Rehousing H. lividum (I Need a New Plan)

Amanda

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As far as I know, there are two standard methods of rehousing one of these feisty critters...
1. Flood them out.
2. Put the old container in the new and wait it out.

I don't want to flood him/her out because I'm hoping to salvage the molts she's got squirreled away down there, so I placed the old container (a small jar) into the new container (a 2.5gal tank) to let her come out on her own. I've set the new tank up with a nice deep substrate and a few sticks and things to dig around. I also put a good bit of green moss on the surface for her to weave into the new burrow.



Now the problem...
Instead of moving out of the old and super-cramped burrow into the new tank, she's just expanding the top of her old burrow. She's been pulling the green moss out of the new tank and weaving it into the opening of her jar.





I'm happy that she's having fun with the new building materials, but how do I get her to move out without flooding or digging her out?
 

Bear Foot Inc

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I'd say digging is the only good way i know of, just do it safley, i use my 12" forceps to carefully get all the dirt out.
 

Varden

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Yeah, dig her out. You can do it carefully and still get a chance at salvaging her molts (although in my experience, if they don't throw them out, it's because they've tamped them into the wall or ceiling of their existing burrow and there won't be anything left to salvage). I use either a paintbrush or chopstick. Just go slowly and carefully and be aware that she'll either (A) Come bolting out of the jar, all shades of attitude for having been disturbed, or (B) Be a nice little unobtrusive ball in the very bottom, waiting until the last possibly second to move, just in case you really don't mean to force her out of her home.
 

Talkenlate04

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Dig him out and prepair for a nice little heart attack when he comes flying out into his new world!
You can get a good bumch of it out by pinching the existing webbing with tweezers and pulling.
Good luck {D
 

_bob_

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I had to rehouse a 5.5 inch female a few days ago. It was not the most pleasant thing i have done before. I had bought her from a local shop so she was in a KK. I set up a tank for her then had to kinda tip it over so she would get out of it. I can not image what it will be like getting her out of this one though. I put her into a 10 gallon tank and she has been burrowing like crazy. i wish i could see what she is doing in there. she has pulled up so much substrate i have had to spread it around. but yeah anyways i would probably dig it out of there.... or leave it like till it comes out of its home... but that would probably take a while ;P
 

Cirith Ungol

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I also think digging is the bestest way. But I'd do it thus:
Put some sticks into the ground, arround the jar so that it can't move. Then put the lid on the new tank and use a long but very sturdy (and blunt) wire, and manipulate it through in between lid and that black lid-holder plastic there. Dig with that. Depending on the overall mood of your lividum it could just sit there, yeah.... or it could be the insta-boulting type and be allover you, possibly leaving nice bitemarks all the way up your arm. You never know, so I'd rather play it safe and go at it for hours than trying to be bold and bitten. And remember, if they have a choice, they boult upwards.

Good luck and have fun ;)
 

P. Novak

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If your really worried about it escaping or biting you do it in the bathtub so atleast if it DOES bite you, it won't get away.;P


No, but really just grab the existing webbing and pull, it should pull it right out. If not get a long spoon and slowly dig her out. Good luck!
 

Amanda

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He/she seems to be among the better-tempered livida. Before I turned her home on its side, she would sit fully outside the opening of the burrow all day long until disturbed. If I'd pick up the jar to bring it down for feeding/cleaning/whatever, she would IMMEDIATELY disappear to the bottom of the burrow. I could coax her out with a cricket in my forceps, which she'd snatch (often leaving legs behind), and disappear back down the burrow just as quickly. I'm hoping she continues her in-the-open habits as she grows up. She's only just starting to get a bluish-sheen to her gray-brown body.
 

Talkenlate04

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Yep that's what it looks like.

How did the move go? I am dying to know if there were any heart stopping moments. {D
 

Amanda

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No move yet. It seems she's webbed over the entrance a bit, so I think a molt may be on its way. I'm gonna wait until she unlocks the door again before I start digging. Who knows... maybe a bigger body will encourage her to seek a bigger home. :rolleyes: I'll be sure to update though!!
 

Bobert

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If it's really getting difficult and you see no other alternative you can always place the T in the fridge for 30 mins, will make it much easier to manipulate.

I had to do this with a 3" P Murinus RCF (who was webbed up so tight in a tiny KK, and upon cutting the web away proceeded to lie on her back, fangs waving in the air - after being left alone it took 30mins before she righted herself!) a couple of days ago and she's happy as larry in her new enclosure.

Good luck none-the-less!
 

Drachenjager

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all you have to do is get a piece of straw , or a flexible stick of some sort and sort of tickle the entrance and she or he shoudl attack it. then its outside lol.
i used to tease Ts out of burrows wiht a piece of johnson grass like that and they will come out after it . of course these were aohonopelma species lol
 

Amanda

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He/she molted!!

I got an awesome surprise when I got home from work today. I've been looking into the bottom of the jar with a flashlight every day on molt-watch, and it finally happened. That's not the great part tho... BLUE LEGS! My brown spider's gone blue! Lol, now I can honestly say that I have a blue spider.

This is the T before...



And here are the blue legs... (Keep in mind that I was shooting with a flashlight through the wall of a glass tank, then through the bottom of the plastic jar, which is also coated in webbing.) The pictures were horrible, but you can see the blue!



This little guy or gal is definitely too big for the jar now, so I'll give her some time to recoup, and then send her the eviction papers. ;P
 
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Cirith Ungol

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Congrats! The blue legs are pretty amazing. If you keep the jar in the dark most of the time the T might feel comfortable enough to come out every now and then so you can surprise it with a flashlight :)...

I'm pretty certain it will stay near the entrance until you've fed it for a bit. Maybe you can use that to your advantage in the move.
 

luna

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Hi Amanda,

Your new 5.5 gal. tank looks beautiful for terrestrials but your H. lividum is still much happier in what you are thinking of as a tiny jar.

That entire jar has become its burrow. The amount of substrate you have in the bottom of the new tank isn’t as deep as the old jar so even though it looks like a palace to us people, the spider isn’t going to be happy with the set up as it is.

I would turn the 5.5 gal. on its side and glue a piece of plexiglass in the opening. Cover 1/3 of the opening so the tank can be almost filled with stuff for the spider to dig its burrow. Don’t be intimidated by the plexiglass part. Lowes sells it in small pieces and if you score it with a utility knife you can snap (break) it to size. Two cuts and I can get a piece to fit in the opening. I’ll take picture of my tank to show you what I mean…

Don’t you love those pretty blue legs? You must be so excited to have seen yours change. Mine was already an adult when I bought it.

Cheri
 

LimaMikeSquared

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My mum keeps her haplopelma in an arboreal tank with no front door. She got the idea from somewhere, She liked the idea as it meant she could see down the side of the borrow.





BUt we are still not sure how we are going to get it out into the new tank. :?
 

luna

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My mum keeps her haplopelma in an arboreal tank with no front door. She got the idea from somewhere, She liked the idea as it meant she could see down the side of the borrow.
QUOTE]


That is exactly what I meant!

I just finished posting pictures of my setup in the tarantula picture section under cheri's creatures but the thought of renaming them to put them here too or figuring out a link to it is too much for one day... i just got the picture thing down.

I think you now have the perfect excuse to get yet another spider... you have a wonderful terrestrial setup and now you need to do another burrowing one for your little blue friend.
 

Amanda

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Update...

She's eating like a champ now, so I think it's time for the move.

The substrate in the new tank is definitely deeper than the jar is now. The only reason I've left as much distance to the top of the tank as I have is to allow for displaced dirt. I made the mistake of filling the jar too full initially, and after she constructed the complete burrow, the dirt she displaced allowed maybe 1/2" to the lid of the jar, and no room for a water dish of any kind. I like a bit more floor space because she does like to sit outside the entrance of the burrow so much. So many H. livida don't, and I don't want to take the privilege of seeing her daily for granted. The grapevine you see is burried all the way to the bottom of the tank to give her something to burrow against if she chooses. I'd like to give her the opportunity to construct a burrow with multiple entrances, as she did in her original container (the one before the jar).

At 2", do you really think that the potential 8" of straight burrow depth and lots of tunneling space is too little? This won't be her final adult container. When she gets larger, I'll upgrade to a modified exoterra or something.
 

Pennywise

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I had enough depth for my adult male in a large KK. You can use a piece of PVC pipe cut in half lengthwise for a tunnel. It can be cemented to the glass to provide an observable underground hide. The only problem is these Lividiums are so nervous they will web the glass too making them almost invisible again. I found that between 3-5 AM they are often out roaming about. If you are an early riser or a light sleeper you will have a chance to check him/her out if you are up. My male was absolutely insane and would propel himself wildly at a cricket doing double and triple flips.:D
 
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