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Help with a cranky Hapalopus sp.

jinvik

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3 Year Member
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6
This is my cranky Hapalopus sp. large morph, Jennifer. I always had her on quite a dry substrate and she seemed happy, skittish and bitey, but happy, several successful molts, great eater. Then I read in a few places that these guys actually like it moist, and I thought, oh idiot me, keeping her wrong this whole time. So I made it moist, and she would no longer set foot on her substrate. Climbing the walls every minute of every day and much more agitated. So I thought, okay she does like it dry after all, so I let her substrate dry out. She is still climbing the walls, eating great, but really seems unhappy. I think the enclosure is a reasonable size, she has a good place to hide (though she never uses it, never has since the day I got her), there is no mold, and she has webbed up the substrate quite a bit, but she avoids stepping on it at all costs. Its a mix of coco fibre and peat moss, about 50/50. I am just not sure what I am doing wrong. So any suggestions? Anybody else have a vote on whether these guys like it dry or moist? Personal experiences with this kind of behavior in this particular species? All suggestions appreciated.
 

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MassExodus

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I was told by a solid source to keep them moist as slings, and not to sweat it too much as adults, as long as they have fresh water. Id say yours dont care for moist though. Try a rehouse to a smaller enclosure, or larger if its in a small one. This sometimes changes their behavior/attitude. For what its worth, my four all webbed their enclosures like gbbs. They behave just like them, and climb more than most terrestrial species. Love em.
 

kormath

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Idaho
When i had my H. sp Comlumbia large i only had it for 3 molts (iirc) the ultimate molt was his 3rd. I kept him on dry substrate, with a bottle cap as a water dish. he webbed everything up like a GBB, totally covered the leaves to make a ceiling in the enclosure with 3 places to get up on top, one i made to keep the water cap full. He ate really well, was active and not skittish at all until his ultimate molt, then he stopped eating, and would bolt at every littel bump to his enclosure or near it. I traded him to someone near here that wanted to try and breed with his female, but that failed and he got eaten :(
 

jinvik

New Member
3 Year Member
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6
So I just wanted to update this thread. I moved this girl to a larger enclosure with a better hide that is more private, if you get what I mean. She has gone in the hide and webbed up the entrance and added dirt to the webbing. She is coming and going from the hide, eating like crazy and generally seems a lot happier. So it could be a few different factors that improved things for her, bigger space, better hide, fresh substrate, not sure, but anyway, less climbing the walls. Thanks for everyone's suggestions!
 

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