New Digs

[ArvadaLanee]

I got Blanche all set up in her new substrate! It got pretty dicey there, during the move. Not because of Blanche, but because my boyfriend and I butted heads a bit on the method of movement. I had this idea that if I could gently encourage her to go into her barrel hide, I could just take the whole barrel out without disturbing her at all. She loves her barrel, and I have been able to lift her out in her barrel without upsetting her before. My boyfriend, said I should just put my hand in there and push her onto it, like he watched her previous owner do. Then, when I was taking too long to encourage Blanche into her barrel, he decided to try to pick her up himself. *Sigh* Poor Blanche, saw his big man hand coming at her, and immediately started pulling her legs in, not in full threat pose, with front legs lifted, but enough of a pose to make me insist my boyfriend get away, and leave me to it! He was a bit offended. After he frightened her like that, I decided to stick with the cup and cardboard method. It worked very well, and I was able to move her quite easily! Yay!

I am happy to say, she definitely ate that cricket and wax worm! I looked through all the sand, and there was not a living bug in sight.

I got it all cleaned up, and all her decorations cleaned, and I made sure the substrate was much deeper. I took out the log that was too short for her to fit under, and I added a new fake plant. I think it looks nice. Hopefully, she likes it!

 

[Denny Dee]

Looks nice! But I bet it won't last long if she is anything like my T's. She will redecorate soon enough.

 

[kormath]

Very nice. Most of my T's leave things alone except the A. chalcodes, she moves things around daily, but that could be cause her enclosure is too small still. Tomorrow her new home arrives and i'll have to take pics as we set it up

 

[Meludox]

Looks awesome!

 

[Sam Sam]

Your enclosure looks really nice. Hopefully Blanche loves it.

 

[ArvadaLanee]

I don't think Blanche will end up moving things around, but I could be wrong. So far she has just been hiding in her barrel. Poor girl. At least the barrel is clean now, and not crusted inside. Her roaches will be arriving sometime today, so maybe that will cheer her up. My boyfriend even offered to pull the legs off the roach for me, so it won't burrow away, and I won't have to touch it! Blanche and I both get our way.

 

[syzygy]

Looks nice! I like that the barrel is also open on the side that is against the glass so that you can see her in her hide.

 

[ArvadaLanee]

Looks nice! I like that the barrel is also open on the side that is against the glass so that you can see her in her hide.

Yeah, she loves that thing! Sometimes she sticks the tips of her two front legs out through the little opening by the glass. It's cute.

 

[Kymura]

don't be overly upset if she doesn't eat right away, sometimes it takes them a little while when we redo the enclosure or rehouse ^^

 

[ArvadaLanee]

Okay. I won't worry if she isn't ready to eat yet. These roaches are supposed to be pretty easy to keep alive, so there will be more for later. And if she ends up not liking them, I know someone with bearded dragons that might like to give them a try. I'm sure all these changes are a little strange to Blanche, and it will take time for her to really feel comfortable.

 

[Kymura]

Just wait, they are easy to keep and if they are new to her it may take a while.

 

[Entity]

Also if i might add. if u feel even a little bit nervous about using ur hands to manipulate Blanche. then the cup method is always going to be ur best bet....just sayin.

 

[ArvadaLanee]

Well, Blanche came out of her barrel now, and is doing some interesting stuff. I'm just not 100% sure what she's doing. At first, I thought maybe spinning a web. She was kind of moving her butt around in the substrate. Then she started rubbing her own belly with the two back legs of one side. It looked like she was rubbing her fangs, and at one point she was rubbing her butt! I am thinking maybe she was cleaning herself. I read somewhere that they sometimes drop hairs to scent their space, but it wasn't from a reliable source, so I'm not sure if they actually do that. Anyway, she did that thing with her butt in the substrate for about 10 minutes, during which she was turning in circles, and then the rub down for about 30 minutes, and now she's just sitting still, but she's not hiding. These all seem like good signs to me.

 

[Kymura]

She was making it her space and
grooming honey, think 8 legged cat ^^

 

[ArvadaLanee]

She was making it her space and
grooming honey, think 8 legged cat ^^

That is exactly what I was thinking after watching her a while! She looked just like my kitties, grooming, and scenting things. Yay! Seems like happy behavior to me.

 

[Kymura]

seems like shes content and comfortable to me too!

 

[syzygy]

Typically I've seen mine doing this after catching a meal. I believe they are laying a scent to warn other spiders to stay away. Likely the same thing here.

 

[Entity]

I am sure they do a whole lot of things for reasons unknown to us. There is so little research done on tarantulas that we only know a very small percentage of their behaviors. another reason why keeping them and observing them is a good reason to perpetuate owning these spiders.

 

[kormath]

Okay. I won't worry if she isn't ready to eat yet. These roaches are supposed to be pretty easy to keep alive, so there will be more for later. And if she ends up not liking them, I know someone with bearded dragons that might like to give them a try. I'm sure all these changes are a little strange to Blanche, and it will take time for her to really feel comfortable.

which kind did you get again? If it's the dubia you practically can't kill them.

I thought i had fed all of mine off but there were 3 left in the container i didn't notice. They were in the cubby for about 3-4 weeks, no food or water, totally forgotten about. When i found them again i fed them a piece of carrot, put some water gel in for them to eat and rehydrate and a spoon or so of cricket gutload chow. Now i have 3 fat dubia "candy" to feed the GBB when she recovers from her molt