something is definitly wrong

[slice9]

I know I posted before about my rosie wondering around like crazy lately but now it is really starting to concern me. First of all she DEFINITLY WANTS OUT of that cage. Shes been crawling up the sides and poking her legs through the screen, I'm very concerned because if she falls with her leg through the screen shes probably going to hurt the leg badly. The substrate in this cage is potting soil, the temp is about 70, humidity is about 50. A friend of mine who is also an expert when it comes to Ts told me that it was probably either too wet or too dry in the cage. I think 50 should be about right for the humidity as I have heard rosies like it a little on the dry side. Another thing that concerns me is that she has been digging at the edge of the cage in what appears to be a frantic attempt to escape. I have inspected the cage for mites, pinhead crickets, etc and found nothing. I know that rosies are notoriously a little luney when it comes to their behavior but this is a little much even for that. Especially considering that for many months she just sat happily in her hubba hut waiting patiently for the next cricket to be thrown in. O yes and she is not searching for food as I put a cricket in yesterday right in front of her and she refused it (all crickets have been removed from the cage since).
Anyways today I am probably going to remove her from the cage and do a good cleaning and put a fresh bag of potting soil in. Can someone with a little experiance offer any insight on this? Any help would be appreciated. Below is a picture of her attempting to escape and a picture of the current cage setup. Thanks.

 

[Buspirone]

Your cage height is too high. Add more substrate. A fall from the top of your cage at that distance could rupture the abdomen. That cage is pretty big for one rosie. Did you do anything lately like move her shelter or disturb her. If she's been bothered too much she might be looking for a safer place to hide. Try ofering a couple alternative hides. You certainly have the room for them.

 

[Vys]

Yes, that's a nice enclosure!
Is that a real plant?

As said, I've only seen rosies climb like that when it's too wet..doesn't seem to be the case there though. Hmmm.

 

[slice9]

Yes, I've been meaning to add more substrate to reduce the risk of a fall injury, I just bought 4 bags of potting soil and I plan to do that today. Yes that is a live plant, I purchased it at petco and I guess it was specifically made to go in reptile tanks so the likely hood of pesticides etc on it is low. That plant has been in there for about a month with no problems so I doubt that is it. Hopefully a little cage renovation will cure the problem, we'll see.

 

[Buspirone]

Who knows what set her off. Rosies will be a pet rock and then all of a sudden they will do something completely abnormal. Mine has been sitting out in the open at different times laying completely flat with her lags stretched out fully extended. I never seen her do that until the last couple of days. Maybe its because spring is coming.

 

[Vys]

Well, I never intended to suggest the plant might be at fault, if you got that impression.

 

[slice9]

O I know you weren't intending it was at fault, but I know other people might think so as it obviously isn't a good idea to just pick up a plant at the local nursery and throw it in the cage.

Burspirone - That is exactly what my rosie was doing prior to this. More and more often just sitting outside her hut all stretched out. She usually does stuff like that whens shes hungry but she wouldn't take crickets so it confussed me. Anyways I'm in the process of trying to get her into another cage but she got kinda pissed off when I poked her trying to move her into a deli cup so I'm giving her a few to cool off.

 

[bodc21]

that fall could really hurt her and as for me i have had problems with the screen tops has yours got stuck yet if not im surprised and if it does one of 2 things could happen it loses a leg or falls and most likely gets hurt you need to def raize that substrate up and to me that seems like an awfully big tank for that rosey i had my mature male in a 20 gal tank when i first stepped into this hobby i learned awfully fast that such big tanks for that small of a tarantula often makes them extreamly nervous i now have him in a med sized kritter keeper he likes it alot more i can tell just my thoughts take care-jason

 

[slice9]

Hmm, thats a good point that a big tank would make it more nervous, I've never really thought of it that way. I'll see how he does with his new settings first, and then determine whats best from there. Speaking of which I've been working all day on and here is what I came up with.

OK to the left there you can see the hubba hut under which I constructed a burrow which she may like being nice and dark. To the right is just a hubba hut without a burrow or anything, although this time I placed a fake plant in front to make it a little more private and quiet for her. Two water dishes, fake branch and live plant. Still used potting soil as the substrate. Theres about 8 inches from substrate to the cage lid, so that should be about right for her. This time I put black paper on the sides and back to make it darker and more private. Also has a heating pad in the middle which is off and I only turn on during the cold winter months.

Now here was a real problem in the past week, her poking her legs through the lid :

Heres the solution I came up with:

As you can see I used thick black cardboard type paper and stuck it in the lip around the screening, doubt she'll be able to do much harm to herself now.

Hopefully this fixes things up a bit for her, time will tell.

 

[bodc21]

it looks good if you continually see her climbing try getting a med sized kritter keeper with about 4-6 inchs of substrate i love the kritter keepers the holes on top are to small to get there legs through and as of yet havent seen him get stuck it has been about 4 or so months now that he has had this enviorment all it has is a cork bark and an open water dish good luck and keep us updated-jason

 

[Buspirone]

Thats a great setup. Your rosie has a sweet pad. I noticed mine has started climbing alot. I just fed her 3 or 4 days ago and she won't accept any food. She climbs up the side of the critter keeper and runs her front legs along the top edge where the lid and cage meet. Sometimes she taps at the edge. Then she will climb down walk the perimeter and scrunch up against the side of the cage and the substrate at an angle. Weird.

 

[ithuriel]

bet she is saying in spider speak " im a rose not a number"

 

[slice9]

Buspirone - yea if she doesn't like that setup then I'm gonna kick her out on the streets for a few days until she realizes how good she has it. What your rosie is doing right now sounds exactly like what mine was doing. But she seems better now, I think what might have helped was putting the cardboard around the perimeter of the cage. Currently she is sitting stretched out on top of the cork bark in the corner where its nice and dark even with my lights on and shes looking happier. I think shes up on the cork bark still because the potting soil is damp and she'll come down when the top layer dries out a bit more. Hopefully she stays calm now, I think something probably just spooked her and she wanted out to find a new spot to hide. Maybe this is what happened to yours, I'd give her a few days to cool down and see what happens.