L parahybana chewing her cork bark - concern?

BrynWilliams

Arachnoprince
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Hey guys

So my pair of L parahybanas are ever growing like weeds, however recently i have observed the female behaving rather oddly, so far i'm not drastically concerned but wanted to see what other people thought?

She's heavily in pre-moult and thus isn't eating and being rather sluggish generally, however, the one activity she is putting a lot of effort into is chewing away at one of the pieces of cork bark in her enclosure. It's also not in an obvious place so she goes to some effort to reach the spot and sits there for ages apparently pulling at it with her fangs (i can see the grooves on the bark after)

I only noticed it because of the creaking cork bark as she tore a piece off. I've ushered here away from the spot to inspect it and she faithfully returns in her own time to keep going at it.

What do you guys think?

Bryn
 

madamoisele

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Oct 28, 2010
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The other day, I witnessed my 4" G. Pulchra lifting a big piece of coconut husk into her fangs from the substrate and carry it around a bit. She dropped it when I got close to look at what was going on.

Maybe she's trying to redecorate?
 

killy

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May 20, 2009
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I've pondered this behavior too, and I've noticed it in my Ts as well - I don't remember if it was my pulchripes or my LP, but last year one of them chewed up a styrofoam cup I was using as a temporary hide, and it occurred to me that styrofoam might not be the best medium to use for a hide, especially if the T is going to use it as a chew toy - clearly the T took a dim view of it - so I removed the debris and all is well.

Yesterday I re-housed my LP and gave him a bigger hide, a light plastic flower pot - he IMMEDIATELY entered it, and I could actually hear the sounds of him gnawing on the holes at the butt-end of the hide. Maybe it was just his way of checking it out, because he seems to be content with it now.

I catch my vagans now and then also doing the substrate-repositioning described above ... another time when I had re-housed him, I created a burrow, and I placed a plastic 1/2 cup over it to provide a roof. I came back later and Diablo had single-leggedly moved the cup to the far end of the hide - I laughed out loud, wishing I could have been there to see that.

I don't think I have a single T that doesn't at some time or another either move, bury, web-over or fill his water dish with substrate. (And every now and then I even see them using them for the intended purpose!).

For some reasons our Ts embark on these very important and weighty construction projects - if only they could speak!!! I think they somehow resent anything they consider "foreign objects," even inanimate ones, invading their space. Or perhaps what they resent is their humans' lame attempts to decorate. It's like they're saying, "Never send a human to do a tarantula's job."
 

Mammothdog

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Jan 25, 2011
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My little G. pulchripes sling did a little redecorating herself. I put a bottle cap in there with her for a hide and she dug a trench around the whole thing. lol. I wouldn't worry to much about your T chewing on the bark. Sometimes T's are awkward little creatures.
 

Necromion

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Mar 5, 2011
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I have a Avic that has webbed over the hygrometer in the tank and turned it into its hide:wall:. I also have a fishing spider that regularly sits submerged in its water dish. so for some odd reason this doesnt surprise me.
 

grayzone

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hey brynwilliams... dont worry about your lp... i think theyre just dumb by nature lol... i got a 6.5ish inch female i named lunchbox (guess y) that actually attacks the flat glass rocks in her water dish when i re fill it.. kinda trippy the 1st time i saw it... when i pour the water in from up top, she flies out of her hide, crosses the 10 gal tank to where the dish is , and dives in. her dish is about 2" deep and i have it recessed down in to the substrate. anyway, she actually snatched up one of the rocks and carried it around the tank. now the rock stays moving..... i swear shes doin weird stuff when im sleepin lol
 

jbm150

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Wow bryn, haven't seen you post in a long time. I wouldn't worry too much, as others have said, they tend to do that kind of stuff. My Lp crawls up the sides and chews on the edge of the tank. I figure she doesn't like my attempts at holding her back from going wherever she wants to go :rolleyes:
 

BrynWilliams

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Cheers, yeah i haven't posted in a while, the collection is still going strong but being a finalyear med student kinda took over for a while :)

Wow bryn, haven't seen you post in a long time. I wouldn't worry too much, as others have said, they tend to do that kind of stuff. My Lp crawls up the sides and chews on the edge of the tank. I figure she doesn't like my attempts at holding her back from going wherever she wants to go :rolleyes:
 

ManlyMan7

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Feb 17, 2011
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Haven't seen that chewing behavior in my Lp, or either of my other two, but I am told my G. rosea once filled up and silked off the coconut shell hide with substrate.

I also know that Greenbottle Blues are known to bury decorations (especially fake flowers) in silk. Mine had done that with a yellow bottle cap that had been used (apparently) as a water dish before I received the spider. Only after some time did I discover that there was an object under that dense silk mat.
 

webbedone

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Aug 27, 2010
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hey brynwilliams... dont worry about your lp... i think theyre just dumb by nature lol... i got a 6.5ish inch female i named lunchbox (guess y) that actually attacks the flat glass rocks in her water dish when i re fill it.. kinda trippy the 1st time i saw it... when i pour the water in from up top, she flies out of her hide, crosses the 10 gal tank to where the dish is , and dives in. her dish is about 2" deep and i have it recessed down in to the substrate. anyway, she actually snatched up one of the rocks and carried it around the tank. now the rock stays moving..... i swear shes doin weird stuff when im sleepin lol
She is probably sensing the tiny droplets hitting the substrate and runs thinking its food lol. on the subject of redecoration how ever I have named my G.pulchra - "Dozer" due to its habbits, that thing needs a hard hat and a some construction signs. Also if your LP seems obsessed with the piece of cork and you suspect that she is in premolt she might be trying to move it because she wants to use it as a cover or move it and start a molting mat in its place.

Some Tarantulas live in the most unhospitable places on earth, its only their RIGHT to arrange their surrounding as they see fit.
 

Scotty Allen

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Mar 9, 2011
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This chewing behaviour brings me to question the use of plastic terrariums "Critter Keepers", "Faunariums" etc. that so many of us use. Has anyone seen incidences of their T's chewing through the tops?
 

paassatt

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Nov 19, 2010
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This chewing behaviour brings me to question the use of plastic terrariums "Critter Keepers", "Faunariums" etc. that so many of us use. Has anyone seen incidences of their T's chewing through the tops?
I currently house 3 of my spiders in Kritter Keepers, and I've never noticed any chewing of the tops. Methinks they wouldn't be able to get through that particular plastic (at least in the ones I have) because it's rather thick. I've heard about them chewing through mesh screens, but not plastic Kritter Keeper lids.
 

ManlyMan7

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Feb 17, 2011
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This chewing behaviour brings me to question the use of plastic terrariums "Critter Keepers", "Faunariums" etc. that so many of us use. Has anyone seen incidences of their T's chewing through the tops?
Yes. The friend that gave me his Lp (and GBB and G. rosea) showed me where his Lp started chewing through the vents on the top of its "Critter Keeper." He caught it before it was even close to escaping, but it was working on it!
 

Necromion

Arachnoknight
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Mar 5, 2011
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I have heard of someones T chewing through the METAL screen top of the tank. I believe it was anastasia, but it was definatly before my time here on AB
 
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