What would you do?

[Hafi]

So my T. albo recently got a rehouse and started digging her burrow. The tunnel leads to under her waterdish and she also filled it up with substrate. Now as far as i see it i have 3 options. 1: move the water dish to the other side of the enclosure (probably should have done that from the beginning anyways but didn't think about it) . This would probably cause her burrow to collapse or atleast leave it without a roof but in the end it would make maintenance much easier for me because i can then just pick up her waterdish to clean it and refill it.
2: I leave it as it is, clean out the waterdish with a spoon or smth and refill it like that. This would keep her tunnels intact but would make maintenance a lot more annoying for me.
3: I just give up on the waterdish and just water the substrate. She'd probably like this the most but i'm not super confident about that. I like to have a watersource available for them at all times just in case.
What would you do?

 

[Georges Simp Pierre]

Definitely keep the water dish available, collapsing the burrow isn't a huge deal so probably 1

 

[vicareux]

Or 4,include a new water dish,and let this one act as shelter ?

 

[Hafi]

Or 4,include a new water dish,and let this one act as shelter ?

True, that's definetly an option too. Only downside is that these waterdishes were actually harder to find in my region than you'd think ( nice looking and good size for the enclosure) and they weren't supercheap. I think for today i'll let her enjoy the mess she's made and wait for a bit more input from the arachnoboards.

 

[kingshockey]

just move the dish or add a lid from a peanut butter jar as the new water dish

 

[Tarantuland]

I would just remove it and rinse it out and put it back. No matter where you put the water dish, the spider is gonna fill it up with substrate.

 

[Hafi]

I would just remove it and rinse it out and put it back. No matter where you put the water dish, the spider is gonna fill it up with substrate.

yeah its not about her filling the waterdish, that's normal. Its about destroying her burrow that she spent the last days digging.

 

[Almadabes]

If removing the dish would leave the burrow without a roof, I'd say just replace it with a piece of cork bark or something so you can move the dish.

 

[Liquifin]

I would leave the water dish, because it usually just becomes a substrate dump for species that have burrowing tendencies. Refilling the water dish or adding a new one will only result with more substrate being dumped into it and also more moisture added into the substrate resulting in a wet enclosure which is less than ideal.

 

[Coradams]

Only downside is that these waterdishes were actually harder to find in my region than you'd think ( nice looking and good size for the enclosure)

Unless you are worried about the weight of the water dish collapsing on your t, I would just add another water dish. I gave up on those shallow reptile water dishes long ago though. It seemed that water was always wicking out due to substrate or webbing. For larger ts, I have had better luck with the small glass condiment cups I get at Walmart. (I find them in the bakeware aisle with the measuring cups. You can also cut the bottom of a small soda bottle to the depth you want although I would recommend sanding the edges a bit and hot gluing it to a piece of flat plastic for stability. For smaller ts you could cut down a plastic bathroom Dixie cup, cut a ping pong ball in half or just use a bottle cap. For a juvie B boehmei, I use a section cut from a tray of toppings that came with a pre-packaged salad. Long story short (too late, I know) you have lots of options.

 

[Almadabes]

I would leave the water dish, because it usually just becomes a substrate dump for species that have burrowing tendencies. Refilling the water dish or adding a new one will only result with more substrate being dumped into it and also more moisture added into the substrate resulting in a wet enclosure which is less than ideal.

True - if it continues, its best to stop filling the dish until the sub dries out to normal.

I have had T's stop this behavior once they have a good-sized burrow they are happy with.
I have others that haven't lol.

I'd still move it tho to allow that opportunity.

 

[XxSpiderQueenxX]

I vote add a new water dish-
it works for everyone

 

[Hafi]

Unless you are worried about the weight of the water dish collapsing on your t, I would just add another water dish.

Yeah i thought about that too. I don't feel like i should be worried. It's not hollow so its not super light, but they are quite the builders. I'd imagine they reinforce their tunnels with webbing. Can't imagine any T in the wild that decides to build under a stone gets smashed by it, unless some animal or human steps on that stone (correct me if i'm wrong). Personally i do want to just move the dish and worry about other things but as that would definetly destroy the burrow she's made so far, i think i'm leaning towards just adding another one. Now that they're in there and have started working i've also realized that the dishes i provided might not have been the best idea in the first place, since they're going to be hard to pick up with tweezers. ( i also rehoused a juvenile G. pulchripes and a juvenile C. cyaenopubescens and gave them the same water dishes)

 

[Craig73]

Just a thought, but how certain are you that the water bowl IS the ceiling of the burrow? If its located above the burrow, that doesn’t necessarily make it a ceiling. Quite possible if you lift it up all you will see is the sub that was under the bowl and the tunnel is further below that.

 

[Hafi]

Just a thought, but how certain are you that the water bowl IS the ceiling of the burrow? If its located above the burrow, that doesn’t necessarily make it a ceiling. Quite possible if you lift it up all you will see is the sub that was under the bowl and the tunnel is further below that.

More than just a thought because you were 100% right. I would've bet on the water dish being an integral part of the roof when i looked at it from the side but it seems like she is an even better builder than i thought. Nothing collapsed at all, not even the thinnest bit of substrate. The burrow started about a cm or so further back but that's it but thanks to Almadabes suggestion i just put a piece of corkbark where the waterdish used to be, and now all seems well