She Keeps Falling Off!

itsheather2007

Arachnopeon
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Jul 5, 2007
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I have a Giant Chocolate Golden Knee, and i have her in a 20" by 10" tank that is a foot tall ... but she will crawl to the top of the cage and go on the lid, she will walk and then fall off the top wall:wall: ( she keeps on doing it) , and it really scares me that she will get hurt. I mean this is a big T, and i don't want to have to put her in a small cage but at the same time i dont want her to get hurt.

Any advice will help.
Thank you!
 

Drachenjager

Arachnoemperor
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Jan 23, 2006
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I have a Giant Chocolate Golden Knee, and i have her in a 20" by 10" tank that is a foot tall ... but she will crawl to the top of the cage and go on the lid, she will walk and then fall off the top wall:wall: ( she keeps on doing it) , and it really scares me that she will get hurt. I mean this is a big T, and i don't want to have to put her in a small cage but at the same time i dont want her to get hurt.

Any advice will help.
Thank you!
just the most basic advice . Keep the distance between the top of the substrate and the top of the tank no more than one legspan for a big spider. Also , drying out the substrate may keep her on the ground
 

Moltar

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I assume that's a G aureostriata you've got there. Nice T, I love mine. A tank properly set up for a terrestrial tarantula like yours will have substrate deep enough that the distance between the top of the cage and the substrate does not exceed the legspan of the spider. Although T's just do this sometimes, you should make sure something in her environment isn't causing the behavior. What type substrate are you using? How deep is it, do you or do you not mist regularly, etc?

If you could post a pic of her enclosure it might help also.
 

matthias

Arachnobaron
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Jan 24, 2006
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Do you mean Chaco Golden Knee? (G. Aureostriata).

But you are right to be worried. Your T can realy hurt itself from falling.
I strongly suggest you put enough substrate in the viv until it only have a bodly length to climb. So if the T is 6" only leave it 6" to climb.

My Chaco is still small and loves to climb too; but she loves to dig almost as much.
 

Snipes

Arachnoprince
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Feb 25, 2005
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You may be keeping it too wet. If it is a G. aureostriata, it prefers dryer substrate. I would add a few more inches of substrate to help with that along with minimizing the space it could fall.
 

verry_sweet

Arachnobaron
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Jul 22, 2006
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itsheather2007 Welcome to the AB!! :)

I must agree that a picture is definitely in order. Like others have stated falls of even an inch or two could be fatal to a tarantula and you need to remedy this quickly.

Also a happy T does not wander up the glass. But a mature male does so we need a pic to narrow this down.

Steph
 

itsheather2007

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
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2
cocanut shavings is what we are using, but im getting some of the peat moss today and im gonna put more in the cage so hopefully she wont fall to much or try to clime to much
 
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