Masochist Tarantula?!?

[KnightinGale]

Hello,

This is not unheard of, or even particularly uncommon behavior. I know I've read it in at least one tarantula book and have seen one of mine doing it as well (with no previous males involved or three missing legs from the petshop). I added more substrate and have had no further problems. If they can reach the substrate when one leg is caught, they can lever themselves up and release the leg. At any rate, screen tops, especially undipped ones (a weakness of otherwise grand Exo-terra tanks) ALWAYS pose a possibility of leg-loss, or even death. "Tarantulas and other Arachnids" mentions finding one that had eventually died still stuck in the mesh. A tarantula that has never climbed in it life may climb once and have an accident.
A tarantula may simply never make the connection between wandering and the danger of certain surfaces not found in its natural environment, even with repeated instances. On a non-mesh top, it can still climb and not be in any danger if the substrate is high enough. Then it cannot hang by one leg, potentially doing damage. Their claws are retractable, and that is why they get stuck. They use them to grip, and then when they slip or fall and one is still holding on, they don't have the power to retract it and let go unless they manage to pull themselves up and gain some leverage. That is what I actually believe is happening in your scenario. The "trance" you speak of I believe is simply tiredness after the initial panic and struggling. Tarantulas are not endurance creatures! When you tap the lid, I don't believe it "wakens" her from a "trance" but rather motivates her enough to struggle again and make it up. From her perspective, she is vulnerable and a potential predator many hundreds of times her size has shown up.
Whether you agree with this or not, is it not worth the well-being of your girl to be better safe than sorry? Obviously she may climb again, and you may not be there next time to help her out. I wouldn't want to come home one day to find one of mine dangling and dead, would you?

 

[BatGirl]

...anyone else experience this 'trance dangling'?

...have seen one of mine doing it...

Thanks for the report and staying (sorta) on topic - anyone else experience this 'trance dangling'?

btw (and back to off topic, I really don't know why...) - if it can 'release' it's claw from the infamous wire mesh 'trap' (oooooohhhh!) by merely reaching the ground, then it can 'release' it otherwise as well... and she has deep substrate and has built this elaborate tunnel she normally stays in, she just likes to climb up and dangle from time to time (so preventing her climbing at all is not an option) and the lost leg is from damaged joints by dangling too long (per examination of the missing leg) not from falling too far (for one side of the cage has the substrate sloped to near the top) - ya see, mine doesn't pull up and struggle to unsnare itself from the wire meah 'trap', for when I tap on the cage to snap it back to reality (happened too many times for her to be 'unlucky in getting stuck' and me being 'lucky' in getting her unstuck so easily) - it just simply pulls up and walks off (don't know why I have to keep pointing this out)... the trick seems to be to catch her before she's dangled too long and has caused damage. AND, an acrylic top with holes like she had at Pet Company where she'd lost three legs can be 'dangled' from just as easily...

 

[NikiP]

No, the point isnt that they can unhook merely be *reaching* the ground. They simply need the ground to be able to push against, so they can push up to unhook their leg.

But it's not like you'll give it a try.

 

[Fran]

I want to think you are not serious and just playing troll. I really want to think that, because otherwise I cant believe what Im reading.


Change-the-darn-lid or just put some packing tape around the inside of the lid and the problem is solved.

She wont be able to climb that way. She wont be dangling from the lid because when she reacheS the top the tape will prevent from sticking the claws in the mesh.

But please...Please, dont keep going on and on with this issue because If you are serious, which I doubt, its making you look like you are one fry sort of a Happy Meal.PLEASE

 

[Silberrücken]

Change-the-darn-lid or just put some packing tape around the inside of the lid and the problem is solved.

YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS..............

Spot on, Fran!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[gmrpnk21]

I want to think you are not serious and just playing troll. I really want to think that, because otherwise I cant believe what Im reading.


Change-the-darn-lid or just put some packing tape around the inside of the lid and the problem is solved.

She wont be able to climb that way. She wont be dangling from the lid because when she reacheS the top the tape will prevent from sticking the claws in the mesh.

But please...Please, dont keep going on and on with this issue because If you are serious, which I doubt, its making you look like you are one fry sort of a Happy Meal.PLEASE

I agree. I think there is a troll in our midst...

 

[curiousme]

This has simply got to stop. People gave advice and it was summarily ignored. That is unfortunate for the OP, those who took the time to give their advice, and particularly for the T in question.

Think back to grade school when all the kids would get around and poke fun at an individual. It didn't matter if they deserved it or not, everyone would join in and it quickly became about being cool, social status and peer pressure .. the content of the criticism meant nothing anymore. It didn't matter if the kid was being beaten for stealing lunches or laughed at because their parents died ... it was about people making themselves feel big. This is what I see here.

You'll notice I picked the analogy of grade school. That is because this is the last time I can recall witnessing such an immature mob mentality. I would now ask everyone who participated in this thread to pull out their ID. Take a look at the birthday. Were you born before the year 2000? Congratulations, you're officially too bloody old to justify this sort of behaviour.

I want everyone to take a deep breath in. Now out. In. Out. Relax. Think about what you hope to accomplish. If you genuinely do want to take ignorance and turn it into an willingness to listen and learn, think about how this may be best be accomplished. Sometimes you need to be frank with people and tell them they are being silly .. but if you keep that pressure on and it becomes about attacking rather than helping then you will never see anything but back-against-the-wall defensiveness. Sometimes -- and this is something I had to learn -- you need to let the idiots be idiots and let your knowledge speak for itself. Think of your responses being for the benefit of others reading the thread, rather than the brick wall you are technically trying to instruct. Sooner or later the brick wall may grow some ears.

Hopefully that has been a bit of a breather for everyone and everyone can start acting their age. If not, I have plenty of dunce caps and meter sticks to go around. I can always demonstrate what being a real bully is all about.

Cheers,
Dave

^^^This thread has gone in the troll direction already.

She doesn't want advice, she wants to tell you about the cool trance her tarantula goes into. If you want to have a go at giving her advice, then do, but let's not start having multiple posts calling her a troll.


back on the new topic presented:

Batgirl~ We found our G. rosea hanging from her screen lid and swiftly changed to an acrylic one.

 

[gmrpnk21]

^^^This thread has gone in the troll direction already.

She doesn't want advice, she wants to tell you about the cool trance her tarantula goes into. If you want to have a go at giving her advice, then do, but let's not start having multiple posts calling her a troll.


back on the new topic presented:

Batgirl~ We found our G. rosea hanging from her screen lid and swiftly changed to an acrylic one.

And you are smart for doing it.

 

[KnightinGale]

Whoa Batgirl, I said in my post that you didn't have to agree with me, but that it was my own experience and reasoning for why that experience occured. Anyway, no need for the eye-rolling and all the sarcasm.
As for the topic, I honestly thought I was on topic. Even if you wanted to get away from the original debate and hear experiences of other people, in sharing my experience I must make it clear that I have a different interpretation of the same thing. As our good moderater said, this is as much for everyone elses sake as yours. Also, it is for my own since I want people to associate me with my own thoughts and observations rather than another's. This forum is for sharing experiences, observations, research and opinions and I am sorry if I have offended you by trying to do so.
So, back to the post. I think Nikki was correct in believing you misunderstood my point about the substrate. It has nothing to do, in this case, with the length of a fall, her need for a burrow or with preventing her from climbing. As I said, it is a matter of leverage. Her weight hanging on a single pair of claws is what prevents them from retracting and releasing. It could also be released by pushing against the sides if she can get purchase or catching more claws on the mesh to be able to take the bulk off the one. When saw my girl, she was walking along the top, slipped and ended up with one claw stuck. She put up a panicked struggle while I went to get a large spoon. When I cm back she was still. I propped the scoop under her so she could lift her leg and unhook the claw to release herself. After I added enough substrate for her to reach, there was no more dangling and now she doesn't even go on the top of her cage anymore.
As for the pet store at which she was missing legs; do you know for certain the circumstances of this? Did they tell you that she was seen dangling from the top by one leg and therefore lost three of them? If so, then certainly I would not use one of those lids either! If not, she could have lost those legs in transit, from a bad molt or any multitude of other ways. Again though, the issue with losing limbs from roof-walking is not the roof-walking itself, but from getting caught by the claws on one or two legs with no easy form of release. I don't say all this to be argumentative or mean, but because you didn't seem to understand what I meant in my original post and I want to be clear.
I'll leave you with a couple quotes about the mesh though, since that was the part you seemed most defensive about. We aren't pulling this stuff out of our arse, and since I mentioned I read it in books I will give you the references so you don't have to take my word for it:
From the "Tarantula Keeper's Guide" 1998 edition, pg. 110
"If the strands of wire are merely woven together rather than welded (as in hot-dipped, galvanized mesh), the animal could snag a claw between two strands. This could result in the loss of a claw or even a leg. Certainly the tarantula would be most uncomfortable, hanging there for hours until rescued."
I couldn't find where I had read the anectodal account I mentioned previously that resulted in a death. I had thought it was in "Tarantulas and other Arachnids" but I lost my old edition and had to look in a newer one. I did find this though, in the 2001 edition on page 31:
"Tarantulas have two claws on each foot and these can become caught on the screen top or edges of the tank top." Then, "If you have a spider that paces a lot, climbing up the corners of the tank, you are likely to find it swinging in the morning. One way to minimize the problem is to use shallow tanks and fill them with enough substrate so that the spider can reach the floor of the cage with its back legs and the top with its front."
(Sorry that was so long! But I wanted to include the actual references.)

 

[jbm150]

You have a problem that repeats itself and causes stress to your spider.

You have several easy and cheap solutions to said problem.

So why does this thread continue to exist?

Its not a masochistic tarantula, its looking more like a sadistic owner

 

[elle101]

I agree completely with jbm150. Why ask for advice if you don't intend on using it?

 

[BatGirl]

thanks...

...put some packing tape around the inside of the lid...

I'm speechless

 

[gmrpnk21]

I'm speechless

Why? Sticky side up means that t doesn't get stuck and it should discourage it from even walking on the top.

 

[Fran]

I'm speechless

Thats how we are since your very first post. Speechless.

 

[BatGirl]

new development

This time it was the weirdest one of all... (and I know y'all are awaiting the next chapter in this ongoing amusing saga)

OK, so she's 'dangling' by one leg from the roof, but with the two back legs standing on the substrate on the high grade side of the tank. Appears to be oblivious - in some kinda trance, for this goes on for about a half hour. I keep checking back 'cause I'm curious how this unhooking is supposed to play out, but I get bored and need to go back to sleep. Again, I tap noisily on the side of the tank and she 'awakens' then pulls up (i.e. she doesn't seem to 'push-off' from the bottom to 'unhook' from some now infamous wire mesh trap she's caught in, to then drop safely to the bottom) and then merely walks across the top to the side like she always has, to then walk down the side to the bottom. Still got the itty-bitty replacement leg which seems useless in her 'dangling' habit. Maybe she's hoping her weight will somehow tear loose the top where she can continue her adventure? (Ms. MacGyver, looking for her 'Max', two lovers star-crossed...) Maybe it's some kinda freaky tarantula exercise? (she's so buff...) Maybe she knows it's a way to get some attention? (bored silly) Maybe she knows her escapades are being posted and wants to stump us all (OK, so I'M STUMPED)...

 

[Silberrücken]

Maybe she knows it's a way to get some attention? (bored silly)

Your own words.

 

[baconmushroom]

You have a problem that repeats itself and causes stress to your spider.

You have several easy and cheap solutions to said problem.

So why does this thread continue to exist?

Its not a masochistic tarantula, its looking more like a sadistic owner

2 words that might ring a bell...and stop it with the trance like state, the spider is not on LSD..maybe you are but thats just me.

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

I completely understand the affection people have for their pets and how often times their owners tend to anthropomorphize their behaviors and think of them as intelligent organisms. People who don't really bother researching their animals beyond how to take care of them seem to have more of a tendency to do this than those who do extensive research first.

I keep tarantulas and other inverts. I love them to death. However, that doesn't mean I think they're highly intellectual beings. They act completely by instinct. Their brains are not complex enough to learn something such as meditation, so the idea that your cobalt blue is putting itself in a trance is just silly. Like others have said it's tired from struggling, just like a hooked fish tires out from fighting the angler reeling it in. No matter how long you've had our spider, it is not going to learn your tap isn't a threat. When you're tapping, you're tarantula perceives that as a large threat approaching, starting a fight or flight response that gives it enough energy to move away.

Your tarantula is not just hanging from a limb for a thrill. She is not missing Max or trying to reconnect with his spirit, either. This is simply a disaster waiting to happen if you don't do something about that lid or add more substrate.

 

[gmrpnk21]

Lol, I think everyone has posted very similar answers to no avail. I like my tarantulas a lot, but I can't say I am emotionally attached to them. They are beautiful, interesting and amusing, but I understand that they are not cats or dogs...

 

[BatGirl]

...they are not cats or dogs...

Yeah, dogs and cats lick their butt, and tarantulas are smarter than that