Grammostola aureostriata

[gvfarns]

they don't burrow? tell that to my 3 inch chaco who's dug a burrow under her hide all the way down to the bottom back corner. ;P

Yeah we've seen plenty of that (bad tarantula!). Though, 3 inches is still kind of a sling in my book.

By the way, I notice tarantulas getting a lot more into burrowing when my house is cold. If you don't want the burrowing, you might consider temperature as a possible factor.

 

[Miss Bianca]

why discourage a burrow?
Ts have different personalities burrowers or not...
why not just let them be.

Mine rips up her home and it always looks
like a bulldozer just went ove rit...

no matter what I ever tried...

I learned to accept her

 

[jr47]

My G. rosea has a burrow. All the way to the bottom and if it was deeper I am sure she may have gone deeper. The temp's are about 75 all winter. I have actually been thinking about building a cage for her sort of like the ant farms you can buy only larger of coarse just to see how far she would go with a burrow. Could be interesting.

 

[Albereth]

why discourage a burrow?
Ts have different personalities burrowers or not...
why not just let them be.

Mine rips up her home and it always looks
like a bulldozer just went ove rit...

no matter what I ever tried...

I learned to accept her

Yeah - the more I learn about these wonderful little beasts the more I agree that the behaviour seems to be an individual thing. Sure, the care sheets say you should expect a certain behaviour for the species, but don't be surprised when your T does something that isn't in the 'manual'.

 

[GoTerps]

When was that changed? I'm not seeing it here:
http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog/THERAPHOSIDAE.html

That's b/c the WSC was last updated 11/4/08. It will be reflected in version 10.0, as will all other changes from that point on.

Revisions have been coming every 6 months over the past few updates, so we may see 10 soon.

CLICK HERE. BTS members can download the paper for free from the BTS site.

Eric

 

[quiroga]

I have a female chaco who is now 4in dLS. I got her in september, she was only 1.5in DLS. She burrows before and I can see that if I remove or Not make her burrow, she gets stressed. But now, she doesnt anymore. It's natural for a T to do that when it is young.

 

[gvfarns]

why discourage a burrow?
Ts have different personalities burrowers or not...
why not just let them be.

Mine rips up her home and it always looks
like a bulldozer just went ove rit...

no matter what I ever tried...

I learned to accept her

Bah. You could let your kids stay up as late as they want too, but letting them do what comes naturally doesn't improve the quality of your life. In my view pet tarantulas are here for my viewing pleasure. And a burrowing tarantula hampers that pleasure.

 

[peachypaderna]

Bah. You could let your kids stay up as late as they want too, but letting them do what comes naturally doesn't improve the quality of your life. In my view pet tarantulas are here for my viewing pleasure. And a burrowing tarantula hampers that pleasure.

Your analogy, with all due respect, is deeply flawed. You cannot compare the treatment of a tarantula to that of a child without running into some very basic problems. To begin with, it isn't too hard to figure children out -- we've all squeaked past childhood, and have more or less a good idea about what it's like to be a kid.

You, however, can never claim to know what it's like to be a tarantula, unless you've undergone some massive, miraculous transformation that deserves extensive media coverage and the attention of the scientific community. You are in no position to admonish a tarantula for its behavior. Your pet isn't some errant kid that needs disciplining.

Let the critter do what it wants to do. As a tarantula keeper, you can only make, at best, some educated guesses about what your T really needs and requires to thrive in such an artificial environment. I hate to disappoint you, but tarantulas don't serve the same purpose that you'd already imagined for them.

You say they're only there for your viewing pleasure. Dear sir, if that were the case, a stuffed tarantula might be best suited for you. That way, you can manipulate it any which way you can without threatening its well-being. A live tarantula would be too unpredictable for you, and if you can't deal with that, I don't see any reason why you should.

Once again, with all due respect.

 

[thebugwife]

On the other end we had a chocao that wouldn't touch the substrate, I found it standing on its overturned water dish with 4 legs up on the wall so many times that I had to experiment with what it would stand on, didn't like paper towels, cork bark, vermiculite, peat or numerous other things I tried but seemed ok with lots of fake foliage matted down with web.

 

[Hilikus311]

Substrate Queary

okay well i want to allow my Sling to burrow as it is obvious to me (from its half dug burrow) that it wants to; my question is what is a good substrate for a sling. It already has some sand mixture in it and it is only about 1/2" deep. I would like to make it at least 2 1/2"-3" deep any suggestions?:?

 

[peachypaderna]

Cocopeat/Bed-a-Beast isn't too bad. Try not to keep it too damp, as it is prone to mold and mites when not maintained well. I use it for all of my T's enclosures.

 

[Hilikus311]

Cocopeat/Bed-a-Beast isn't too bad. Try not to keep it too damp, as it is prone to mold and mites when not maintained well. I use it for all of my T's enclosures.

That sounds good i'll do it tomorrow. i have to go and buy some peat moss thanks for your help

 

[thebugwife]

my question is what is a good substrate for a sling. It already has some sand mixture in it and it is only about 1/2" deep. I would like to make it at least 2 1/2"-3" deep any suggestions?:?

eco earth or equivalent should be great

 

[John Kanker]

That's b/c the WSC was last updated 11/4/08. It will be reflected in version 10.0, as will all other changes from that point on.

Revisions have been coming every 6 months over the past few updates, so we may see 10 soon.

CLICK HERE. BTS members can download the paper for free from the BTS site.

Eric

Hi

I don't quite understand that paper as there are a couple of points in it that don't make much sense to me.
For example on page 4 it says how the synonymy of G. pulchripes with G. grossa appears to have been based on “pet trade” material and the specimen of G. pulchripes was not compared with the type specimen of G. pulchripes, making the synonymy quite dubious, but earlier on in the paper on page 3, it says the specimens of G. aureostriata used in this paper are from the author’s personal collection! At no time does it say that the author even looked at the holotype of G. aureostriata so how does he know his personal collection is the same as what Schmidt & Bullmer discribed? Would or could this not make the synonymy seem dubious also? After all there are no comparative drawings or anything to even try and back up the claims so it is like, you just have to believe it just because the author says it is so. Surely if the author was not able to view the types for whatever reason it should have been put in the paper, but there is no mention of them. I'm not saying the author is wrong, I'm just pointing out that the paper seems a little poor in a few places, but maybe that’s just me.

Thanks
John

 

[peachypaderna]

That sounds good i'll do it tomorrow. i have to go and buy some peat moss thanks for your help

Oh, cocopeat and peat moss are different from each other. Cocopeat is made from coconut husks. I haven't had any experience with peat moss, though, so you might want to ask other folks here about that.

EDITED:
By the way, I realized that you guys in the U.S. refer to cocopeat as coco fibre or coir. I think two brands carry this in your region: Bed-A-Beast and Exoterra. They're supposedly found in pet stores, but you might want to be sure about this and ask the others.

Here in the Philippines, we just refer to it as cocopeat, and buy it at the local hardware store. The reason why it's there at the hardware store at all is because it's often used for gardening here. It comes in the form of pesticide-free, fully organic bricks of coconut fibre.

 

[MizM]

That's b/c the WSC was last updated 11/4/08. It will be reflected in version 10.0, as will all other changes from that point on.

Revisions have been coming every 6 months over the past few updates, so we may see 10 soon.

CLICK HERE. BTS members can download the paper for free from the BTS site.

Eric

Thanks Eric. Stuff is happening too fast... they need one person to do daily updates on the WSC!!

 

[Hilikus311]

Oh, cocopeat and peat moss are different from each other. Cocopeat is made from coconut husks. I haven't had any experience with peat moss, though, so you might want to ask other folks here about that.

EDITED:
By the way, I realized that you guys in the U.S. refer to cocopeat as coco fibre or coir. I think two brands carry this in your region: Bed-A-Beast and Exoterra. They're supposedly found in pet stores, but you might want to be sure about this and ask the others.

Here in the Philippines, we just refer to it as cocopeat, and buy it at the local hardware store. The reason why it's there at the hardware store at all is because it's often used for gardening here. It comes in the form of pesticide-free, fully organic bricks of coconut fibre.

Very interesting how you can just go to a hardware store and get it like that. At the hardware stores here pretty much everything is probably deadly in some form or other. As far as the coco fibre goes i have some so i'll just use that.

 

[gvfarns]

Your analogy, with all due respect, is deeply flawed. You cannot compare the treatment of a tarantula to that of a child without running into some very basic problems. To begin with, it isn't too hard to figure children out -- we've all squeaked past childhood, and have more or less a good idea about what it's like to be a kid.

You, however, can never claim to know what it's like to be a tarantula, unless you've undergone some massive, miraculous transformation that deserves extensive media coverage and the attention of the scientific community. You are in no position to admonish a tarantula for its behavior. Your pet isn't some errant kid that needs disciplining.

Let the critter do what it wants to do. As a tarantula keeper, you can only make, at best, some educated guesses about what your T really needs and requires to thrive in such an artificial environment. I hate to disappoint you, but tarantulas don't serve the same purpose that you'd already imagined for them.

You say they're only there for your viewing pleasure. Dear sir, if that were the case, a stuffed tarantula might be best suited for you. That way, you can manipulate it any which way you can without threatening its well-being. A live tarantula would be too unpredictable for you, and if you can't deal with that, I don't see any reason why you should.

Once again, with all due respect.

Lol.

Tarantulas are not exactly analogous to kids. That's true. I don't train them to not burrow. Here's a closer example: people declaw their cats for the benefit of the owner. It doesn't help the cat and it's definitely not natural. Actually declawing cats is much worse because it is mutilation and impairs lots of natural behaviors for the rest of their lives. I just put my slings in an environment that doesn't lend itself to burrowing. In both cases, we take actions that are not what our pets may prefer because it benefits us. Think people who declaw cats should get stuffed cats? How about people who castrate their horses, or any animal? All much worse than not giving T's a lot of dirt.

Also I would refer you to my earlier post in which I mentioned tarantula feelings. You seem a bit worked up about a spider not digging. I would remind you that it's not sitting around feeling sad. Another reason declawing cats is worse...they have much more advanced feelings.

Bottom line: Cry me a river, bleeding heart. I'll enjoy my T's and you can enjoy your dirt.

With all due respect, of course.

 

[Miss Bianca]

Bah. You could let your kids stay up as late as they want too, but letting them do what comes naturally doesn't improve the quality of your life. In my view pet tarantulas are here for my viewing pleasure. And a burrowing tarantula hampers that pleasure.

you can't compare your kids staying up late to a Tarantula wanting to dig a burrow. What kind of contribution was this comment?
If a tarantula wants to burrow it should be able to.
They are wild arachnids, not children that need to learn right and wrong and live w/ rules..... ???

If you don't like burrowing Tarantulas because you feel that Ts are for your viewing pleasure,
than there are plenty of Ts known for sitting around..

 

[peachypaderna]

Lol.

Also I would refer you to my earlier post in which I mentioned tarantula feelings. You seem a bit worked up about a spider not digging. I would remind you that it's not sitting around feeling sad. Another reason declawing cats is worse...they have much more advanced feelings.

Bottom line: Cry me a river, bleeding heart. I'll enjoy my T's and you can enjoy your dirt.

With all due respect, of course.

Ah, but if you'll re-read my post, I make no presumptions about what a tarantula might feel like. In fact, I abandon that vein of thought entirely, and have no desire to anthropomorphize tarantulas. I am only saying that it would perhaps be much better if we let the tarantula do what it wants to do, given (I repeat) such an artificial environment.

Well, but we can agree to disagree then! I have a 1.5-inch B. smithi who kicked up all the substrate from its hide to make a burrow, so I hardly see him/her anymore. I was baffled by this behavior at first, until I did some more research and found out that this species will create a burrow if the conditions permit it. I let him/her be, although I do admit that I miss seeing him/her sitting peacefully on the substrate.

Also: I have kept cats as pets nearly all my life, and I have never (and will never) entertain the idea of declawing them.

Although I cannot say that my views are aligned with yours, what you do with your tarantulas is your business alone. I will have my opinions on the matter, but by all means, do enjoy your pet as you see fit.

Peachy Paderna
Manila, Philippines