New Slings!

[indigoeyes]

YAY! Swift is quikly becoming one of my favorite people! =D I get my new Slings the other day! A Versicolour, he replaced the Smithi that was DOA last time, and he threw in a beautiful C. Fasciatum! They are so sweet! The Versi is very fuzzy and very blue. the Fasciatum is little, but fascinating to watch. And the Smithi is FAT with a voracious appetite. (He eats more than the Albopilosum..)

And I found the perfect container for the 1/2 to 3/4 inch slings. At Hobby Lobby, they sell six packs of clear acrylic or luicite cases for 1:64 scale cars. (Hot Wheels sized.) I sniped someone elses idea for cutting the top of the lid and hot gluing mesh over the opening. The set up even worked for the Versicolour! We tipped it on it's side, put some twigs in there, a bit of potting soil on the bottom, and a "trap door" to feed him on the side!

For anyone that has had any of these, which have you found to be obligate burrowers? The care sheets and books Inuleki has read haven't been much help in that department. We also have G. Aureostriatum, E. Campestratus, and B. ALbopilosum slings. (And an insane Rosea that burrows. )

One last thing. I would love to post pictures of my babys, but I can't get good pictures. My digital won't zoom in for a good picture of the slings, and my 35mm doesn't have a zoom lense. How can I get pictures of my slings to turn out?

Sorry for the long post, but I'm really excited...

 

[Code Monkey]

My experience is that almost all Brachypelma will burrow as small slings, this behavior generally stops when they reach about 2" or more. I have also found that my C. fasciatum slings tend to burrow as well. Most people find that they also tend to not burrow as much when they get larger but I'm still waiting on my one juvenile I raised from a 1/4" teeny to catch up with what "other people's" tigerrumps are doing.

None of the species you listed is an *obligate* burrower, but that doesn't mean, particularly when smaller that they won't burrow. My philosophy is to let small slings burrow as much as they want - they're usually bald anyhow and it lets them have more control over their humidity and local moisture levels. As they get larger, I give them less substrate relative to the spider such that they can dig out a nice hide underneath some cork bark but they can't really burrow - I like to see my spiders