Going to try strait vermiculite

[Henry Kane]

Originally posted by MrT
Atrax,
Did you take all the fly dirt and dump at Home Depots front door?

I'd have been down there kick'in their ass.

Ern

LOL! I should have, but by that point I didn't have the energy.
Bummer for them anyway 'cause I spent a fortune on dirt elsewhere.

Atrax

 

[Tranz]

Originally posted by Steve Nunn

And if your T's are burrowing, then you know you've got happy T's. I know it's not so pleasant to the eye to see just a burrow, but at least the spider's happy, right? 99% of all T's create burrows in the wild, you've just got your setup a lot closer to a wild habitat than they guy next door with a half inch of substrate and a flowerpot for cover, usually with an overly fat, bald T.

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly . . . T's gotta terrestrialize . . .

What about Jungle Mix? Seems like an easy, convenient choice.

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by Tranz
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly . . . T's gotta terrestrialize . . .

.

I like that. In nine words you got the point across!

Steve

 

[Al Muoio]

I use Jungle mix for my T's. I found they burrowed in it and loved it. My Avic is in a ten gal tank and it was hard keeping humidity up. When I misted (everyday) it would go up then later go back down. I mixed some verm into the Jungle mix and the humidity has stayed up.

 

[Gail]

Well, the two T's I switched HATED IT. They must have paced all night - around the sides of their enclosures - didn't want to touch the damn vermiculite. These are also two spiders that never refuse food - a large Chaco and my giant white knee. They didn't eat and a cage cleaning never put them off of food before. Also, the white knee was doing something odd - making a noise! I think it's called stridulation? It was a buzzing / hissing sound. She was so ticked off at the vermiculite (or me ) that each time she'd try to walk on it she'd retreat to the side of the enclosure buzzing the whole time. So this morning I relented and mixed up peat with their vermiculite and they both seem to be calming down now. That white knee sure did let me know how upset she was too! When I opened her lid she came right to the top edge, buzz buzz buzz - and started kicking hairs at me like a wild woman. Gave herself a few bald streaks! LOL - well, I've learned my lesson. They like stuff that's firm enough to wall on and dig in. I'm just going to have to try going a little dryer on the adults and maybe increase the porportion of vermiculite to 50/50 and see if that helps with the molding problems.
Oh, I am curious on the jungle mix stuff. I've read that you shouldn't use any sort of tree bark or chips from the pine family and I thought that stuff had fir bark in it? And didn't someone here get a bag of it that was contaminated with mites? And doesn't it grow a lot of magic mushrooms ? Just curious, since if I'm going to be forced by my stubborn spoiled pets (they like the more natural environment - what's up with that ) to provide them with a burrow capable substrate I might mix some of that in as well.

Gail

PS - Holley - I already started the pre-killed food thread =D

 

[AlbinoDragon829]

Atrax,
Wow, what a story. Almost sounds like a living nightmare.. Hell, probably was. I think I'll keep an eye out for those guys more closely in the future.