Rasta and the mystery of the blue sponge

[Qofcheez]

Hi, first time poster with a weird one for you!

I've got a Chaco Golden knee, about 3 years old who seems to have developed a weird obsession.

I was giving him bug gel for hydration when someone recommended I put a small sponge in his water bowl instead. seemed like a good idea, but he had a different opinion. He loved it so much, he carried it off to the opposite end of the cage and discarded it in a corner. Soon, it disappeared and I figured he put it in his hide.

So I put another in. He took offence immediately, dug up the substrate and covered the whole water dish (save a corner) with a mound. Now he keeps guard. (treasured prize?)

Curious, I went to look for the original sponge but it was gone. I can't find it anywhere! I dug around the substrate, looked under his hide, nada. It could be near his prized mound somewhere, but I haven't been able to check yet (he's pretty aggressive).

I am completely stumped. What is he up to?

Two pictures for you - one of the cage sans original sponge, and one of his guarding his new mound

Grateful for any thoughts on this one!

T.

 

[Enn49]

He's telling you that a sponge is not good, they can harbour bacteria and are not necessary, All they need is a water bowl with just water in it.

 

[Metalman2004]

Enn’s right. I’d stay away from using sponges. On a separate but related topic, I’ve heard of people adding ping pong balls and other small trinkets to their tarantula’s enclosures to watch them play around with them. I haven’t done it before but so just might have to give it a try. Maybe your spider needs a toy to play with.

 

[PanzoN88]

No need for sponges for reasons stated above, as for gel, that is also unnecessary. A plain water dish is all that is necessary. The sponge could've been buried. Tarantulas will not drown contrary to what pet stores and howcast try to teach new keepers.

G. pulchripes are a very hardy and like things dry. On a similar note, your G. pulchripes looks to be a bit older than 3 years.

 

[Qofcheez]

Thank you! I will remove the offensive sponge

PanzoN88 - I'm not entirely sure of his age. I got him when he was nearly this size, but no one really knew how old he was then. And, yeah he definitely likes things dry. And I did wonder about that drowning thing. I can't see how a spider this size is going to drown in a centimetre of water

Metalman - a toy sounds like an interesting idea. He's been very active lately, could be interesting to see what happens

 

[Whitelightning777]

I've tried putting a ping pong ball in one of mine's enclosures. She occasionally pushes it around. It certainly won't do any harm.