Just HOW STRONG can a T be

[Socrates]

This might just sound like the most stupidest question you all have ever heard, but I HAVE TO KNOW.

Is it really true that some Ts can actually lift up a top (whether it'll be screened or Plexiglass) and escape unless the top is weighted down somehow?

It just sounds strange to me, however, I didn't want to take any chances with my Ts, so both of their enclosures tops are weighted down big time. Has anyone ever have a T escape in that manner?? :?

 

[MrFeexit]

They will try to exploit any weakness in the lid. I have watched mine grope around for spots to push at and try to wedge themselves into. My lids are heavy enough and after the initial settling in period I really havn't witnessed this behavior. I would guess each breed is a bit different but better safe than sorry. There have been reports of Ts "chewing" through screened lids in an attempt at escape. My rosie seemed to be the most inquisitive with one of my P murinus being a close second.

 

[sansoucie]

My big fat Seemani tried every once in a while to push up the slear part of the top of her enclosure, and the Murinus is STRONG. It moves the water dish all over the place and when it attacks my yongs or whatever I am using to retrieve the dish, I imagine it has the strength to lift a thin plexi lid.

 

[G_Wright]

my B boehmei escaped twice the 1st time I was cleaning out her tank and went to the loo and found that she had pushed the lid of the tank as I didn't clip it down. I found her onder the table on the floor. The second time I don't know how she got out but I woke up one morning to find her on my pillow next to me. To this day that still puzzels me. That was when I first started keeping T's as of now I've never had any more escapees.

 

[Melmoth]

I've heard stories of big baboons-H.hercules & H.gigas actually snapping the plastic bars of a critter keeper lid. I cannot testify to the truth of these stories,but baboons are very strong.My H.hercules was capable as a sling of overpowering prey much bigger than itself and devouring it.
George

 

[Socrates]

The second time I don't know how she got out but I woke up one morning to find her on my pillow next to me.

OMG...I think I would have seriously had a heart attack.

I've heard stories of big baboons-H.hercules & H.gigas actually snapping the plastic bars of a critter keeper lid.

You have got to be kidding me! Now I wonder if anybody around here has EVER witnessed that...THAT'S PRETTY SCARY!!

 

[spider]

I once had a 5" B.Smithi In a 30 gal tank,With a plexi glass tank lid,and she escaped.


So,I geuss they can depending on how thick the plexi glass is....?

 

[Immortal_sin]

absolutely...my L parahybana male will push the lid off his keeper, unless other containers are on top of his.

 

[Socrates]

absolutely...my L parahybana male will push the lid off his keeper, unless other containers are on top of his.

YOWSER! I really do wonder where they come up with the strenght. In any case, I first had a screen top on my Rosea, but custom-made a plexiglass top with lots of holes to avoid the Rosea of ever becoming stuck in the screen. In addition to just the plexiglass, there is always something heavy on top.
With my Acant. Geniculata Juvenile (even though I'm sure she's too small to push it off), I made another plexiglass top. On that one I put metal doorhinges for weight. Probably overkill, buy I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[ChrisNCT]

T's climbing and opening things

Well.....heres my experience.

My new Goliath Birdeater "explores" the cage at night. I find him hanging from the top of the cage in the morning by his front two arms. I am worried that hes spends all night hanging that way. Should I worry? I have tried lowering the substrate, raising the substrate, and adding thing like branches and vines and whatnot to help him grab onto something.

Shoud I worry about him hanging all night? Or am I overprotective of my pets?


Also. I notice him testing the weight of the lid. Since then I have added two small jars with ground up walnut shells on top.

 

[sansoucie]

Yikes, his little feet aren't stuck are they? I mean he does come down sometimes?

 

[ChrisNCT]

Goliath

I think the two claws on the end of the legs are keeping him from letting go. It's like he's afraid to let go. When I see him up there...I tap on the lid to get him back down. Now he's on the ground for awhile though...I gave him a mouse today instead of crickets.

 

[luther]

My adult female B.smithi used to scare my wife by lifting the lid on her tank and rattling it around. Nowadays I keep a heavy book on top of her tank. They're pretty stong for their size.

 

[Mendi]

I use a pair of extra wide rubber bands on the majority of my enclosures as an extra precautionary measure, It covers my a$$ in case I don't make the proper snap on the end and it also adds an extra strong bit of deterent to the really stong ones

 

[edesign]

YOWSER! I really do wonder where they come up with the strenght.

hi, just a guess here as i'm really new to all this but from what i have read t's don't have muscles in the traditional sense like vertebrates do. Instead they use "hydraulics" to move their legs and whatnot. Now, i work around heavy machinery (Caterpillar dealer/repair shop) and all of them run on hydraulics to operate the booms on the excavators, the height/pitch of a blade on a bulldozer/grader, or to raise and lower the forks on a forklift, etc etc. Just looking at the cylinders that make this happen kinda boggles the mind because compared to the weight they're moving they don't seem that big.

for example, the forklift we have in the warehouse is small...maybe about 3000 pounds and can lift around 1500-2000 pounds. The primary cylinder on it is about 4" in diameter...picture a 4" pipe lifting almost a ton straight up. The hydraulic motor inside the forklift creates a LOT of pressure (i think the hoses feeding it are rated at um, i'll have to look but as a guess 4000-5000 PSI) to accomplish this. As long as the lines don't burst, following the rules of physics, the cylinder has to move because of the pressure on it caused by the hydraulic fluid.

I imagine that this is roughly how tarantula's move their legs and if their "pump" is strong enough they can have some amazing strength for their size.

Anyone want to correct me? lol...this was just a brain storm i came up with last nite.

 

[BBlack]

edesign is correct to a point.

Spiders do have muscles in their legs, around 30ish, both flexors and extensors. Only the femur-patella and tibia-metatarsus joints do not. They are moved by hydrolic pressure.

 

[Longbord1]

if u really wanna felel their truew force lift up the tank of a big T or a small aggressive T and put food in.When it stirkes you should feel its power and its alot of power
after all they are pure hydrolics
mike

 

[Longbord1]

btw im sure alot of u have heard that a mantis shrimp is capable of breaking aquarium glass right?and im sure when it strikes the water slows it down so maybe its just as powerful as a Ts strike im sure a big T could in theory shatter a glass aquarium wall

mike

 

[DnKslr]

One of my P cancerides will constantly test the plexiglass lid. It has pushed up on the corners so much that the plexiglass is now permanently bent upwards. I have to tape the corners down or put a metal screened lid over the plexiglass. The only reason I keep the plexiglass on is to help keep the humidity level.

 

[DnKslr]

My new Goliath Birdeater "explores" the cage at night.
Shoud I worry about him hanging all night? Or am I overprotective of my pets?

My T use to hang upside down on the lid of the kritter keeper. She never got hurt though. She came down when she felt like it. I made sure to raise the substrate just incase.