MM GBB?

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
He has what could possibly be hooks but to me just look like small tufts of hair. A 3" MM is a sad thing indeed :(
Maybe he is going for speed. It's likely safer to zoom in, do his work and get the heck out of there. :D
Any plans for him? How long since his last molt?
 

Paul Larke

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
5
Absolutely. She died in the fall though, so this one wasn't from dry air from a heater. I mean, it's easier to tell a new hobbyist to keep it bone dry as to avoid them going wild with a spray bottle - people seem to either keep spiders bone dry or in a swamp, no gray area. So far, the only species I've found that do well on 100% bone dry substrate are A. chalcodes, Ceratogyrus spp., P. scrofa, and P. murinus... that's all. Many others can survive on bone dry, of course.
That's interesting. I am fairly new to the hobby and keep my B. Smithi on bone dry substrate. She eats well and moults with no apparent problem, however she does tend to spend more time than I would have thought for a terrestrial hanging off the walls of the enclosure. I had heard this was a sign of the enclosure being too wet, but this is definitely not the case here. Could it be the case that I am keeping her too dry? Is this normal behaviour?
If I were to make an estimate she probably spends 75% of her time being a 'pet rock' sitting where you would expect on the substrate, and 25% of her time hanging from the walls.
Any advice greatly received.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
That's interesting. I am fairly new to the hobby and keep my B. Smithi on bone dry substrate. She eats well and moults with no apparent problem, however she does tend to spend more time than I would have thought for a terrestrial hanging off the walls of the enclosure. I had heard this was a sign of the enclosure being too wet, but this is definitely not the case here. Could it be the case that I am keeping her too dry? Is this normal behaviour?
If I were to make an estimate she probably spends 75% of her time being a 'pet rock' sitting where you would expect on the substrate, and 25% of her time hanging from the walls.
Any advice greatly received.
Give her a wet spot by over flowing the water dish and see if she goes to it. If so she is too dry.

Both my B.smithis will hang out on the walls on occasion usually when the room temps are on the warmer side.
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
He has what could possibly be hooks but to me just look like small tufts of hair. A 3" MM is a sad thing indeed.
Don't despair, I've seen small males get it done, size isn't everything ;) it's the motion... just kidding :D .

If he's mature then he definitely has hooks, I'm sure he will be fine to breed. Just watch out cause green bottle females are notorious man eaters!
 

Paul Larke

Arachnopeon
Joined
Apr 10, 2017
Messages
5
Give her a wet spot by over flowing the water dish and see if she goes to it. If so she is too dry.

Both my B.smithis will hang out on the walls on occasion usually when the room temps are on the warmer side.
Thanks. Will try that now! I'll post on any interesting development.
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
That's interesting. I am fairly new to the hobby and keep my B. Smithi on bone dry substrate. She eats well and moults with no apparent problem, however she does tend to spend more time than I would have thought for a terrestrial hanging off the walls of the enclosure. I had heard this was a sign of the enclosure being too wet, but this is definitely not the case here. Could it be the case that I am keeping her too dry? Is this normal behaviour?
If I were to make an estimate she probably spends 75% of her time being a 'pet rock' sitting where you would expect on the substrate, and 25% of her time hanging from the walls.
Any advice greatly received.
@Trenor is right, you shouldn't keep your smithi bone dry, you want a wet spot near the water bowl. It should look something like this...
 

Attachments

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
I think tarantulas will test out their environment and see if it would be good to molt in that spot. They flip over and reach out their legs to see if they would have enough room.
Interesting, not a crazy idea. But there's been many instances where I've seen Ts choose to molt in ridiculously tight spaces. And it's not like they don't have an open area to molt in, they just molt in their hides anyway.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
I think tarantulas will test out their environment and see if it would be good to molt in that spot. They flip over and reach out their legs to see if they would have enough room.
Interesting, not a crazy idea. But there's been many instances where I've seen Ts choose to molt in ridiculously tight spaces. And it's not like they don't have an open area to molt in, they just molt in their hides anyway.
I've seen a lot of them preparing to molt before and I've never seen any of my Ts flip and not molt. So I don't think they test out an area by flipping over and trying it out like we do a new mattress at the mattress store. They do prepare the area they choose by expanding web tubes on arboreal Ts to laying down a web mat for terrestrial Ts.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
Yeah I'm just waiting to see what happens. She's looking longer flipping every few hours anymore and has been right side up for a week or so
 

ediblepain

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 24, 2016
Messages
98
Aww. He's just a little guy! It's not the size of the hooks that matters to the ladies, it's how he uses them.
 

Leila

Arachnobaron
Joined
Feb 7, 2017
Messages
525
That's interesting. I am fairly new to the hobby and keep my B. Smithi on bone dry substrate. She eats well and moults with no apparent problem, however she does tend to spend more time than I would have thought for a terrestrial hanging off the walls of the enclosure. I had heard this was a sign of the enclosure being too wet, but this is definitely not the case here. Could it be the case that I am keeping her too dry? Is this normal behaviour?
If I were to make an estimate she probably spends 75% of her time being a 'pet rock' sitting where you would expect on the substrate, and 25% of her time hanging from the walls.
Any advice greatly received.
Don't feel bad, man...until this thread, I was under the impression that my G. porteri was supposed to be kept on totally dry sub.... :dead: Welp!

Umm, not to derail this thread any further, but I tried offering that porteri a ping pong ball last night...and, umm... This was his reaction:
rosea011.jpg
He was probably ticked off about the dry substrate?
:rofl:

(Not my T in the photo. Had to borrow one off google ;) )
 
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