sponge or no sponge ?

[bodc21]

i hear alot of contravirsy over this so you tell me
in the water bowl sponge or no sponge ?

 

[Paladin]

no spomge, no cotton...just water

the reason is, it allows mold/bateria to grow and cotton is not needed for a T to hydrate.

 

[toan]

for me it's no sponge. I keep the dish shallow and filled, that way they can drink easily. If you are going to sponge, you'll need to clean it more often.

toan

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by bodc21
i hear alot of contravirsy over this so you tell me
in the water bowl sponge or no sponge ?

sponge = bad. no sponge for T's. sponge for washing dishes and soaking up vomit.

just water = good. water for thirst and diluting vomit to be soaked up with sponge.

Conclusion, water with sponge only good when dealing with vomit, not T's

Steve

 

[MrT]

Re: Re: sponge or no sponge ?

Originally posted by Steve Nunn
sponge = bad. no sponge for T's. sponge for washing dishes and soaking up vomit.

just water = good. water for thirst and diluting vomit to be soaked up with sponge.

Conclusion, water with sponge only good when dealing with vomit, not T's

Steve

I've seen sponges in pet stores that could make me vomit. In fact I was in a store the other day and asked to see a pinktoe they had.
I removed the sick looking sponge and handed it to the owner. See pulled back away from it cause she didnt want to touch it. I then asked her if she would drink from it? Well, she removed the sponges from the rest of the T enclosures.
Sponges = sickness.. BTW, I bought the pinktoe.
Ernie

 

[Charlie]

No sponge

Whats with these pet stores and there stupid sponges anyway? You would honstly think they would know better I mean come on for crying out loud.

They should make the people that work there study on the animals they are selling not only so that they dont give out wrong information to there customers but also so that they can take better care of there animals.


-Charlie

 

[petitegreeneyes]

No sponge.

 

[AudreyElizabeth]

I had a dream

I had a dream of getting a job at the local pet store so I could redo the Herp Invert section. You know, clean out the dead iguana's, put under tank heating pads in, removing the sponges from the tarantula section, changing the snakes water ect...... Pet Stores......... Ick........
At My pet store they have an adult male Veiled chameleon, not for sale, housed in a 40 gallon GLASS TANK with one branch to perch on, and a generic waterfall for drinking ....... All the T's are overpriced and they know nothing about them...... Pet stores are full of ignorant employees/ managers.......... My local pet store refused to hire me bc of my voicemail message(a bit offensive)........They no nothing about the basic care of their wards, neglect them......... Anyone knows how to take care of puppies and kittens basically, but herps and inverts are different. Every species is unique. I no longer buy herps/inverts from the pet store because I dont want to support their cruel, ignorant ways........

 

[bodc21]

like i said pet stores are getting awful!

its all about east bay vavarium and invertepet!

 

[Doug H]

sponges are found on the ocean floor not in the jungles of south america or asia or the deserts of north america

 

[Wade]

They don't have water bowls in the wild, either, but most of us believe in those...

The sponge thing is one of those wierd pet store things that won't go away. I suspect death from infected sponge is very rare, and not common enough to be seen for the bad practice it is. In short, enough tarantulas with sponges in their water bowls have survived that people think it's the right way to go. How it got started is a mystery, Stan Shultz suspected it was because exporters used moist sponges to keep animals hydrated while in transit, and pets stores thought that they needed them.

The thing about sponges is that they wouldn't be a problem if you replaced them every week or so. But, that would be a pointless effort, because they don't do anything good, either. There's simply no need for them.

The only useful fuction they could serve is to provide a way for prey insects to climb out, but that is just as easily provided by an appropriately sized rock or piece of plastic plant.

Wade

 

[Lycanthrope]

id put in a few times at the shop i work in (petco) that i want to do away with sponges in the water dishes. management gave me a "company policy..." speach. i finally got fed up and just took the sponge out and threw it away. nobody has noticed.

 

[Chris]

While a sponge is useless for a tarantula drinking... it can do some good for humidity boositing. Look inside a humidifier and you will see... a big sponge. Its very basic logic...the sponge has more surface area and air access so the water evaporates faster.

A synthetic sponge sitting in clean water has no more bacteria in it than the water does provided you keep it clean (they can go musty)...

This is just another classic example of tarantula keeper bandwagoneering. People read it so they start repeating it blindly.

 

[Nixy]

Maybe I can be considered stupid.
But I have a few sponges in a few of my vivs.
My A. Versicolor because she's a Clutz.... Who has walked off the edge of her log on Several ocasions and done a header in her water dish. And she seemed to find a way into it no matter Where I put it. I turn around and there she is, struggling to get herself out and I reduced the size of her bowl several times. Talk about weird aim... I thought about a seeing eye cricket for her but she ate it. And till she stops the dish plop I don't want to stil a rock in it......
She's gotten more graceful thankfully and I will soon take the little sponge out. But till I feel sure I won't find her drown I'm going to keep it. All my water dishes are situated so I can put in fresh water daily.
I have a thing about clean water.....
I guess I'm more then a little weird about it because Old still water is Gross. I wouldn't drink it and wouldn't expect my critters to drink it either.... I have a spong run for our Blondi too. I rinse them daily and the humidity is nice it's viv. But I still find him trundling over the sponges. When he gets bigger I'll put in a big enough bowl for the added humidity and do away with them. But for our little spiderlings. Who seem to be drawn to water dish accidents like kids to playground falls... It's worth the daily effort to know they have a soft surface, clean water and a safe environment.

I didn't have a spong in our Usambara's dish. Not till yesterday... when I saw her climbing around where she hadn't webed yet. Where? You got it. Over her dish....
In she went.... And though the water was shallow she still made a good plop and it took half the night before she started trundling around again. Whether it got in her book lungs or whether it was just shock, or she banged her little orange demon head. i don't know. But Untill she has a safe runing of web and doesn't look like she's going to go shallow diving on me....

I figure as long as I keep them clean enough to where I would call it clean enough for Me to drink. Then it's ok to provide myself with a little bit of overprotective mommy piece of mind.

But then. I'm a strange gal.

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by Nixy


I figure as long as I keep them clean enough to where I would call it clean enough for Me to drink. Then it's ok to provide myself with a little bit of overprotective mommy piece of mind.

But then. I'm a strange gal.

That's the key. The sponges themselves don't cause the problems...it's DIRTY sponges that cause the problems. It's simply easier to keep a non-porus bowl clean than it is a sponge. If you don't mind going to the effort to keep 'em clean, then there's no problem.

Wade

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by Chris
This is just another classic example of tarantula keeper bandwagoneering. People read it so they start repeating it blindly.

I don't understand what you are saying Chris. If a keeper has a humidifier in their rooms how are the prey items going to defecate on that? I thought we were posting regarding sponges in the water source. I mean a sponges cleans plates well too, doesn't mean it's good in a water dish.

The whole reason a sponge in the water is frowned upon is because of fecal mater deposited on it from prey items (crickets of course are reknowned for this, just watch them with a sponge in the water). The reason everyone sates "use a rock or gravel" is because the gravel, or a rock for that matter, can sit just under the water and even if a little sticks above the water line, doesn't matter. Prey items will sit happily on a sponge, but not usually on a plain wet surface, like a rock. Sponges are also a haven for bacteria and this is a fact, it's a perfect medium to culture the stuff.

This is the reason sponges are frowned upon and it's a good one indeed. Fair enough if the sponge is washed everyday, but if a keeper has a large number of spiders, then it's just not going to happen. Who on Earth is going to clean out 700 sponges a day??

People can get as picky on this topic as they like, but the fact will always remain, sponges are a nice home for bad bacteria, why have them???

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Nixy]

We have eight T's.
I use them with Three of them.
Explained why too.

I wish we Did have a great many spiders.

But I don't and Like I said. I use it in three to keep my little paranoid peace of mind.

So washing out a few a day is just no big deal.

As for pray insects and fecies......

Pray insects usualy last,,,, They don't.

They drop, hop once if that and are Lunch.

 

[Arachnopuppy]

Originally posted by Wade
They don't have water bowls in the wild, either, but most of us believe in those...
Wade

Well, they don't have water bowls in the wild, but they do have big ponds, little ponds, tiny ponds that are made by rain water being trapped on leaves, and moisture from the forests themselves. Water bowls are the closest things to the little water pools in forests. What would you be finding in the wild that resembles a sponge?

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by lam
What would you be finding in the wild that resembles a sponge?

I shouldn't jump in here and answer a quesion to Wade, but, how many times have you had a good look in a rainforest? Rotting wood, dead fungus and numerous other bits and pieces soak up massive amounts of water via capillary action, same as a sponge. I wouldn't be letting a T drink from any of that either.

Steve

Originally posted by Nixy
We have eight T's.
I use them with Three of them.
Explained why too.

As for pray insects and fecies......

Pray insects usualy last,,,, They don't.

They drop, hop once if that and are Lunch.

Well you only use three sponges and you clean them regularly, so no problem, you don't have in excess of 100 T's. You have your reasons, doesn't mean everyone can go and put sponges in their enclosures with no fear, does it. It's not just fecal matter that causes the bacteria either.

Insects may get eaten straight away, some may not (I guess it would depend if you plonk one in at a time)and the keeper may not be able to get the cricket out without upsetting everything. What you are saying is hypothetical and I'm saying why take the risk.

My response was in general and in no way related to you and your keeping habits. You defended your reasons (no need, as I said I wasn't replying to you)and I certainly understood them, doesn't mean I'll change my keeping methods as I keep a few more then seven. I hope you understand my point. There's no offense or flame intended your way.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Arachnopuppy]

Originally posted by Steve Nunn
I shouldn't jump in here and answer a quesion to Wade, but, how many times have you had a good look in a rainforest? Rotting wood, dead fungus and numerous other bits and pieces soak up massive amounts of water via capillary action, same as a sponge. I wouldn't be letting a T drink from any of that either.

Steve

Good point. Never thought of that before.