T-blondi

Tim R.

Arachnobaron
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Hey everyone, I've been lurking here a while. Other than a couple of classifieds this is my first post on Arachnopets. Anyway while keeping a blondi in such a humid setup are mites a common problem? I'm assuming they would feed in the burrow making leftovers hard to retrieve.
 

blackacidevil

Arachnobaron
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Feb 3, 2003
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Good question.

Nice first try Tim, I've also been wanting to know. Don't mean to intrude on your thread but how does everyone out there get the boluses from hard to reach burrows?

What do you use and where did you get it?
I need specifics, not just "long tweezers".
(That "dealy" on Joy's site seems perfect, for removing items from burrow)
 

Tim R.

Arachnobaron
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I've seen How Joy uses a mechanics retrieval tool but I don't see how you could get it all.
 

MrT

Arachnoking
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Tim R,
How ya doin? Welcome to the group..:)
My enclosures that have T's that dig deep burrows don't get cleaned out. Unless the T brings the leftovers to the surface.
I also don't feed them pinky's, cause of all the blood and guts.
It breeds germs, and theres no way to clean it up. Pinky boluses
are nasty.

Wet tanks sometimes get mites. I've never had a mite problem with any of my wet tanks. But I've read posts where people have. You can do a search on MITES, and get some old threads about them.

Leftover food boluses in dry enclosures dry up quickly and don't cause mites. IMO

Like Scott likes to say " I've never heard of substrate fairy's going around cleaning burrows in the wild "

Again, Welcome..

Ernie

BTW, I don't own a Blondi. I didn't think their tanks were kept real moist. Daily misting or large water bowl, maybe?
 
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kellygirl

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Sep 1, 2002
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Hey Tim!!!! Glad that you've emerged from lurker status. ;) Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. In fact, that brings another question that I've been thinking about: how do you get cricket remains from a webbed vial without destroying the web?

kellygirl
 

genious_gr

Arachnoangel
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Jan 23, 2003
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Originally posted by MrT
BTW, I don't own a Blondi. I didn't think their tanks were kept real moist. Daily misting or large water bowl, maybe?
I have a T. Blondie and from all research that I've done on the web, everyone seems to agree that they need very humid environments: they are supposed to be one of the T's with the most need of humidity.
Please correct me if I'm wrong....
 

sunnymarcie

Celestial Spider
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Feb 13, 2003
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T. house cleaning~:0)

My Rosie cleans her house every few days.
I go in to check on the group or to feed them
and she has pushed the waste out of her hide
into the middle of the cage. So, I just reach in
and get it.
:p Now this can't be normal, can it? :?
 

jwb121377

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Aug 20, 2002
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I have had no mite problems with my T blondi. I keep "it" on a wet peat base, with a hide and no burrow. Of my Tarantulas that I do allow to burrow they all seem to bring prey remains out of thier burrows and "depoist" them on the surface.
 
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Tim R.

Arachnobaron
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Thanks for the welcome and the info.

Hey Kelly, I've found that with slings (IME anyway) mine seem to consume everything. If there's been any left overs they're too small to see:) Unless I'm feeding them a chunk of mealworm. I like to keep my slings in a 1 size up vial too, makes it a little easier if you do have to get in there for something.
 

Nixy

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Re: T. house cleaning~:0)

Originally posted by sunnymarcie
My Rosie cleans her house every few days.
I go in to check on the group or to feed them
and she has pushed the waste out of her hide
into the middle of the cage. So, I just reach in
and get it.
:p Now this can't be normal, can it? :?
Sunshine (one of our rosies) stuffs her waste and left overs into one corner of the tank for me.
Moonbeam piles them up and puts a belt of web over them.
Both of them avoid the piles once made.
I guess it might be a rosie thing.
If the other's were such great housekeppers I'd be thrilled.

:)
 

Grael

Arachnolord
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same with nova ( my Geniulata sling) she seems to eat every bit of the cricket :confused:
 

Tim R.

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Most of my spiders consume everything. However only my g. rosea piles up the boluses. Even when she poohs it's always in the same area. They seem to be good house keepers:)
 

Infinity

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Dec 23, 2002
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Originally posted by MrT
I also don't feed them pinky's, cause of all the blood and guts.
It breeds germs, and theres no way to clean it up. Pinky boluses
are nasty.
I haven't had too many problems with feeding my larger T. blondi and apophysis pinkies, etc. Usually, they have one or two spots in the enclosure where they will consitantly leave the remaining pinky blob (which resembles a wet cotton ball or wad of gum) once they're done, and I'm able to go in with tongs and remove it with no problem. I also usually pull up the feeding web as well, as there are usually alot of juices, etc., from the mouse which can cause mite problems.

My problem is usually with crickets... once my t's get to be a certain size, many of them will ignore the crickets entirely, and leave them to die in various nooks and crannies throughout the enclosure (one large L. cristata in my collection actually had pinhead crickets hatch with her :eek: ). This can be troublesome and will definitely lead to mites if not caught soon.

As far as removing wastes... IME I've found that my T. blondi are relatively clean, as spiders go, and are fairly consistant with where they leave their messes. I have a couple of pairs of tongs that I use to go in and clean up any problem areas every other week or so (with the exception of Pinky Day, when I clean within 12hrs of feeding). Most of the t's spend the majority of their time in their burrows anyway, so I can usually box them in with a piece of plexi glass or something while I clean house.

I usually watch for any cricket bits (legs, etc.) which can draw mites, and pay careful attention to any visible wastes which may have mites on them. I've used a platic spoon to scoop out a little of the substrate around a small mite-fest to keep the problem frm spreading (mites, as I'm sure you are aware, are almost always present in the enclosure... as long as they don't have an abundant food source, their numbers are usually low enough to not harm the T).

So far (knock on wood), no major problems...

hope this rambling helps!:)
 

Tim R.

Arachnobaron
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Nope that's not rambling...actually that's exactly what I was looking for:)
 

blackacidevil

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315
That's true....

burrowers usually do keep their burrows pretty tidy but what about keeping arboreal tanks clean. I was a bit nervous about removong boluses from my Maculata's tank yesterday (even though she never does anything) and one time at the local petstore there was a tank filled with mold and webbing that someone had "donated" 'cause they couldn't even open the lid without the Regalis attacking.

Luckily for the T some strange, brave old man came and scooped him out with his hadnd and left with it.
 

Steve Nunn

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Originally posted by genious_gr
I have a T. Blondie and from all research that I've done on the web, everyone seems to agree that they need very humid environments: they are supposed to be one of the T's with the most need of humidity.
Please correct me if I'm wrong....
Well, nearly all the info says to keep them like it was a swamp, but this isn't needed at all. They do amazingly well if kept just slightly damper then your average T, and this also reduces the risk of mites and fungal infestation. I've heard they even do well in a relatively dry enclosure.

The info changes all the time and with this species a lot more info is still needed to be successful at keeping them over extended periods.

Cheers,
Steve
 
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