Hell lividum

ballpython2

Arachnoprince
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These T's are crazy. Today I just got a cobolt blue and since i know how they are I slowly gently hit the back of the vial he was in to get him to come out. Not only did it work he came out front legs raised and striking at me. I was like whoaa... lol....Never have I before this time seen a T come out the vial ready to fight lol..Like a pit bull with eight legs lol..

anyway....MY question is how do I house this female?....She is in a 29 gallon tank. the substrate isnt very high but I'm going to get some more tomorrow or maybe tonight from home depot and fill it up more than it is.. the substrate needs to moist but not damp correct?

any more information would be greatly appreciated...pictures coming soon.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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You are correct moist not damp. I like to keep a water dish close to where they chose to burrow as well. It might take her a while to actually start a burrow, but you can start one for her and sometimes they will take to it. Or like mine did she ignored my started burrow and went and made her own. My point is don't get overly concerned if she does not burrow right away, some do it over night some take some time.
Once she is in a burrow say bye bye, and start to learn to love your pet hole. The one I do have I have not seen her out in over 6 months, but she is still feeding and once in a while she will shut the burrow and then kick out a molt so she is alive. I do see the tips of her legs every now and then and that usually means feed me!
 

ballpython2

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You are correct moist not damp. I like to keep a water dish close to where they chose to burrow as well. It might take her a while to actually start a burrow, but you can start one for her and sometimes they will take to it. Or like mine did she ignored my started burrow and went and made her own. My point is don't get overly concerned if she does not burrow right away, some do it over night some take some time.
Once she is in a burrow say bye bye, and start to learn to love your pet hole. The one I do have I have not seen her out in over 6 months, but she is still feeding and once in a while she will shut the burrow and then kick out a molt so she is alive. I do see the tips of her legs every now and then and that usually means feed me!

Ok uhhh she is curled up in the corner...im assumin this is what livids do until they burrow...No?
 

LimaMikeSquared

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Mar 25, 2006
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I keep mine in an arboreal tank. They burrow really deep and I have the soil level up near the mesh vent. Mine has made a huge twisting burrow all the way down and then hollowed out the floor so you can't really figure out what is holding it all up. I keep the soil damp, but not wet. I sometimes overflow her water dish and sometimes spray her depending how it all looks. She has built the top of the burrow into a funnel and doesn't wonder about, so there is only a water dish on the surface and not much room.I feed her when she is waiting at the top. I have a H.schmidti I keep the same. They both like the warmth, particularly the cobalt so both are on heat.
 

LimaMikeSquared

Arachnobaron
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Yes thats what mine did to start with, she just sat about for a week. Then started her burrow. Just make sure she isn't cold because mine goes very inactive when too cold. Room temperature is not enough for her.
 

Varden

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If you start her burrow for her, try halving a clay pot and put it over the pre-started hole. The hide will reduce the stress until they decide to burrow.
 

ballpython2

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If you start her burrow for her, try halving a clay pot and put it over the pre-started hole. The hide will reduce the stress until they decide to burrow.
there is already a fake half of log in there that she has chosen to use so she is cool for now. however it was a great thought
 

JMoran1097

Arachnoangel
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May 14, 2007
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These T's are crazy. Today I just got a cobolt blue and since i know how they are I slowly gently hit the back of the vial he was in to get him to come out. Not only did it work he came out front legs raised and striking at me. I was like whoaa... lol....Never have I before this time seen a T come out the vial ready to fight lol..Like a pit bull with eight legs lol..

anyway....MY question is how do I house this female?....She is in a 29 gallon tank. the substrate isnt very high but I'm going to get some more tomorrow or maybe tonight from home depot and fill it up more than it is.. the substrate needs to moist but not damp correct?

any more information would be greatly appreciated...pictures coming soon.
29 gallons? wow. that seems a bit excessive, but this is a pet hole sp. so they prefer digging area below them vs. a lot of surface area on which to wander. moist, yes. i generally mist once every day or two. they are a tropical sp. which means they love high humidity. good luck with one hell of a spider. haplo's are my favorite genus simply because of their attitude and gorgeous patterns/colors.
 

tmanjim

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Did I see that right, 29 gal. whoa that is huge. I have my 6 in. female in a 5 gal KK and a piece of bark and she burrowed in the corner under it with mucho webbing. She is doing very well.
 

ballpython2

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Did I see that right, 29 gal. whoa that is huge. I have my 6 in. female in a 5 gal KK and a piece of bark and she burrowed in the corner under it with mucho webbing. She is doing very well.
yea this female i have is 4 - 5" inches and i dont have anything small enough that she'd feel comfortable in giving her enough room to properly dig and move around so this is the smallest thing i had loll..but thats ok though cause i'll just fill most of the tank with spaghnum peat poss like half of the tank vertically so it can dig away.
 

JMoran1097

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yea this female i have is 4 - 5" inches and i dont have anything small enough that she'd feel comfortable in giving her enough room to properly dig and move around so this is the smallest thing i had loll..but thats ok though cause i'll just fill most of the tank with spaghnum peat poss like half of the tank vertically so it can dig away.
unless you feel compelled to use the tank later, i'd post up a "For Sale" sign and get rid of the thing.

or


go to your local Wal-Mart or a store like Wal-Mart and get something like this...

http://rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/product/product.jhtml?prodId=HPProd100058

http://rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid/product/product.jhtml?prodId=HPProd160001

like i said, they don't need a wide surface area because vertical space for digging is more important.

they are very inexpensive so i would invest in one or a few.
 

Snake_Eyes

Arachnoknight
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Jul 22, 2004
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I keep mine in a 1 gallon (10" tall) plastic jar with about 8.5" of peat for burrowing.
 

Rain_Flower

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Jul 15, 2007
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Ok uhhh she is curled up in the corner...im assumin this is what livids do until they burrow...No?
I have a cobalt too, and she hasn't burrowed yet either, and yes she is curled in a corner too. And, she just molted. So you're T is fine :D Your cage is a bit big though.
 

MizM

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I keep all of my haps in tall plastic jars with about 1' of soil. They've all burrowed except one who absolutely refuses. I also had a lividum once that didn't burrow for one YEAR! So, don't fret.

I can't find the thread, but Martin Huber and Volker von Wirth posted photographs of their enclosures. Since they are THE supreme experts ( :worship: ) on the subject, I modeled mine after theirs, using holes at the bottom as well as the top. Can anybody find that thread??:eek:
 

JMoran1097

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a lot of people tend to get freaked out by cobalts not burrowing immediately. every T is different and depending on the conditions of the enclosure, the T may not burrow for several weeks. my cobalt just reached about 2.5-3" and has clung to the walls of her enclosure for a week without burrowing yet. it just takes time.
 

xBurntBytheSunx

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my lividium was fine at room temp. his legs were always sticking out of the burrow and i saw him every night when i came home from work. i really miss the little guy :(

i'm sure you're T will enjoy a 29 gallon tank, but like its been mentioned thats fairly excessive in size. i would save it for a T. blondi or some other gigantic tarantula ;)
 

baboon man8

Arachnopeon
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Aug 13, 2007
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for my cobalt, i use a plastic cup for shelter and i put soil inside. the bottom of the cup is cut so it can dig in the soil. i got about 3'' soil deep. the front of the cup is covered with web that she made, and for some reason she likes the cup more then the tunnels she made
 
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cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
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Jan 5, 2005
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I keep mine in a 1 gallon (10" tall) plastic jar with about 8.5" of peat for burrowing.
I keep all of my haps in tall plastic jars with about 1' of soil. They've all burrowed except one who absolutely refuses. I also had a lividum once that didn't burrow for one YEAR! So, don't fret.

I can't find the thread, but Martin Huber and Volker von Wirth posted photographs of their enclosures. Since they are THE supreme experts ( :worship: ) on the subject, I modeled mine after theirs, using holes at the bottom as well as the top. Can anybody find that thread??:eek:
basically what i do, too

it has the advantage of almost guaranteeing the spider makes it's burrow against the "glass".

just... keep in mind that the substrate that is 6" from the top before the spider burrows is going to be up close to the top of the container after the spider displaces it
 

bushbuster

Arachnobaron
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Nov 11, 2006
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You are correct moist not damp. I like to keep a water dish close to where they chose to burrow as well. It might take her a while to actually start a burrow, but you can start one for her and sometimes they will take to it. Or like mine did she ignored my started burrow and went and made her own. My point is don't get overly concerned if she does not burrow right away, some do it over night some take some time.
Once she is in a burrow say bye bye, and start to learn to love your pet hole. The one I do have I have not seen her out in over 6 months, but she is still feeding and once in a while she will shut the burrow and then kick out a molt so she is alive. I do see the tips of her legs every now and then and that usually means feed me!
I kinda messed up, on a recent tank change for this L para I'm trying to sex. I used a whole cube of eco earth <650 g>, with a gallon of water, for a 5.5 gal tank. I Put in a layer about an inch deep of small gravel, then a few inches of the eco earth, then added a decorative small branch, and a nice flat rock, then I kind of landscaped the whole thing with the rest of the eco earth to semi bury the flat rock and anchor the branch. I also get these these fake lichen bushes u can but at the hobby shop for train sets, but haven't added them yet. This done, I have about 6" of substrate with a candleholder/water dish from Wally World made out of thick glass about 3" in diameter and and 1" deep shoved down into the substrate so its almost level with the top of the substrate. I had to order in a hood for the tank, and when it came I drilled several rows of vent holes along its length. I started a burrow under the rock, <which was ignored later after I added the spider, lol> Now after about 3 weeks, the branch has mold on it, so I evidently made the substrate too moist. Larry has made a depression, not really a burrow by the main stem of the branch, but seems to like sitting out on the flat rock a lot. When he was still in his KK he lived totally underground..I guess to keep from being eaten by an imaginary attacker of some sort, lol. Me, being somewhat OCD, set his tank up about identical to Rozillys tank, my M robustum, to achieve exactness in my living room, lol. The same thing happened to her tanks branch, so the mold will die in time, as the tank dries out more. She did the same thing he is doing, ignored the burrow I started for her under the rock dammit, lol...but eventually, to my delight found the rock and made her burrow right next to the back glass under the rock, so I can see her in her burrow she never comes out of, and I lean a piece of black cardboard on the glass to give her security, which can be moved for viewing. So, I guess the moral of this long aZZ post is... You can lead a spider to a burrow, but ya can't make him dig.
 
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