tbrandt
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2014
- Messages
- 79
Greetings,
Just was curious if anyone has ever experienced this with P.Muticus before and has any thoughts/suggestions on changes that might be needed to its enclosure. Any feedback is appreciated. This is my first experience with this species or with any obligate burrower. Sorry for the long post, just trying to be illustrative.
I have my 1.25 inch P.Muticus set up in a 32oz. Deli Cup with basically dry Eco Earth (coconut fiber) as a substrate. This is a lot of floor real estate for a sling this size, but it is the enclosure I had at the time and I figured it would be burrowing anyway.
I gave the sling about 4 inches (10cm) of substrate to work with, expecting it to enjoy establishing its own burrow. This substrate depth is about 4x its initial leg diameter. I gave it a 2cm starter hole to encourage it to settled in.
It settled in.
It completely excavated down to the bottom of the deli. Then removed all of the substrate lower inch inch all the way around the bottom of the deli. Then it started pulling additional material from the inch above this, making intricate tunnels that spiraled down to the bottom and completely clear bottom inch of the cup. This was all very cool to watch and I assumed it was a happy burrower doing its thing. Eating has been going well.
However, excavation never stopped - basically it digs anytime it isn't eating. Now it no longer has tunnels...just a single short tunnel from the surface down to the bottom two inches that opens into empty air.
It has piled all of the substrate from the bottom two inches of the cup, one load at a time on the surface level. Basically, aside from some scraps, it moved all of the dirt in the bottom two inches to the surface.
The Muticus now has 4 inches of substrate suspended 2 inches above its head. To reach its exit tunnel to the surface, it now has climb the deli wall, something it can do, but has difficulty with. It occasionally falls from this position. It seems like the spider is trying to dig itself out of a hole.
Basically, my question: has my Muticus "painted" itself into an unhealthy corner? It no longer has the same cover as when it had a burrow of tunnels. Is the clear deli causing stress and stimulating a burrowing instinct response? I hate to think I am over reacting, but I am wondering if the overkill on the digging is a sign of stress. Also, there is a decent chance that sometime 4" of substrate is going to fall to fill in the open space beneath it. I know these guys are hardy and can take a collapsed burrow most of the time, but it seems like a lot for a sling.
Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.
Just was curious if anyone has ever experienced this with P.Muticus before and has any thoughts/suggestions on changes that might be needed to its enclosure. Any feedback is appreciated. This is my first experience with this species or with any obligate burrower. Sorry for the long post, just trying to be illustrative.
I have my 1.25 inch P.Muticus set up in a 32oz. Deli Cup with basically dry Eco Earth (coconut fiber) as a substrate. This is a lot of floor real estate for a sling this size, but it is the enclosure I had at the time and I figured it would be burrowing anyway.
I gave the sling about 4 inches (10cm) of substrate to work with, expecting it to enjoy establishing its own burrow. This substrate depth is about 4x its initial leg diameter. I gave it a 2cm starter hole to encourage it to settled in.
It settled in.
It completely excavated down to the bottom of the deli. Then removed all of the substrate lower inch inch all the way around the bottom of the deli. Then it started pulling additional material from the inch above this, making intricate tunnels that spiraled down to the bottom and completely clear bottom inch of the cup. This was all very cool to watch and I assumed it was a happy burrower doing its thing. Eating has been going well.
However, excavation never stopped - basically it digs anytime it isn't eating. Now it no longer has tunnels...just a single short tunnel from the surface down to the bottom two inches that opens into empty air.
It has piled all of the substrate from the bottom two inches of the cup, one load at a time on the surface level. Basically, aside from some scraps, it moved all of the dirt in the bottom two inches to the surface.
The Muticus now has 4 inches of substrate suspended 2 inches above its head. To reach its exit tunnel to the surface, it now has climb the deli wall, something it can do, but has difficulty with. It occasionally falls from this position. It seems like the spider is trying to dig itself out of a hole.
Basically, my question: has my Muticus "painted" itself into an unhealthy corner? It no longer has the same cover as when it had a burrow of tunnels. Is the clear deli causing stress and stimulating a burrowing instinct response? I hate to think I am over reacting, but I am wondering if the overkill on the digging is a sign of stress. Also, there is a decent chance that sometime 4" of substrate is going to fall to fill in the open space beneath it. I know these guys are hardy and can take a collapsed burrow most of the time, but it seems like a lot for a sling.
Thanks for any thoughts you can offer.