Let's talk about water dishes

[beaker41]

I use water dishes on all my t's , even the ones that constantly bury them. I leave the dish mostly dry if they bury it but still fill it from time to time. Mostly they ignore it or sometimes leave bolus in it, but I think they learn that that's where the water is because I do catch them digging it up or pressing themselves down into the dirt they piled in there and I figure that means they're thirsty so I fill it. It's kind of a way to teach your t to tell you what it needs, I think they have that much ability to learn

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I use water dishes on all my t's , even the ones that constantly bury them. I leave the dish mostly dry if they bury it but still fill it from time to time. Mostly they ignore it or sometimes leave bolus in it, but I think they learn that that's where the water is because I do catch them digging it up or pressing themselves down into the dirt they piled in there and I figure that means they're thirsty so I fill it. It's kind of a way to teach your t to tell you what it needs, I think they have that much ability to learn

Yes. They know exactly where water (the water dish in this case) is. My 0.1 Pelinobius muticus loves, sometimes every two/three months, to jump out of her burrow, at night, for take a drink, then she disappears in her burrow like Homer Simpson in Ned Flanders hedge. It's impossible to not love her.

 

[Chris11]

Yes. They know exactly where water (the water dish in this case) is. My 0.1 Pelinobius muticus loves, sometimes every two/three months, to jump out of her burrow, at night, for take a drink, then she disappears in her burrow like Homer Simpson in Ned Flanders hedge. It's impossible to not love her.

Dude, reading your posts make me smile because you sound totally european in english!

 

[Pociemon]

Many of us, if not most (including myself) suggest water dishes once the enclosure can accommodate it. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone suggesting or using water dishes in vials. I think most of us do exactly what you do with small slings.

I have just seen many times in here that slings also require waterbowls. I would die of stress if i had to use 500+ waterbowls and finding a place would be a challenge too;-)

 

[viper69]

As added piece of information to the OPs comments, I have a male E sp Red that is well fed, and constantly fills in his water dish. I removed the sub and at some point he started drinking from the dish he fills in. So, personally, I don't think filing in a dish is the T telling its owner it doesn't need a water dish.

 

[tonypace2009]

One difference between captivity and the outdoors is the type of soil/ substrate tarantulas live in. Different soils retain and absorb water differently. In captivity, tarantula keepers primarily use cocofiber, vermiculite, peat moss, or a combination of which have good water retention properties so it quickly soaks up and locks in water. In the wild, tarantulas primarily live in clay or sandy clay soil; although I'm sure it varies a great deal and this obviously excludes arboreal species. Soils that contain a higher clay particle content are poor at absorbing water. Tarantulas are probably drinking the water contained in the soil when it's available and when it's not, water is provided by what they eat. In the wild it would conceivably be easy for a tarantula to drink from the soil since clay doesn't absorb water well. In captivity, they probably are not able to do so as well since the substrate locks in the water. Ever notice when it rains or when you water the lawn water pools up on the ground for a while and how soggy the ground is? Ever notice how quickly a substrate like cocofiber soaks up water? One thing to keep in mind when deciding to use a water dish or not.

Also take into account that most households run heaters to stay warm which seems to dehydrate spiders faster especially slings.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Dude, reading your posts make me smile because you sound totally european in english!

Uh? How?

 

[Chris11]

Uh? How?

You type like youre translating italian to english... you dont commit the grammatical "flaws" that seperates english from most languages on earth

 

[Chris LXXIX]

You type like youre translating italian to english... you dont commit the grammatical "flaws" that seperates english from most languages on earth

My English in a nutshell: "just the basics" (and i'm not even sure of that). Garbage at the end. Read my posts and sooner or later you'll notice that. The system started to teach English only in the second half of the '80 here in Italy (in public schools i mean, not the private ones). Obviously those lessons weren't exactly a "masterpiece". I managed to learn something with the help of music, and videogames, especially. I was (still i am) a game addicted freak, and back then, technology wasn't like today of course.
All (majority at least) the PAL Nes, Super Famicom/Nes (i played a lot of import games, Japanese included) Neo Geo, the very first Sony PS etc were in English only (i remember FF7, English only, for instance) so that situation helped a little.
Today of course is a different story: DVD, Blu Ray, the game industry even surpassed the movie one... but back then, lol.
The funny thing is, save for some words, slang, or that "SMS" writing style, i have no problems when it comes to read & understand English.

 

[Oumriel]

Actually it pretty much is, dew forms every night/morning (during what is commonly peak t activity).

I've speculated that one reason for such heavy mats of webbing in African species is to collect and hold water. I've noticed many times where water puddles on these mats actually lasts longer than the stuff in the dish. Seems like most ts from dry places lay these thick mats in and around their burrows.

I have a few that will also use webbing and mats as a wick to pull and direct moisture inside of the burrows.

 

[micheldied]

Water dishes definitely aren't necessary, but they are a safeguard for Ts that require quite a bit of moisture if you screw up and let things get too dry, or the Ts somehow become dehydrated. Without offering a water dish, you have to pay more attention to the amount of moisture you're offering to each T, and Ts from different regions are going to have different requirements. This isn't very hard to do, but for someone with hundreds or thousands of Ts, and a full time job on top of that, water dishes are just the safer bet.

I myself have raised most of my Ts without water dishes until either their last rehouse, of if they're in a very large enclosure, and usually only for true tropical species. The majority of my Ts I haven't needed to use a water dish with. I've kept all my arid species without water dishes, only misting once in a while.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Water dishes definitely aren't necessary, but they are a safeguard for Ts that require quite a bit of moisture if you screw up and let things get too dry, or the Ts somehow become dehydrated. Without offering a water dish, you have to pay more attention to the amount of moisture you're offering to each T, and Ts from different regions are going to have different requirements. This isn't very hard to do, but for someone with hundreds or thousands of Ts, and a full time job on top of that, water dishes are just the safer bet.

I myself have raised most of my Ts without water dishes until either their last rehouse, of if they're in a very large enclosure, and usually only for true tropical species. The majority of my Ts I haven't needed to use a water dish with. I've kept all my arid species without water dishes, only misting once in a while.

Whereas you can keep Ts without providing a water dish (water dishes doesn´t exist in nature), I cannot see any reasons whatsoever not to provide a water dish for Ts in captivity. They don´t hurt the tarantulas for sure, and making sure the spiders don´t get dehydrated is always a good idea and doesn´t require too much effort. IMO the extra security they provide should be enough for everyone, even the most experienced keepers, to use a water dish. Not all Ts will use the water dishes to a large degree, but according to my experience it is important especially for the arid species´. For example I have seen my OBTs, my C. marshalli and my now almost-adult sized GBB drink from their water dishes more often than some of the tropical species that I keep constantly on a slightly moist substrate. However, before my GBB molted to near-adult size, I kept her without a water dish as a result of the spider constantly webbing down the whole enclosure. In order for me to provide her a water dish I needed to constantly disrupt her webbings, so I decided to provide drops of water across the webbing instead. Now I keep her in a large enough enclosure to keep a small water dish in the corner without disrupting the activity of the spider.

 

[Abby79]

I change the water dishes out every 2 weeks, clean water, fresh dish. Ive come to the conclusion its for my benefit, not the T's.
Its almost O.C.D, To give me reassurance, from dreaded dehydration. Which is pretty ridiculous as my feeder insects are in tip top condition. As are my T's. But i couldn't take the dishes out! Is that denial! x

 

[916]

I have been keeping Tarantulas for a long time. I have observed many strange behaviors. I currently keep a young mature female Brachypelma klassi that ignores her hide and scrunches up in her cat food can water dish after she fills it with substrate then digs it out. This has been going on for over 2 years, any tarantula I keep that continues to burry its water dish, the dish stays buried and it gets water misted on the wall once in a while. She is the only Brachy female of the 8 adults and three sub adult s I keep that does this. I keep several adult desert dwellers that also burry their water dish. The dish stays buried. They all get the option of a water dish if they don't want they don't get, simple. not a hard concept to wrap your head around.

 

[TomKemp]

I try to keep water available in all of my enclosures and but yes some of them do get buried often. I wouldn't stress it. I think that if your feeders are well nourished then your good. Every other week or so I like to "let it rain" in most of my enclosures, At least on one side to keep things up. I mainly keep NW terrestrials myself, I'm sure opinions on husbandry change drastically depending on what you are keeping though.

 

[Smileyboy]

how do u guys hydrate ur avic species? i hot glued a water dish to the side of the enclosure upper level, It recently fell down. I want to put it back, but she already got comfy in her enclosure so i cant hot glue it back. My other question is, do u keep a water dish on the bottom of the enclosure or have a one near the top of the enclosure?

thanks

 

[ratluvr76]

I had two Avic's for about a year. Keeping Avics wasn't my cup of tea, so I sold them but I always just had a water bowl on the floor of the cage. They would come down and drink sometimes.

 

[tonypace2009]

how do u guys hydrate ur avic species? i hot glued a water dish to the side of the enclosure upper level, It recently fell down. I want to put it back, but she already got comfy in her enclosure so i cant hot glue it back. My other question is, do u keep a water dish on the bottom of the enclosure or have a one near the top of the enclosure?

thanks

You can put water dish on floor of enclosure and dribble water in the avics web for it to drink . the water on floor of enclosure is a backup.They will come down to drink.

 

[Poec54]

I have just seen many times in here that slings also require waterbowls. I would die of stress if i had to use 500+ waterbowls and finding a place would be a challenge too;-)

I would 'die of stress' if I didn't use water bowls. The obvious exception is small vials, where bowls don't fit. But everything else of mine has a water bowl.

 

[Pociemon]

I would 'die of stress' if I didn't use water bowls. The obvious exception is small vials, where bowls don't fit. But everything else of mine has a water bowl.

I do use small vials. I just make sure the substrate is very moist when i give water, that way i dont need to give them water too often. All slings i keep in small vials and on their way up i keep them in smaller tubs so i have good control of their eating. Only just before subadult stage i swithc them into bigger tubs/enclosures. I only use water bowls when i give T´s a cooling period, otherwise never. These days i only keep arboreal T´s. But i do know that it is a way that requires some experience, but when you have that it will be more eysy keeping T´s. In my opinion.