Rose Hair & water dish

SteelBlitz1

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
13
Hi all, I have an adult rose hair that I got recently. I put in a water dish with some paper towel crumpled up in it and keep it wet but so it stays moist, but not a standing 'pool' of water. Ever since I put that in, my spider pretty much sits in or on or hovered over the dish, the majority of the time. Is this normal? Is that an indication that something else in the habitat is not right? I'm kinda new to this so any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
There is no reason for the paper towel it will only breed bacteria and mold. Throw it away and fill the dish with clean water. Then it will be able to properly get a drink. :)
 

captmarga

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
339
There could be a number of reasons - one is that he/she might need more humidity and is getting it by sitting over the dish. The second is that roseas seem to do odd things with frequency. The third is that it's just not used to the surroundings.

If the T is eating, the humidity is reasonable, and the abdomen is plump, the usual answer is "don't worry about it". I have one T that buries the water dish frequently, and one who won't go near it's dish. With 61 Ts in the room at the moment, I never know what kind of behaviour I'm going to see at any given time.

Marga
 

SteelBlitz1

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
13
Ok thanks. The paper towel was a suggestion from a youtube habitat video i saw... I will remove it though, what you said makes sense. :)

---------- Post added at 12:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:53 PM ----------

I just want to be sure that with standing water in the dish, there isnt a risk for drowning... ?
 

malevolentrobot

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
310
if it is an adult as you say, and the water dish is rather shallow and appropriately sized, there is no need to worry about your rose hair drowning.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
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Soap in the water could cause it to drown, but the water itself would not. Ts do not actively breathe through their booklungs, but instead gather oxygen by flowing blood through them and absorbing oxygen that way. A T wouldn't drown by being submerged in the water dish, it would suffocate. Yours being an adult, it should have no problem at all with getting itself out of the water. :)
 

webbedone

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 27, 2010
Messages
410
Tarantula's dont drown in water unless there are remnants of soap in it, the microscopic hair on the exoskeleton make T's almost water proof infact those hairs repel water and make it roll off of the T without soaking it, soap however makes those microscopic hairs stick and clump up togather hence tarantula looses the water proofness so to speak. Besides spiders hate water itself and will flee it like the plague unless they are purposely seeking water to take a drink. Now an adult that can climb over the edges of the water dish is more than capable of climbing out and will keep its book lungs clear from water itself.

So there is definatly no need for the paper towel, and if your tarantula is hovering over the water dish or always sitting on top of it all its trying to say is, "Hey! I am thirsty!".
 

SteelBlitz1

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
13
Well you're right, as soon as I took the towel out, cleaned out the bowl and put fresh water in, my T got in there and took a big long drink... thanks everyone for the tips! :)
 

Hobo

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Staff member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
2,208
Oh, link to the video that told you to put paper towels in the waterdish?
Those things are always good for a laugh!

For more funnies, look up the "expert village" tarantula vids on YouTube.
 

SteelBlitz1

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 20, 2010
Messages
13
Haha I tried to find the link to the one I saw a couple days ago but I can't find it. I was just clicking diff suggested links one after another and it was one of the many i saw. I have seen a bunch of the ones from expert village, are they known for giving out bad information also? lol
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
1,661
Besides spiders hate water itself and will flee it like the plague unless they are purposely seeking water to take a drink.
This is not correct. We have Ts that will come out to be under the spray and there are even Ts that 'like' to swim.
 

Hobo

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Staff member
Joined
Jul 27, 2009
Messages
2,208
Haha I tried to find the link to the one I saw a couple days ago but I can't find it. I was just clicking diff suggested links one after another and it was one of the many i saw. I have seen a bunch of the ones from expert village, are they known for giving out bad information also? lol
Well, some if it is right, some of it is not so right, and some of it is just plain wrong.
The funny part isn't really the misinformation, but it's hearing that woman say "tarantula" several dozen times per video:)
 
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