At what age/size will a H. Lividum sling start burrowing?

Fingolfin

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At what size or age would you change one from a vial or other container to a decent size to burrow in? Will they start digging no matter the age? And are they as nasty when slings? Thanks!
 

IguanaMama

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I premade a burrow for all my haplopelma slings. I used a tall thin container, with about 4 - 5 inches of soil and stuck a pencil in the corner. Then I dampened the soil, peat, vermic mixture and tapped it tight against the pencil. The slings all found it right away and went straight to the bottom. Later on, they each customized it to their liking, but in each case I have full view of the sling. The slings were all approximately 1".
 

Scolopendra55

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My .5" sling burrow readilly. It's not yet shown any sign of agression nor has my 2.5" juvi. Actually just the other day during cleaning my 2.5" lividum ran up my arm. I almost soiled myself but was amazed that it showed not the slightest tinge of agression as I proceded to maneuver it back into its enclosure. I'm sure as they grow their attitude will follow but for now they are just speedy and skittish.
 

kitty_b

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my girl made a funnel web up the side of the wall (to the ceiling of her KK) when she was around 1.5" (i seriously wondered for a while if she really WAS a cobalt)

around 2", she started trying to burrow, but the soil kept collapsing. i buried a 50 ml conical vial in the dirt as a sturdy "burrow" where i could easily corral and remove her.

unfortunately, now she's in premolt at 3" and won't come out of the damn vial (which i dug up and placed in the new enclosure facing her new, REAL covered burrow)... hopefull she'll come out to molt. i wish she'd just relocate herself.
 

Snake_Eyes

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Mine started digging the night I got her, she was about dime size..
 

cacoseraph

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i believe i got mine as 2i and it made a very interesting burrow in its vial. i think they start burrowing as soon as the can, in nature, to avoid at least some predators that wouldn't mind a little livi-snack.

it's molted twice in its vial and it has been interesting to watch the burrow system change each time.

some ppl call them petholes, but when they are kept in a cage with a lot of surface area compared to volume then you can at least see evidence of their burrows changing and perhaps even get lucky enough to have a window into the burrow system :)

also, if you add some strange sized pieces of stuff (i used sphagnum moss chunks with some sticks i found in the sphagnum moss) then your livi might make a collar for their burrow, which looks kind of cool. if you are going to have a "pethole" you might as well have the nicest most interesting looking hole possible

i always try to make sure the spiders have at least 2 and preferably 3 or more legspans worth of substrate depth. whenthey are tiny slings it is easy and fun to provide them with more like 5-10 legspans of substrate and watch all these crazy systems of burrows
 

BedroomEyzOfBlu

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I got an H. lividum sling at bearly 1/4" and inside of a week in her vial, this is what she had done....



Once she shed, we transferred her into a larger container and she had made a burrow inside of 2 days that she continues to make even now.

As slings, I do not find them aggressive - fast yes - aggressive - no. Here she is on my wrist during a photo shoot. Now mind you - I will not do this when she starts getting bigger lol...



Rosana
 

Fingolfin

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So...based on what I usually read, which is keep yr sling in a vial or small container....if you have a dedicated burrower, it is probably alright to keep them in a bigger container than a vial as they less likely to climb and possibly fall?
 

cacoseraph

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the smaller the sling the less likely it is to get damaged in a fall. i've had P. murinus streak out of their container and take ~4foot falls after taking a flying leap. *possibly* if they landed on a very hard floor they might get injured but landing on carpet has never bothered them

fall damage is much likely on a larger well fed/fat tara. and terrestrial/fossorial are more likely to be damaged in a fall than arboreals
 

BedroomEyzOfBlu

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Fingolfin said:
So...based on what I usually read, which is keep yr sling in a vial or small container....if you have a dedicated burrower, it is probably alright to keep them in a bigger container than a vial as they less likely to climb and possibly fall?
We have never had a problem with any of our slings falling - however, speaking of H lividum, as they are primarily burrowers, putting it in a larger container than a vial is fine. The dimensions of the container our lividum is in now are approx 4" tall x 2.5" across (rectangle container with longest side up/down).

You can easily transfer ur lividum to something like this. What we do to help them get started in a new burrow is take a pen and make a hole down one corner of the container along the side of the enclosure. This does 2 things, gives them a burrow to start and customize and allows you to view it through the side without invading them too much.:D

Good luck with urs.

Rosana
 

mikeythefireman

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Fingolfin said:
So...based on what I usually read, which is keep yr sling in a vial or small container....if you have a dedicated burrower, it is probably alright to keep them in a bigger container than a vial as they less likely to climb and possibly fall?
I hope so! That's what I've done with the two new obligate burrowers I just got. I figured it was safe enough and they wouldn't have to be transfered as much.:D
 
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