- Joined
- Jan 21, 2008
- Messages
- 345
I just had a 'fun', and adrenaline stimulating, rehousing my "unknown tarantula" from Ken. Still looking for and ID on this guy, but I just got these pictures up on the ID thread, so hopefully that will get some guesses (though feel free to add any guesses you may have!!) It came to be labeled as "Unknown, WILL BITE" so that added some entertainment to everything. 
I'd had only a couple views of the T outside of the vial that it came in, so I didn't have much to go on for what to expect, except that I knew it seems a bit on the skinny side.
Anyways, decided the T needed a bigger home, the only kritter keeper I had available when I got it was a small 9x6x6 inch (meaning closer to 8x5x5 when you take rims and tapering into account), and with the T being almost 4 inchs in LS it seemed like it might be a bit cramped. The old plastic tub as a hide and deli cup as a water bowl weren't doing much for me either...
So I got a new large kritter keeper (14x8x9 inches) and set it up for the T with a water bowl (I put golf ball sized rocks stacked to the bottom under it to discourage burrowing under it - which would risk collapse of the burrow), and a half log hide, and coco-fiber. All materials were scrubbed, rinsed with hot water, and microwaved to eliminate any contaminants.
So, I put both cages inside a rubbermaid container for security, right next to each other, and carefully removed the items from the old cage, finally slowly removing the hide to get one of the few looks I've had of the unknown T sitting there.
I figured I could try to coax the T to crawl up and over into the new enclosure, so I got my paint brush and started gently touching the back of the T to urge it forward. It didn't much care for my tactics.
Still, with a bit more coaxing, I got the T moving forward, all seemed to be working, and just a couple more taps should have done it.....:wall:
This is when everything went wrong. The T decided to whip around to attack the bruch, and hung on tight as I attempted to move the brush away! The split second in which this all happened my brain was still registering "oh crap" my reflexes continued to move the brush - and the T, up and out of the cage, rubbermaid, and over onto the floor! I froze, the T froze, and we both just stared at each other for a minute. I then carefully reached for my cup to catch the T with, and started slowly moving away the clumps of newspaper (that had been packing material from its arrival) away from where it was to get a clear shot with the cup. A couple quick dashes to cover under other items, and then a great threat pose at the slowly descending cup, and I finally managed to get the cup around the T. Felt like 10 minutes of work, but it was probably not more than a minute.
cupped T
After digging for suitably thick material to lift the cup up with, I managed to get it moved over and put the whole cup into the new tank, and left the T in there to make its own way out of the cup. I took the opportunity to try and get a few more pictures of my mystery T.
In just a couple minutes, as i was attempting to adjust the camera for a better shot, the T decided to make a run for the hide and dashed into it and turned around to watch out the front, before backing into the back of the hide.
So anyways, thats my rehousing fun I thought I'd share. I've read so many fun rehousing stories from others that I figured I would tell mine too. It was made even more interesting since I don't know the T, or its personality, or even the normal personality for the species since I have no information other than "will bite." Made for a fun afternoon.
I'd had only a couple views of the T outside of the vial that it came in, so I didn't have much to go on for what to expect, except that I knew it seems a bit on the skinny side.
Anyways, decided the T needed a bigger home, the only kritter keeper I had available when I got it was a small 9x6x6 inch (meaning closer to 8x5x5 when you take rims and tapering into account), and with the T being almost 4 inchs in LS it seemed like it might be a bit cramped. The old plastic tub as a hide and deli cup as a water bowl weren't doing much for me either...
So I got a new large kritter keeper (14x8x9 inches) and set it up for the T with a water bowl (I put golf ball sized rocks stacked to the bottom under it to discourage burrowing under it - which would risk collapse of the burrow), and a half log hide, and coco-fiber. All materials were scrubbed, rinsed with hot water, and microwaved to eliminate any contaminants.
So, I put both cages inside a rubbermaid container for security, right next to each other, and carefully removed the items from the old cage, finally slowly removing the hide to get one of the few looks I've had of the unknown T sitting there.
I figured I could try to coax the T to crawl up and over into the new enclosure, so I got my paint brush and started gently touching the back of the T to urge it forward. It didn't much care for my tactics.
Still, with a bit more coaxing, I got the T moving forward, all seemed to be working, and just a couple more taps should have done it.....:wall:
This is when everything went wrong. The T decided to whip around to attack the bruch, and hung on tight as I attempted to move the brush away! The split second in which this all happened my brain was still registering "oh crap" my reflexes continued to move the brush - and the T, up and out of the cage, rubbermaid, and over onto the floor! I froze, the T froze, and we both just stared at each other for a minute. I then carefully reached for my cup to catch the T with, and started slowly moving away the clumps of newspaper (that had been packing material from its arrival) away from where it was to get a clear shot with the cup. A couple quick dashes to cover under other items, and then a great threat pose at the slowly descending cup, and I finally managed to get the cup around the T. Felt like 10 minutes of work, but it was probably not more than a minute.
After digging for suitably thick material to lift the cup up with, I managed to get it moved over and put the whole cup into the new tank, and left the T in there to make its own way out of the cup. I took the opportunity to try and get a few more pictures of my mystery T.
In just a couple minutes, as i was attempting to adjust the camera for a better shot, the T decided to make a run for the hide and dashed into it and turned around to watch out the front, before backing into the back of the hide.
So anyways, thats my rehousing fun I thought I'd share. I've read so many fun rehousing stories from others that I figured I would tell mine too. It was made even more interesting since I don't know the T, or its personality, or even the normal personality for the species since I have no information other than "will bite."
Made for a fun afternoon.
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