discovered a funny game to play with Bulldozer, my juvenile Grammostola pulchra. I slipped a Mylar ribbon through the vent holes in her cage. As soon as she sensed something was moving in her cage, she reached up, grabbed the ribbon, and yanked it all the way in. She held onto the ribbon as I lifted her all the way into the air and still would not let go. I couldn't stop laughing.

I then tried to distract Dozer with a cricket, but she just grabbed the cricket while still holding onto the ribbon. At this point, I said she had won and decided to wait until she lost interest in the ribbon.

Twenty minutes later, Dozer was still holding onto the ribbon while eating the cricket. I decided to intervene when I heard her crinkling the ribbon as if trying to stuff it into her mouth. The only way I was able to remove the ribbon from her cage was by introducing a second cricket and coaxing her away from the ribbon by brushing the substrate with a strip of paper.

Update: While Dozer still grabs onto everything, she is no longer so possessive that she will let you lift her into the air. (She lets go now if you pull too hard.)

She has also lost interest in Mylar ribbons.

 

[Ungoliant]

Skyler, my female Avicularia avicularia, likes to sit on her "porch." Whenever she comes out, she adjusts each of her twinkle toes until it is in the perfect position. This takes about 5-15 seconds and is extremely cute.

Avicularia avicularia (Skyler)

• Ungoliant
• Jan 1, 2017
• avicularia avicularia avicularia female juvenile female pinktoe tarantula skyler

Avicularia avicularia: sub-adult female

 

[spotropaicsav]

I like when they stand on their spider tip toes

 

[boina]

Roseanne, my G. rosea, the most cliché and boring of my Ts is a big mover and shaker. She moves and shakes her substrate all the time. I have not been able to discover the big plan behind all the moving and shaking but that just goes to tell that I'm no more than a stupid human. There's definitely a purpose to the moving hills in her enclosure. She's not all that much into excavation, though, land- and mountainscape designing is more her thing.

Grimoire, one of my pulchras, is very much fed up with the idea that she's supposed to be the 'black lab' of tarantulas. She does her best to demonstrate that she's a black wolf instead, practicing threat poses and substrate slapping any chance she gets. Paint brush biting and water drop chasing are other favorite games of hers.

Irminia, the, well... you know... is a diva, on the other hand. Always out and showing off her dress - moving her Nike clothed feet this way and that way to make sure I get the point - which is giving her a juicy roach for all the effort she puts into looking spectacular.

 

[carterxwr]

My adult male P. Vittata likes to race on the sides of his enclosure at top speed like it's a Nascar track when I disturb it. All it takes is me checking one of the other enclosures on the shelf and sure enough he starts off like he's chasing down the checkered flag.

 

[TRection]

After a feeding my A.Genic would walk over to the water dish with her bolus and throw it into the water as if to say "good riddance". Then she would dip her front legs into the water and clean herself like washing her hands. Shes been doing a lot of remodeling of her new tank lately though, so i woke up this morning to find that shes made a mountain in her tank.

 

[aphono]

For a while the baumgarteni sling liked to flip the water dish in exactly the same spot. It always stayed super clean, not a speck of substrate in or on it. Never saw it in the act(heck, I don't ever see it moving except at feeding time) so I don't know how it managed that. Upside down... now it is up.. nope not right now. Oh look it's properly back up, I need to fill it up later today.. *two hours later* Uh, no? guess you don't wanna water?

Commented about it on here.. and what do you know, two days later it piled substrate 'a mile high' right over the water dish.. nowhere else, just right over that thing. It never bothered the water bowl in any way since then. Pretty sure it got at me for public embarrassment.

 

[Ungoliant]

Shes been doing a lot of remodeling of her new tank lately though, so i woke up this morning to find that shes made a mountain in her tank.

My 2" Acanthoscurria geniculata has a wad of substrate and web (that looks a lot like the mountain yours made) that she tries to push into her hide. She gets it in there, and as soon as she lets go, it expands back out of her hide, and she has to start all over again. It is like watching one person try to move a mattress.