T Sealed Hide but still topside

[light91]

Hi all. My brachypelma hamorii sealed its burrow but it is still topside. The past year, it practically lived in its burrow and molted twice inside, now just last night she decided to bury the entrance without going in.... any reason why she'd do this? Her last molt, she left the molt in there and I could not get it out without destroying the burrow. Should I rehouse her? Or dig out the hide?

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Hi all. My brachypelma hamorii sealed its burrow but it is still topside. The past year, it practically lived in its burrow and molted twice inside, now just last night she decided to bury the entrance without going in.... any reason why she'd do this? Her last molt, she left the molt in there and I could not get it out without destroying the burrow. Should I rehouse her? Or dig out the hide?

No leave it alone

I have sub-adult and adult terrestrial T's that do that. If they want to burrow they are more than capable of excavating a new burrow.

Leaving a molt in will not harm anything.

 

[ladyratri]

Did you have any live prey in the enclosure? We could have an arachnid Cask of Amontillado situation on our hands .....

Really tho, spiders doing spider things, just let it be and watch!

 

[TheraMygale]

Hi all. My brachypelma hamorii sealed its burrow but it is still topside. The past year, it practically lived in its burrow and molted twice inside, now just last night she decided to bury the entrance without going in.... any reason why she'd do this? Her last molt, she left the molt in there and I could not get it out without destroying the burrow. Should I rehouse her? Or dig out the hide?

they don’t have brains like us. Any theories are all suggestions.

in general, when tarantulas start changing things in their enclosures, its because something is no longer suiting them at that time.

Do you have a side view of enclosure?

your enclosure looks big already, so rehoming it would be pointless, unless its badly setup. Which would only require changes, like adding sub or a moist corner, hide, etc.

 

[light91]

Thanks for the quick replies..I will sit back and watch

they don’t have brains like us. Any theories are all suggestions.

in general, when tarantulas start changing things in their enclosures, its because something is no longer suiting them at that time.

Do you have a side view of enclosure?

your enclosure looks big already, so rehoming it would be pointless, unless its badly setup. Which would only require changes, like adding sub or a moist corner, hide, etc.

here's sideview. The enclosure is empty besides the burrow and hide, dirt, and the tarantula. At the bottom you can see part of her molt, a leg sticking out. The carapace was buried too and I couldn't get that out either, never got any of it out. The substrate used to be 2/3 full but that was when I first got her and since then she had been bulldozing and excavating.

 

[TheraMygale]

here's sideview. The enclosure is empty besides the burrow and hide, dirt, and the tarantula. At the bottom you can see part of her molt, a leg sticking out. The carapace was buried too and I couldn't get that out either, never got any of it out. The substrate used to be 2/3 full but that was when I first got her and since then she had been bulldozing and excavating.

you could always add a second hide. Angled so you have a small starter burrow, and the hide slightly burried. That might open a new possibility. Two hides isnt overkill in the size of enclosure you have.

edit: one of my brachypelma emilia, molted in the bottom of burrow. Molt stayed there. There was poop too. Poop i couldnt reach. Eventualy, some white mold appeared. So i just excavated that part of burrow. Removed and cleaned everything.

tarantula still had burrow length to use. It did not start behaving “stressed out” or climbing. It just went back to its business.

 

[Mustafa67]

Hi all. My brachypelma hamorii sealed its burrow but it is still topside. The past year, it practically lived in its burrow and molted twice inside, now just last night she decided to bury the entrance without going in.... any reason why she'd do this? Her last molt, she left the molt in there and I could not get it out without destroying the burrow. Should I rehouse her? Or dig out the hide?

Normal T behaviour, leave it alone

Make sure you have a water dish

 

[BoyFromLA]

any reason why she'd do this?

1. Your tarantula will not go, ‘Oh, this is my hide, I need to take well care of it’
2. If that was the case, water dish would be well taken cared of as well
3. If you want, you can rearrange covered substrate, reveal the hide once more to see if it will use it this time around

 

[Arachnophobphile]

here's sideview. The enclosure is empty besides the burrow and hide, dirt, and the tarantula. At the bottom you can see part of her molt, a leg sticking out. The carapace was buried too and I couldn't get that out either, never got any of it out. The substrate used to be 2/3 full but that was when I first got her and since then she had been bulldozing and excavating.

Where is the water dish?

 

[viper69]

Leave it alone ! They do far better the less anyone hovers over them!

 

[light91]

Where is the water dish?

I took it out to clean it. It had a lot of dirt in it.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Sounds like she sealed the landfill. I’ve had a few do this. If they want it open, they will open it. If they want to dig a new tunnel, they will dig a new tunnel. None of mine that covered them ever reopened and as they grew and were rehoused, they did the same thing. Used it for awhile, then sealed it up.

 

[Gevo]

Mine has done similar things. She had two burrows at one point and then filled one of them in completely. Then she lived in one for nearly 8 months, sealed off, during which time she dug herself a second chamber in there. Then she molted, filled in the chamber, came up top, partially closed off the top of the remaining burrow, and everything has stayed like that since. I suspect that either approaching or following her next molt, she'll make some further structural choices in her enclosure. It's what they do.

I don't have a lot of experience to go off of, but it seems to me like they're particularly eager to rarrange their spaces post-molt.