Just bought the trapdoor spider yesterday, why it not burrow to make nest yet Help!!

[The Snark]

@DbleCbhatana Do you know what province the spider was from? Do you know if they are local to your area and if so, which province and area of the province if terrain varies significantly?
Without that info, assume the chances are the spider's native habitat is heavily clay bearing or clay bearing sandy loam. You know, the hard as rock and water pools up common soils here.
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[WebWalker]

To anyone who reads my suggestions below, please do not criticize the OP, as there is very little actually good information regarding trapdoor husbandry floating around and the overwhelming majority of examples others see are housed incorrectly. They likely set this spider up as good as they could, so bare that in mind.

1. Alright so first up, addressing the choice of enclosure, not only is the setup way too small, it's the completely wrong shape. Something you'll hear thrown around is "trapdoors like a gentle slope to their substrate", but simply gently sloping it completely ignores the reasoning behind why they do this. Many heavily build lid making species, nearly the entirety of Liphistius including, dig horizontally or diagonally downwards into near vertical soil embankments as a mechanism for preventing water flooding their burrows. They do not know they don't need to worry about this in captivity and therefore will seek an environment where they can burrow as such, resulting in the regular wandering and constant making of new burrows seen in many captive traps. To combat this, a large square or rectangular tank with sufficient both length and height allows the optimal amount of steep angling and substrate depth to satisfy a huge range of mygs.

2. Substrate choice is the single most important factor in housing a trapdoor and one that the overwhelming majority of trapdoor keepers either ignore or choose to overlook. They DO NOT want peat, coir, or coconut based substrates. Try building a house out of sticks and sticky tape, and you'll understand what it's like for them to try and construct a functional lid out of loose coir. With the exception of species that make use of debris to construct lids, the majority of global trapdoors will vastly prefer clay based substrate with a small sand drainage layer at the bottom. Such a mix can be made fairly quickly using excavator clay and desert sand in varying ratios. My general rule of thumb is the closer to a rainforest a species is found, the more clay you want in your mix, and the further away, the more sand, etc. Liphistius would probably be best in a mix made of 2 parts excavator clay to 1 part sand, with enough water added to the mix to make it bond but without becoming wet and sticky. Mosses will also grow MUCH better on this mix than if you use peat or coir, as the firmer surface allows them to anchor themselves while retaining moisture better.

I use small fish tanks to make clay wall setups for many of my rainforest mygalomorphs, from trapdoors to curtain webs. Here are 2 of the setups in my collection, for multiple Euoplos turrificus trapdoors and a large Australothele nambucca curtain web
View attachment 452043 View attachment 452044

Below you can see how sharply I angle the substrate in these setups. View attachment 452046
View attachment 452049

Using the tips above, you should have a fully burrowed spider in less than 24 hours. You can keep her in what you've got temporarily, but to summarise, I would HIGHLY recommend upsizing and changing the substrate completely as soon as possible

so ZooMed Excavator Clay mixed with reptile sand would be good for a liphistius? I’ve had mine for a week now and it isn’t burrowing. I even started a burrow for it and it just filled the hole in.

 

[RezonantVoid]

so ZooMed Excavator Clay mixed with reptile sand would be good for a liphistius? I’ve had mine for a week now and it isn’t burrowing. I even started a burrow for it and it just filled the hole in.

While admittedly I have no access to Liphistius in Australia, it would still be my go to mix if I was to ever keep them after moving overseas. My personal trapdoor mix uses mostly natural clay soil, but not many people have easy access to reference trapdoor habitats where they can examine soil consistencies or straight up collect soil such as myself. Excavator clay and desert sand in varying ratios has been the simplest solution to this issue I've been able to come with up with that has worked for nearly every family I've tried it with. Excavator has higher drainage than rainforest clay so you'll need to be cautious not to let it dry out too much.

How compact the substrate is can also play a part. Most mygs do not enjoy fluffy/aerated soil, if your substrate has this quality it could explain the lack of interest in burrowing

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

While admittedly I have no access to Liphistius in Australia, it would still be my go to mix if I was to ever keep them after moving overseas. My personal trapdoor mix uses mostly natural clay soil, but not many people have easy access to reference trapdoor habitats where they can examine soil consistencies or straight up collect soil such as myself. Excavator clay and desert sand in varying ratios has been the simplest solution to this issue I've been able to come with up with that has worked for nearly every family I've tried it with. Excavator has higher drainage than rainforest clay so you'll need to be cautious not to let it dry out too much.

How compact the substrate is can also play a part. Most mygs do not enjoy fluffy/aerated soil, if your substrate has this quality it could explain the lack of interest in burrowing

Is Excavator clay just for specific burrowers ? I’ve never tried it for tarantulas that were fossorial despite them being related to trapdoors .