opinions on pet holes

bloodred1889

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Messages
284
hehe i love how ppl call them pet holes, it is kinda true though.

this isnt a serios question im just cureous.

i have a cobolt blue who after much encouragment finally dug a burrow, i had to change the soil 3 times to get it right for burrowing, but in the end she made one. :D

i love her and when she is at her doorway waiting for prey she looks awesome, she can be really bitchy though ;) any tap or moement and she is doing threat pose.. but i just think thats cool.
she just molted but i only knew because she had rolled her molt into a ball and tossed it out, i was hoping to keep it but burrowers will be burrowers.
at least she cleans up, i had a thialand black basically the same spider but black and she died from scuttle flies because she had dead parts of food in there and i coudnt see them or get them out, so i was sad but i also thought what i stupid tarantula ;)

anyway i also had a king babbon who had a really long burrow.
all the big burrowers i had always mostly were out of site, but when they came out i always loved watching them, feeding them.
but they are most of the time.. pet holes.
or a tank full of soil.

i always got asked why do you keep them if you cant see them, i said i dont know i just love them there so pretty and cool and even though i dont see them i just kinda know there there.

sorry ramling on...

anyway i just wandered how you all thought about your burrowers, why do you like them?
why do some of you have loads of them.
what is your opinion of them being just pet holes and not seeing them?

im really interested in what you have to say :)
 

AbraCadaver

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
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Feb 6, 2009
Messages
296
I think it's really intresting to watch them. At the moment I have one h.lividum and one c.darlingi that are burrowing like mad. I keep them in vial like things, with little "slip covers" on(only cardboard, so it wont make it too hot) so they can get privacy. But I get to see some pretty nifty burrows when I do it that way. The darlingi burrows even without the little cover, but the lividum wouldn't do much more than poke it's head into the soil.. The darlingi has really cool cave systems. I love my little burrowers, allthough keeping them the way I do they're not really petholes..
 

BigJ999

Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
188
Well im getting a King Baboon which i guess is like a pet hole. But it seems most of the burrowers are much more active at night hunting and burrowing. So whats the longest anyone's T has stay in its burrow?
 

Alboy84

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
29
I've just bought myself a WC Colbalt Blue, had it for about a week now. I've got it in an enclosure with about 4-5 inches of vermiculite and a flower pot retreat, with a bit of cork bark - rather than go for the burrowing set-up, just to see how it goes.

At the moment it seems oddly un-shy for a Colbalt and has webbed quite a bit but has not attempted any digging as far as I can see. They're really nice spiders though. Again, I'll see how it goes....if I think it'll benefit from from burrowing I'll changes it's substrate.
 

mcluskyisms

Arachnoangel
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Apr 16, 2009
Messages
843
I've just bought myself a WC Colbalt Blue, had it for about a week now. I've got it in an enclosure with about 4-5 inches of vermiculite and a flower pot retreat, with a bit of cork bark - rather than go for the burrowing set-up, just to see how it goes.
Where abouts in the UK did you buy a WC H.lividum from???

At the moment it seems oddly un-shy for a Colbalt and has webbed quite a bit but has not attempted any digging as far as I can see. They're really nice spiders though. Again, I'll see how it goes....if I think it'll benefit from from burrowing I'll changes it's substrate.
It's probably not burrowing because it cant due to the lack of substrate.....
 

Pociemon

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
911
I love haplopelama, especially the chinise ones. I allways see some of them out when it gets dark, so yes, they are petholes, but i do see them;-) And i have quite a few of them too.
 

Kathy

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
852
My blue fang had created a masterpiece - I can tell she works on it every night because every morning her nice clean water bowl is filled with dirt. I can't figure if she is digging out the hole and dragging dirt into the water bowl, or mixing dirt with water to make mud and bringing it back. I wish I had a little night camera to tape her. It's 2/3 underground and 1/3 above ground webbed with dirt and moss. Pretty awesome.
 

Alboy84

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
29
Where abouts in the UK did you buy a WC H.lividum from???
I live in the north east, it was a pet store close to me....I think they had about 4 of them....£40 each.

It's probably not burrowing because it cant due to the lack of substrate.....
It has enough to 'try'...I'm saying it doesn't even do that....just webs. It's behaviour may change though, if it does I'm prepared. Got multiple blocks of that coco coir stuff^^
 

robbie

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Jul 23, 2007
Messages
139
Alboy84 do you have anything else in there besides vermiculite? She might need some potting soil or coconut fiber. I think they need to dig to keep from stressing out.
 

gargoyl52

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Sep 2, 2009
Messages
123
i only have one pet hole at the moment, a king baboon. i love her, i plan on getting more in the future for sure.
 

gargoyl52

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
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Sep 2, 2009
Messages
123
has a great big attitude for a little 2" T. eats like a machine now. before she wld only eat once every month or 2. almost died. now she waits at her tunnel opening when she wants food n doesnt let the prey hit the ground before she grabs it in mid air!! man I want more of them!!!!!! LOL
 

mcluskyisms

Arachnoangel
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Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
843
I live in the north east, it was a pet store close to me....I think they had about 4 of them....£40 each.
What was the pet shop? Was it in Boro? £40 is pretty steep IMO.....

It has enough to 'try'...I'm saying it doesn't even do that....just webs. It's behaviour may change though, if it does I'm prepared. Got multiple blocks of that coco coir stuff^^
Well when I had mine I put it in its enclosure with plenty of substrate and it still didn't burrow for well over a month, I believe it depends on how humid and small the actual enclosure it is in is. As if its fairly humid and small in there then the tarantula actually wont feel the need to burrow as its feeling pretty secure as it is.

Although in time you may find out as the substrate dries out somewhat, the tarantula may want to start constructing itself a burrow as burrows tend to hold humidity better.

Long story short, Id just give it plenty of substrate from the start and let it make its own mind up :)
 

BigJ999

Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 1, 2010
Messages
188
LOL it sounds like king baboon's are a very hungry pet hole thats awsome that they have such attitude. :)
 

mcluskyisms

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Apr 16, 2009
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843
Nah, in Darlo. Coast to Coast Exotics...type it up on google. Stock list is regularly updated on the site.
I know Coast to Coast well, I used to go there a lot is Stu (guy with the glasses) still working there?
 

Alboy84

Arachnopeon
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
29
Yeah, he's still there...sound guy. Brave too in my opinion, thinks nothing of sticking his hand right into the enclosure of a Pterinochilus sp. so that customers can have a closer look at the T.
 

mcluskyisms

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
843
Yeah, he's still there...sound guy. Brave too in my opinion, thinks nothing of sticking his hand right into the enclosure of a Pterinochilus sp. so that customers can have a closer look at the T.
Aye, hes sound, although he wasn't that brave with the P.murinus I sold him ;)
 
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