Water Maintence for OBT's

julesaussies

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
577
i searched to see if i could find this info elsewhere before posting and did not find exactly what i was looking for. However, i did read that the topic of whether or not T's need a water bowl, misting or nothing has been debated to death so there is no need for that. My personal preference is to have water available for my T's. My OBT's were frequently at their water dish when i first got them. However, the web so much all over, it has been difficult to keep their water full. i was just using gatorade caps and they would frequently drink as well as lay in it. Does anyone have any suggestions how to keep water available to a T that web's so much? Thanks! julie
 

william

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 18, 2006
Messages
146
water dish

i use a small stainless steal dish,you can buy for less than a $1.00 @ wal_mart.in the cat section.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
8,656
I keep my OBTs in smaller tanks. They treat the whole container as a hide and web up everything under the sun. So I have the same problem as you. A water dish does not stand much of a chance of being full cause they web it and the water runs of into the substrate.
So what I do is once a week sometimes more ill drip water on the webbing opposite of where ever she is in the tank. It seems to take a long time to evaporate, and I have caught her drinking off the webbing all the time. Never had a molt issue or a weird death.

I assume this is how they would drink water in the wild, just by slurping up dew and rain off the webbing.
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
6,218
I give my OBTs plenty of room, enough so they can web up the spot I have designed for them to web up, so the whole cage isn't webbed up and I can insert a waterdish.

Since you can't put in a waterdish, just gently mist her web, 2x a week.

In the wild, they can either burrow, web under a log, shrub, or a rock, so they can just venture out at night in search of dew drops or whatever water source is near by. They also get most of their water from the food they eat.
 

galeogirl

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
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Aug 15, 2002
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1,198
I mist my OBTs because they either knock over their water dishes constantly or web them up. I've kept them that way for years and they're really healthy.
 

phil jones

Arachnoprince
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Dec 17, 2006
Messages
1,051
I mist my OBTs because they either knock over their water dishes constantly or web them up. I've kept them that way for years and they're really healthy.
the lady has said it all :clap: :clap: :worship: :worship: :) %%% phil
 

spid142

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 9, 2006
Messages
492
misting

Misting, and also dribbling water down thru the tube web, is the way to go. They can web so much, theres no way you could get to the water dish without tearing up the web, AND have a very disturbed obt in the process.
Using/ not using water dish is a personal preference, and debated, but for obt's I dont think a water dish would even be practical once they web. Mine has 3/4 of her jar filled with tube web, and misting/dribbling works fine, I see her drink off the droplets. Seems more natural to me anyway.
 

julesaussies

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
577
Thanks!

Thank you to everyone who replied. i love those crazy OBT's. i have two and they are so different from each other. Anyway, while it seems as though the heavy webs will make it impossible to keep a water dish; the thick web provides a good way to get water to them.

i only recently returned to the hobby after more than 10 years with no T's. This is an awesome site. i was not even aware of message boards like this when i was keeping T's before. Great way to share information and get hooked up with more T's!!!

Thanks! julie
 

P. Novak

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 12, 2005
Messages
6,218
Thank you to everyone who replied. i love those crazy OBT's. i have two and they are so different from each other. Anyway, while it seems as though the heavy webs will make it impossible to keep a water dish; the thick web provides a good way to get water to them.

i only recently returned to the hobby after more than 10 years with no T's. This is an awesome site. i was not even aware of message boards like this when i was keeping T's before. Great way to share information and get hooked up with more T's!!!

Thanks! julie
It's cause back then they weren't here. Anyway no problem in helping out, and welcome back to the T hobby!
 

ballpython2

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,670
i searched to see if i could find this info elsewhere before posting and did not find exactly what i was looking for. However, i did read that the topic of whether or not T's need a water bowl, misting or nothing has been debated to death so there is no need for that. My personal preference is to have water available for my T's. My OBT's were frequently at their water dish when i first got them. However, the web so much all over, it has been difficult to keep their water full. i was just using gatorade caps and they would frequently drink as well as lay in it. Does anyone have any suggestions how to keep water available to a T that web's so much? Thanks! julie
I keep my OBT in half of a ten gallon tank (with a P lugardi on the other side) and my baby doesn't web up the tank all because I use a brown paper towel holder thing (that the paper towel comes on) and my OBT uses that for a hide and it only webs INSIDE of that. I guess that just shows how secure my OBT is. So I can water my OBTs water dish and the only way it will dry out is if it gets to hot in the walk in closet...I constantly refill it but that's no problem at all for me....And if I turn the paper towel holder thing horizontally so both sides fact the wall my OBT cant get out and i can do cage maintance with a Orange bitey thingy trying to bite my hands / fingers. I'll take a picture of the cage but all you going to see is what looks like an empty water dish lol....

So for those of you thinking of getting a OBT give them a hide that can essentially cover their whole body and they won't even burrow they'll just say in that hide all the time like my baby...I have decided to name my OBT tropicana for common sense reasons lol...
 

Malevolus

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
17
I had a thought about this, not sure if it's work since I don't have one. I personally thought of this so I have to open the tank when I eventually get an OBT as little as possible.

Couldn't you take a piece of the clear plastic tubing and silicon it to the side of the tank or perhaps a corner and have the water dish right below the bottom of the tubing? It'd kinda be set up like a false bottom, but ending in the water dish instead of the bottom of the tank. That way you'd just have to pour the water down the tube to fill the water dish.

Now if the OBT webs over the water dish, I guess it kinda defeats the purpose ;P
 
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