Spider owners tips, feed videos and BS

I like to grab good pieces like that every time the wife and I go hiking.

 

Next year? Pssshhh.

We'll see.

 

HEY

Stop enabling

 

I would too, if I could go anywhere to hike right now

*goes to bed for work tomorrow again*

 

Just posting a few links of useful tarantula-keeping items I've snagged on Amazon so they'll appear in the products section below.

Vermiculite (good to mix with substrate for moisture retention):

$16 8QT Professional Grade Plantation Products Vermiculite

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001693Y3Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Syringes:

$8 TecUnite 8 Pcs Syringe 12cc Dental Irrigation Syringe with Curved Tip Wisdom Teeth Syringe Measurement Syringe Disposable Water Oral Mouth Liquid Tonsil Stone Squirt Mouthwash Cleaner Syringes

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078K8SVMN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wooden Forceps:

$6 Rockruck Angled Reptile Feeding Tongs Tweezers 11"es Bamboo Eco-Friendly Feeding Tool for Reptiles,Geckos,Bearded Dragons,Iguanas,Lizards

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074N2B548/?ref=exp_the_tarantula_collective_dp_vv_d

Squirt Bottle:

Axe Sickle 3 Pcs Plastic Safety Squeeze Bottle 500 mL Wash Bottle Watering Tool, Lab Tip Liquid Storage, 16oz / 3 Bottle.

https://www.amazon.com/Axe-Sickle-P...?keywords=squirt+bottle&qid=1585659375&sr=8-3

Eggcrates (for feeding insect colony):

$20 MT Products Egg Crates, Egg Flat Cartons Bulk Holds 30 Eggs - Pulp Fiber Egg Crate for Chicken Farm - Great Home for Roach Colony - Made in the USA - 15 Flats

https://www.amazon.com/Biodegradabl...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

Lol and of course I noticed the links aren't showing up at the bottom of the page.

 

Well, that was a good run.



10 hours with a clean dish

 

Lol it's ok to leave the dish like that for a few days ... or just go ahead and remove the dish altogether to avoid the hassle.

 

Its alright, I'll continue to clean her room

She just stares at me from her hide when I remove the dish..

 

She likes the attention!

 

@boogie3478
@Pinay

What kind of substrate are you 2 using?

I know you mentioned vermiculite, but what do you combine it with?

I like the substrate that's in the OBT enclosure more than the stuff in Penelope's.

As you can see in the fouled up dish bowl, the dirt "clumped" together though webbing is the main thing to blame here. Anyway when I overfill the water dish, some water seeps to the bottom and isn't absorbed very well.

However, when I fill up the water dish in the OBTs enclosure, and water spills over, the substrate soaks it up evenly.

I asked the guy I got the OBT from but he's hard to get ahold of lol

 

Changing the water dish can be quite and adventure when dealing with some of the crazy Ts.

 

This stuff is great:

$14 Zoo Med Eco Earth Compressed Coconut Fiber Expandable Substrate

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010OSIHW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 mixed with some regular potting soil and vermiculite.

 

Yeah that stuff I can get locally and it's pretty cheap but I've read some not so good things about it...maybe that's because they mixed it with other things that made it not work out well?

I'll try that mix though.

 

Yeah Penelope has only given me one threat pose

Can't imagine an old world though we'll see when I rehouse my nameless OBT in the coming months.

 

Can't imagine what the bad reviews say because that stuff is the staple for arachnid substrate.

 

Oh no all reviews were good

There were a few videos that had nothing to do with substrate but instead other species.

Something about the coconut fiber alone not absorbing water well, but mixed with soil and whatnot it was great.

 

My little piece of the Amazon rainforest.

 

Very nice

So dumb question; the water is pretty high up. Do you have it full to provide a little extra humidity via evaporation?

I ask because the enclosure seems plenty humid, and I'd assume whatever you have in there can gather water from the enclosure walls, substrate, etc.

For my LP, I keep the water dish level with the substrate in case she wants to drink from it...then again that's how she always fills it with dirt lol

 

I just fill the water dish higher so it takes longer to evaporate. I haven't seen my T. blondi actually drinking from the dish yet, but I have seen some of my other Ts drink. In this enclosure the water dish is just an additional source of humidity. We'll see how it goes because the springtails I added to the enclosure before like to congregate IN the water dish instead of on the substrate where I need them.