How long before a t is acclimated to it's enclosure ??

losct2381

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I was wondering I got and obt like a month ago and some other burrowing t'S. not too long ago and one of the other t's is good burrowing away. but the obt and one of the others are still climbing all around. I have done it all by the book well the tarantula keepers guide mix the substrate kept it moist left it alone waited a Week. And nothing still. Was wondering more or less how long usually does it take them to acclimate to their new enclosures.
 

Chris_Skeleton

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I was wondering I got and obt like a month ago and some other burrowing t'S. not too long ago and one of the other t's is good burrowing away. but the obt and one of the others are still climbing all around. I have done it all by the book well the tarantula keepers guide mix the substrate kept it moist left it alone waited a Week. And nothing still. Was wondering more or less how long usually does it take them to acclimate to their new enclosures.
OBTs aren't burrowers.
 

Chris_Skeleton

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I have a larger one that is burrowing ???? The other is a h. Lividum
Yeah they will burrow, but basically an OBT will do whatever the heck it wants. It is a master of disguise, one minute you think it's arboreal, the next it is burrowing. Lol.

Im pretty sure they are considered semi-arboreal. I don't have one yet, but everything I've read has indicated they do a lot. So yours just might not burrow. Just do a couple searches and you'll find some info. Good luck.
 

losct2381

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Thanks but more or less how long do think before they feel safe enough to go about burrowing and living a normal t's captive life ????
 

losct2381

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Again thanks for all the help. I'm a lil OCD with my t's. alway checking on the temps humidity water dish. I even keep feeding, molting, and behavior records lol
 

xhexdx

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I'd consider OBTs to be 'heavy webbers'.

Acclimation also depends on the spider, and whether or not it's happy with the enclosure. I've set up E. murinus in burrowing setups (approx. 14" tall, 4" wide, 8" deep) and they never burrowed. I moved them to ten-gallons with about 6" of substrate, and they burrow within a week.
 

curiousme

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I would say 1-2 weeks at most.
This is still a guesstimate, so don't worry if it takes longer. Since every T is different, so are their settling in periods, etc...

What Ts do you have besides the P. murinus and H. lividum? I ask because there is no reason to fret over humidity for those two species, so all you are doing is keeping the OCD busy. ;) We keep records on our Ts too, nothing OCD about that, just being a bit more involved in the hobby. :)

Currently all our P. murinus does is burrow, but as a smaller spiderling it did both burrowing and massive amounts of webbing.
 

Stan Schultz

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... I have done it all by the book well the tarantula keepers guide mix the substrate ...
The tarantula Keeper's Guide does not tell you to mix any substrates. In fact, it recommends the exact opposite (TKG3, page 142):

MIXING IT UP. Often, enthusiasts mix shredded coconut husks, peat and vermiculite (sometimes other substrates, as well) for a substrate in their tarantulas' cages. There is seldom any real advantage to this practice and the mixtures generally retain all the undesirable properties of all ingredients.

■ Such mixtures tend to be dark like pure peat and shredded coconut husks.

■ They tend to retain the fluffy and friable characteristics of vermiculite if it is used.

■ In a damp cage they retain the vermin supporting qualities of peat and shredded coconut husks.

■ Using such mixes requires investing in several types of substrate, requires additional storage and requires additional toil in mixing them.

The novice is advised to use only one or the other substrate, leaving mixing them for later experimentation or not at all. Simple is better.



... kept it moist left it alone waited a Week. ...
Edit: These notes are written for an OBT with a 2" (5 cm) leg span or greater. If yours is 1.5" (4 cm) or smaller you should care for it like any other baby tarantula. If it's in the "tween zone" (1.5" to 2" or 4 to 5 cm) you should gradually allow its cage to dry out from a damp baby's cage to an arid adult's cage over a period of 2 or 3 molts.

OBTs (aka, Usumbura baboon tarantula, Pterinochylus murinus) prefer a dry cage. Keep them as arid tarantulas, but make sure they have a water dish. Many individuals of this species prefer a semi-arboreal existence, others prefer to burrow. Most simply don't care. This variability of behavior is one of the things that make this species so interesting.

I can't remember the reference at the moment (one of Smith's books, perhaps?), but I remember reading that in nature this species usually digs a shallow burrow, then constructs a large web around its entrance, a lot like Venezuela's Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, the greenbottle blue tarantula.

Almost all OBTs are great web spinners. Some enthusiasts report that they have trouble filling the water dish because these spin so much silk over it. Merely get a 20 ml or larger hypodermic syringe from a drugstore or a hospital and attach a 6" to 8" (15 to 20 cm) length of tropical fish airline hose to it. (If you need to use a longer airline you may also need to get a larger syringe.) You can almost always punch a small hole through the OBT's web with the airline to get at the water dish. And, the tarantula is easily capable of cutting through its silk to get at the water when it wants to.

Contrary to all the Internet care sheets, this species, like almost all other tarantulas, hardly cares about temperature. Whatever you're comfortable at will suit them just fine. It's only an issue in that it deprives someone a sale for an otherwise useless thermometer and heater.

Likewise, these tarantulas are also pretty impervious to low humidity, all the Internet care sheets notwithstanding. However, if you should notice that it's spending an inordinate amount of time on its water dish or even soaking its abdomen in the water, it's telling you that matters have become too extreme even for it. In that case, merely cover the open parts of the cage with plastic food wrap and install a somewhat larger water dish. Whatever you do, never mist or spray with this species, regardless of how ardently others may tell you to. This species, like many other arid and semi arid species, doesn't appreciate dampness and really hates getting wet.

This species is fast, hysterically defensive, and possesses a "medically significant" bite. But each individual reacts differently to an intruder in their cage. I suggest you wear light leather gloves whenever the cage is open (90%+ bites are on the hands), and try not to make rapid or jerky movements when working in the cage. After you get to know your OBT you'll learn what to expect in its behavior. Even then, don't let your guard down. The last thing that you need to have to tell your house mate/spouse/parents is that a tarantula just got loose that can make you hurt badly enough to go to the hospital! The good news is that nobody in recorded history has ever died or even suffered lasting injury from a bite by one of these. You would still survive to brag to your grand-kids about your episode with Africa's little orange, screaming banshee!
 

losct2381

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Read the section on the obligated borrower. it'll tell u about mixing the substraoght being a must because other substrates are to lose and can collapse on the t killing it

---------- Post added at 01:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------

Burrower sorry misspelled it
 

Stan Schultz

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Read the section on the obligated borrower. it'll tell u about mixing the substraoght being a must because other substrates are to lose and can collapse on the t killing it

---------- Post added at 01:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:03 AM ----------

Burrower sorry misspelled it
Whoa! We're mixing apples and oranges here. I'm talking about OBTs. You don't mention anything else until several posts later, and I didn't catch that until you just mentioned it. Sorry.

But, for Haplopelma lividum, the cobalt blue tarantula, the king baboon tarantula (now called Pelinobius muticus instead of Citharischius crawshayi*), and other tarantulas that we wish to allow to burrow, we do recommend mixing in some top soil or garden soil to stabilize the burrow on page 144. But, here we have a specific goal or reason for doing so for tarantulas with specific needs instead of just doing it for random species because we feel the need to do something with our spiders, regardless of how pointless.

My bad. :8o

And, it would appear that we need to change the wording a little for TKG4 to clarify the apparent contradiction. Thanks for calling that to my attention. I would like to know your real name so I can give you proper credit for pointing this out in our Addenda and Errata Sheet for TKG3 at http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/errata3.html. (You might check this one out for lots of peripheral and added information and a few corrections to the book.) If you don't want to announce your name to the world on this forum you can merely E-mail it to me at schultz@ucalgary.ca.

* Gallon, R. C. 2010. On some Southern African Harpactirinae, with notes on the eumenophorines Pelinobius muticus Karsch, 1885 and Monocentropella Strand, 1907 (Araneae, Theraphosidae). Bull. Br. arachnol. Soc., 15 (2): 29-48.
 
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