Hello,
lets discuss something I experienced lately.
I am still new in this hobby so maybe it is just my newness acting up.

The background: (both T's revered to are juvie's)

Our first T was a B. Albophylosum, Spike, I knew nothing and just put the peat into the cage and T onto the peat, didn't press the peat down at all. He made some spectacular borrows and webbing.
Then I started reading up, and the reading told me the peat must be pressed down firmly (books and internet), so when I rehoused the Albo due to mold(cage had a wooden lid) I pressed the peat nice and firm, he doesn't seem to like it, no borrowing, just wanders around at ground level.
Our second Albo, Bubblegum, came with no enclosure, so with his new house I pressed the peat firmly, again, he also doesn't seem to like it, stayed on the glass for a long time, eventually moved down to the peat but doesn't burrow.
So I had a mold problem again with Bubblegum, I used Spike's original enclosure after cleaning it and painting the lid, but the mold grew again, thus we rehoused bubblegum this weekend.
This time I didn't press the peat as firm, only very lightly to smooth out the surface, I also gave him one of those fake half-logs, partly for some better hiding place for him, partly to have it look a bit better in the enclosure for me, and he just loves it, within 30mins he occupied the hiding place, within the hour he re-arranged the peat inside/underneath the half-log to suite him better, it really seems as if he enjoys this new home of his.

Now the question/discussion point:
Was my initial patted down peat to firm for these Albo's ?
How correct is the information we get from books/internet ?
Maybe Bubblegum is stressed and hiding ?
Do we setup the enclosures for our or for the T's benefit ?
Surely we want to simulate the T's real environment to provide a stress-free life for our Ts, but then maybe we wont see them so often, where do we draw the line ?
Neil.

I have a Nhandu chromatus(brazilian red and white) and when i first recieved her i thought her tank was a little small so bought her one about 3 times the size, also pressing down the peat she seemed to love burrowing straight away and made a nice space but a few days later found her tank full of ants. so i quickly removed her and took out and disgarded all the peat i then started again to set it up in the same way it was before pressing down the peat once again. yet this time she didnt want to dig at all she also just sat on the top ( i was sure that she was afraid that if she dug down she might find ants again.

she did not dig for over a month and then i decided to add some spragnium moss(excuse the spelling) she attacked it and seemed to not like it because the very next day she started burrowing again she used all the peat she had dug up to cover the moss.

now im not sure if she is enjoying the burrowing or just hating the moss. but she seems somewhat happier now,

Hi Neil,

I am not an expert but ill have a crack at this one :swaet:

Some T's are opportunistic burrowers, and if Im not mistaken curlies are one of them. It might be that with the loose substrate he actually got the "opportunity" to burrow

Try giving them some place to hide. I took a few pots form the nursery, left them in boiling water for a few mins, broke them and filed off the sharp edges. They made excellent hides for my T's and unlike wood they don't have mold issues.

Hope this helps.

neil.truter wrote: Now the question/discussion point:
1. Was my initial patted down peat to firm for these Albo's ?
1a. How correct is the information we get from books/internet ?
2. Maybe Bubblegum is stressed and hiding ?
3. Do we setup the enclosures for our or for the T's benefit ?
3b. Surely we want to simulate the T's real environment to provide a stress-free life for our Ts, but then maybe we wont see them so often, where do we draw the line ?
Neil.

I just would like to point out the spelling mistake on the B. albopilosum

OK, so lets go.
1. Weather you compress or leave the substrate as is, the spider will dig regardless and do he's own thing.

1a. The main reason why one would compress the substrate is that the spider can dig and make tunnels without the tunnels collapsing, unless it is a burrowing species, then they have advanced tunnel construction programmed in.

2. I don't think bubble is stressed, she just taking some time to get use to her enclosure, sometimes a spider might take days weeks before she is/has settled down.
Normally spiders hide giving the opportunity to do so. and only once they are much older/bigger they start to sit out in the open.

3. The fact is you are giving the spider a home, you give it a hiding spot, substrate and a water dish and you keep it warm, so you are doing the enclosure for the spider and for your self if you make it all fancy and designed.
Spider are not fussy, you can stick a spider on gravel and that spider will make do with what you given it, as long as the spider has food and water it will do it's thing.
Far to often we see people who house their spiders wrong, and use the wrong substrate, all incorrect husbandry and the spiders are fine, as people say about some snakes, they are forgiving when it comes to husbandry.

3b. to simulate a Spiders real environment, one would need that environment matched down to the T, and plenty space, not just a small glass box.
But our Tarantulas don't really care about that kind of thing, they are captive breed spiders, they don't have longing for the natural looking environment, as long as they have water and food they are fine and happy to do what they do.
It is like Julian's locals, he keeps in France, some of the set-ups are as far away as far can be from those spiders natural habitat, but the spider still breed for him, they still eat and they make their enclosures their homes.
It is a display. The Europeans are big into natural displays.

So weather you have an H.gigas in a desert display theme or a Pokie in H.lividums set-up the spiders will make do, AS LONG as the husbandry is correct .

So to answer your Question, "Where does one draw the line?"
That is total up to you!!
If you want to go natural habitat then you do the research and you make it so or to the closet you can get.
If you want to see your spiders more often than not then you make the tank as open as you can.

Could not have said it better myself Cas :thumbsup: