quick question: stress + moulting

[bobusboy]

Did a search, but was probably missing one word to find the resulted I wanted.


Ok, I've got my very first pokie read all the care sheets and trolled the forum looking for my answer and I'm pretty sure i read it before so bare with me here I'm just looking for confirmation.

Tarantulas are more reluctant to moult, and eat if they are not content with their enclosure. Whether its the temperature, humidity, hide not enough substrate, et cetera ad infinitum.

So if my pokie moulted about two weeks after being rehoused, its safe to say that it is happy with its enclosure?

Additionally, where does one find crickets big enough for 4-6" tarantulas? the biggest my LPS has are only suitable for my 3" and smaller Ts

 

[Johnny1320]

Sounds like your pokie is content.

Maybe try some dubia roaches? Not sure what you can order up there.

 

[bobusboy]

Not "allowed" to have roaches here, unless they have a standing population in that area already they're prohibited. I have no desire to have a colony even if they were available.

Maybe later on when my collection doubles in size (ie, a few months from now lol) but as it stands crickets are easy enough and at the LPS i can buy them individually so i get just the right amount, but they're all too small lately.

 

[Johnny1320]

Not "allowed" to have roaches here, unless they have a standing population in that area already they're prohibited. I have no desire to have a colony even if they were available.

Maybe later on when my collection doubles in size (ie, a few months from now lol) but as it stands crickets are easy enough and at the LPS i can buy them individually so i get just the right amount, but they're all too small lately.

I know what you mean. Last year when we bought small quantities from lps they were really small. And we had boxes of 1000 die really quickly. Probably cause of that cricket virus.

 

[Hobo]

Did a search, but was probably missing one word to find the resulted I wanted.


Ok, I've got my very first pokie read all the care sheets and trolled the forum looking for my answer and I'm pretty sure i read it before so bare with me here I'm just looking for confirmation.

Tarantulas are more reluctant to moult, and eat if they are not content with their enclosure. Whether its the temperature, humidity, hide not enough substrate, et cetera ad infinitum.

So if my pokie moulted about two weeks after being rehoused, its safe to say that it is happy with its enclosure?

Additionally, where does one find crickets big enough for 4-6" tarantulas? the biggest my LPS has are only suitable for my 3" and smaller Ts

After two weeks, it should be settled in nicely yes, but I wouldn't consider molting somewhere to be a sign that they are "happy" with it. After all, many have been known to molt during shipping, and I doubt they are "content" in those tiny vials in a box being tossed around.

And yeah, the cricket thing. It depends on the supplier, and what the lps orders. I'm lucky enough to have several that order adults and sell by size. That said, I've fed small crickets to big Ts without issue before; you just have to feed them a whole lot more You could also try super worms or other, larger worms until your lps gets large ones again.

 

[Midknight xrs]

meal worms are a good alternative to roaches and crickets.

 

[yarndilwuck]

i agree with mealworms plus you can do what i'm doing and buy a 3 compartment sterlite container cut out the top compartments bottom hotglue some screen on it (i'll explain why) put the mealworms in oats in the middle compartment and when they pupate put them in the bottom compartment... once they turn into beetles you can place them in oats with maybe a toilet paper roll half for a hide they will reproduce lay eggs the eggs will hatch anf babies will crawl through the screen (avoiding being eaten by the beetles) and settle down with the rest of the worms... so this IMO is a good way to save money buy the worms once have them reproduce and never buy them again... all my t's seem to love them and they don't smell like crickets plus i don't see any problem (please correct me if i'm wrong) with feeding the t's the adult beetles if you have to many of them also they wont escape b/c they cant climb the smooth plastic surfaces even as beetles

 

[bobusboy]

I was doing this before, but i found that super worms and meal worms like to dig right away, and I'm not going to try and tong feed my P. regalis lest it bolt and have to catch it.