Theraphosa blondi; Not the easiest T to get acclimate

[Fran]

Theraphosa blondi; Not the easiest T to get acclimated.

I know this has been a subject of conversation before, but I wanted to ask you keepers of this SP what size are the enclosures you are keeping them in.

I have been keeping T blondi (Mostly WC) for years, and they were always acting the same way.
They were wondering the enclosure and climbing the walls almost every night,to the point to get in my nerves trying to scape constantly.

At the very beginning I thought it was a matter of the substrate. Then I thought it maybe the heat...Nothing.
What about the humidity? Didn't matter. 50% or 95% they acted the same.
I was keeping them in 15G tanks,I thought well...They have some space....
No they didnt.

They always acted the same way till one time, for cleaning purposes, I put one of them for 2 days in a ridiculously big plastic container...And suddenly she stopped.
"It must be for the different surrounding"...No. It was the space.

Since then I have been keeping blondis in 20G long tanks and bigger, and the 20G is pushing it for the adults.
The only way they are content is when they dont have much of a "sense of captivity" if that makes sense.

My question is,have you guys experience the same behavior in your adults? (I'm positive you have, if keeping them in smaller enclosures).
So what size enclosures are you keeping your adults blondi in, and have you seen wondering and climbing systematically the enclosure in bigger tanks?.


The only thing that bothers me is that, I just dont want to get any tank ridiculously big like something over 40G because they take way too much space...
I dont have 1 spider. Its ridiculous to buy such big enclosures when you have several T's. Unless your house have a milion Sq F. But I'm absolutely sure that a large space is crucial when keeping Theraphosa blondi.

 

[Xian]

I did not ever have the roaming problem with mine. But she was put into a 29 gallon tank with about 10-12 inches of substrate. She would burrow a bunch and seemed to be rather content.

 

[Fran]

Burrow? You mean digging her burrow? Non of mine have ever done that, just took up the large burrows I made for them.
The have moved very little dirt, but never digg themselves any burrow.

Anyway, a 29 G is a good size for them .

 

[Xian]

Yea, I started a burrow the first time I set it up for her. Just a hide sunk a little bit into the substrate and then covered with more substrate. But within a couple of days she dug down from there. Almost to the bottom. She webbed up the sides and everything. She would stay in there about half the time.

Sorry to jack your thread, oh wait, you jacked your thread. lol

 

[Fran]

Was she WC and what size??? This has never happened to me with young adults or adults WC individuals.

I always provide them a very large and dark burrow, that might be the point...They dont feel the need of enlarging it.

 

[Xian]

She was a WC female that I think I got from Paul. Not sure about that though it was 10 years ago. Anyway, she was a good 8-9 inches. It was kinda scary cause she had web and substate mixed together at the entrance hanging down, so you couldn't see her at all. I never knew if she was gonna come stormin' out of the dark hole.

 

[Xian]

At the time I don't think I had a big enough hide for her so she made one, I guess.

 

[Fran]

Very interesting.

 

[Xian]

Back to your original point, I think you may be right about them needing 'enough' space to feel comfortable.

 

[Jmugleston]

I keep my adults in 56qt or larger sterlite bins. I've kept them in smaller, but they did cruise the cage quite a bit. I've also tried a variety of substrates, but I didn't notice much of a difference. As long as they had a hide, they did well whether there was 2 inches or 10 inches of substrate. The bins they stay in now have about 8-10 inches of soil in there. They have cat litter pans cut in half that act as a start to their burrows, but they dig out quite a bit more especially when they are preparing to drop eggs. So for now I'm a fan of larger cages, deep substrate and a burrow that can act as a start for their hide. The temps are in the low 80s during the day but drop to the mid to upper 70s at night. Humidity is provided by slightly damp, not wet peat moss mixed with coarse grain vermiculite (is use coco fiber when it is available, but I had peat moss so that is in the mix for now). There is also a large water dish in the cage (it is a 1/2 pint deli cup from the grocery store that is about 1.5 inches tall). This works well for me for now. I'm sure there are multiple ways to do it, but this combination seems to work and none of the T. blondi or T. apophysis are cruising the cages....except this male... but he's a horny bugger that wants to meet the ladies next door so I don't count him.

 

[Fran]

I keep my adults in 56qt or larger sterlite bins. I've kept them in smaller, but they did cruise the cage quite a bit. I've also tried a variety of substrates, but I didn't notice much of a difference. As long as they had a hide, they did well whether there was 2 inches or 10 inches of substrate. The bins they stay in now have about 8-10 inches of soil in there. They have cat litter pans cut in half that act as a start to their burrows, but they dig out quite a bit more especially when they are preparing to drop eggs. So for now I'm a fan of larger cages, deep substrate and a burrow that can act as a start for their hide. The temps are in the low 80s during the day but drop to the mid to upper 70s at night. Humidity is provided by slightly damp, not wet peat moss mixed with coarse grain vermiculite (is use coco fiber when it is available, but I had peat moss so that is in the mix for now). There is also a large water dish in the cage (it is a 1/2 pint deli cup from the grocery store that is about 1.5 inches tall). This works well for me for now. I'm sure there are multiple ways to do it, but this combination seems to work and none of the T. blondi or T. apophysis are cruising the cages....except this male... but he's a horny bugger that wants to meet the ladies next door so I don't count him.

I was waiting for your response

Thats seems to be indeed the right mixture. Very large water dishes, very large cages, and large and dark burrows.

Your temps are quite similar to their native enviroments also. No wonder you have your eggs.
I keep mine at high 80's during the day, and they drop a bit at night.

 

[pato_chacoana]

Hi Fran,

I've had no problems with WC adults. They settle perfectly in my terrariums. I have some that are on 40cmx25cm with 10cm of substrate (I use mostly peat moss, sphagnum) and my bigger female on a very large tank. I think it's very important to put a large hide and enough substrate to dig a little, without it they can never settle right. Tº doesn't have to be so high, 22-28 Cº night/day. I keep the substrate moist always and a big water dish.

Cheers,
Pato

 

[alexf]

Observed the same

I've observed the same behavior in the past.

What could be happening is tarantula "thinking" that it's stuck in some sort of a cramped space and trying to get out to the open where it can hunt more successfully (you won't get much bugs getting in if you can't even get out yourself).

Tarantulas doing "weired" thing in their enclosures like moving objects and digging around could be for the same reason of trying to work it's way out of what it thinks is a "stuck" place. Otherwise it would be just a waste of valuable energy.

What I did with one of my A. Genics is put it into 12"x12" space when it was only 1". What I've noticed is that the spider could hunt up to 8" away from it's burrow entrance (it just sits that far away in a hunting pose and immediately returns into it's burrow with the prey or light). No climbing has been observer (it could hit a side of a terrarium but just turns away from it). When it grew up to about 2" I've moved it into 18"x18" space and now at 3" the spider hunts up to 15" away from the burrow's entrance. Now I'm not saying that that amount of space is actually required by it certainly can be used by a spider. I've also noticed some interesting hunting behavior changes then spider had to actually hunt it's prey for real with that much space as opposed to just getting it's meal to run into it without any options to escape.

 

[Fran]

Thanks for your input Alexf.

Also, the WC-CB thing is really important in the aclimating period, specially if you raise them.

I have had CB T.Blondis and never had a problem with this, but I must say that they were never over 4" in my care...So I cant really say.

But it makes sense that, if you raise the T and since the very beggining she is used to get her preys and have water available at all times , the T will most likely be content in that enclosure.

Other giants like L Parahybana, get absolutely aclimated within a couple of days in my 20G tanks. Taking up their burrows, webbing around and content.

T Blondi is really not the easiest one when it comes to captivity.

 

[joshuai]

I had the same problem my immature male would cruse all day long and he even bruised his abdomen so i put him in a 40 gal tote and he has been content since.

 

[alexf]

CB in my case

A. Genic was CB in my case but as a matter of fact I think it actually contributed to the study.

What happens when you put a cricket (or what have you) in to a "conservatively" sized enclosure (4x legspan or whatever)? The poor thing is still "excited" and starts to run around like mad. The inevitable result is cricket running into a spider full throttle. The chances of avoiding being eaten with these conditions is the same as you avoiding hitting a wall when you drive 100MPh and realizing that there is a wall 10M ahead of you.

So then I changed the rules of the game and put A. Genic into 12"x12" at only 1". At first I was literally shocked at how ineffective the spider became at hunting. All this made me go into "hmmm... what would you do in the wild where you usually don't have a second chance to strike?". However, instead of putting the spider back into it's "conservative" space thingy I've decided to let it in there for some time and see what happens. What happened during the next couple of weeks can not be named as anything but amazing transformation of hunting skills an habits. I didn't not believe my eyes again but now for all the opposite reasons. So when the spider molted I've decided to put some more challenge on and moved it into an even bigger enclosure.

The question, however, still remains about where is the line between hardwired behavior and actual adaptability.

 

[barabootom]

I kept some wild caught blondis in 15 gallon tanks and they never seemed to be content. They wondered into every corner of the tank every night, doing many many rounds until morning. I had long deep burrows I made and they sometimes used them and sometimes didn't. Mine didn't dig much but spent most of the night hours trying to escape, at least that's what it looked like to me. I always assumed it was humidity, air flow, substrate, lighting, temps or whatever. It never occurred to me it might be space. None of my other 30 adults of other species have any problem and all of them have much less space. I think you might be on to something Fran.

 

[BiologicalJewels]

I think space is paramount to a certain extent.
I've had a couple of T. blondi molting well in shoe boxes (they are at least 6" each). I'll change their set-up after a molt.

I also have one in a 56 qt Steralite contcainer wit about 10" substrate, I thought she had been digging her burrow, but was mistaken. The deeper substrate retains humidity better, which seems crucial for blondi molts.

I also have an individual in a 29 gal tank with 4" substrate, a piece of cork bark leaned up against the glass and only a small gap for her to climb into the hide. The inside of the hide was semi-full with substrate (a mix of repti-soil and coco-fiber 50/50), and some moss. I am going based on the fact that although they are burrowers, the jungle floor is not evenly flat, it has small drops and fallen logs, ting like that which are used to build burrows, they are also known to use abandoned rodent burrows, either way, she loves it.
She was able to feel like it was a small enough entrance and a large enough space inside to call home.

Their temp doesn't go below 75 (there's been some drops and some gradients here and there) and their humidity is nearly 90% all the time (mostly).

here's a pic of the legs that can be seen through the entrance of the hide.

 

[Fran]

Hey Tom


Since I have started keeping tarantulas I think I have had easily over 100 different T. Blondi and evey single one of them have done the same till I moved them into a really large enclosure.
10,15 and 20G Tanks are really big enough for most of the spiders we keep,but not for Adult T Blondi.

The problem comes when you are planning on have several ones...Then you cant have 8-10 40G tanks. Thats ridiculous.

 

[Fran]

here's a pic of the legs that can be seen through the entrance of the hide.

Cool pic Balam, indeed is a small entrance