Structural Integrity

[TSI25]

Hello Everyone! This is my first post, my first sling, and my second tarantula. This little guy is a curly hair, or Brachypelma albopilosum. He's ~1cm so I figured a modified sprinkles container with some peat based potting soil (no fertilizers or additives) about 2/3rds of the way filled would be a good fit. Holes punched in the top. He's been in there since May 24th, and has molted once already. After he molted he started digging a lot and has constructed a bunch of tunnels and a pretty large underground chamber that he spends a lot of time in. I was expecting this to some extent since he's a young terrestrial but the extent of the tunneling seems alarming.

I'm worried about tunnel collapse primarily, and have attached some pictures (sorry for the poor image quality). Should I rehouse him into something a bit bigger? Do I need to be worried about his chamber coming down on top of him? Especially if I'm dropping in a headless/legless cricket, I'm not sure what kind of weight is going to set that off.

Thanks

 

[Tomoran]

I wouldn't worry at all. When I used to keep my slings in dram bottles, a lot of them would burrow like that. What you can't see is that those tunnels are likely lined with webbing, which holds everything together wonderfully. Even if some of it did crumble a bit, the spider would be fine. It would just patch the area back up.

My B. albopilosum had almost the EXACT same thing when she was a sling...basically cored out the entire bottom. Those albos love to dig.

 

[TSI25]

I wouldn't worry at all. When I used to keep my slings in dram bottles, a lot of them would burrow like that. What you can't see is that those tunnels are likely lined with webbing, which holds everything together wonderfully. Even if some of it did crumble a bit, the spider would be fine. It would just patch the area back up.

My B. albopilosum had almost the EXACT same thing when she was a sling...basically cored out the entire bottom. Those albos love to dig.

Thanks, I knew there was webbing holding everything up but I just didn't want to look in on him one day and find that he buried himself. I'll rest easier knowing this is pretty standard behavior.

 

[Tomoran]

Thanks, I knew there was webbing holding everything up but I just didn't want to look in on him one day and find that he buried himself. I'll rest easier knowing this is pretty standard behavior.

It used to freak me out, too! I had an LP that did it once and I was convinced it had caved in on it. Almost dug him up, too. He was fine.

 

[kormath]

agreed, i freaked out the first time one of my slings had his burrow collapse on him and dug him out. The next time i wasn't able to get to the enclosure, had my hands full with stuff and messy. That sling had dug himself out by the time i freed myself up to check on him. So now i don't worry about a collapse, they'll dig themselves out. I guess I should say i don't worry about a tunnel collapse. I do worry about the ones that burrow down to the bottom and hollow the bottom out with a pound or more of substrate just waiting to fall on them. But so far (knock on wood, toss salt) i haven't had a squished one yet.

 

[Enn49]

Those tunnels were what made me fall in love with the curlies, they're such busy little Ts. I see it this way if they can dig them then they'll always be able to dig a way out

 

[VanessaS]

My tiny B. albopilosum has done the exact same thing and seems to be doing fine. They are pretty good at digging themselves out and don't require a lot of air in the meantime. As they dig out their burrows, the earth that is piled up is very broken up and light weight. If part of it was to collapse, it really doesn't have a lot of weight to it and they will easily move it around.
One of my E. campestratus has this tunnel that is completely dug out except for a tiny pillar holding the entire floor up. I get concerned each time I move the enclosure, but it seems to be very sturdy. The pillar is less than 10% of the floor space and has been very successful. They are truly engineering masters.
Here is my little B. albopilosum showing themselves for the first time since I got them in April...