Tarantula sensing based on Environment Material

Jeff23

Arachnolord
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
I have heard multiple people mention that their tarantula is always in the burrow or is headed into the burrow before they can get to the enclosure to view it. This made me start wondering about whether a dampening system would impact the ability to get closer before being detected. Perhaps if some type of stiff rubber block(s) or similar were placed so that vibrations from the environment could be dampened, I wonder if it would delay detection of us by the tarantula enough to make a difference. Has anyone experimented with this type of thing?

I couldn't find a lot of information (for free on the internet). But I found where sound waves can also make an impact on the vibrations which may also play a role. This article is for spiders (not specific to tarantulas) but this article mentions different substrates, noise levels, and locations for a spider's home in general which I found interesting.

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/not-bad-science/spiders-are-disturbed-by-human-noise/

If anyone knows of other articles specific to tarantulas or good books that dive into this area in detail I would be interested.

http://rsif.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/9/71/1131

As a side note, I also read an older thread on this forum related to hairs that has me confused.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantula-hair-growth.223306/#post-1972619

In this thread it is stated by Stan Schultz that hair is only on animals (not tarantulas / spiders). He then references the book Biology of Spiders in the discussion. I recently bought this book and it does use the term "hair" liberally in the "Neurobiology" section about mechanical senses. I fully understand that tarantula bristles, setae, or hair (whichever label should be used) comes from the molt and isn't grown, but my confusion is related to use of the proper term.
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
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Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
I fully understand that tarantula bristles, setae, or hair (whichever label should be used) comes from the molt and isn't grown, but my confusion is related to use of the proper term.
"Setae" (Latin for "bristles") is the correct technical term, but "hair" is fine for lay discussions, such as those that occur among hobbyists. (IMO, "setae" sounds a little pedantic outside of the context of science.)
 

HybridReplicate

Spectrostatic
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
Messages
107
"Setae" (Latin for "bristles") is the correct technical term, but "hair" is fine for lay discussions, such as those that occur among hobbyists. (IMO, "setae" sounds a little pedantic outside of the context of science.)
I'm preferential to setae, but I tend towards pendantry. Whatevs, so long as you're understood. You can't jheri curl it, after all. :happy:
 

edesign

AB FB Group Moderatr
Old Timer
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Apr 23, 2004
Messages
2,104
Of course it would :) Simple physics. It's one reason I hate my new metal wire shelves so much, they are basically little transducers every time I touch them or move a tank. I've noticed if I'm doing it in the dark (just a red light, they think it's dark) that most will take a fair jostle or three before deciding to retreat.

The hard part is creating one that negates it to the point of allowing easy approach to extra sensitive individuals. I can usually walk up to any tank save for my rufilata (it senses me looking at it ha) just fine but the shelves are on carpet and I walk very quietly and smoothly. Part ninja, always accidentally sneaking up on people. In my T room I try to be as gentle with everything that I do as I can...until I bang my head in to a shelf trying to lean in to look at something lol.

The ideal solution, albeit costly and time consuming to design, would be a servo controlled suspension system that monitors vibration frequency and amplitude (you're an engineering student iirc) and moves the suspension 180 degrees out of phase. Actually, that would assume instant response, in reality it would lag just a tiny bit but possibly not enough to be a real issue.

You could try using a multi-layer approach. Gel pads on thick rubber or even asphalt pads (ala "Dynamat" if you're familiar with it) but the asphalt would need to be sealed due to possible fumes. Set that on something soft like a shag carpet sample. Create a pedestal of damping layers! With a red light on top with a remote switch to further facilitate vibration tolerance :punch:
 
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