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- May 14, 2004
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this subject was brought up by me and brian recently in the tityus thread, but i believe i have more to add to it. We were discussing the lifestyles of tityus spp. and i stated that i recalled hearing that though designed for arboreal lifestyles, some tityus spp. actually prefer to dwell in the litter at the base of trees, venturing on to the trunks at night. With the recent maturing of two of my T serrulats and pending moult of the third, i decided to rennovate a new enclosure for them:
About every two days or so i shine the UV inside the enclosure to look for them, and much to my suprise i very rarely ever see them in the wall of moss or on the large pieces of bark. They have the entire tank to themselves to spread out. Instead, they all huddle together in the same space, the leaf litter. usually they are all hiding under the same magnolia leaf (the one in pic 4) though sometimes i see one resting on the base of the 1/2 round stump next to it. As night progresses, they all disperse, and i find them out and about in the tank. This may be coincidence, but it could also demonstrate the natural preferences of these animals. Perhaps instead of just bark, we should be providing them with leaf litter as well. once my colony expands, i intend to set up an experiment to see whether they prefer a more terrestrial or arboreal setup.
And here's a pic of one of the darlings... just for fun.
this specimen molted to maturity about 1.5 to 2 months after this picture was taken.
John
About every two days or so i shine the UV inside the enclosure to look for them, and much to my suprise i very rarely ever see them in the wall of moss or on the large pieces of bark. They have the entire tank to themselves to spread out. Instead, they all huddle together in the same space, the leaf litter. usually they are all hiding under the same magnolia leaf (the one in pic 4) though sometimes i see one resting on the base of the 1/2 round stump next to it. As night progresses, they all disperse, and i find them out and about in the tank. This may be coincidence, but it could also demonstrate the natural preferences of these animals. Perhaps instead of just bark, we should be providing them with leaf litter as well. once my colony expands, i intend to set up an experiment to see whether they prefer a more terrestrial or arboreal setup.
And here's a pic of one of the darlings... just for fun.
this specimen molted to maturity about 1.5 to 2 months after this picture was taken.
John