Tarantula and their bolus

BrockiePelma

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
Messages
69
So heres the thing, i just rehoused my GBB 2 week ago and this is the 2nd time i've fed him and he's kinda derpy,leaving his bolus on the one place he shouldnt have,in the water dish. This is the 1st time he did this,the 1st time i fed him in his new enclosure, he missed the dish and dropped the bolus just beside the dish. And as far as my experience goes, i am assuming that he'll most likely drop the next bolus on the same spot.

Having a bolus on the water dish might contaminate the water, which is the main reason i wanna fix this.

My question is,is there any way to trick a tarantula or manipulate his surrounding so that he'll change the location on where he drops the bolus? I cant remove the water dish cuz i have it hotglued to the enclosure to avoid over turning/spilling. The good news is that the dish i used is plastic and stackable,so at worse case solution, i can just remove the water and the pebbles and stack another dish inside the fixed one so that i'll have a sturdy yet removable dish(Should've done this in the 1st place) that way i can just clean his dish everytime he drops his bolus in there, but if i do so,ill have to remove a great deal of his webbing which might cause stress for him.

I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could share some ideas that could fix my dilemma without using my worse-case solution. :)
 
Last edited:

Kayis

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
37
If I remember correctly I've seen some use pvc piping that has been cut or something similar as a "cup/dish holder" that way the pvc is webbed down but the dish is still removable.
 

TownesVanZandt

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
1,041
There is no way for you to influence where a tarantula leave boluses. I believe you have made a mistake by gluing the water dish to the enclosure - bolus or no bolus, you will need to wash the water dish quite often! My best advice would be to put in another water dish and just leave the glued one empty.
 

BrockiePelma

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
Messages
69
I didnt really need to remove the dish often for cleaning anyway since he doesnt throw his substrate in there and dirty the water, the only 'cleaning' i do(for my own peace of mind for the safety of my T) is draining the water frequently using a syringe and filling it up w/ a fresh ones.

That is my best bet for now,cleaning the fixed dish and stacking another one on top of it,but it'll be a tedious work since i threw in a lot of pebbles and the top part of the dish(where my cleaning forceps would be) is all webbed up, which looks really nice so i wanna avoid destroying it.

So i wanna try to use other ideas and tricks(if there are any) before i do this. :)
 

Andrea82

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
3,686
They don't mind if you remove some webbing. So I would clear the dish, clean it, and put another one in there. If you're worried about the spider bolting you can place a catch cup over it while you are working in its enclosure.
The waterdish is just one of those battles you lose when keeping Theraphosidae ;)

 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
I'll quote someone who already proposed a great idea :p

The good news is that the dish i used is plastic and stackable,so at worse case solution, i can just remove the water and the pebbles and stack another dish inside the fixed one so that i'll have a sturdy yet removable dish(Should've done this in the 1st place) that way i can just clean his dish everytime he drops his bolus in there, but if i do so,ill have to remove a great deal of his webbing which might cause stress for him.
Remove the great deal of webbing. You spider will get over it.
 

Rob1985

This user has no status.
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
866
This is just what T's do. My juvy LP likes to poo in a specific corner, but leave her bolus in her hide.

That's a fun a battle of cleaning, that always involves a catch cup and her freaking out. lol
 

clive 82

Arachnoknight
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
204
They don't mind if you remove some webbing. So I would clear the dish, clean it, and put another one in there. If you're worried about the spider bolting you can place a catch cup over it while you are working in its enclosure.
The waterdish is just one of those battles you lose when keeping Theraphosidae ;)

Brilliant video!
 

BrockiePelma

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 20, 2017
Messages
69
I dont really clean the poo as much
as it doesnt really pose any harm on the Ts(as far as my research goes anyway), and I dont mind cleaning the bolus, i actually look forward to doing it every week(including the feeding part ofcourse,but its actually mostly the feeding part.lol. :p),its simple and easy when the bolus is placed on the substrate,i dont have to worry about the dish and only required cleaning when its visually dirty, but the same cannot be said when he places it on the dish,it contaminates the dish and im obligated to clean it.

Anyways,i've done the stacked water dish trick and finally admitting to myself that im now going to be doing additional work every feeding session but more work=more contact=more stress, for both of us,but oh well,nothing u can do when u have a derpy T, hopefully he'll miss the dish everytime. :p
 

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
"Stackable" is the way to go. That is how I do all of my larger T enclosure water dishes. It makes changing out water easy. You won't be able to control where the T dumps stuff. Some of mine also dump crickets in the water dish when they aren't hungry.

EDIT* I use plastic Dixie cups. On arboreal enclosures I sometimes hot melt a smaller vial in a larger vial that has a solder hole in the bottom of it up high in the enclosure.
 
Top