Wait and see experiment

[BoyFromLA]

Many ask / question this:

When tarantulas seal the burrow, and have no access to food and water, how long should you wait?

While general answer would be, just leave it be, but honestly, it really is not a simple question to answer because, to answer it, would require some contexts.

Such as:

• What species this tarantula is?
• What size this tarantula is?
• How recent did this tarantula eat?
• How recent did this tarantula molt?

Why such information is needed / important?

• What species this tarantula is?
  • Many of the tarantulas are opportunistic burrowers, so there is nothing wrong with them burrowing, but depends on what species it is, it gets way simpler to answer the question.
• What size this tarantula is?
  • Many of the tarantulas are opportunistic burrowers like I mentioned above, and it is way common for young tarantulas go into burrow than adult tarantulas, to escape / hide from their predators, and any kinds of dangers might happen.
• How recent did this tarantula eat?
  • It would highly likely be recently ate or not so hungry tarantulas to seal the burrows because they are not interested in eating at the moment, and do not want to be bothered by any intruders. So it would make very sense for them to just seal the burrow, and enjoy their solitude.
• How recent did this tarantula molt?
  • When it comes to molting, sealing the burrows is just natural thing to follow. For tarantulas, it’s THE moment when they become most vulnerable, and want to be protected from any dangers by any means necessary. Thus, to prepare to molt, to molt, soon after molt, tarantulas seal the burrows.

Now then, I did get why tarantulas seal the burrows, that’s good, but how long should I wait? A week, a month, a year? What if it dies because I waited too long and miss the golden time to intervene?

For me, the real struggle is not the waiting itself when tarantulas seal the burrows, but it is the uncertainly that makes me worry. The more I wait longer, the more eagerly I become to dig that burrow and see if my tarantulas are ok, and carve that scene into my retinas, and my brain.

However I still believe that tarantulas do know what they do, and they are way better at it than me, because I am not a tarantula.

Now to my ‘wait and see’ experiment.




In this enclosure, a 5”ish female Chilobrachys Sp. Electric Blue dwells, and it’s last molt was on October 15, 2022.

Since then it ate about six to seven plump superworms within a month time frame, then went into the burrow, and sealed it at the end of November, 2022.

Roughly about two months passed, and I am not worrying too much just yet. I gently pour a half cup of water over the burrow every month, and that is about it. I just watch, and observe beside the watering.

I know three things so far:

• Before it sealed the burrow
  • It molted recently
  • It ate (enough) recently
  • It will not molt soon

Then it could only mean one thing, at the moment, it just wants to be alone, and does not want to be bothered at all.

But for how long? That I will be finding out hopefully soon, if not before 2023 ends.

I will update this post once it emerges from it’s sealed burrow.

 

[viper69]

Facts that all the new peeps who don’t bother reading because they are too damn lazy should read!

 

[mealworm]

Spot on info. I have an aphonopelma calcodes around 4 inches that has been buried for months. She ate 3 large crickets before her retreat. A lesson in patients for sure. So true viper so true. lol

 

[klawfran3]

I had a C. Fimbriatus a few years ago that was 1" when I got it. I put it in a cheese puff container filled with dirt and literally never saw it again til I gave it away 2 years later. I dug it up to be sure it was ok and alive (before I gave someone a jar of dirt lol) and it was very pissed off and 3-4" DLS.

Best tip: If food is disappearing every now and then it's fine. If food ISNT disappearing it's still fine. Don't worry about it.

 

[l4nsky]

@BoyFromLA, you're 100% correct that context is important in situations like this. Having said that, I believe there is one more variable to consider and I propose a variation to your experiment. That variable would be susceptibility to dessication. With all variables equal (molt dates, food intake, age, etc), I would be much more concerned about a tropical species being closed off for months at a time as opposed to a more temperate species that naturally enters long periods of torpor.

Looking at the pictures provided, I'm noticing that the substrate has started to retract from the walls as it's been drying down and there isn't a waterbowl present. My hypothesis is that this specimen has sealed itself away to conserve moisture. My proposed experimental variation is this:

1. Place dry leaf litter over the specimen's webbed entrances and observe for a week. If the leaves get moved around the enclosure, then the tarantula is out at night but sealing itself back during the day. If the leaves don't get moved, then the T is truly sealed away.
2. Add a large water bowl that takes up a quarter of the enclosure. Depth doesn't matter, you just want a large surface area for evaporation. Place the leaves over the webbing entrances once again and observe for a week. The aim here is to see if a higher ambient RH will encourage the specimen to open up it's burrow as the burrow RH would be less than the overall enclosure RH and a higher RH reduces moisture loss from respiration.
3. Heavily soak the left half of the enclosure (not the half with the webbing), keep the large water bowl in the enclosure, place the leaves over the webbing entrance, and observe for a week. The water will wick from the moist substrate over to the dryer side through capillary action, eventually reaching equilibrium, and producing higher burrow RH in addition to higher ambient RH in the enclosure.

My prediction is that for the first week, the leaves won't be moved. It takes resources (food and water) to replace the webbing every night, resources which the tarantula isn't getting at the moment so it's waiting for more favorable conditions. For the second week with just the addition of the water bowl, I predict you'll see the leaves moved, but the webbing replaced. For the third week, I predict you'll find a very hungry Chilobrachys sp Electric Blue sitting at an opened burrow entrance waiting for food .

 

[BoyFromLA]

I would be much more concerned about a tropical species being closed off for months at a time as opposed to a more temperate species that naturally enters long periods of torpor.

Another important context I have not thought of!

I'm noticing that the substrate has started to retract from the walls as it's been drying down and there isn't a waterbowl present.

Great catch! For heavy webbing tarantulas, I tend not to put any water dishes in their enclosures, instead I pour over water in them.

My prediction is that for the first week, the leaves won't be moved. It takes resources (food and water) to replace the webbing every night, resources which the tarantula isn't getting at the moment so it's waiting for more favorable conditions. For the second week with just the addition of the water bowl, I predict you'll see the leaves moved, but the webbing replaced. For the third week, I predict you'll find a very hungry Chilobrachys sp Electric Blue sitting at an opened burrow entrance waiting for food .

I will definitely do this, and will update as weeks pass by!

 

[BoyFromLA]

02/19/2023

Heavily soak the left half of the enclosure (not the half with the webbing),

Add a large water bowl that takes up a quarter of the enclosure.

Place dry leaf litter over the specimen's webbed entrances and observe for a week.

Now, to observe.

 

[mealworm]

What is this ??? Logic and then understanding of said logic ?? What wonderful world have I found ?? Seriously tho boy really curious to see how your experiment unfolds.

 

[l4nsky]

02/19/2023



View attachment 439504



View attachment 439505



View attachment 439506

Now, to observe.

Lol I meant for it to be over three weeks, but I just realized I wasn't too clear on that. Apologies lol. Guess we're rushing to the end of the experiment lol .

 

[BoyFromLA]

Lol I meant for it to be over three weeks

Yes, you did. Week one, week two, week three. I saw not much harm to do all at once since the substrate is pretty dry currently.

 

[BoyFromLA]

03/04/2023

Today, I did notice that there was a shift in the position of the leaves.





I cannot tell if it ever came out of the burrow, but it is certain that it is still keep expanding it’s burrow by moving, and pushing excavated dirts to outside.

 

[BoyFromLA]

04/08/2023

Another month passed, still not much of action going on.



It means only one thing, I need to wait longer.

 

[mealworm]

Boy after 4 1/2 months of waiting I look into my A. calcodes encloser to see 4 freshly molted legs sticking out of her burrow. Now if she will just crawl the rest of the way out!!! Come on baby!!!

 

[BoyFromLA]

04/16/2023

Finally, I did confirm it is doing well.



At some point, it did came out of the burrow and moved around a bit while putting down webbings here and there, before it burrowed again.



You can tell by the thin thread of webbing on the water dish, and freshly covered webbings on it’s burrow entrance.

 

[Frogdaddy]

04/16/2023

Finally, I did confirm it is doing well.

View attachment 443381

At some point, it did came out of the burrow and moved around a bit while putting down webbings here and there, before it burrowed again.

View attachment 443382

You can tell by the thin thread of webbing on the water dish, and freshly covered webbings on it’s burrow entrance.

Thank you for circling those, I was playing a game of spot the differences.

 

[BoyFromLA]

04/23/2023

After long five months of hiding. It finally decided to emerge itself. What a beauty!

I intentionally did not open the enclosure lid when I was taking the pictures. I did not want to disturb it.