OBT problems.

jrh3

Araneae
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Every OBT I have ever kept has done better in a fossorial style setup. I would give it atleast 6 inches of substrate.
 

BoyFromLA

Spoon feeder
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Oct 26, 2017
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I would highly recommend you to rehouse this beautiful tarantula, into terrestrial / fossorial set up enclosure where it can freely dig, web, etc, for it is NOT arboreal tarantula.

For example:

A3C6048C-8208-4BD0-BA9B-6FCD04A1837C.jpeg

0C0EEE3F-7E4B-4860-986F-B9E9D6C852B1.jpeg

F2680677-E9D4-4F39-9644-B586A9D9E6AA.jpeg
 

greeneyedelle

Arachnoknight
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Jan 26, 2021
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199
Beautiful spider, wow!

You have a terrestrial spider that has been known to show arboreal tendencies, so regardless, that's a lot of height in between the top of the substrate and the top of the enclosure. If she does fall, and she does die, it's a direct result of a poorly constructed enclosure, not your tarantula being dumb. Just add a bit more dry substrate, as has already been said, to reduce the height in there. My very, very terrestrial g. porteri will climb the sides of her enclosure once every 3 years, if her substrate is wet, it's just a preference thing. Most will recommend that you have dry substrate and just overflow the water dish in one area to provide damp substrate in that one spot should your t want it. You've already gotten the picture on the enclosure issue, I'm glad you were so quick to get on fixing it.

Days, weeks, months, some go years without eating. I can 100% guarantee that your t is not going to starve. It will eat when it wants to :)

Deep breaths. Relax. Don't stress! You got this, you little rockstar, you! :cool:
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
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Dec 8, 2006
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17,851
Why are you keeping a terrestrial T in an ARBOREAL setup? Fix that
 

Alekos

Arachnopeon
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Dec 1, 2021
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17
Thanks guys for all the help, it's really appreciated. I will rebuild the enclosure again with dry substrate and many sticks+ a little hole for her to burrow if she wants.

Though your ideas of putting her in a smaller box because she is simply small is great, I can't really do that. You see, I payed 100+ Euros on that terrarium and I really don't want to put her/him in a smaller space when he can have that big house. When I got her in the pet shop she was in a 10cm box!!! She couldn't fit properly, and that prick of a shop owner, tear down her webs every day so that ' the customers could she her clearly' and some other gibberish like 'She has no VenOm!!!'
Anyways what I'm trying to say is thanks a lot for the ideas and yes that setup above looks pretty neat but I'll stick with this. Thanks for all the help though, I was really worried about her/him/it/idk .
 

Manny

ArachnoAquarium
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Jan 26, 2015
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@Alekos you're not helping it by keeping it in a large enclosure. It’s actually detrimental. The tarantula doesn’t view it as a palace. If I were you, I’d buy a much smaller enclosure and use that terrarium for something else that would appreciate it.
 

spideyspinneret78

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Jul 19, 2019
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1,253
They are fossorial. Give them a generous amount of substrate to burrow into and you'll be seeing a spider that is more comfortable and settling in better. An incorrect setup often results in a defensive, stressed animal. This is one of the main reasons why OBTs have an "aggressive" reputation. People don't keep them in the right environment and they have nowhere to retreat when threatened. They also need very dry substrate. High humidity is harmful for them. And don't worry about the spider starving. They can go for weeks, even months without food and will be perfectly fine. They need time and an appropriate enclosure to settle in.
 

Crazyarachnoguy

Arachnoknight
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Dec 11, 2019
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180
Thanks guys for all the help, it's really appreciated. I will rebuild the enclosure again with dry substrate and many sticks+ a little hole for her to burrow if she wants.

Though your ideas of putting her in a smaller box because she is simply small is great, I can't really do that. You see, I payed 100+ Euros on that terrarium and I really don't want to put her/him in a smaller space when he can have that big house. When I got her in the pet shop she was in a 10cm box!!! She couldn't fit properly, and that prick of a shop owner, tear down her webs every day so that ' the customers could she her clearly' and some other gibberish like 'She has no VenOm!!!'
Anyways what I'm trying to say is thanks a lot for the ideas and yes that setup above looks pretty neat but I'll stick with this. Thanks for all the help though, I was really worried about her/him/it/idk .
I have to advise you to do a ton of research. Having such a spider, with no knowledge is really scary. That cage is gigantic for a tiny spider, I understand the money aspect but that’s kind of what happens when you buy things on a whim without research. Don’t underestimate the demeanor of your “calm spider”, or a bite will be in your future. Good luck with him mate, but please do your research before you get a highly venomous animal again.
 

Alekos

Arachnopeon
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Dec 1, 2021
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17
Ηey guys, I re-did her enclosure with *dry substrate*. I baked the coco fibre for 1 and a half hour for nothing. Half of the soil was wet and the other half was bone dry. So I mixed them together and now the soil is much drier than before, but guess what... she doesn't wan't to come down because it too wet for her AGAIN... I can't bake the dirt again I wasted a lot of power on the stove so, I will just wait with the dehumidifier on every day all day till she finally comes down ): Also when I was trying to put her in a catch cup to re-build, she was SO CALM! She literally walked into the cup after i pushed her a bit. I was impressed. But when I put her back in she was veeeery pissed, so she was attacking my brush every 2 secconds.. Eventually I put her cup in the terrarium and let her do her thing. She is now on the roof of her palace looking at me..
 

Smotzer

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So here are the pictures, right now it's been hours after I have taken those pictures and also she is now up on the corner AGAIN webbing her self up. View attachment 404832 View attachment 404832
Now this is a picture of the encosure View attachment 404834 View attachment 404834
This set up is completely unsuitable for a Pterinochilus murinus, coupled along with the unusable height and the climbing behavior, an injury or death is waiting to happen. I would rehhouse it into something where you can provide more depthh of substrate than height since thhey are fossorial and at most terrestrial not arboreal. Here is how I keep mine. And it will suffer on moist substrate. IMG_1460.jpg
 

Alekos

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Messages
17
Great enclosure, look I have a very nice plastic box perfect for her. But I am really bummed cause I payed so much for her terrarium thinking it would make her feel comfortable but it doesn't seem like it. The terrarium is a 16x8x12, will it be suitable for her when she is an adult?
 

Poonjab

Arachnoking
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Nov 4, 2019
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2,755
Great enclosure, look I have a very nice plastic box perfect for her. But I am really bummed cause I payed so much for her terrarium thinking it would make her feel comfortable but it doesn't seem like it. The terrarium is a 16x8x12, will it be suitable for her when she is an adult?
Probably not
 

Alekos

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Messages
17
Well, that's a shame ):
I don't know what I'll do with that terrarium then.
 

YungRasputin

Arachnobaron
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May 25, 2021
Messages
403
1) there is zero need to ever tong feed unless we’re talking about a v aged specimen that can no longer hunt properly - it’s likely that rigmarole of tong feeding is putting them off

drop feed some crickets and reassess

2) as far as substrate and humidity goes, it should be relatively dry but not arid - in the wild, their endemic to areas where the relative humidity is around 40-60% - so while the soil shouldn’t be moist like with some tropical species, it should also not be bone dry either

i would let the substrate dry out and reassess

edit: try mixing the drier substrate with a bit of sand
 

Alekos

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 1, 2021
Messages
17
1) there is zero need to ever tong feed unless we’re talking about a v aged specimen that can no longer hunt properly - it’s likely that rigmarole of tong feeding is putting them off

drop feed some crickets and reassess

2) as far as substrate and humidity goes, it should be relatively dry but not arid - in the wild, their endemic to areas where the relative humidity is around 40-60% - so while the soil shouldn’t be moist like with some tropical species, it should also not be bone dry either

i would let the substrate dry out and reassess

edit: try mixing the drier substrate with a bit of sand
Thanks, I have already put sand and it is now dry also, I don't know why she doesn't eat, I throw meal worms on her web once 4-5 days to see if she will eat them but NEVER. So one day a left a meal worm there (because once I wait for about 30 mins, I take them out) and then next day I saw her nibbling on something and the meal worm wasn't there. So she probably ate.. But she is very weird when it comes to feeding, she is very calm and doesn't attack her prey, she just looks at me.
 
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