How do you care for Pet Holes?

[Gods Spartan]

I picked up a Sahydroraneous raja.(1 inch) In the first enclosure I kept her in she formed a hide around herself out if moss, but she was always visible. I moved her into an enclosure that was slightly bigger, kept the moss in there and gave her a hide. She doesn't use the hide, but she has dug herself a hole and appears to have closed it off. I can still see her and she is very much alive.

rajas seem to like moisture and humidity. I do not overdo it. After a misting I let it dry out. The question is, how do you care for Pet holes like this? Do you offer prey items or no? Last cricket I put in there was in there for days. It finally disappeared... assuming it dug or met it's fate either by fang or starvation...(could not find a carcass)

Anyway....any tips?

 

[ledzeppelin]

I just grab a roach or whatever you have with tweezers by its leg and hold it at the beginning of the burrow.. The roach will try to escape, alerting the T with its movement. If the T is hungry, it will come to the surface.. When I see legs approaching I let go of the roach.. One inch on the other hand is rather small.. I would just prekill prey and leave it on the reachable and visible position in the burrow.. If it remains there 24 hours later I would remove it. Most slings will eat prekilled prey so no worries there. If it's hungry, it will eat it. If its not, you take it out

 

[Gods Spartan]

Thanks for the tip... honestly I can't find the entrance of the borrow, but I will place a pre killed cricket there today and report back on my findings. Thanks for this tip! Never thought to do this.

 

[ledzeppelin]

It may also be in premolt and sealed off the entrance.. They sometimes do that in order to keep intruders out

 

[Rittdk01]

Just got three h. Gigas slings...Curly, moe and Larry 2/3 ate crickets and then burrowed to bottom of their condiment container. Larry burrowed without eating. Curly is the only one I can see now, since he burrowed right to the side.m He molted last night so it looks like two in his burrow. Inch can eat small crickets that r alive. I would just toss one in and see if your spider is hungry. Mine are smaller than an inch and moe and curly easily took down their prey.

 

[ledzeppelin]

I would just toss one in and see if your spider is hungry. Mine are smaller than an inch and moe and curly easily took down their prey.

I would refrain from tossing in live pray, if there's a suspicion of premolt. Crix, mealworm beatles and some roach species can kill the molting T.

 

[Najakeeper]

If the enterance is open, I put the roach in. If it is closed,I let the spider be. She will come up when she is hungry.

I broke this self created rule the other day though as my Cyriopagopus lividum sling was gone for two solid months with a closed enterance not touching any food.So I opened it up and peeked inside to see a hungry spider looking back at me, certainly larger than before. So essentially I should have waited until she came out but she still devoured the roach I offered.

 

[Rittdk01]

I would refrain from tossing in live pray, if there's a suspicion of premolt. Crix, mealworm beatles and some roach species can kill the molting T.

This is a burrowing tarantula, so it's only gonna surface if hungry. M

 

[ledzeppelin]

I broke this self created rule the other day though as my Cyriopagopus lividum sling was gone for two solid months with a closed enterance not touching any food.So I opened it up and peeked inside to see a hungry spider looking back at me, certainly larger than before. So essentially I should have waited until she came out but she still devoured the roach I offered.

Hehe sometimes our worries get the best of us

 

[ledzeppelin]

This is a burrowing tarantula, so it's only gonna surface if hungry. M

Not necessarily 100% acurate, but doesn't matter. My point was that tossing live pray down the burrow if there's a suspicion of a premolt is not a good idea. Firstly the prey will burrow deeper and be potentially harmful to the molting T, and secondly, if you decided to dig up the said prey, you would have to dig up the whole burrow and disturb the already stressed T in premolt.

 

[Rittdk01]

Not necessarily 100% acurate, but doesn't matter. My point was that tossing live pray down the burrow if there's a suspicion of a premolt is not a good idea. Firstly the prey will burrow deeper and be potentially harmful to the molting T, and secondly, if you decided to dig up the said prey, you would have to dig up the whole burrow and disturb the already stressed T in premolt.

I was referring specifically to the op, whose t "closed off" the entrance to the burrow. Just toss a cricket and wait a bit to see if the burrowed comes out to eat. however, I always check at night to make sure the crickets have been eaten. If not, my stirmi gets a snack.

 

[Andrea82]

I crush a mealworms head and put it at the entrance of my E.murinus' burrow. If not eaten bij next day, I remove it. Sometimes I find the worm next to the waterdish. It appears that it is a very tidy spider who puts the trash out.

 

[ledzeppelin]

I crush a mealworms head and put it at the entrance of my E.murinus' burrow. If not eaten bij next day, I remove it. Sometimes I find the worm next to the waterdish. It appears that it is a very tidy spider who puts the trash out.

or you're a sloppy killer

 

[Gods Spartan]

I think I will use the dead cricket approach. I cannot see the burrow entrance either due to the moss in the way or it being closed off. If the cricket disappears I will know what's up.

 

[Jeff23]

When a T seals off the entrance I will put in pre-kill only. If the pre-kill is still there after 24 hours I remove it. If this occurs a couple time I reduce how often I attempt to feed it but continue to insure water is correct.

I never drop T's into the burrow hole.

EDIT* Meant "I never drop prey into the burrow hole."

 

[cold blood]

Don't mist, this will only temporarily dampen the surface...its the sub-surface that needs to be dampened. I pour water in at the sides, this allows me to see how deep the water is penetrating. Deeper penetrating moisture not only makes for a better burrow situation, but it allows the moisture to remain a lot longer. Its far less important for the surface to be moist, the doesn't spend much time there.

As for feeding a t with a sealed off burrow....I wouldn't, its a waste of time generally, but if you wanna throw a cricket in, its not going to penetrate the sealed burrow, so ultimately the sealed off t is safe...which is why they seal off their burrows.

 

[Andrea82]

@Jeff23 you never drop Ts down the burrow hole? that's good, I think they can get down their burrows by themselves
Sorry, funny typo, couldn't resist...

 

[Andrea82]

or you're a sloppy killer

I'm a lousy killer. It took me a month to crush the mealworms head without severing it, which included a lot of sticky goo, blegh. I still can't crush a super's head, damn things wriggle too fast.

 

[Jeff23]

@Jeff23 you never drop Ts down the burrow hole? that's good, I think they can get down their burrows by themselves
Sorry, funny typo, couldn't resist...

Oops! I think the brain was using the wrong quadrant at some point there. I meant prey of course but hold on a sec.... there might some animal rights activists at my door. I gotta go.

 

[Gods Spartan]

I just grab a roach or whatever you have with tweezers by its leg and hold it at the beginning of the burrow.. The roach will try to escape, alerting the T with its movement. If the T is hungry, it will come to the surface.. When I see legs approaching I let go of the roach.. One inch on the other hand is rather small.. I would just prekill prey and leave it on the reachable and visible position in the burrow.. If it remains there 24 hours later I would remove it. Most slings will eat prekilled prey so no worries there. If it's hungry, it will eat it. If its not, you take it out

Just wanted to give a heads up. I crushed a cricket's head and left it near a suspect opening... couldn't tell because it was tiny. Came home and all that was left was a leg. Thanks for the advice!