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A few questions about Tarantula's

InternetSwag

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Africa
So this T. Okerti is quite aggressive. He ate a dubia but left half of it and it became a little bit fluffy (mold I guess). Want to remove it.
Take the lid off the container - carefully cause omg this spider is a huge mature female. Nope. Nothing gets past this big mama. she charged for the lid and I hadnt even lifted it 1cm yet. So I was like nope nope nope ill try later when she is inside her corkbark
 

InternetSwag

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3 Year Member
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210
Location
Africa
Also my one friends T got killed by his other T.
He had a massive fish tank that he turned into two enclosures. Separated by perspex melded with silicone.
Klugi and Boehmei both around 7-8cm
The boehmei had a thing for sitting on this perspex divider right at the top. For months this went on fine.
Somehow the perspex came loose and the boehmei fell over with the perspex into the Klugi's enclosure.

At least thats the theory. Cause my friend came home to the Klugi (who was now missing a leg) eating the Boehmei. So he must have fallen in and gotten a shock from the impact and the Klugi ate him. Coz they both the same size it's actually terrible. And the Boehmei was sooo beautiful.

Either way, I now know not to make a dual enclosure like that. It could end badly.
 

Jess S

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Also my one friends T got killed by his other T.
He had a massive fish tank that he turned into two enclosures. Separated by perspex melded with silicone.
Klugi and Boehmei both around 7-8cm
The boehmei had a thing for sitting on this perspex divider right at the top. For months this went on fine.
Somehow the perspex came loose and the boehmei fell over with the perspex into the Klugi's enclosure.

At least thats the theory. Cause my friend came home to the Klugi (who was now missing a leg) eating the Boehmei. So he must have fallen in and gotten a shock from the impact and the Klugi ate him. Coz they both the same size it's actually terrible. And the Boehmei was sooo beautiful.

Either way, I now know not to make a dual enclosure like that. It could end badly.

Oh that's awful, I'd be gutted :(
 

InternetSwag

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3 Year Member
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210
Location
Africa
I remember when I got into the hobby as a newbie 6 months ago I thought; "i wonder if Tarantulas emit like a pheromone or something that repels other insects and bugs"
You guys told me no, which made sense. And I can confirm, if anything the opposite is true.
Keeping T's, roaches, mealworms fed in substrate etc etc actually just invites more bugs.

And now for a question;
How much water do T's really need? I think maybe the answer is a lot less than I think. I've been keeping water bowls topped up E3D for months now, except for my Thailand Black who I have been told like slightly moister substrate. But none of them have ever seemed to have any issues, even 'fragile' species like my pinktoe.
In fact my Lasiodora Parahybana burried his water bowl at the bottom of his enclosure. So I've just been dropping some water drops into the enclosure near to where the bowl used to be. Everything seems fine.

I also see people on youtube literally leave their slings without water bowls for weeks.
 

Arachnoclown

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I remember when I got into the hobby as a newbie 6 months ago I thought; "i wonder if Tarantulas emit like a pheromone or something that repels other insects and bugs"
You guys told me no, which made sense. And I can confirm, if anything the opposite is true.
Keeping T's, roaches, mealworms fed in substrate etc etc actually just invites more bugs.

And now for a question;
How much water do T's really need? I think maybe the answer is a lot less than I think. I've been keeping water bowls topped up E3D for months now, except for my Thailand Black who I have been told like slightly moister substrate. But none of them have ever seemed to have any issues, even 'fragile' species like my pinktoe.
In fact my Lasiodora Parahybana burried his water bowl at the bottom of his enclosure. So I've just been dropping some water drops into the enclosure near to where the bowl used to be. Everything seems fine.

I also see people on youtube literally leave their slings without water bowls for weeks.
Thing is everything needs water from time to time. Have you ever really needed a drink of water? Imagine if it wasn't there... and you cant ask anyone for it. A spiders instincts is going to tell them they need water. How are they going to search for it inside their enclosures? In the wild they would search out the needed moisture. Small slings can drink from moss or wet substrate. I have hundreds of slings right now that drink from moss. When dehydration sets in most times it's too late. We get dozens of posts each year on this. Water is a must for all living creatures. If your spider flips it bowl get a heavier one.
 

Rs50matt

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With dehydration being a cause of death for a T I think a keeper will be pretty silly to not include a water dish of some sort in an enclosure big enough to accommodate one
Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just a bottle top is fine and and completely free.
 

Jess S

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Location
South Wales
I remember when I got into the hobby as a newbie 6 months ago I thought; "i wonder if Tarantulas emit like a pheromone or something that repels other insects and bugs"
You guys told me no, which made sense. And I can confirm, if anything the opposite is true.
Keeping T's, roaches, mealworms fed in substrate etc etc actually just invites more bugs.

And now for a question;
How much water do T's really need? I think maybe the answer is a lot less than I think. I've been keeping water bowls topped up E3D for months now, except for my Thailand Black who I have been told like slightly moister substrate. But none of them have ever seemed to have any issues, even 'fragile' species like my pinktoe.
In fact my Lasiodora Parahybana burried his water bowl at the bottom of his enclosure. So I've just been dropping some water drops into the enclosure near to where the bowl used to be. Everything seems fine.

I also see people on youtube literally leave their slings without water bowls for weeks.

Sometimes they don't drink hardly anything for ages then all of a sudden moulting time comes along and they get extremely thirsty. Also mature males drink a heck of a lot more than females. A waterdish is a solid idea because water droplets in a hot country like yours can evaporate before the t gets a chance to drink.
My LP used to tip its dish too, which was annoying. I'm glad it's stopped doing that :)
 

InternetSwag

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Africa
I found about 20 ants in my tripeppi's enclosure.
Thing is he didn't seem to care.
They walked up the side of his enclosure in through a ventilation hole and went for the watering dish. He is 7.5cm and most definitely in premolt, because he is very lethargic and he is usually super aggressive.

So what can I do about ants? I killed all 20 or so. I started squishing them and they ran like crazy. Killed all that I could find in my room as well. But im scared, because the T's are in plastic containers so they cant exactly vacate if something happens.
 

Jess S

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I found about 20 ants in my tripeppi's enclosure.
Thing is he didn't seem to care.
They walked up the side of his enclosure in through a ventilation hole and went for the watering dish. He is 7.5cm and most definitely in premolt, because he is very lethargic and he is usually super aggressive.

So what can I do about ants? I killed all 20 or so. I started squishing them and they ran like crazy. Killed all that I could find in my room as well. But im scared, because the T's are in plastic containers so they cant exactly vacate if something happens.
Ants are definitely capable of killing a molting t or even a healthy one, if their numbers are great enough.
There is a thread on here somewhere with lots of tips on how to get rid of ants.
You need to eliminate all the ants in the enclosures first, then find out where they are emerging from and plug up that entry point or points.
Some people place the T's enclosure on 'stilts' over a shallow dish containing water or vegetable oil. The ants drown in that and never get to climb into the enclosure.
 

InternetSwag

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3 Year Member
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210
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Africa
7UC5rjW.jpg

First time chowing on some mealworms
 

InternetSwag

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210
Location
Africa
mP5EqEB.mp4
My albi is honestly the sweetest. I took off the lid, he slowly turns to the top - walks slowly over to it as if to see what's up. Then I put him like this and he walked out on his own. Another minute or so and he walked out completely on his own into his new house.
 

Jess S

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NgIJTwW.jpg


This was gruesome. I cut a mealworm in half to feed to my smaller slings. The face side tried to burrow when I threw it in, and my tiny G Rosea sling bit into his open wound and pulled him out

Yeah, I despise chopping meal worms. Crickets too keep moving even when decapitated. Had an awful situation once when my littlest sling got the head end of the cricket (it was pretty much just the head,) and the t in the next enclosure got the other end and both parts were moving. Legs still flapping and mouthparts still wiggling. I felt quite disturbed about it, it made me feel like a terrible person!!
 

InternetSwag

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3 Year Member
Messages
210
Location
Africa
Yeah, I despise chopping meal worms. Crickets too keep moving even when decapitated. Had an awful situation once when my littlest sling got the head end of the cricket (it was pretty much just the head,) and the t in the next enclosure got the other end and both parts were moving. Legs still flapping and mouthparts still wiggling. I felt quite disturbed about it, it made me feel like a terrible person!!
Gruesome!
I can't help but feel like that as well. Like shame this lil worm also just wants to live.
I think thats what makes a good person if you get that feeling. But alas, T's need to eat they will die without us coz of all the pesticides in the real world
 
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