Housing dilemmas. What to do...

Should I attempt to change Monroes house/skull?


  • Total voters
    10

PJMonroe

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 27, 2017
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2
Hey all, I am new here. I have had my tarantula for just over a year, she is the second pet tarantula I have owned in my life. I am after some advice please.
Some back ground info- I am female, 31 and from Melbourne Australia. Monroe is my Phlogius Stents and she was small (few cm big) when I purchased her. I do not handle her.

She was housed in a Tupperware container for a few months as advised, until she was big enough to put in her terrarium. I left her to get settled in the terrarium, however she did not. she clung to the roof for a few days until I finally got up the nerve to get her off and put her back in her Tupperware container. She lived in there for a further few months until I trailed her again in her terrarium. Second time success. As you can see, she has a skull as her house which she is inside 99% of the time. I barely saw her and she would not eat for months. Her abdomen had slowly been getting smaller and smaller. She would maybe eat one cricket every few months, if that. I recently bought her king meal worms and have seen her eat at least 2. I'm unable to clean inside the skull because it does not open. I didn't think that through. Anyway, I saw her yesterday and she has plumped up more in her abdomen (picture below).
Ideally I want to remove her from the skull, and remove it from her terrarium. I want to replace it with something that I have more control in keeping an eye on her. I would have to delicately excavate her out of the skull. I have a large ornamental log to replace it with that I can move off her and clean in and around.
I am concerned with how I am going to removing her from the skull because she can be feisty. Additionally, I am worried she might go off her food for months again afterwards. However, now would be a good time to do it, considering she has eaten the king meal worms recently. I am torn because I have also read a spider not seen is a happy spider! Am I being selfish in wanting to see her more? or should I just leave her alone?

Whats your opinions please? :)
monroe 2.jpg
 

darkness975

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Tarantulas are reasonably clean animals. Excepting for an outbreak of mites or something along those lines, there should not be any reason why you would have to change the substrate or clean the hide. That being said, it wouldn't be a bad idea to swap out that hide for a half log or something more like that.

It is actually better to give them hides that don't end, in the case of those half log hides bury it halfway in the substrate at an angle so that they can dig into it and keep going down if they choose.

Tarantulas are Instinct driven. It might take a little bit of time to readjust if you change out her hide, but at the end of the day, if she is hungry she will eat. They don't have the brain capacity to dwell on past experiences the way a higher thinking animal would.

I say go ahead and swap out that hide for a half log or piece of cork bark @PJMonroe .
 

Chris LXXIX

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Dec 25, 2014
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First thing first, I'm jealous as hell because here where I live Australian Theraphosidae are rare like water in a rural Africa village :-/

I agree with what darkness975 said. I love to use cork bark 24/7 anyway, they are burrowers so I doubt a skull (or for that matter other item people loves to put inside like kinda skulls sort of) would harm the spider like would do with a chubby 'grammo' climbing and falling on it.

The important thing is inches of substrate, they love to dig, they need to dig... so, on that sense, they aren't (in general) good "display" spiders.
 

johnny quango

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First thing first, I'm jealous as hell because here where I live Australian Theraphosidae are rare like water in a rural Africa village :-/

I agree with what darkness975 said. I love to use cork bark 24/7 anyway, they are burrowers so I doubt a skull (or for that matter other item people loves to put inside like kinda skulls sort of) would harm the spider like would do with a chubby 'grammo' climbing and falling on it.

The important thing is inches of substrate, they love to dig, they need to dig... so, on that sense, they aren't (in general) good "display" spiders.
Hey Chris tss have got 2cm S crassipes I believe for a very reasonable £10
 

Chris LXXIX

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Hey Chris tss have got 2cm S crassipes I believe for a very reasonable £10
Yeah man :( but we can't, in stoopid Eye-taly, legally import Theraphosidae.

Not for 'brown boxing' kinda stuff (ah ah go figure) but due to the restrictions those dastards called Italian politicians put in 2003. Unfair!
 

johnny quango

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Yeah man :( but we can't, in stoopid Eye-taly, legally import Theraphosidae.

Not for 'brown boxing' kinda stuff (ah ah go figure) but due to the restrictions those dastards called Italian politicians put in 2003. Unfair!
Oh great you can't import a theraphosidae legally into italy, But you can have bunga bunga parties and have pornstars /prostitutes as your cabinet ministers while systematicly defrauding the good people who put you in power.

Just remind me again why I hate politicians
 

Chris LXXIX

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Oh great you can't import a theraphosidae legally into italy, But you can have bunga bunga parties and have pornstars /prostitutes as your cabinet ministers while systematicly defrauding the good people who put you in power.

Just remind me again why I hate politicians
Muahahahah, true but at least that era, Mr. Silvio Berlu$coni's one, was funny as hell... today we are at the fourth (fourth, lol) government no one voted for.

To a certain degree isn't a bad idea: we save the money needed for elections :)

Here when Berlu$coni pissed off the Queen, lol :angelic:

"Mr. Obamaaaaaaaaa, I'm Mr. Berlu$coni!" Epic :rofl:

 

Kris-wIth-a-K

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I promise she wont care if there is a skull or a sweey piece of wood. Spiders are neat freaks. If you want one can see all the time. I suggest a different sp. Like A genics. Youre not being selfish on wanting to ssee her. I hardly see some of mine and it "bugs" me lol. Just let her be. Feed her and enjoy.
 

johnny quango

Arachnoknight
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May 17, 2013
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@PJMonroe I voted to remove it even though I did the exact opposite with my Gbb and her skull (I'm 100% certain she mocks me aswell) I ended up leave mine because mango lived in it so I moved her and her skull into her new home, Now the little swine doesn't ever use it anymore and to make matters worse she's webbed it to everything else so if I remove it I risk wrecking her home so it stays. She's sat there now sticking 2 palps up at me laughing
 

johnny quango

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Muahahahah, true but at least that era, Mr. Silvio Berlu$coni's one, was funny as hell... today we are at the fourth (fourth, lol) government no one voted for.

To a certain degree isn't a bad idea: we save the money needed for elections :)

Here when Berlu$coni pissed off the Queen, lol :angelic:

"Mr. Obamaaaaaaaaa, I'm Mr. Berlu$coni!" Epic :rofl:

I actually quite liked berlusconi I get the impression he'd be fun to have a peroni or moretti with, it always made me wonder how he managed to become prime minister while owning what was then the biggest football team in the world with the greatest team I've ever seen
 

Chris LXXIX

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I actually quite liked berlusconi I get the impression he'd be fun to have a peroni or moretti with, it always made me wonder how he managed to become prime minister while owning what was then the biggest football team in the world with the greatest team I've ever seen
Oh, Birra Moretti! Garbage, basically, but a lovely garbage, IMO :kiss:

Yeah, on that sense Berlu$coni era was really, really funny, especially all of those not politically correct (for someone racists, even) jokes plus what he did :banghead: still, the last government Italians voted for.

Milan was incredible back then, on that sense that team was Epic, man. Epic :angelic:

Yes in Italy you can become Prime Minister no matter how much TV, radio, newspapers, banks etc you own, besides (since I'm fair enough and I know Italian politics) his political adversaries had/has (Milan aside) the same stuff, just disguised under/behind other persons :)
 

johnny quango

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Oh, Birra Moretti! Garbage, basically, but a lovely garbage, IMO :kiss:

Yeah, on that sense Berlu$coni era was really, really funny, especially all of those not politically correct (for someone racists, even) jokes plus what he did :banghead: still, the last government Italians voted for.

Milan was incredible back then, on that sense that team was Epic, man. Epic :angelic:

Yes in Italy you can become Prime Minister no matter how much TV, radio, newspapers, banks etc you own, besides (since I'm fair enough and I know Italian politics) his political adversary had/has, Milan aside, the same stuff, just disguised under/behind other persons :)
We have Prince Philip for our politically incorrect times, the man can be quite funny but also a little like a land mine.

I still follow the .rossoneri to this day and a 1 point every new season I would buy my Tottenham hotspur shirt and an Ac milan shirt infact I may start again next season
 

Sana

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Oct 26, 2014
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My initial response is to say that I would leave the skull. I've left some of my tarantulas have the strangest things that they decided to incorporate into their homes. I've got one at the moment who decided that the aluminum foil covering half of her lid for humidity purposes was actually meant to be an interior decoration. She has chewed bits off of the edges that I had tucked inside the lid to hold it in place and stuck them all over her burrow akin to a person hanging pictures.

I haven't yet had a tarantula that leaves crud in their hide. They do all kinds of annoying things with bits of leftovers (the water bowl being the most gross) but always outside the hide.

As was mentioned above, I would be more concerned about the amount of substrate versus height of the enclosure. I'm only making a guess from the picture so please forgive me if I'm incorrect, but it appears that there is quite a bit of distance between the sub and the top. The recommended distance is 1.5x DLS (diagonal leg span). I generally offer any terrestrial tarantula enough substrate so that they can burrow if they choose. I've noticed that most of my terrestrials (including those that don't generally burrow in captivity) will dig and periodically reside underground.
 

Chris LXXIX

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We have Prince Philip for our politically incorrect times, the man can be quite funny but also a little like a land mine.
lol, old man jokes especially when he visited Pupua New Guinea were priceless, ah ah :pompous: <-- Old Victorian Brit of once

I still follow the .rossoneri to this day and a 1 point every new season I would buy my Tottenham hotspur shirt and an Ac milan shirt infact I may start again next season
I don't know what to say man... now the team is Chinese owned, just like Inter (lol) so I think that, giving time to time, we would see those teams in China "league" one day :-s

Oh, Tottenham... last year I suppose you were mad at Ranieri "Dilly Ding Dilly Dong!" :kiss:

Ah ah jok :troll:
 

Venom1080

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id leave it. unless you want to change it out, in which case id switch to a open ended hide, allowing for a deep burrow beneath it.
how much sub is in that cage? there should be a gap no more than 1.5x the spiders leg span between the lid and sub.
 

Blue Jaye

Arachnobaron
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Sep 16, 2013
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339
Leave the skull. Reposition it eyes at an angle and down and add more sub. That way she can burrow and get that open ended feel. You don't want to position it eyes directly down because she could dig out too much from underneath it and it could crush her if it fell in. I make sure everything I put in a diggers/ burrowers enclosure meets the enclosure floor enough to keep it stable.
 

cold blood

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I promise she wont care if there is a skull or a sweey piece of wood. Spiders are neat freaks. If you want one can see all the time. I suggest a different sp. Like A genics. Youre not being selfish on wanting to ssee her. I hardly see some of mine and it "bugs" me lol. Just let her be. Feed her and enjoy.
Keep in mind that its very difficult (and not legal) to own non Australian species over there...they have exceedingly strict import laws to go with those export laws. Australian keeper keep Australian tarantulas.

I voted to remove the skull simply because its my opinion that a skull in a tarantula enclosure is the definition of cheesy.:happy:
 

PJMonroe

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 27, 2017
Messages
2
Thank you so much for all your input and opinions, you've all definitely given me food for thought.
I'm going to go buy more substrate today and I think i'll not bother upsetting her house and keep the skull for now, as cheesy as that is :p hahaha.
At the end of the day she probably won't like me gawking at her if I change her hide anyway, and probably up and redo her house somewhere else underground.
Thanks again everyone
Cheers,
P.J. and Monroe
 
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