The importance of water

My 3" A. Geniculata had been acting very sluggish for the past 3-4 days, and I was assuming it was due to an upcoming molt. He would only sit in one corner of his enclosure, seldomly just turning, barely moving at all. His enclosure is kept at a pretty constant temperature of 80 degrees, humidity at about 70-75%.

This morning he looked weaker than before, almost shriveled up, still hanging out in the same spot. About 1 month ago I replenished his substrate with fresh peat moss because I had an outbreak of baby crickets. I hadn't misted the enclosure since then, but I always keep a full water dish.

I decided to mist the sides, and within 1 minute he was sipping in the droplets on the side of the tank. Now, 2 hours later he looks 100% better.

Does anybody have a clue why he didn't just walk over to his waterdish which is always filled with fresh water? I am just glad he's looking so much better - don't even want to think about losing this pretty boy. Hopefully he's hydrated enough now so should he molt within the next few days he won't have any problems.

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Wendy
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I had a similar incident, yesterday.
I came home to find several of my T's sprawled out, Pokie style.
Most were near their water, but A.braunhauseni was on the substrate, dish over-turned. I freaked!
When I calmed down:
I removed the lid from her tank & used an eye-dropper to dampen the area (very damp!) all around her, as well as under her, refilled the dish & left her alone, for awhile.
She was fine, & did same with all others.
What I had done earlier, before going out, was turn the ceiling fan to high, as it was going to be very hot here.
All tanks, that were in close proximity to the air flow, dried out in about 8 hrs.
I'll DEFINITELY keep a close eye on this in the future.

Hey Wendy glad all is well with your genic...as far as water goes you may want to mist every once in a while and if you are worried about pinhead crix hatching out just feed your genic male crix and save the females for the T.s you know will eat right away...that is odd that your boy didn't go over to his water dish...I have seen both my genics drink from time to time...but if it wants to drink from the glass just give it a spray every so often...

Regards, Mike

Mike H. said:

Hey Wendy glad all is well with your genic...as far as water goes you may want to mist every once in a while and if you are worried about pinhead crix hatching out just feed your genic male crix and save the females for the T.s you know will eat right away...that is odd that your boy didn't go over to his water dish...I have seen both my genics drink from time to time...but if it wants to drink from the glass just give it a spray every so often...

Regards, Mike

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Hey Mike,

Yes, that was scary indeed. I really have no clue why "Link" didn't just walk over to his water dish - but I am sure glad I sprayed when I did. Until we can turn off the AC (I found running the AC dries out the enclosures faster), I will mist the sides every few days.
And you're right Mike, no more girly crickets for this guy.

Thanks again Mike.

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Wendy
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As far as the a/c goes can you block off the vents that are close to the tanks ?? may help a little...you can also pour a little water on the substrate from time to time...just make sure you also let them dry out completly...

Regards, Mike

Mike H. said:

if you are worried about pinhead crix hatching out just feed your genic male crix and save the females for the T.s you know will eat right away

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How do you tell them apart? Never looked at them close enough.

Drinking water...

Hi Wendy,
I'm glad you posted this subject, as I have had several T's do the same. I guess they don't comprehend that there is a water dish nearby. It seems that they stumble upon waterdishes by accident.
I have coaxed T's over to their water dishes before using brush or spray and they have plopped in and drank for quite a while.
I mist most of my T's tank sides often, just in case they prefer to hydrate themselves that way.

Socrates said:

Does anybody have a clue why he didn't just walk over to his waterdish which is always filled with fresh water? I am just glad he's looking so much better - don't even want to think about losing this pretty boy. Hopefully he's hydrated enough now so should he molt within the next few days he won't have any problems.

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Wendy
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Why your spider didn't just walk over to the water dish depends on how you have the tank set up. If the water dish rests on top of the substrate where the spider has to reach any amount of distance to touch the water with its metatarsus, it might not even know it's there. Lets not forget the only way a tarantula will recognize the difference between different substances (water, dirt, dead food, etc.) is with the chemoreceptors located at the end of the legs. If this is the case, then burry the water dish into the substrate where the edge is level with the dirt and next time you put water in it, nudge your tarantula over to it to let him know where it is.

If the spider has a burrow and never leaves and you have the water dish at the opposite side of the cage, it will never find the water. The solution to this is to put the water dish right next to the burrow. Right in front and to the side. This setup is absolutely necessary with all of my burrowers (Aphonopelma, Haplopelma, Ephebopus, and Theraphosa). If I put the water dish anywhere else in the cage, none of the species of the listed genera would find its water. Trust me, I've tried.

I would never recommend misting the sides of cages as a means of providing your tarantulas water. All the effort in doing so is futile. It will evaporate too quickly and won't provide adequet moisture, no matter what trouble you put yourself through to keep that water in there.

-Lonnie

MilkmanWes said:

How do you tell them apart? Never looked at them close enough.

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Female crickets have that long appendage sticking out of their butt, the technical term is ovipositor which is used to lay eggs. The males obviously lack these parts but they are also the ones responsible for all of that loud chirping when you're trying to sleep.

-Lonnie

ah! that must of been freaky.... Glad everything turned out okay... a month ago was the last time you misted? I mist mine twice a week...

~AnimalQueen~ said:

ah! that must of been freaky.... Glad everything turned out okay... a month ago was the last time you misted? I mist mine twice a week...

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I have my tanks bone dry with a water dish...very seldom do I mist...even more seldom I just pour some water on the substrate, this is done very rarely...this method seems to work well for me...


Regards, Mike

For me I usually mist once a week...Im scared of mold/mites, its hard to know what to do there are so many contrasting opinions on this subject.

I mist when I see the humidity below the recomended threshold for the T. It is rather arid around here and things tend to dry out quickly.

I understood that Ts got most of their required moisture from what they ate and only drank occasionally when they needed more than their prey items supplied. Is this incorrect and their primary hydration comes from drinking?

I've never seen my G. Pulchra drink from its dish - it only wanted to turn it over and bury it. It even stacked two water dishes inside a small flower pot. It acted jealous and protective of these plastic bottle caps, as if they were toys. When I went to upend one to fill it, the T would saunter over and put its legs around the cap as if hugging it. The only time I saw it drink was during the last early-premolt when it would immediately climb up a misted side and drink of the droplets. This stopped after the molt, and hasn't happened again. From this I conclude the possibility that G. Pulchra only takes non-food moisture during a certain premolt period.

I've never seen any of my terrestrial species drink but my arboreals readily drink after I mist the sides of their cages. I'm sure that my terrestrial Ts know where their water dishes are located; the creatures constantly dump soil, throw in food boluses or defecate in the dishes. I guess they want a flush toilet.

Karen N.

The scare wasn't over

Apparently my Genic wasn't done worrying me to death yesterday. At around 6PM I couldn't find him anywhere. When I finally did locate him, he appeared stuck between 2 plants in the far left corner of his enclosure. Needless to say I opened the top, and gently moved some leaves out of the way to see what was going on. HE DID NOT MOVE AT ALL. Panic took over really quickly, as I was assuming he had begun the molting process in the weirdest position. Without moving him I managed to remove 2 stems of plants to give him some room. By 10 PM he was still in the identical position, on his side, leaning partially against the back of the tank and partially resting on some leaves. He looked super stiff. At 11 PM he was back on his feet.

This morning I tried to gently guide him over to his water dish, but I only ran into resistance. I've never seen him flick so vigorously at me before. Just when I thought we was walking in the right direction he'd flick some more and then retreated in his hide. I sprayed down the sides and within seconds he was sipping the droplets again.

I'm attaching a picture of his enclosure and a picture of him "drinking" - even though I don't know how much water he can take in this way.

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Wendy
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Phaedrus said:

Is this a handleable T? If so you may be able to pick him up and and place his "mouth" over the water dish. I've done this with a couple of my Ts before and it worked great. If he will only take water from the side of the enclosure you're gonna be misting a lot. I'm having a similar problem with my A. seemani now and the other day I wet the substrate on one side of the tank. She drank water from the substrate. That may be another option for you. Hope everything turns out okay for you and your genic.

-David

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Thanks David.

I don't consider my Genic handable - or perhaps I should say that I am way too chicken to manually pick him up. He is also in pre-molt, and therefore more skittish than usual.

I will try to coax him over to his water dish again in a few minutes - hopefully he'll cooperate this time.

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Wendy
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Maybe he just wants to be left alone.

She SEEMS to be thirsty. I would definitely get her to the water dish. Try to shoo her over to it until she at least touches it with one of her legs... then she will know it's there.

Hugs!