Uh Oh

[Trenor]

I have found with my gabonensis that the fake leaves in the vial made it easy to transfer the T to a larger enclosure.

The T had webbed everything into one clump, so I picked up the clump with tweezers and moved it wholesale to the larger enclosure, and then surrounded it with more leaves - which the T is helpfully adding to the clump.

It makes it easy to get them out at times. I still like to work them out of the old stuff when I move them though. That's just mostly me wanting to see how they setup in the new enclosure without being influenced by old stuff.

 

[runCMD]

From what I've gathered, the vial is a temporary enclosure because the actual enclosure had holes too big for the size of the spider.
So i think a new enclosure is in progress

I was actually "on the fence" about just leaving it in there until it was big enough for the original deli cup. I'd still probably actually prefer a front-opener. Maybe I will buy some Ferrero Rocher when I am out

 

[viper69]

Thanks everyone.

Here are my takeaways.

I'm going to get a deli cup when I pick up my daughter from school. By then it should be done with it's first meal.
I will make smaller holes the same way I did in the vial(with an RC plane push-rod heated by propane torch).
I will give it a proper hide(just move from the other deli cup).
I will provide some sphagnum, and perhaps some leaves if I can find any.
I will provide the water dish(again, just moving from the other cup). I had seen the anti-tip dish and liked it but I'll just see if my wide dish works.

EDIT: I have a free 8x8x8 Exo Terra btw, but assuming that is too big .

Too big for a tiny sling, unless you overwhelm the container with tons of insects that it will readily find.

Post up a pic before you drop your Avic into it. Sphagnum moss on the ground floor isn't necessary, but won't hurt either. I keep only coco fiber on the bottom simply so crickets cannot hide from Avics. Sometimes moss is just enough cover to prevent an Avic for sensing a cricket at times.

 

[runCMD]

Too big for a tiny sling, unless you overwhelm the container with tons of insects that it will readily find.

Post up a pic before you drop your Avic into it. Sphagnum moss on the ground floor isn't necessary, but won't hurt either. I keep only coco fiber on the bottom simply so crickets cannot hide from Avics. Sometimes moss is just enough cover to prevent an Avic for sensing a cricket at times.

Will do. Have loved the instant feedback I have gotten here. I have a starter colony of dubias and about 30 pinhead B. Lats for feeding my (now) 3 Ts. I will avoid crickets if at all possible.

 

[Bugmom]

@runCMD

I disagree with the above as a complete hydration solution, esp for what seems to be a first time Avic owner, here is why.

Aside from examining the size of the abdomen, or body posture, ie death curl, an owner has no idea if a T is thirsty or not. I have Avics with FAT abdomens that drink water.

The droplets will likely evaporate before the Avic even drinks, I see this all the time. Spraying the sides may result in the below, esp with an inexperienced owner

1. Increased wetness, stuffy air- the number 1 killer of Avics with new owners, esp slings
2. A dehydrated/dead T because an owner assumes the Avic will drink, when it may not drink at all.

Now, is adding water to the leaves or sides wrong even if a water bowl is present, not it is not because not all Avics will drink from a bowl, and sometimes they seem to "forget" they have a water bowl, I've observed this frequently. Both strategies are necessary IMO.

Spray. Not mist. When I spray, there is enough water going into the enclosure that some drips down into the substrate.

I really want to know how, with slings that are very small and in vials or deli cups, you fit any sort of water dish that maintains water in it for more than 1-3 days? If there is enough ventilation to ensure no stagnant/stuffy/humid air, then a water in a dish that small is going to evaporate quickly. I don't know about you, but when I have 30, 40, 100 slings, I don't have the time to ensure there is a water dish with water in it in every single vial/deli cup. Do you? If so, when do you sleep?

 

[Trenor]

Spray. Not mist. When I spray, there is enough water going into the enclosure that some drips down into the substrate.

I really want to know how, with slings that are very small and in vials or deli cups, you fit any sort of water dish that maintains water in it for more than 1-3 days? If there is enough ventilation to ensure no stagnant/stuffy/humid air, then a water in a dish that small is going to evaporate quickly. I don't know about you, but when I have 30, 40, 100 slings, I don't have the time to ensure there is a water dish with water in it in every single vial/deli cup. Do you? If so, when do you sleep?

I'm just getting into breeding so I've only had about 25-30 slings at once and they all had bottle caps for water dishes. For me it's easier to maintain water for the slings that way. I do use bigger enclosures for even my tiny slings.

If I had 100+ I might have to rethink things.

 

[Bugmom]

I'm just getting into breeding so I've only had about 25-30 slings at once and they all had bottle caps for water dishes. For me it's easier to maintain water for the slings that way. I do use bigger enclosures for even my tiny slings.

If I had 100+ I might have to rethink things.

The last batch of slings I had from a loan came out to 50 or 60 slings. P. cambridei. Burrowers when slings, and even if you were to give them little or no substrate, they'd still web the heck out of any enclosure. A water dish would not survive that and you'd constantly be deconstructing web to get to it. I've found this to be true for a lot of different species when they are slings.

Avics I can give a water dish to because they go up, not down, so an inverted AMAC container works great for them. I haven't found any other species I can do that with yet.

 

[cold blood]

I will make smaller holes the same way I did in the vial(with an RC plane push-rod heated by propane torch).
I will give it a proper hide(just move from the other deli cup)

I just make a few rings of holes on the top half and a couple on the lid. I use a pin, then run through the holes with a toothpick....I have yet to burn myself or accidently make a hole too big this way...its very consistent and a small project your daughter could help with.

Spray. Not mist. When I spray, there is enough water going into the enclosure that some drips down into the substrate.

I really want to know how, with slings that are very small and in vials or deli cups, you fit any sort of water dish that maintains water in it for more than 1-3 days? If there is enough ventilation to ensure no stagnant/stuffy/humid air, then a water in a dish that small is going to evaporate quickly. I don't know about you, but when I have 30, 40, 100 slings, I don't have the time to ensure there is a water dish with water in it in every single vial/deli cup. Do you? If so, when do you sleep?

While I don't spray or mist...having lots of them like you said means that I do things differently than if I had just a few dozen like you said. When I had smaller numbers, I used a syringe...and I still like that for those with limited enclosures....but with a room full of slings, I fill water dished with a spray bottle, and there's always some excess spray that covers plants, walls and webbing to a certain degree....no biggie though as its gone pretty quickly.

I will say that many of my current slings (2" by now) are also P. cams, and while I had to replace many, I haven't really had much trouble keeping water dishes in the deli cups with them.

 

[runCMD]

Current options (both smaller than the original deli cup)

I have a square deli cup I just grabbed from the local grocery store. Seems kind of flimsy but will probably work.
I have a smaller round one that my adult dubias were delivered in today with a choice of a mesh top or regular plastic with a lot of (tiny) holes. The problem with this one is it is slightly opaque.

I think I will be going with the clear square one so I can see the T better.

 

[viper69]

Spray. Not mist. When I spray, there is enough water going into the enclosure that some drips down into the substrate.

I really want to know how, with slings that are very small and in vials or deli cups, you fit any sort of water dish that maintains water in it for more than 1-3 days? If there is enough ventilation to ensure no stagnant/stuffy/humid air, then a water in a dish that small is going to evaporate quickly. I don't know about you, but when I have 30, 40, 100 slings, I don't have the time to ensure there is a water dish with water in it in every single vial/deli cup. Do you? If so, when do you sleep?

Spray/mist - semantics IMO.

For deli cups I use bottle caps for water bowls. I haven't measured how long the water lasts before bowl gets dry, but water is present in my dry climate for over 3 days. I also check my Ts a minimum of 2x a day.

The key here "if there is enough vent..." most new Avic owners don't use enough as evidenced by all the threads

Economy of scale, I can appreciate such a situation. I don't have 100 slings currently. However, if I did, I would be using water bowls.

And as for water bowl size, one can use what I mentioned previously even for relatively small Thornton vials.

There's no T law, we all do what works best for us or our animals, hopefully both if possible.

I was providing additional info for a new Avic owner, something that is always needed IMO.