Rosea seems to be drinking a lot of water

Hi -

I am fairly new to tarantulas and am concerned about my rosea's strange behavior. I have had my rosea for about 2 months now. I generally clean her water dish once or twice a week (unless she poops in it) and when I do, it is generally at least half full. She has one of those little kidney shaped bowls from Petco that holds about 2 tablespoons of water.

I filled the water dish on Sunday. When checked her last night (Monday), it was nearly empty, so I filled it again. I came back about half an hour later and the dish was nearly empty so I filled it again. This morning it was nearly empty again. I haven't actually seen her drinking, but can't figure out where the water could be going.

I don't think she is bothered by a lack of humidity in her enclosure. Her substrate is coconut fiber. It is mostly dry on top, but damp about an inch below the surface. Each time I fill her dish, I overfill it a bit to provide some moisture.

Any ideas? Could she really be drinking all this water?

Thanks,
N

Hi, I would suggest taking out the water dish for a couple weeks. Sounds like it is being evaporated, but even so Rosea's don't need that much water.

Welcome to the boards!

Niddy said:

damp about an inch below the surface. Each time I fill her dish, I overfill it a bit to provide some moisture

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This needs to stop. A rosea's enclosure should be completely bone dry with the exception of the inside of the water dish.

She probably isn't drinking it. If the humidity in your area isn't lower than usual (check weather.com), there's probably tiny strands of webbing on the dish that are leeching the water out and into the substrate.

Thanks for the replies; I appreciate the help. I will stop overfilling the water dish since she doesn't need it.

As far as the water dish goes, it definitely isn't evaporation - low humidity isn't an issue here (Seattle - rain city). I will check for the webs around the dish to see if that is the problem. I didn't notice any, but will check again and remove them if they are there.

Should I really take the water dish away? I'm a little afraid to do that.

I wouldn't take her water dish away, unless it has a crack in it somewhere (even a tiny one) which could also be why the water is gone so quickly.

I also think that a tiny thread of webbing is most probably sucking the water right out from the waterdish.

Take the dish out, clean it with mild soap and clean brush/finger, rinse very well and put it back. See if it still empties. Observe, if the rosea is webbing near/around it.

Roseas don't need lots of moisture at all. My rosea lives on bone-dry substrate with an Exo-terra waterdish, which is kept always a little full of water.

I can understand that the G. rosea comes from a desert and semi-arid areas, but isnt the species a bit more wide-spread than just the Atacama? Couldnt some of specimens come from less arid areas like the coastal areas in the Atacamas where morning and perhaps evening marine layers loft over the areas...I think they call 'em Llomas. There is a winter rain season down there in some areas...ok maybe not rainy, but there is some precipitation in some areas

But I think they are also over the mountains into eastern parts of of South America. The mountains could certainly get precipitation since the orographic lifting could create enough instability to get a few clouds formed and possible provide rain or atleast fog.

I guess what Im trying to say is that rain likly wouldnt be totally foreign to some specimens, nor would some moisture or humidity. Ive seen my G. rosea lay over areas where I poured a little water onto. She doesnt like the ground wet, but she seems to occasionally enjoy the humidty lofting up from the moisture beneath the surface.

So that being said, I think a wet substrate isnt ideal, but occasional moisture, especially when applied correctly with respect to season is ok.

Yes misting pisses them off, but I dont like getting rained on either and i'll run for cover too, but it doesnt mean I want it bone dry outside. They'd have to deal with it in nature if they are from the appropriate regions too. I suspect the scurring isnt so much because of the water, but because the droplets tickle their hairs and catches them off guard, but this woul dhapppen in nature to. They run just in case its something other than water that may like to eat them but I suspect with continued stimulation the sensory organ will temporaily desensitize and block the sensation.

I've also found that not misting directly into the tank helps. The force of the spray seems to be the issue, instead I use a fine misting spray upward or over the tank allowing it to gentle settle down into the tank more like a delicate mist or drizzle. The droplets dont hit the T so hard, there is no blast of air and water and it makes it easier for the T to acclimate for the time being to the misting.

Keep in mind, deserts may be dry(no precipitation) but that doesnt mean they are devoid of moisture. Deserts carry an abundance of moisture in the form of humidity, you cant really believe that a desert bordering an ocean at 30 degrees latitude is moisture free. In fact, warm air holds significantly more moisture than cool/cold air and the ocean provides an abundance of it.

If the desert is anything like many deserts, its temperature drops significantly at night allowing for the air to reach its dewpoint and providing tons of moisture in the morning and late night in the form of dew(likly a key source of drinking moisture for the G. rosea and other small animals) not to mention providing the means for the marine layer/fog to also encroach on the desert areas near the coast in the wee hours.

Im willing to bet a well laid web provides all the condensation surfaces needed for a G. rosea to stay hydrated from.

Ok, now Im rambling, but you get the idea, moisture wouldnt be totally foriegn to these guys, a dry substrate is key, but the occasional soft dusting of moisture in the morning that wont water log the substrate and would quickly dry and evaprote off the substrate would likly be a perfect reproduction of nature.

Cocoa-Jin said:

I guess what Im trying to say is that rain likly wouldnt be totally foreign to some specimens, nor would some moisture or humidity.

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I've never seen or heard of a G. rosea that didn't run for high and dry ground whenever the substrate got even the least bit damp, mine included.

Oh yeah, wet ground would understandably be annoying or concerning to them. When I first got mine I left the substrate too wet before placing her in it...she spent the next 2 days on the walls and log.

The ground should never or only very, very rarly be saturated and water logged on the surface(except when simulating a winter rain), but moisture shouldnt neccessarily be eliminated from the Ts experience.

A fog bank wouldnt leave the ground soaked, but will provide plenty of dew droplets that would provide easy early morning drinks on vegetation, the ground, rocks, moss, stones, webs, etc, but this moisture will dry up completly shortly after sunrise.

So, if the ground is wet all day, everyday its too wet. If its slightly damp to the touch for an hour or so in the morning every now and then, then your simulating seasonal conditions in the coastal and coastal mountain areas of the Atacama.

The moisture beneath the substrate isnt accurate I dont think, but the humidity it provides may very well be. Having the moist area being in the burrow area likly wouldnt be accurate and likly undesirable for the G. rosea.

water whicking

Yeah i liked all that on the natural desert conditions, any way one time i had the same problem and it was a few strands of web whicking the water right into the soil, so now i keep it cleaned, and make sure it is ontop of the substrate and not buried in at all.

I checked this evening and it *was* webs wicking the water into the substrate. Without your help, I'd still be scratching my head about this one. I knew spider couldn't be that thirsty.

I keep the enclosure farily dry and only add a bit of moisture if I oveflow the water dish. If I see any condensation in the tank, I replace the vented plexiglass lid with the wire mesh lid to help things dry out. She seems pretty happy with the situation.

Thanks to all who help solve the mystery of the emptying water bowl. :worship:

-Niddy

Even if some sub-species was native to a zone with higher humidity, how would you know if your CB or even WC Rosea was more acclimated to these conditions? It is almost impossible. Especially since G. Roseas are pretty standard issue. To me, all look the same; except for color morphs and some hybridization instances.. (shh )
Were your G. Rosea's parents living in the outskirts of the tropical climate zone, or did they live there just because that's where their parent's went to produce an eggsac because they sensed the change in barometric pressure? It is safe to say, ALL rosea's (except for if you get the very rare WC specimen taken from the higher humidity area) are used to, and thrive best in, bone dry conditions. If there is one stable fact in this hobby, it is that Rosea's are pretty darn hardy.

Just my 2 cents

This was happening with my hentzi! It was wicking, and I wouldn't have realised it if the water hadn't seeped all the way to the edge of the KK so I could see it seeping downwards from the corner the waterdish is in. I'm glad I don't use those super-shallow dishes, I always use those small round ceramic dishes found by the hamster stuff, and I put some of those aquarium glass bead things in so it's not too deep. But that way, it doesn't empty so fast; and even if it's more than half empty, the spider can lean over and still get water out from between the glass beads.

No doubt their hardy and no doubt they can and will handle bone-dry...Im just saying they arent neccessarily "allergic" to moisture and that they dont have to be bone-dry. That the spieces likly evolved and adapted to a wide array of arid and semi-arid conditions providing a spectrum of conditions that spans from bone-dry to also occassional spurts or seasonal cycles of moisture from precipitation, fog, condensation, etc.

So even though any G.rosea will live in and thrive in bone dry, one would could also assume any G. rosea would thrive just as well in a semi-arid condition with periodic "wet" episodes.

Where there is no doubt is that a perpetually water logged substrate and constantly moist condition is out of the question.

Cocoa-Jin said:

No doubt their hardy and no doubt they can and will handle bone-dry...Im just saying they arent neccessarily "allergic" to moisture and that they dont have to be bone-dry. That the spieces likly evolved and adapted to a wide array of arid and semi-arid conditions providing a spectrum of conditions that spans from bone-dry to also occassional spurts or seasonal cycles of moisture from precipitation, fog, condensation, etc.

So even though any G.rosea will live in and thrive in bone dry, one would could also assume any G. rosea would thrive just as well in a semi-arid condition with periodic "wet" episodes.

Where there is no doubt is that a perpetually water logged substrate and constantly moist condition is out of the question.

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Very true. Most probably don't like the extra humidity, but they are so hardy it really doesn't matter!

T's are fascinating :?

I had the same question about my B. smithi juvenile. It seemed like she was drinking a lot of water. I would fill the gatorade cap sometimes three times in one day. Then one night I heard some strange noises in her cage. She had flipped the water dish over and was pushing it all around. Now I think that is how the dish gets empty so much. She flips it over and flips it back. :wall:

baf236 said:

I had the same question about my B. smithi juvenile. It seemed like she was drinking a lot of water. I would fill the gatorade cap sometimes three times in one day. Then one night I heard some strange noises in her cage. She had flipped the water dish over and was pushing it all around. Now I think that is how the dish gets empty so much. She flips it over and flips it back. :wall:

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A lot of t's do this. IME it seems to be only the dryer condition species though. Someone may correct me on this but that's what i've observed. My A geniculata is the worst. Usually within an hour or two of filling the water dish it is tipped over. Recently she'd also been leaning it up against the wall as if she wants it out of her way. In spite of the fact that she just makes mud out of it i still refill the dish about once a week just in case she's thirsty.

I am of the opinion that T's don't drink that much unless you purchased a mistreated T and it came to you parched.

As suggested, check to insure that no threads of web are in the water bowl, I have a GBB whose bowl empties out within the hour of filling due to the silk acting as a wick. twice a week, I have to cut out the cap, clean it and put it back. But the meathead just webs it up again.

Good luck
PIG-

Here is some weather data for a city located in the Atacama.

It shows the average conditions in the region including rainfall, temps and daylight hours per month. This may not include the aditional mositure and cooler temps expected in the mountainous areas that may also serve as habitat for the G. rosea.
Pay special not to the humidity...granted this also a coastal city

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT001750

Also note the weather description here with regard to Northern Chile

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/country_guides/results.shtml?tt=TT001770