Tarantula straws?

I have hear people say/take pictures of their T drinking water through their feet. I have personaly seen one of my T's hold its feet in water for a considerable amount of time, but im not really sure if its drinking. Does anyone know if it is possible for T's to drink from their feet, if so is their some sort of evidence leading to this, or is it just a theory?

ROFL!

It's kind of an inside joke derived from a somewhat faulty care sheet. To my knowledge, no tarantulas drink through their feet.

No, they do not drink through their feet.

I'm sure it was a noob question, but it was on my mind and just wanted to know.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.

They stand in water when they drink sometimes but they dip their mouths in.

Heres one of my rosie.

I read that as well and think that is totally inaccurate. Slings drink water from the sides of the enclosure walls just like adults. i do agree that normally you do not provide a water dish to a sling and instead keep the humidity up by misiting but drinking through their feet is silly.

Here is where I read it from...Under Watering and humidity.
http://www.tarantulacages.com/basiccare.html

this made my day...thank you so much:worship:


moose

yes, being the care taker of the tarantulas we have at my pet store (which is a VERY large collection) and also the ones i have at home, i will say they do not drink thru their legs or feet. the other post suggested slings drink from the sides of the container, but in fact they will also drink from the soil, ive observed numerous T's with clumps of wet bedding under their fangs where moister was not present on the side of the enclosure.

moose35 said:

this made my day...thank you so much:worship:


moose

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Too bad you already have a similar quote in your signature:}

-Gary

I don't know of any T that can drink threw there feet.Yes occasionally all T's
might stop and stand in there water dish.But that doesn't mean there drinking.

Those feet are made for walking
And that's all they do
One of these days those feet
Are gonna walk all over you.

tin man said:

I have hear people say/take pictures of their T drinking water through their feet. I have personaly seen one of my T's hold its feet in water for a considerable amount of time, but im not really sure if its drinking. Does anyone know if it is possible for T's to drink from their feet, if so is their some sort of evidence leading to this, or is it just a theory?

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I believe that T's can and do use the moisture picked up by their feet to rehydrate themselves. Do they acutally "drink" through their feet? Of course not, but I don't think that's what the intent of your question was. Can they absorb and rehydrate that way? I say, YES. Tarantulas in the wild have no water dishes and food replenishment is random. Some of their moisture requirements have to be derived from the moisture in the depths of their burrows or, for terrestrials and arboreals from moisture present in nature (morning dew condensate or moisture released from tree leaves, etc.) I don't even keep water dishes in many of my tarantula enclosure-just thoroughly wet one side of the enclosure when things dry out. Di

dianedfisher said:

I believe that T's can and do use the moisture picked up by their feet to rehydrate themselves. Do they acutally "drink" through their feet? Of course not, but I don't think that's what the intent of your question was. Can they absorb and rehydrate that way? I say, YES. Tarantulas in the wild have no water dishes and food replenishment is random. Some of their moisture requirements have to be derived from the moisture in the depths of their burrows or, for terrestrials and arboreals from moisture present in nature (morning dew condensate or moisture released from tree leaves, etc.) I don't even keep water dishes in many of my tarantula enclosure-just thoroughly wet one side of the enclosure when things dry out. Di

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To continue this idea, I agree. I never thought about it until this thread but it occurred to me that by sticking their feet in their water dish, they may be controlling the amount of moisture they're absorbing. With their foot in the water, it will allow water to wick up their leg, travelling by capillary action, under the setae covering their body. The longer they keep their foot in, the more water they can pick up.

Alternately, it also might be to help regulate their temperature. If they're feeling excessively warm, they may be sticking their feet in the water to bring their temp down. Or allow wicked up water to evaporate, also thereby cooling off.

I don't know that either of these ideas are true, just throwing it out there

dianedfisher said:

I believe that T's can and do use the moisture picked up by their feet to rehydrate themselves. Do they acutally "drink" through their feet? Of course not, but I don't think that's what the intent of your question was. Can they absorb and rehydrate that way? I say, YES. Tarantulas in the wild have no water dishes and food replenishment is random. Some of their moisture requirements have to be derived from the moisture in the depths of their burrows or, for terrestrials and arboreals from moisture present in nature (morning dew condensate or moisture released from tree leaves, etc.) I don't even keep water dishes in many of my tarantula enclosure-just thoroughly wet one side of the enclosure when things dry out. Di

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i am confused by this , because of the tarantulas epicutilcle. It is hard and waterproof and i do not see how they could possibly 'absorb' water through it.:?

i think that tarantulas do drink directly from the soil at all sizes in the wild, but in captivity we usually provide a water dish for adults and do not usually see it doing so.

jbm150 said:

To continue this idea, I agree. I never thought about it until this thread but it occurred to me that by sticking their feet in their water dish, they may be controlling the amount of moisture they're absorbing. With their foot in the water, it will allow water to wick up their leg, travelling by capillary action, under the setae covering their body. The longer they keep their foot in, the more water they can pick up.

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Underneath the setae, which is actually a part of the exoskeleton, is hard and water proof; so, how would it 'wick' upwards?

curiousme said:

Underneath the setae, which is actually a part of the exoskeleton, is hard and water proof; so, how would it 'wick' upwards?

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Actually I meant between the setae. Kinda like a paper towel can wick up water. You bring up a good point about absorption of moisture. Its possible, I suppose, that the water can absorb through the exo, I don't know. What about where the setae are joined to or emerge though the exo, at the base perhaps?

I think small slings can drink orally off of what looks like a damp patch through capillary action. This is a relatively slow process, so seeing them standing there for extended periods gives the illusion that they are soaking up the moisture through thier bodies/feet. I'm relatively certain that the actual fluid intake is through thier mouth via the water wicking up the chelicerae.

Having said that, I would love to see some info from a controlled experiment if any actually exists. Does anyone have any links to some real research if any exists? I'd love to see it...

Scott

curiousme said:

i am confused by this , because of the tarantulas epicutilcle. It is hard and waterproof and i do not see how they could possibly 'absorb' water through it.:?

i think that tarantulas do drink directly from the soil at all sizes in the wild, but in captivity we usually provide a water dish for adults and do not usually see it doing so.



Underneath the setae, which is actually a part of the exoskeleton, is hard and water proof; so, how would it 'wick' upwards?

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Don't see anything here that indicates that it's totally waterproof and impervious. Appears it's function is more to keep internal fluids from escaping than preventing external rehydration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicuticle
Di

dianedfisher said:

Don't see anything here that indicates that it's totally waterproof and impervious. Appears it's function is more to keep internal fluids from escaping than preventing external rehydration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicuticle
Di

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Wikipedia said:

The epicuticle is the outermost portion of the exoskeleton of an insect (and various other arthropods); its exact composition and structure may differ somewhat among different taxa, but certain aspects can be generalized:

* It is secreted by the epidermis, and is deposited on top of the procuticle via pores that pass outwards through the procuticle from the epidermal cells.
* It contains no chitin, and is itself arranged in layers.
* The layers typically consist of an inner epicuticle, an outer epicuticle (or cuticulin layer), a wax layer, and a cement layer.
* The wax layer is not present in all arthropods, as its primary function is to reduce water loss.
* The epicuticle cannot be digested during the molting cycle (see ecdysis), so it and the exocuticle are shed.

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These do not fully apply to a tarantulas. The tarantula cuticle itself has 4 layers:
1/inner layer) epidermis - alive and secretes chitin to the other layers.
2/ middle layer) mesocuticle - soft and flexible to absorb impacts without breaking.
3) exocuticle - this is the toughest layer.
4/ outer layer) epicuticle - this is hard and waterproof

i have bolded the things that do not apply to tarantulas. i also think that Wikipedia is a shaky source, at best, for accurate information.

My initial reaction is to doubt that tarantulas drink with their feet, but I won't rule it out as a possibility altogether. I've seen tarantulas drinking from moist soil using their mouths, and even here in the desert there is dew on the ground that a tarantula could get moisture from. In fact, a burrow going down into more humid soil would make a good dew-generating system. A "survival" trick for people in the desert is to dig a small hole, place some moist material, such as pieces of plants, in the hole. Put a cup on top of the plant material, cover the hole with a piece of plastic, and put a small pebble on the plastic directly over the cup. Condensation will form on the plastic, move to the low point caused by the pebble, and drip into the cup. If you think about it, a webbed entrance of a burrow that reaches into moist soil would do something similar.

A friend of mine did some research with Moloch horridus (an Australian lizard called the thorny devil) to see how they take in water. It turns out that their scales can draw moisture, through capillary action, toward their mouths. They still drink through the mouth - but the water that gets swallowed might have come into contact with the lizard as a few drops on the middle of the back. It's hard for me to picture the same happening with tarantulas, but again, I won't completely rule it out as a possibility.

As for permeability of the cuticle of a tarantula - for chemosensory hairs to be able to function, there has to be at least some permeability. But I doubt that's enough to absorb water through the cuticle. The fact that the cuticle is a shield against moisture loss would indicate that the flow of moisture is extremely restricted. The ability to absorb water through the cuticle would have to equal the ability to lose water through it.

Bill S said:

A friend of mine did some research with Moloch horridus (an Australian lizard called the thorny devil) to see how they take in water. It turns out that their scales can draw moisture, through capillary action, toward their mouths. They still drink through the mouth - but the water that gets swallowed might have come into contact with the lizard as a few drops on the middle of the back.

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I've seen video footage of this. Fascinating stuff...