STAHP BURYING YOUR WATER DISH

Moakmeister

Arachnodemon
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Messages
741
Regina: "I'm a desert species, I like the substrate to be completely dry."
Regina: *constantly flips over or buries water dish, soaking the substrate and fogging up the enclosure from the humidity being released*
How bad is it gonna be when I have fifty tarantulas :astonished::astonished::banghead:
 

bryverine

Arachnoangel
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Apr 18, 2012
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890
Just get a HUGE water dish or weigh it down with something heavy underneath. I think depleted uranium could do. Don't go easy on the hot glue...
 

Leila

Arachnobaron
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Feb 7, 2017
Messages
525
Lmao! Gatsby does the SAME thing! He is a G. porteri. MM. Such a restless little guy...And yes, he has taken to either covering his water dish with substrate OR flipping over the water dish. What an adorable turd...haha!
 

Sarkhan42

Arachnoangel
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
901
I think my N. coloratovillosus has about 4 dishes buried in her enclosure. I'm convinced she's trying to collect them.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
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Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
When my N. chromatus suddenly decided she needed a burrow she dumped all the dirt she excavated into her waterdish and ended up with a mountain where her dish used to be...
 

Belegnole

Tarantula Guy
Old Timer
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Nov 30, 2005
Messages
171
Take a closer look at where your tarantula comes from. G. pulchripes does not come from a desert or what most people consider a desert at least. Also this behavior could be akin to when a dog takes it's food out of it's bowl and eats it off the floor.
 
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Goodlukwitthat

Arachnoknight
Joined
Mar 10, 2015
Messages
178
I've observed that 90% of the time mine do it is because they are getting ready to molt and I'm guessing they want the added moisture? After they molt they leave their water dishes alone... except my B. vagans....he's an ass.. My stirmi just likes to use its dish as a toilet >.<
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
I bury my G. pulchripes dish most of the way so the deed is already half done - I've been using a deeper dish and it hasn't flipped it since. Everyone who has bottle cap dishes, however, all bury them completely. My B. albo seems to enjoy turning hers into a dirt mountain, then digging it up, rinse and repeat. She just bulldozes for fun with no clear objective.
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
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Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
I went to pull the exuvia from my L. difficilus last night and found a waterdish he reclaimed months ago. I thought he just buried it. Nope, he was living with it in his hide.

Tarantulas hate water dishes, but they need them. The vast majority of time spent on husbandry revolves around water dishes.
 

BrockiePelma

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
Messages
69
If only someone could discover the definite reason why tarantulas do this sort of thing,it'll be a huge milestone for the whole tarantula hobby itself.

I usually affix my water dishes on the bottom of the tank with hot glue,this eliminates the chance of the Ts to flip it over,now all i worry about is them burying it.

What usually irritates me is the fact that i spend hours landscaping everytime i rehouse them and they just bulldoze eveyrthing the next day.such effing jerks.:p
 

bryverine

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Messages
890
If only someone could discover the definite reason why tarantulas do this sort of thing,it'll be a huge milestone for the whole tarantula hobby itself.

I usually affix my water dishes on the bottom of the tank with hot glue,this eliminates the chance of the Ts to flip it over,now all i worry about is them burying it.

What usually irritates me is the fact that i spend hours landscaping everytime i rehouse them and they just bulldoze eveyrthing the next day.such effing jerks.:p
I tried gluing a water dish once... my maculata threw in a half eaten roach (still quite juicy) and got nasties all over... that was miserable to clean...
 

Spidermolt

Arachnoknight
Joined
May 29, 2015
Messages
203
I went to pull the exuvia from my L. difficilus last night and found a waterdish he reclaimed months ago. I thought he just buried it. Nope, he was living with it in his hide.

Tarantulas hate water dishes, but they need them. The vast majority of time spent on husbandry revolves around water dishes.
Darwinism is hard sometimes. :rolleyes:
 

The Grym Reaper

Arachnoreaper
Joined
Jul 19, 2016
Messages
4,835
Mine used to do that a lot, I switched to a deeper one temporarily and it stopped trying to dig it up/fill it with sub, switched back to using a large milk bottle cap and it has yet to be dug up or filled... I have successfully trained my derpchripes.

My next undertaking - To get my arboreals to stop using theirs as a toilet/garbage disposal.
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
I think some Ts can confuse the plastic bottles caps with prey. I've come into my T room late at night and seen my B. smithi trying to eat the bottle cap, and they seem to do this whenever it is freshly filled, ive had other Ts do this also but thats just the most recent instance that comes to mind. Anyone else caught your spiders doing this?
 

Olan

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Dec 23, 2002
Messages
857
My B. smithi is my waterdish flipper. I usually find it flipped and on the opposite side of the enclosure from where I put it.
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
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Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
I think some Ts can confuse the plastic bottles caps with prey. I've come into my T room late at night and seen my B. smithi trying to eat the bottle cap, and they seem to do this whenever it is freshly filled
My Grammostola pulchra attacks the water as I am filling the dish and then stands guard for a while.
 

Paiige

Arachnobaron
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
335
I saw my G. porteri for the first time in months yesterday, she ran out to slap the water as I was filling her dish, then ran back into her hide.
I forgot how fat she was. She's been in premolt for what seems like years now. :shifty:
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
My Grammostola pulchra attacks the water as I am filling the dish and then stands guard for a while.
Yes this happens to me as well, but I have seen my Ts attempting to dig their fangs into the plastic bottle cap, not attacking as a result of the incoming water flow. Its funny but concerning because no one else has experienced this. Usually I hear a loud scratching noise and then discover this activity, especially with the orange Gatorade bottle caps I like to use.
 

BoyFromLA

Spoon feeder
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Oct 26, 2017
Messages
2,488
I am so going to revive this thread for the fact that it was only a yesterday that I did clean, exchange, fill all the water dishes for my tarantulas, and this is what I get very next day.

1B04E2D4-F1E9-43C6-A004-B5E24618D667.jpeg

27A394DF-347E-4005-B400-291C79AA71A1.jpeg

“STAHP BURYING YOUR WATER DISH ARGHGHHGHGHSHFJREBGHIKWEJS!”
 

Kiraral

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 15, 2017
Messages
3
hehehe. I have three G. pulchripes slings. One buries its dish on the daily. I'm looking forward to when it molts so it will at least not do it for a couple days! I'm avoiding gluing it because it gets filled, not dumped. Spiders will be spiders I suppose!
 
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