New home for Reggie

[desert blond enthusiast]

Greetings!
I just rehoused my beautiful little desert blond female, Reggie. Her prior enclosure was a make-shift one from an old cleaned out fruit container with holes drilled in the top. I have pictures of her new home attached. Is it an ok size for her? and is the fake plant too much? Any tips or suggestions are welcomed! Thank you in advance!

 

[Chubbs]

You need a lot more substrate in there. Terrestrials will attempt to climb, and obviously being terrestrial, aren't normally good at it compared to arboreals. Even. a slight fall could prove fatal.

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

Thank you Chubbs for the super helpful advice! I added a lot more substrate (I'm using Coconut fiber) and I removed the fake plant and replaced it with a stick which was in Reggie's original enclosure. She seems to like to hang out on top of her little hideaway. Also a question about her water dish: I've noticed other people put stones in the water dishes. Should I do that with mine?

 

[timc]

Honestly you could use even more substrate than that. If you leave like an inch between the top of the enclosure and the top of the hide you should be good. Terrestrials, especially females, love to dig and will appreciate plenty of dirt to push around and personalize. (Siderize?)

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

Honestly you could use even more substrate than that. If you leave like an inch between the top of the enclosure and the top of the hide you should be good. Terrestrials, especially females, love to dig and will appreciate plenty of dirt to push around and personalize. (Siderize?)

Timc, I just got home from dinner and saw Reggie was hanging around upsidedown on the lid of the enclosure. It gave me quite a scare because I hadn't even had a chance to put more substrate in at that point. I was fortunately able to open the little clear door on the lid and gently get her into my hand with no falls for her(thank goodness). It looks like she really likes to try to climb(especially on the corners of the enclosure). Will having substrate up to an inch between the hideaway and the top of the enclosure help her from getting hurt if she's going to be pulling off acrobatics like this? I'd be so devastated if she got hurt from falling!

 

[timc]

More substrate would lower the likelyhood of fall related injuries but the idea I was trying to get at was that species likes to burrow. I wouldn't be too alarmed at her climbing around a new enclosure as she most likely just exploring the new digs, almost all of my spiders do the same thing. In a few hours she'll figure out where everything is and start to make it her own but keep in mind spiders can climb and are just as curious as any animal. It's just that terrestrial species are a little more clumsy (for lack of a better word) when going vertical. But don't worry too much about a fall, as I said, spiders are well equipped to climb around and know full well how to take care of themselves. Falls aren't all that common, but are, however, tragic occurrences. But she's fine I'm sure. What's her name?

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

More substrate would lower the likelyhood of fall related injuries but the idea I was trying to get at was that species likes to burrow. I wouldn't be too alarmed at her climbing around a new enclosure as she most likely just exploring the new digs, almost all of my spiders do the same thing. In a few hours she'll figure out where everything is and start to make it her own but keep in mind spiders can climb and are just as curious as any animal. It's just that terrestrial species are a little more clumsy (for lack of a better word) when going vertical. But don't worry too much about a fall, as I said, spiders are well equipped to climb around and know full well how to take care of themselves. Falls aren't all that common, but are, however, tragic occurrences. But she's fine I'm sure. What's her name?

Timc, thank you! This helps me feel a lot better. I am a middle school counselor so I asked my students to help name this tarantula when I first got it. The kids thought it was a male and picked the really fancy name of "Reginald Von Bartlebee." After further research we found that she is actually a girl but the fancy name stuck. The kids decided she is "Lady Reginald Von Bartlebee" and sometimes they call her Reggie for short. Reggie seems a little more settled down and is just hanging out on the ground. In fact, right now, she has been sticking each of her feet into her mouth . I'm guessing this is a cleaning behavior?

 

[timc]

First of all it's awesome that you show kids how beautiful and fascinating these animals are. Second love the name and sobriquet. And yes that sounds like she's cleaning herself. I hope she loves her new home, eats well, molts easy, and continues to to intrigue and inspire the youth!

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

First of all it's awesome that you show kids how beautiful and fascinating these animals are. Second love the name and sobriquet. And yes that sounds like she's cleaning herself. I hope she loves her new home, eats well, molts easy, and continues to to intrigue and inspire the youth!

Thank you timc. The kids are pretty awesome! They adore Reggie! Some of my mature, trustworthy, brave kids have let Reggie walk across the palms of their hands( I have them sit down with their hands open and flat on a table). These experiences pleasantly surprise the kids by how graceful and gentle Reggie is. Thanks to this wonderful Tarantula Forum and very kind, informative people such as yourself, the kids and I will have a lot of opportunities to keep learning more and more about Reggie and tarantulas in general. Thank you again!

 

[Fleas]

Thank you timc. The kids are pretty awesome! They adore Reggie! Some of my mature, trustworthy, brave kids have let Reggie walk across the palms of their hands( I have them sit down with their hands open and flat on a table). These experiences pleasantly surprise the kids by how graceful and gentle Reggie is. Thanks to this wonderful Tarantula Forum and very kind, informative people such as yourself, the kids and I will have a lot of opportunities to keep learning more and more about Reggie and tarantulas in general. Thank you again!

You should not have your students hold your tarantulas!!! Your tarantula might not be that venomous but if one of your students gets bit and has a allergic reaction it could cost the hobby alot of problem's and the school!!! Most of the people in the hobby frown on handling our tarantulas it does not do them any good it just stresses them out and a fall could be fatal.

 

[Chubbs]

Agreed. If you stick around a while, you'll find that many of us are against handling our tarantulas. Even if it's a species that isn't fast, defensive, or particularly venomous, it still isn't a good idea. A slight fall could prove fatal. Not to mention they don't really like being held.

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

oh my! Good to know! thank you for the information! I want only the best for Reggie and I know my students will be able to respect that as well. Thank you again guys

 

[Chubbs]

You're very welcome. We all appreciate your understanding and it's good to see you really do want the best for your tarantula.

 

[desert blond enthusiast]

Thank you Chubbs, I'm still very much a novice with owning a T although I've been fascinated with them since childhood.

For anyone who might know: (These are really just questions out of curiosity) Reggie has lined the entire (and I mean pretty much the entire) floor of her enclosure with webbing, but not a noticeable layer like I've seen in many pictures on the forum. The only reason I knew the webbing was even there was because I went to clean out her water dish and a very lengthy layer of webby cocofiber trailed along with it like a dirty cape. Is this normal behavior for a terrestrial? If so, why is she doing this? Also I've noticed with the coconut substrate that Reggie gets dirty very easily, to the point of where she's got dirt all up around her eyes too: is it helpful to her for me to help remove the dirt somehow for her or should I let her be? I would love to be able to share this knowledge with the students as they have been asking me these questions.Thank you in advance.

 

[Chubbs]

Thank you Chubbs, I'm still very much a novice with owning a T although I've been fascinated with them since childhood.

For anyone who might know: (These are really just questions out of curiosity) Reggie has lined the entire (and I mean pretty much the entire) floor of her enclosure with webbing, but not a noticeable layer like I've seen in many pictures on the forum. The only reason I knew the webbing was even there was because I went to clean out her water dish and a very lengthy layer of webby cocofiber trailed along with it like a dirty cape. Is this normal behavior for a terrestrial? If so, why is she doing this? Also I've noticed with the coconut substrate that Reggie gets dirty very easily, to the point of where she's got dirt all up around her eyes too: is it helpful to her for me to help remove the dirt somehow for her or should I let her be? I would love to be able to share this knowledge with the students as they have been asking me these questions.Thank you in advance.

Well some species of tarantula web a lot while some don't. Arboreal species tend to web more than most terrestrials but it really depends on the type of tarantula. Arboreals molt inside of their webs for example.

When a species like yours who don't normally web much start to spin a lot of silk, it usually means they're very close to molting. What the tarantula is doing is spinning what is called a "molting mat".