how would i know if cobalt blue is alive under coco peat?

[GioCobaltBlue]

i dont know if my tarantula is still alive or what...
it hides itself under the peat.. i have never seen it come out..

 

[StonerTKeeper]

You don't, just keep it's conditions good enough that you're pretty sure it's not gonna die. You can go to digging it up, I wouldn't suggest it, though.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

When you feed it, do the feeders disappear? If the feeders are disappearing, your lividum is fine.

 

[macbaffo]

it hides itself under the peat...

that's what a burrower do basically...

Did you check in the evening if it's near the entrance?
If you will house it make sure its hole is made near one side of the terrarium: so at least you are able to see inside the burrow a little more.
How big is the terrarium? Maybe you can lift it and look under it and check its tunnel (if it's not too webbed).
If you are using crickets don't leave them for more than one just in case it's in premolt.
Anyway just keep the correct humidity and temp and it will be ok.
A T hungry always gets out of the burrow/web/hole/bark or at least peeks out for a prey.

 

[spiderengineer]

welcome to the wonderful world of owning haplopelma. basically the rule of thumb is if you dont see it your doing it right. that being said when you say its under the peat moss is it a burrow/tunnel or are you saying the burrow collapse and you have not seen it come out. if the answer is the former then yeah you wont see it unless at night and even then it will just have its feet or maybe half its body is sticking out. as far as checking if its alive you could do what others suggested throw a cricket down the hole and see if it comes out. sometimes if it the cricket comes back it doesn't necessary mean your cobalt is dead could be getting ready to molt, but if it is down there alive i will tell you right now if the cricket comes back out then it will high tell it out like it was running from its life.

you could dig it up if you are truly concerned, but i would strongly suggest you do not. I am assuming its an older cobalt and not a sling and if I am right and the age of you cobalt this will cause lot of problem trying to dig it out, however its your T so ultimately its your call on what to. i know the compulsion to worry about your T is high especially since you can't see it at all, but i own a lot of Haplopelmas and i only seem most of them at night and some I only know they are alive because food never come back up and when they are ready molt they close there entrance with webbing, but they are beautify T's none the less and worth dirt that you see more then the T .

This is one of my H.hainanum this is what to expect at best when seeing any haplopelma.

 

[coldvaper]

I know mine has sealed its self off since I rehoused it, it has no opening into its burrow, so now its just a waiting game to see if it will come out again. I figure I will wait a month or two and then dig it out. It's already been in there for a month if not more. Damn waiting game.

 

[PrettyHate]

I knew mine was no longer alive when I could smell her Sad, but true. A decent stink (depending on the size of a T) is the sure way to tell it is no longer alive.

 

[macbaffo]

I knew mine was no longer alive when I could smell her Sad, but true. A decent stink (depending on the size of a T) is the sure way to tell it is no longer alive.

Sorry about that :-(
Did you understand the cause of death?

 

[PrettyHate]

Sorry about that :-(
Did you understand the cause of death?

She had a really poor molt and lost 3 legs...I had her in ICU for a while and she seemed to be making a full recovery- she made herself a nice burrow, and was once again angry with the world. She shut herself in shortly after, and a couple weeks later the mystery stink began to invade my room...

 

[macbaffo]

That sucks
How old was it?

 

[macj1983]

I lost mine like this too idk if I'll ever get another one

 

[Alltheworld601]

I am no expert on these but, it goes without saying that they call them "pet holes" for a reason