In the last week, I have learned

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
This is why I have been working hard to create starter burrows for my T's with a flap taped to the outside of the enclosure to provide darkness. It is then possible to spy on it for some peace of mind. The problem is to get the T to cooperate and use that burrow. Luckily a large number of my burrowing slings are going straight to the bottom of the 5.5 oz deli cups so I can see they must be eating some of those cricket parts even though I can't find any burrow hole on the surface. I sometimes think they walk around mumbling "Hide from human. Hide from human."
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
Well here is my whole take on this topic.

I usually take this as a do not bother me sign and leave them alone. To date, with my Ts, I've never had to dig up one or dribble water on the webbing because they wont come out to eat or drink. I've had several stay barricaded in for a pretty long time but they have always came out on their own.

A T that has buried itself in a burrow is not always in premolt. I've heard people say this from time to time and I know it to not be true. I've had several do this only to come out later (usually at least a month) and not have molted. Why they do it? Well my guess is they have fed well enough they move to the burrow to hide where it is safe.

Usually, I recommend people to leave the Ts alone unless they are slings or they have been down there a long time. Lots of new keepers get antsy pretty quick when their T locks the door on them. I've seen many Ts dug up a week after they went into hiding. I've also seen a few Ts injured when their owners tried to dig them out.

I have seen a few reports on some Ts digging deep and not coming out. One long time keeper lost a P.muticus (if I remember the T right) because it dug down and stayed till it died. He opened the other two's burrows and they both ate quite a lot.

All in all, you have to look at it on a case by case. On here, as was mentioned earlier, we have a very minimal amount of information to use when giving advise. If you look at the threads on here, then the majority of the time, leaving the T alone is what is needed. So unless there is an obvious red flag then that is usually what is recommended. It is up to you as that Ts keeper (and one who is most familiar with your animals) to make the best care call you can for it. You may have issues I've never encountered due to just where we live. Even if we keep our Ts exactly the same way (which is very unlikely since there will always be small things we do differently).

IMO that is the difference between a beginner keeper and a experienced one. You feel confident enough in your knowledge to make calls on the care for your animal. With those calls resulting in healthy thriving animals.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Well, I read this thread and panicked... and dug up my D. pentaloris that I haven't seen for a couple of months. I have a perfectly fine and plump, but now also highly annoyed T. :bag:
 

Rittdk01

Arachnoknight
Joined
Oct 4, 2016
Messages
258
Never dug one up. I had two g pulchripes bought at the same time and housed identically. One ate day 1 and burrowed and burrowed day 2, the other stayed out. I couldn't even see where it burrowed and just sprayed the sub twice a week to keep moisture in. A month and a half later it came out and never burrowed again.
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
If you have a burrowing sling (especially small ones) where you can't detect any surface activity, I would recommend that you continue to put pre-kill into the container just as often if it was sitting on the surface. It may be possible that the sling is occasionally coming up when it feels safe to see if there is some food to be found. I know mine are doing this.

The only ones I have thus far that scare me are a few of my Avic's. At least I can see them.
 
Last edited:

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
Well, I read this thread and panicked... and dug up my D. pentaloris that I haven't seen for a couple of months. I have a perfectly fine and plump, but now also highly annoyed T. :bag:
One of my D. pentaloris went back into its burrow and covered the entrance again about a week ago. I got up earlier than normal a couple days ago. I always take my red flashlight and take a scan first thing each morning. This T was peeking out a new hole it created in its burrow. I threw in a live cricket. Later in the day I took a look. The cricket was gone and the burrow hole was covered again. Of course, I would normally use pre-kill if I don't see the T is active.

But I do have a few T's where I bought 1/8" size slings. I have never seen some of them in my 5.5 oz containers since I bought them a few months ago. I don't know what to do on them beyond continuing to throw pre-kill. This is a case where a vial would have probably been a better choice.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
I would just like to reiterate to those of you who have expressed concerns about your own Ts that are currently burrowed in - the point of this thread, as others in here have said, is to stress that every situation is unique.

I work in the automotive industry, and even though I'm trained by the brand I work for, my customers still know their vehicles better than I do, and better than our technicians. If they say something doesn't feel right, we listen - even if everything seems fine to us. This is something I deal with on a daily basis.
The same is true of T keeping. We know our animals and our keeping habits better than anyone, so while advice on here may apply to one keeper, it may be entirely wrong for another. It's our responsibility to take care of our animals, no one elses.

Thanks to you who contributed your opinions on the matter! This wasn't intended to spark a debate or worry newer keepers - it was more or less just me posting about a realization I came to in my own personal T keeping adventure:D:D
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
I thought of another question related to the burrowing / starvation. Is there any relationship between room temperature and whether a T will stay burrowed. I know we can't up the temperature of our whole T room to just see if it has an impact for one tarantula, but supposedly higher temperatures make slings get hungry more often (or at least I thought I have seen this stated). I wonder if people who keep their T room at higher (but safe) temperatures have less problems with this issue for their slings.
 
Last edited:

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
I thought of another question related to the burrowing / starvation. Is there any relationship between room temperature and whether a T will stay burrowed. I know we can't up the temperature of our whole T room to just see if it has an impact for one tarantula, but supposedly higher temperatures make slings get hungry more often (or at least I thought I have seen this stated). I wonder if people who keep their T room at higher (but safe) temperatures have less problems with this issue for their slings.
From my understanding (and this is not just true of tarantulas) - higher temperatures increase their activity levels. Increased activity means they need more fuel to move around and it overall increases their metabolisms. So if the "activity" is burrowing, bulldozing, etc, then they'll be doing that a lot more, but I'm not sure where it turns into them deciding to stay buried. This is a good question.

I've also read that Ts burrow down to escape heat, but I wonder if the opposite is true as well when it's colder than their liking - the smaller the space, the less chance there is for warmth to escape (I've started to think this is true of larger enclosures in general, as a rule heat rises so a larger enclosure with more ventilation is less likely to contain heat/humidity).
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
From my understanding (and this is not just true of tarantulas) - higher temperatures increase their activity levels. Increased activity means they need more fuel to move around and it overall increases their metabolisms. So if the "activity" is burrowing, bulldozing, etc, then they'll be doing that a lot more, but I'm not sure where it turns into them deciding to stay buried. This is a good question.

I've also read that Ts burrow down to escape heat, but I wonder if the opposite is true as well when it's colder than their liking - the smaller the space, the less chance there is for warmth to escape (I've started to think this is true of larger enclosures in general, as a rule heat rises so a larger enclosure with more ventilation is less likely to contain heat/humidity).
Yeah, Normally in the wild the burrow down because once you get far enough down the temp stays roughly the same all the time. Couple that with more secure place to hide and you get a good benefit from it.

In enclosures/captivity, most people recommend room temp heating which keeps everything (sub, air etc) the same temp. When the room is colder than a heat source they will move toward that. If it's warmer from under heating (or from the soil not changing temps as quickly as the air) then the T could burrow down and stay there for the more consistent/warmer temp.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
Yeah, Normally in the wild the burrow down because once you get far enough down the temp stays roughly the same all the time. Couple that with more secure place to hide and you get a good benefit from it.

In enclosures/captivity, most people recommend room temp heating which keeps everything (sub, air etc) the same temp. When the room is colder than a heat source they will move toward that. If it's warmer from under heating (or from the soil not changing temps as quickly as the air) then the T could burrow down and stay there for the more consistent/warmer temp.
I keep things room temp (about 73 all winter, dipping a little lower at night). I'm the kind of person who burns candles all the time and I've noticed that they do tend to move towards the warmth of the candles, even when there's a good distance between their enclosures and the flame. It makes me feel bad, like they're all cold and shivering (because I anthropomorphize the #*%$ out of all my animals), but I know that they'll even do it in the summertime, when it's consistently 80 degrees. It makes me believe the stories I've read on here about heat lamps and Ts loving the warmth so much that they'll forgo the walk to their water dish to keep themselves from drying out.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
I keep things room temp (about 73 all winter, dipping a little lower at night). I'm the kind of person who burns candles all the time and I've noticed that they do tend to move towards the warmth of the candles, even when there's a good distance between their enclosures and the flame. It makes me feel bad, like they're all cold and shivering (because I anthropomorphize the #*%$ out of all my animals), but I know that they'll even do it in the summertime, when it's consistently 80 degrees. It makes me believe the stories I've read on here about heat lamps and Ts loving the warmth so much that they'll forgo the walk to their water dish to keep themselves from drying out.
Even with my room being kept at 78-80 year round mine will still climb the walls of the enclosure on the side where the sun facing window is. I have blinds on it but it's usually a bit warmer on that side of the room. None of the enclosures are in direct sunlight (I keep my BD over there) but they still move more to that side.

I really dislike heat lights for Ts but I use them for my reptiles.
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
A few people have set up micro climates to create a temperature in the low 80's for their slings. It would be interesting to know what their results might be regarding refusal to come out of burrow for food. I keep my room temperatures at 74 F and mine also dips a little on cold nights.

My Eupalaestrus campestratus and Euathlus sp. 'Red' slings are always staying burrowed, but all of them look like they have doubled in bulk when I view them in their burrows. But I have other species that have disappeared in part and I have no idea whether they are alive or not. I continue to maintain moisture and put cricket parts in regardless. Once their egg sac mates get much bigger I suppose I should be able to also see more evidence of their burrows and activity as well if they are alive. It is definitely a test of patience.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
Mine finally molted. I'm glad she uncovered the viewport so I could see that she wasn't in premolt. View attachment 231707
Congrats! I'm still working on fattening mine up again (and will be rehousing this weekend into a smaller enclosure to see if it has any attitude changes). I don't think I'm going to be seeing a molt for a while :sorry:
 

Moakmeister

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Messages
741
Congrats! I'm still working on fattening mine up again (and will be rehousing this weekend into a smaller enclosure to see if it has any attitude changes). I don't think I'm going to be seeing a molt for a while :sorry:
switch from crickets to anything else. crickets are so much worse than the other feeders. I use mealworms. I've only fed her once and she instantly premolted.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
switch from crickets to anything else. crickets are so much worse than the other feeders. I use mealworms. I've only fed her once and she instantly premolted.
I generally feed dubias to everyone except my GBB because he would rather starve to death than eat them. :)
I tried crickets the other day only because I didn't have any dubias left but in general that's what they get. Gave her one this morning as a matter of fact :D
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
switch from crickets to anything else. crickets are so much worse than the other feeders. I use mealworms. I've only fed her once and she instantly premolted.
Crickets are not any better or worse than other feeders. The amount of food and the temps are the big factors that affect molting speed.
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
I generally feed dubias to everyone except my GBB because he would rather starve to death than eat them. :)
An animal won't starve itself ;) If it's a juvie or adult, let it starve for a couple months. It'll happily take down a dubia and then never have an issue with them again, in my experience at least. Unfortunately with slings, they don't have that kind of time to wait between meals. So you kind of have to coddle them.
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
3,686
An animal won't starve itself ;) If it's a juvie or adult, let it starve for a couple months. It'll happily take down a dubia and then never have an issue with them again, in my experience at least. Unfortunately with slings, they don't have that kind of time to wait between meals. So you kind of have to coddle them.
My T.violaceus is giving you the finger...uhm..tarsal claw. ' I will not eat dubia. Period. 2 months no food? Screw you, eat that thing yourself! :shifty:'

Seriously, she will not eat them. S.lateralis are fine, but dubia? Nope.
 
Top