Why do tarantulas put dirt in their water dish?

Vanessa

Grammostola Groupie
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Mar 12, 2016
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Boredom? Renovating? Burying their bolus so it doesn't attract predators? They want something to be washed away?
It could be for a lot of reasons.
 

Feral

Arachnobaron
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There are many animals all across the animal kingdom who have the instinct to put their waste in water. It makes sense to have this instinct as water, especially running water, would be great at washing away waste (thereby helping to control growth of harmful pathogens or avoid attracting pests like ants or mites) and removing evidence of their occupancy (like removing the mounds of freshly excavating dirt that might alert predators to their presence). I believe that e reason, as it seems to make the most sense evolutionarily wise.
 

Colorado Ts

Arachnoangel
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Oct 16, 2019
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831
Just wondering why they do that
Isn't that just the weirdest thing? It always seems to be the water dish...

I have a Lasiodora parahybana sling, just rehoused it into a larger enclosure. So now it has a water dish. It’s been excavating a new burrow, not just digging...it’s excavating...like I think there's a backhoe and dozer hidden in there somewhere...and I can't find 'em.

And it hauls all this “stuff”, and dumps it........clear across the enclosure...into the water dish.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Baffles the mind...Fun Times.
 

AphonopelmaTX

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There are many animals all across the animal kingdom who have the instinct to put their waste in water. It makes sense to have this instinct as water, especially running water, would be great at washing away waste (thereby helping to control growth of harmful pathogens or avoid attracting pests like ants or mites) and removing evidence of their occupancy (like removing the mounds of freshly excavating dirt that might alert predators to their presence). I believe that e reason, as it seems to make the most sense evolutionarily wise.
I always thought there was a much more simple explanation. Tarantulas just don't like standing water near them because they really don't like being wet. In nature, tarantulas dump the soil from their renovations right outside of their burrow entrance, or close to it. They don't have cups of water right outside of their front door at all times and after a down-poor, it's not like they come out to fill the puddles with fresh dry soil, but I bet they would if they could. I always thought the water dish in a tarantula enclosure would be interpreted by the tarantula the same as how we would interpret putting a big bowl of water right outside the bedroom door; something in the way and needing to be rid of.
 

Kitara

Arachnodemon
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I always thought there was a much more simple explanation. Tarantulas just don't like standing water near them because they really don't like being wet. In nature, tarantulas dump the soil from their renovations right outside of their burrow entrance, or close to it. They don't have cups of water right outside of their front door at all times and after a down-poor, it's not like they come out to fill the puddles with fresh dry soil, but I bet they would if they could. I always thought the water dish in a tarantula enclosure would be interpreted by the tarantula the same as how we would interpret putting a big bowl of water right outside the bedroom door; something in the way and needing to be rid of.
Wow that is a very interesting observation. I like it. I'm still standing on "they're just weird" though haha.
 

The Grym Reaper

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I always thought there was a much more simple explanation. Tarantulas just don't like standing water near them because they really don't like being wet.

I'm also guessing that areas of standing water would either attract pests, or attract other animals (which could potentially attract other predators as well).
 

AphonopelmaTX

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I'm also guessing that areas of standing water would either attract pests, or attract other animals (which could potentially attract other predators as well).
One aspect of the environment fossorial tarantulas occur in that isn't present in captivity is soil drainage. If soil is able to drain away water, then there won't be standing water around the burrow. There will always be exceptions of course, but generally, a tarantula that lives in the ground will choose a spot that isn't prone to standing water. From my observations of tarantulas in Texas, there are areas with a lot of grass and vegetation to aid in soaking up all of the water in the heavy clay soils burrows are made in. There are also areas where vegetation is sparse and that same clay soil won't soak up the rain water causing some spots of standing water. If a tarantula's burrow is flooded, they will pick and move, but I have seen something particularly interesting. In a colony of Aphonopelma hentzi I've observed for many years, I decided to go look at them right before and after a storm hit. Before the storm, all burrow entrances were plugged and after the storm when there were huge puddles of water everywhere, the burrows remained plugged. Those tarantulas didn't come back out until standing water drained away. The ground was wet and muddy of course, but I found it remarkable that colony seemed to know when a rain storm was coming and knew when it was safe to come back out.

Tarantula predators don't need standing water to find them so I don't consider that a factor in why they don't like it. I've seen water avoidance behavior so many times in my captive tarantulas that my only conclusion as to why they fill their water dishes up with soil is just because they don't like being wet. Have you ever seen a tarantula touch the water in their dish and immediately draw their legs away? It looks like they touched a hot stove top or something similar.

Also, a fun experiment would be to put a tarantula's water dish in a different location inside the enclosure, if the enclosure is big enough, to find out if they really are intentionally filling it with soil or if the water dish just happens to be in the spot the tarantula chooses to dump it. For instance, if the water dish is anywhere near the entrance to a hide or burrow, put the water dish on the opposite side. If the tarantula carries it to water, then you know it is intentionally putting soil there. If it keeps dumping soil in the same spot, but without the water, then you know the standing water has nothing to do with it.

I wonder sometimes when someone notices their tarantula constantly dumping soil in their water if they take into consideration that there might not be enough room in the enclosure for it to carry away the soil from burrow construction. Therefore a tarantula might not actually be intending to fill their water dish with dirt.
 

The Grym Reaper

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Have you ever seen a tarantula touch the water in their dish and immediately draw their legs away?
No, if I notice them recoil from water it's when I overflow the dish and the water comes into contact with them (which is to be expected).

Also, a fun experiment would be to put a tarantula's water dish in a different location inside the enclosure, if the enclosure is big enough, to find out if they really are intentionally filling it with soil or if the water dish just happens to be in the spot the tarantula chooses to dump it. For instance, if the water dish is anywhere near the entrance to a hide or burrow, put the water dish on the opposite side. If the tarantula carries it to water, then you know it is intentionally putting soil there. If it keeps dumping soil in the same spot, but without the water, then you know the standing water has nothing to do with it.
Yeah, the only specimen of mine that currently fills its water dish is my A. seemanni and, while the dish falls inside the area that it tends to dump substrate, it does seem to be going for the dish first and then working its way along (unlike my other fossorials which dump sub right outside the burrow entrance). I've illustrated below.

Grey rectangle = hide location
Red circle = dish location
Green area = Sub dump sites

Untitled.png
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Also, a fun experiment would be to put a tarantula's water dish in a different location inside the enclosure, if the enclosure is big enough, to find out if they really are intentionally filling it with soil or if the water dish just happens to be in the spot the tarantula chooses to dump it. For instance, if the water dish is anywhere near the entrance to a hide or burrow, put the water dish on the opposite side. If the tarantula carries it to water, then you know it is intentionally putting soil there. If it keeps dumping soil in the same spot, but without the water, then you know the standing water has nothing to do with it.
I've done this a bit with NW terrestrials. In short, they fill it up. I have a H. chilensis (oh no, I didn't spell out the genus name, you won't take my post seriously now hah) that I do this more frequently than most because it's an active T. Regardless of where I put the dish, it gets filled. However, would this change if I increased the size to a much large setup - I don't know because I'm reluctant to put its water source far away.

Personally, I don't know why they do it. But I've always felt they do it because they don't like holes in the ground when walking. Ts like firm substrate to walk on, a hole is less than firm.
 

Colorado Ts

Arachnoangel
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Checked over my slings this morning...the Lasiodora parahybana has struck again. Mountain of stuff in the water dish...little terd ball.
 

Teds ts and Inverts

Arachnobaron
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Nov 10, 2017
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Same reason why some choose to dig up their decorations and not use their hides, it’s what they want to do, and they’re going to do whatever they want to, and they don’t give a damn how you feel about it :p
 

RezonantVoid

Hollow Knight
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Jan 7, 2018
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How could none of you mention the Great Water Dish War? This behavior stems from a rivalry lasting thousands of years after they defeated the water dishes long ago
 
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