What does she want? Crazy smithii!

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

The vermiculite is about 1 inch to 1.5 inches deep, the blighter keeps moving it around so hard to tell for sure, and he is climbing right to the top of the tank which is 8 inches high. Im thinking of taking the water bowl out in case he lands on it, any sudden movement is startling him and he just fell off! Arghhh

 

[nightbreed]

The vermiculite is about 1 inch to 1.5 inches deep, the blighter keeps moving it around so hard to tell for sure, and he is climbing right to the top of the tank which is 8 inches high. Im thinking of taking the water bowl out in case he lands on it, any sudden movement is startling him and he just fell off! Arghhh

Bugger, hope she's ok all I can suggest is putting a lot more substrate in so she hasn't got as far to fall, and try the peat/coir thing, mine REALLY hated vermiculite (fussy boogers )

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Bugger, hope she's ok all I can suggest is putting a lot more substrate in so she hasn't got as far to fall, and try the peat/coir thing, mine REALLY hated vermiculite (fussy boogers )

peat/coir? ok I know what peat is, but what is coir? Iv'e had him about 4 yrs now since he was 1 inch, and always had him on vermiculite, but I think I will take water dish out for now and buy a bag of the smaller size vermiculite on weekend and put some more in. I don't really want to have to change substrate totally if I can avoid it, simply because Im a wimp! (hey least I admit it lol) he wont use his burrow so I have to do all cage work with him out in the open with me shaking like a leaf. He only climbs on that side of the tank tho so Im thinking its more something to do with the heat than the substrate, I just don't know what! Maybe he thinks he is an aborial lmao that could explain it.

 

[defour]

Arghhh, my smithi is STILL climbing right to the top of the tank! I just found him at the top on side of the heatmat, Im worried he is gonna hurt himself, any suggestions plz?

I would suggest 3 things, in order of importance, some of which have already been mentioned:

1. Raise the substrate level to the point that the T only has about a legspans worth of climbing room. Sooner or later your spider is going to kill itself in a fall. An added benefit of doing this is that if it decides to burrow it has more to work with.

2. If you're using a screen lid, get rid of it and switch to glass or acrylic. This will prevent the tarsal hooks from getting caught.

3. Try another kind of substrate and provide different and more hides than you have now.

As for heat mats, there isn't much danger of overheating as long as there's a gap between the mat and the surface the cage is sitting on. The mat should be in contact with the cage. Unless you go to great lengths to create a well insulated setup, heat mats tend to be ineffective. Heating a room is far cheaper and less problematic.

Steve

 

[galeogirl]

None of my ts like vermiculite, so I use peat/coconut bark to prevent the climbing. Definitely raise the substrate up so that the t doesn't have room for a fatal fall.

Oh, and the best reason not to use a heat rock (besides a crispy t) is that sometimes ts will try to burrow under them and get crushed.

 

[nightbreed]

coconut coir, you can buy it in blocks its normally called bed-a-beast, eco-earth or similar, its great stuff, the blocks expand when soaked in water so its a great way of having substrate in the house without it taking up loads of space
If she's used to vermiculite then I don't know what her problem is.
I wouldnt take the bowl out, if she's only climbing where the mat is, move the bowl to the other end

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

I have plastic lids with small holes drilled into the top, I don't like the mesh type screen lids for exactly that reason. I will be raising the vermiculite level on the weekend, but I really don't want him to burrow, I think he is about due for a shed soon and removing a skin from a burrow aint my idea of fun lol, but yeah I will make it deep enough that he can't hurt himself in a fall. How deep you think is safe for an 8 inch high tank?
As for the heating the room itself, not really possible here sadly, only place I can put my tanks away from the kid and my cats is on my sideboard, only place my sideboard will fit is directly in front of the radiator. I also keep rats which means room can't be too hot or they will overheat. Complex I know, hence I use heatmats. I just moved the water dish to the other side of the tank (Side I have never seen him climb on at all) and while I was there I felt the sides of the tank closest to heat mat and it seems pretty warm. I have styrofoam stuff on other side of heatmat to insulate it so all the heats directed at the tanks (hope that makes sense).
As for using a different type of hide, I would do if I could find anything, I don't like using the cork bark things as they tend to get mouldy and he wont seem to use anything man made, any ideas?

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

giggles nightbreed one step ahead of ya there already moved the water bowl.
He used to have the smaller sized vermiculite in his tank but I ran out and had to borrow some larger size from a friend, I have noticed he finds it hard to find his footing on it now. But that said he is fine on the cooler side of the tank so don't think its anything to do with that but gonna try it anyway. Failing that I will try the bed a beast stuff, just wish he would hide in his burrow while I did it, idea being he goes into burrow, I block it off and move him and burrow in 1 go and completely clean out the tank with new substrate, but alas he wont play ball with that idea.

 

[nightbreed]

Dont worry about removing an exuvium from a burrow your T will probably "throw out the trash"
Raise the substrate so that if the T stands on tiptoe she can stretch up and touch the lid.
If cork bark goes mouldy in her tank then the humidity must be to high, I use cork bark in all my Avic tanks, and the humidity in them is higher than in a Brachy set up and I've never had mould :?

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

I have always had blue murder getting the humidity levels just right, its a lot drier in the tank now than it was when I last tried a cork bark, may try it again. The lid of my tank has had holes drilled in it so the underside is a bit rough, its very hard to explain but there is no way he could climb on it or anything like that. Im worried if I have the substrate that high when I open the tank he may be tempted to venture out of the tank. If that happened my husband would freak and move out ( I aint kidding ) and he would surely make me get rid of my baby! Ya think I could get away with doing it just about 4 inches deep? With the heatmat on back of the tank now, another thing is if its that high its going to block the heat isn't it? :?

 

[nightbreed]

I have always had blue murder getting the humidity levels just right, its a lot drier in the tank now than it was when I last tried a cork bark, may try it again. The lid of my tank has had holes drilled in it so the underside is a bit rough, its very hard to explain but there is no way he could climb on it or anything like that. Im worried if I have the substrate that high when I open the tank he may be tempted to venture out of the tank. If that happened my husband would freak and move out ( I aint kidding ) and he would surely make me get rid of my baby! Ya think I could get away with doing it just about 4 inches deep? With the heatmat on back of the tank now, another thing is if its that high its going to block the heat isn't it? :?

She may be tempted to come out for a cuddle but she could do that with lower substrate, she's proving now that the depth of substrate doesn't hamper her ability to climb

It will insulate the heat a little bit but it wont overheat because the heat will escape out of the other side of the mat, so no probs

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Errr ummm come out for a cuddle, I hope not lol I mean I love them n all, but last one I cuddled wound up dead which has put me off cuddling them for life!
The heat can't escape on the other side because there is styrofoam behind the mat lol, maybe if I just got him a lil mini trampoline, hmmm theres an idea, springy landing lol.

 

[defour]

I've never had trouble with mold in brachy cages either. You might be worrying too much about humidity. With the lid you have, all you need is a water dish and dry substrate. Another shelter idea I've used in the past is appropriately sized plastic pipe connectors (straight, 135 and 90 degree angles) that can be found at hardware stores. I bury these at angles into the substrate; some T's use them, some don't, but it will give the spider more options. For substrate level, I usually leave a total above-substrate height about the same as the spiders legspan in a "typical" pose. I don't think you'll have too much trouble preventing the T from getting out when you open the lid. Just be prepared to block it if it goes for it.

The substrate will block some heat, but you can just raise the level of the heat mat. What's the ambient temperature in your house? Additional heat is generally unnecessary.

Steve

 

[nightbreed]

Bouncy T's
I hear you on the cuddling thing, I never handle mine, but sometimes you have to, like when they decide they just have to have a hug
How thick is the styrofoam?

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

defour, this house is cold at best of times, other than slap bang in middle of summer, we have drafty windows, sadly we havent got a thermometer but I can tell you that its a prefab house with very little insulation in the walls and old metal frame windows so you can imagine its not exactly warm which is nice for us in the summer, but not so nice for the T's the rest of the yr.
I don't worry too much about the humidity these days for the Smithis tank, when I first had him I did, but I do usually keep it pretty dry now, its only really damp atm from where I cleaned him out and had to dampen the vermiculite to put it in, have actually been trying to dry the tank back out again now by wiping the sides dry when it mists up etc. OK so he is about 5 - 6 inches (ish) and the tank is 8 inches high, so that means I should raise the substrate to about 4 inches which will leave him 4 inches to climb still Is that about right?
Ohh and btw Im very sorry bagheera I seem to have taken over your thread, didn't mean to sorry.

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Bouncy T's
I hear you on the cuddling thing, I never handle mine, but sometimes you have to, like when they decide they just have to have a hug
How thick is the styrofoam?

Its about inch thick, its against an outside wall which has no insulation to it at all.

 

[nightbreed]

Ahh yeah, an inch is gonna insulate it a bit too well when I use mats (in the Winter) I dont use any insulation on the back of the mat so you could try taking the styrofoam off if it becomes a problem

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Is it safe to use selotape directly on the mats? Will it melt or anything? If its safe yeah, will take the styofoam off and try that, atm the mat is sorta held up by the foam.

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

Ohh my other worry is, the copper strips on back of the mat, are they likely to burn my wallpaper? Or if I stick the mat directly to back of the tank will the tank get too hot? Atm there is a 5 mm gap between the tanks and the mat and the glass is pretty warm.

 

[bagheera]

Wull wull, I am not getting any answers that I didn't start with. Ahyhow, I blew off someof my frustration about the lil' bugger. Perhaps I ought to make a little harness and take her out for a proper walk! As of this afternoon I now have a C fasciatum and an A bicoloratum hanging upside down trying to chomp their way out! Yeesh, as if I don't provide them with hot and cold running crix!

Maybe a quick trip to the Tarantula Bordello? >???