Rehouse now, or after molt?

[SpookySpooder]

So I just picked this trio up, and I'm not exactly happy with their living situation. I can find a couple of things I don't like... enclosure footprint, poor vents, and substrate depth being most prominent.

They didn't have water dishes and the substrate is dripping. I saw a few gnats jump off when I opened the lids to add ventilation.

They do not seem very happy there either. Two of them curl and scrunch up tightly when I open the lid and they do not respond to being nudged with a paintbrush. The only time I've encountered this is when I bump the cabinet and my T is super stressed and afraid, they play possum instead of bolting. The third one is very defensive and rushes to threat pose the opening in the lid, so I don't think it's happy with the space either.

All this signals to me that these T's do not feel secure because they cannot burrow or hide to their satisfaction.

Am I incorrect in assuming this? Am I projecting too much onto these T's?

Either way, I am considering rehousing them now because they seem unhappy or waiting until they molt out--so I can grab and sex the molts easily--before allowing them to burrow deep and possibly not being able to retrieve their next molts.

Really want to be able to grab the molts, but also want my new additions to adjust and be happier than they are right now.

Should I rehouse now? Should I wait for the molt? Is there an alternative solution I am overlooking where I can make them happier but also retrieve the next molt?

I guess I could always dig up the burrow after I rehouse them and they molt. Just not keen on that.

Input appreciated!

I gave it a water dish, which it clearly desired.


Didn't find anything abnormal during inspection. Just an unhappy T and a few gnats that promptly jumped away.


Must've doubled the air flow.


Bird's Eye View. All 3 enclosures are identical.


2nd one. This one worries me the most as it did not move at all or even attempt to do anything other than scrunch up super hard when I gave it water.


Third one. Just waiting for me to pop the lid so it can come slap it. Might have to do this one later.


Bonus question:

This is what was in the substrate. Only saw a few of them and killed what I could catch.

Anybody got a clue what it is?

 

[Tbone192]

Gorgeous spiders!

Totally up to you. IMO I would move them into a new happy hole and just hope that you can get their molts. This is because I worry way too much when I think my T's are stressed. Either way is probably fine though honestly. If you have the resources, you could add some fake plant or something maybe to offer more cover in temporary enclosures.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Just to clarify, I wasn't the one who stuck them in there to begin with. I'm not even sure I want to leave them in there like that.

I got them Tuesday night like this, left them in a separate dark closet to acclimate for a day and now I'm checking on them. Planning my next actions for them before I do anything.

Priorities:
1. Health and happiness
2. Sexing each specimen

Just hoping someone has a solution where I can accomplish both easily. Otherwise I will be rehousing into a deeper enclosure and probably have to dig up their molts later.

Which from personal experience... they don't like that, and I really don't like when they don't like things because they freak out and I'd rather we all stay relaxed and calm and in one spot.

 

[Tarantuland]

Rehouse now, most the time I rehouse spiders molt right after anyway. Like sometimes I’ll have to do 50 rehousings and I’ll have 20 molts within a week.

Looks like a phorid fly. They’re really hard to get rid of once they show up. I’d rehouse and get them old enclosures and substrate out of the house asap. If you’re gonna keep the enclosures I’d dump everything and spray them off with chlorhexidine or something similar and get all the flies out ASAP. They love roach and isopod colonies and fossorial T enclosures

congrats on the Vietnam Silvers. They’re one species I wanna work with that I haven’t yet

 

[Tbone192]

Just to clarify, I wasn't the one who stuck them in there to begin with. I'm not even sure I want to leave them in there like that.

I got them Tuesday night like this, left them in a separate dark closet to acclimate for a day and now I'm checking on them. Planning my next actions for them before I do anything.

Priorities:
1. Health and happiness
2. Sexing each specimen

Just hoping someone has a solution where I can accomplish both easily. Otherwise I will be rehousing into a deeper enclosure and probably have to dig up their molts later.

Which from personal experience... they don't like that, and I really don't like when they don't like things because they freak out and I'd rather we all stay relaxed and calm and in one spot.

I figured it was supplier.

Only thing I can think of off my head is plants/fake plants in their current enclosures could help calm them down and then you can move them after they molt. Just gotta feed them plump and juicy like to encourage that molting to happen. How big are these pals?

 

[DomGom TheFather]

I'd move em.

 

[Wolfram1]

move them or don't, both is fine, i'd move them

mb, it thought is was obviously a gnat but further inspection is neccessary, all the phorid flies i saw were so fat the abdomen was rounded

i guess, i cant tell 100% from this angle

anyway still 90% fat female gnat

 

[SpookySpooder]

I'm gonna move them. Don't feel like incubating anything in the substrate and introducing it into my collection.

I'll maintain quarantine until I get enough time to do three rehouses. I'll burn the substrate (figuratively) and bleach the enclosures.

I tried to identify the bug earlier because I'm freaking out about phorid flies now, but this bug hops and doesn't fly like the phorid flies described on Google. I was able to kill a couple because they just jumped around and got stuck in the container I had the enclosures in. It was also flat like a gnat before I pressed down on it as well. I was about to take it under the macro but I dropped them somewhere and I think the knockoff roomba ate it.

Either way these T's will remain away from my collection down the hall in the kitchen cabinet until they are rehoused and the substrate is disposed of.

Set up some small traps to see if anything is lingering. I did another visual inspection and can't find any more.

I figured it was supplier.

Only thing I can think of off my head is plants/fake plants in their current enclosures could help calm them down and then you can move them after they molt. Just gotta feed them plump and juicy like to encourage that molting to happen. How big are these pals?

I was told 1.5-2" DLS. All three look to be the same size as mine (maybe a bit smaller) and mine is about 3" DLS.

I'll get an accurate measurement when I rehouse them all.

 

[viper69]

If they are close to molt, I wait

 

[Tentacle Toast]

If it were me, I'd get them out of that disaster ASAP, but that's just me.

 

[SpookySpooder]

This one's gonna be long and raw. Don't feel like editing or anything. Just finished the rehousing on all 3, didn't have any trouble outside of what was expected.

First batch is gonna be enclosure pics, then I will post the order I did the rehousings in. Spoiler: I correctly predicted the difficulty of each specimen with the only nuance being the spicy one was extra spicy.

Prepared my battlestation by cutting off all escape routes and setting up my arsenal.


Part of the preparation process


The substrate mix is reptisoil, coco fiber/husk, sphagnum moss and sand




Didn't have any bark left, so I have to make due until I forage/order more



Before/After



10 image limit hit, so continued in the next post.

 

[SpookySpooder]

The hardest part about the first rehouse was getting the T to move out of the old enclosure without forcing it. I coaxed it with a paintbrush and once it did get out, it was rather calm.

No need to prod or poke. Just watching and waiting.

It knew exactly where it wanted to go.

(Forgot to take a finished photo but it was the one in the post above with the ruler across it)

The second one went without incident as well.


They were quick to evict their little box but couldn't run very far.


Left it alone for a minute and it calmed down


Then I came up with this idea


Done with my shenanigans and moving into the new burrow

 

[SpookySpooder]

The final boss, not intimidated like the other 2 when I ripped off the lid. This T is always ready to defend its home.

"I just want to give you a bigger home"

It slapped the paintbrush so I had to dig behind it with the tongs. It walked off into the corner and stood there.


"We can do this the easy way, or the hard wa--oh ok, I don't know why I asked"


Taking no chances with this one, I get the message loud and clear. It's kinda cute how mad it is.


This T refused to accept it was defeated, it angrily tapped the top and then whispered threats to me through the glass.


Working smort not hord


Already digging



That's it for now. I'm very excited to have a group of these now as they were my first species in the hobby.

Just wanted to show my appreciation to the community as I relied heavily on borrowed concepts, information and knowledge from so many members to get this done.

Thanks to everybody who takes the time to share their experiences and insight with the rest of us.

 

[slocoj91]

Why do I find threat poses adorable?! xD I suppose part of it is knowing the person dealing with them has it all in hand, though.

Recently been wondering if a spi-pot as used for spider species ID in the field could be briefly used with a T. Less through wanting to try it and more just curiosity. Maybe would only be even remotely viable with more chill specimens, especially if trying to examine the underside. I'm not sure if their tarsal claws would easily pierce cheap plastic wrap, but I suspect their fangs - if the wrap was against their underside - would defeat the stuff.

Those enclosures they started in can be useful for some terrestrials, but even when brand new to the hobby I went elsewhere once dealing with fossorial habits. Admittedly the super tiny C elegans that started out in one was thrilled with the amount of burrowing space *they* got from such an enclosure, and is now still in the smaller container I ended up rehousing them to after doing some further reading on this forum.

 

[SpookySpooder]

Why do I find threat poses adorable?! xD I suppose part of it is knowing the person dealing with them has it all in hand, though.

Recently been wondering if a spi-pot as used for spider species ID in the field could be briefly used with a T. Less through wanting to try it and more just curiosity. Maybe would only be even remotely viable with more chill specimens, especially if trying to examine the underside. I'm not sure if their tarsal claws would easily pierce cheap plastic wrap, but I suspect their fangs - if the wrap was against their underside - would defeat the stuff.

Those enclosures they started in can be useful for some terrestrials, but even when brand new to the hobby I went elsewhere once dealing with fossorial habits. Admittedly the super tiny C elegans that started out in one was thrilled with the amount of burrowing space *they* got from such an enclosure, and is now still in the smaller container I ended up rehousing them to after doing some further reading on this forum.

Me too honestly. I think it's adorable, like when a small dog starts chasing you and barking.

To answer your question, they can easily defeat cling wrap. I've used it as a temporary lid and it will hold them in place but they can tear through it quite easily once they realize it isn't a solid barrier.

As for the enclosures they came in, I soaked them in bleach and boiling hot water and left them in the sun for a few weeks. I haven't used them for anything else yet so they're just sitting outside in the elements.

I might use them for a dwarf species, but currently they are too big for my slings.

I'm curious what you settled on for fossorial use? Got any pics?