• Are you a Tarantula hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community! Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and chat with other Tarantula enthusiasts. Sign up today!

Just rehoused my very first old world, and it was a Pokie.

Jess S

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
1,197
Location
South Wales
I just posted the video. The first one, very lower left corner, she steps in the ice water (I pulled out the cubes prior to filming) & changes direction. They all went in totally differently. I doubt normal temp water would discourage them.

Imagine having brain freeze on all 8 feet!! Changes of plans!!

10" would probably require more like a small pool not a bathtub. Heck Morgana almost stretched across to the ledge which was why I had that catch cup.

They all found their way home which is what matters.


A certain one wants free food and a few ride.....

Well, you might be Whitelightning but your pokies are flippin' greased lightning! God they are fast.

That's a technique that I've not seen with bolty pokies before. Getting them to walk into the new enclosure without being contained in a catch cup. But it got the job done!

After such an undertaking, you looked very hot and bothered at the end. Good job you had a bath full of ice cold water to cool off in !! :D:D:D

Bet you're glad it went off without a hitch :)
 

Whitelightning777

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
The bathtub needed to be cleaned first!!

The thing with the older cages is that you only have a 4 inch wide area & the catch cup I use is about 4.5" so those are a no go. I did have catch cups but only if they broke free or crossed the water successfully.

If those cages were say 6x6, a catch cup would have been a possibility. Both the old and new cages have sides that are exactly 8" wide & this means you can line them up straight and trick the pokie into running back into something it thinks is the old cage but isn't.

I just got them to go random until sooner or later they ended up where they needed to be & they thought that they had successfully escaped but didn't.

They also fatigue rapidly. Sure they start fast but quickly exceed the capacity of the book lungs. Worse comes to worse, just run them around until they run out of gas. The CO2 will literally build up in their system and knock them out after a while making them progressively more docile. It didn't see come to that.

The only other way to use a catch cup would be to fashion a whole entire lid with a small hole in the side and a larger one in the center. That would let you put the cup on top in the center, a funnel in the side and then flood them out. That could've worked but was just too complex for the amount of time and money I have.

& Yes they are fast. I made no attempt to gas or chill them out prior to rehousings. The thing is that the rehousings are all done. That older cage was the sling cage. My first pokie went into that smaller cage at 1" & did great. He went into his new home easily, but I messed up the footage.
 
Last edited:

Paul H.

New Member
Messages
11
Location
Union City, CA
It was nice to see the rehousing bathtub moat in actual use. Seems like the best way to rehouse in the "controlled chaos" scenario. If it can't/won't cross the water, it's just a matter of time to when it eventually gets to where you need it to go. When I rehouse in the tub, I'll probably give this a shot. Still a little torn between this method, or the Tom Moran way with the cardboard cutouts going from enclosure to catch cup, then catch cup to new enclosure. Or even incorporate both methods together to make it even more bomb proof. I'm still curious as to what other materials/textures that have been tried that tarantulas can't or will not walk on....but also not pose a risk of injury to the spider.
 

Whitelightning777

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
If you can get them into a catch cup, go for it. With only 4" of width in the old cage, cups won't work.

Using a cold water moat is a good second line of defense.

The only other choice would be to put a cup and cardboard on top above the cage and flood them into it, which was to complicated but possible. You could use a large hole in the center for the catch cup and a smaller hole in one corner for a funnel.
 
Last edited:

Whitelightning777

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
2,565
Location
Baltimore MD
It was nice to see the rehousing bathtub moat in actual use. Seems like the best way to rehouse in the "controlled chaos" scenario. If it can't/won't cross the water, it's just a matter of time to when it eventually gets to where you need it to go. When I rehouse in the tub, I'll probably give this a shot. Still a little torn between this method, or the Tom Moran way with the cardboard cutouts going from enclosure to catch cup, then catch cup to new enclosure. Or even incorporate both methods together to make it even more bomb proof. I'm still curious as to what other materials/textures that have been tried that tarantulas can't or will not walk on....but also not pose a risk of injury to the spider.


I also did this with my H pulchripes & I'm still kicking myself in the rear end for not filming it.

He was at least 5 times faster then the pokies, literally a blur. After about 90 seconds he went into the cage. He DID go into the right cage....& out & in and around all over again & again & again...until he got tired. I gently tapped with the paint brush to essentially round pen him like a wild horse.

Their respiratory system isn't high performance & CO2 builds up and slows them down, sorta like a dragster that uses nitrous instead of a supercharger. The bottle empties quickly.

That's the best way to explain it. The pokies found their way home before much fatigue set in, especially Clyde!!
 
Top