Gravid(?) Tarantula Enclosure Questions

SkittleBunny

Arachnosquire
Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Messages
96
Some of you might be familiar with my tarantula "Mitzy" that i paired with "Stiffler" (Nicaraguan Curlies) once in October and once in November. I keep some of my adult T's (6"or less) in 12.7L Sterilite latching bins, and they've been great little enclosures for my T's that don't prefer burrowing but like their hides. For a long time Mitzy didn't have a hide, and I recently cut a big plastic coffee can in half and washed it, froze it, thawed it and placed a half in Mitzy's place and half in Stifflers. Stiffler doesn't go in his often but chills on top of it and Mitzy lives in hers..

With these bins I'm able to put 3" of packed substrate, (I use Eco Earth) and I flooded the substrate once after adding the hide in Mitzys place, and since then she's been a little bulldozer!!

She stuffed her water dish full, and buried it promptly.. (About 4 days ago) and I wasnt sure if I should put more water in it..regarding the risk that she may lay her eggs in the dish. Should I?

She also dug all the dirt out of the hide, all of it. I have egg crates between my 3 bin stacks so airflow reaches the lid vents, and thats what you can see through the plastic in the photo. I'm not sure if shes nesting or just loving the hide... But I need to know if I should move her into a taller bin with more dirt while she's gravid? Or is she planning on making a nest out of this? I could add more dirt in her current enclosure also if that helps.. Its my first time pairing T's and taking care of a (hopefully) gravid T . ive been feeding her heavily the past month and shes stopped eating completely now as of this week. What should I expect? 20180318_143512.jpg
 

Danalemp1216

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Messages
57
My rose hair rarely used her hide until I bred her, then she totally sealed herself inside. I don't know what your T is doing, but if she's dug to bare glass, my suspicion is she's working on a burrow. I would consider adding more substrate. You may also want to consider a narrower hide. Tarantula burrows are seldom wider than the spider.
 
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