ideas for research

[ArachnoJoost]

Hey all,
As I mentioned before I'm going to keep a T at school. As it is a studygroup maybe you have some ideas concerning some sort of research you could do with the T. Doesn't have to be groundbreaking research or someting. I couldn't really come up with something, maybe you guys know something?
greetz,
Joost

 

[Botar]

You could do a temperature gradient experiment (hot on one end cool on the other to determine where the T likes it most). Food selection experiment (different foods to see if the T has a favorite) Substrate depth experiment with a burrower to see how deep it will burrow if given different depths of substrate. Just a few ideas.

Botar

 

[JacenBeers]

You could get everybody in the class to piss it off really bad and see who is m ost affected by getting urticating hairs on their skin.

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Botar:
good ideas! thank you. Only experimenting with different food items will be hard, we also keep madagascar hissers at school, and they won't even let me take some home to breed for my t's...
(even though they breed fast)

JB:
Would be a great idea if the idea was to scare everybody away from spiders...;P . Good laugh though

 

[skinheaddave]

While we're talking gradients, light-dark works well. My mother actualy recently did this sort of thing with her class of young'uns and mealworms. The mealworms were allowed to construct experiments to try to learn about the children. The children were put on different substrates, given different temperatures and different food items and .... this is getting silly. Seriously, though, if you would like to email her re: suggestions, just email me and I'll pass it along.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[MrDeranged]

Originally posted by skinheaddave
The mealworms were allowed to construct experiments to try to learn about the children. The children were put on different substrates, given different temperatures and different food items and

Dave,

What kind of substrate did they use with the children? I've been using carpet, but they're constantly staining it and I've been looking for an alternative..... ;P

Scott

 

[Paul Day]

That took me a while... though I am not one for recognizing sarcasm...

hehe

Pauly

 

[ArachnoJoost]

SHD:
another good laugh!
seriously: It's not that I have to teach children about them, it's just for the teacher school (don't know quite how you say that, exact translation is Educative Faculty Amsterdam). AND it's not necessary that I do some research, just thought it would be fun and educational. One of the best (and the nicest) way to learn things is to DO them.
greetz,
Joost

 

[Henry Kane]

If you have an enclosure large enough to permit it, you could create a setup with several options for the T to make it's hide and see which it chooses.

Atrax

 

[chaset]

Cross Breading

Ive always wondered if cross breading T species was possible,
reaserch that

 

[Arachnopuppy]

After a couple years using carpet as substrate for his 2 toddlers, my brother decided that the stainings were getting unbearable for him. He decided to change to wood and solved the problem over all. It worked so well that he hadn't complained about any stain at all since. In fact, it worked so well that my dad decided to change my substrate from carpet to wood as well.

 

[skinheaddave]

Scott et al.,

There's always linoleum. The up side is that it is low maintenance. The bad sides are that it doesn't allow the kids to burrow and was second-to-last as far as the kids were concerned. Last was burning hot shards of glass.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[GQ.]

How about recording tarantulas growth rates on different food items. Have different slings for each food offered. A mealworm T, a cricket T, a beetle T. If I were to do it I would weigh the food items offered and plot them against the tarantulas weight. You would have to have a good scale though. Of course you would be talking about a small sample size, but the point would be to teach them the scientific process. Just a thought.

Gilbert

Oh and I also liked Botar's temp gradient idea. Maybe plot growth of tarantulas kept at different temperatures.

 

[Immortal_sin]

ROTFL!!!
I agree, carpet as a substrate really stinks...literally, especially with a giant glass of dairy product spilled all over it
I am hoping to make the switch to wood myself, even pine product is preferable over carpet....eeerrrr, what was this thread about anyway?!! :?

Oh, yeah, about keeping a T at school!
Lots of good ideas, I'd also start with a well started juvie, then hopefully they can observe at least one molt, and maybe write up their observations about it?