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Tiny, my new B. boehmei (advices are welcomed)

Agno

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Here's my recently purchased T. I could immediately tell the difference in temperament between her and my first Avicularia. Tiny is very calm and timid. She arrived on Saturday and she hasn't eaten anything yet. Shall I be concerned? Is her enclosure okay? I introduced her a small wingless fly and few grasshoppers each one at a time (I took their hind legs off so they would just crawl on the substrate). She doesn't seem to be interested and runs away. She has done some light webbing all around the walls of the enclosure and now she has learned to hide in the 'shell-home' I provided her.
 

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kormath

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my B. boehmei won't eat prey as large or larger than it's abdomen. It will run away or slap at it, and then run away. Could be the case here. Also the enclosure is quite large. Seems like they hide more and eat less in oversized enclosures.

Looks like that is a one itty bitty little boehmei. I'd start it in a small enclosure and let it grow into that one. That one is more suitable for it's adult home than it's tiny sling home.

Oh and if you can get roaches try the Little Kenyan instead of the FFF, more nutritious and they won't out grow the roaches for a while. The Little Kenyan nymphs are the size of FFF and adults are about 1/2". I use those and the pinhead lateralis roaches for my little tiny slings.
 

Kymura

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Perfect advice right there. It'll settle more quickly once it's in a smaller enclosure hun :)
Also, there's always mealworms. Cheap and easy to keep. You can stick them in the bottom of the fridge, they last a long long time that way and it won't kill them. Just crush the head with a tongs or tweezers and drop it in there.
 
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Agno

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I rehoused Tiny in a much smaller container. She still didn't feed for a couple of days but started eating yesterday. I gave her a newly hatched stick insect. I removed his legs so he wouldn't move cos they are fast. He was crawling on the substrate just like a worm. Next time I checked, Tiny was on him, dragging him around. After a couple of hours, he just wasn't there anymore.
 

Phil

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I rehoused Tiny in a much smaller container. She still didn't feed for a couple of days but started eating yesterday. I gave her a newly hatched stick insect. I removed his legs so he wouldn't move cos they are fast. He was crawling on the substrate just like a worm. Next time I checked, Tiny was on him, dragging him around. After a couple of hours, he just wasn't there anymore.
Get in! Let them hunt I always say ☺
 

kormath

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Get in! Let them hunt I always say ☺
so much more fun to watch them chase and catch prey than check on a dead prey item the next day to see if they ate, although I did give my smallest sling a decapitated roach last night. she snagged it as the roach's corpse was tumbling down the burrow entrance. I dropped it near the opening and it's death throes sent it down to be dinner. I'd still call that hunting ;)
 

Agno

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I have a question! Tiny had two meals and than stopped feeding for some days (she's a first instar). I put a half nut shell in her enclosure with an opening and she got inside. Some hours ago I noticed she had filled the opening with substrate (coconut fiber) and sealed it completely. She's been there for two days now. I'm assuming she has or will molt. I have sprayed the coconut with water to keep it moist. How long do you think it might take before she comes out? Shall I check first by removing the nut shell or wait?
 

Agno

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Okay guys...now I'm totally freaked out! Maybe it's just my ignorance or there's smth going on with my B. boehmei. Since she's a terrestrial species I thought they weren't good climbers and she always seemed calm staying on the ground and in her hiding place that's why I didn't keep her enclosure lid totally sealed... until my mom told me a couple of minutes ago: oh...come see, there's a spider on the wall!
And I went to check and I found Tiny, like far away from her enclosure on the hall wall WTF.
I ran to get smth to catch her (she's like 0.7inches legspan). As soon as I approached her she fell on the ground from a hight of 20inches and continued running to hide, damn she was very fast. I managed to catch and put her back in her enclosure with difficulty. She didn't get under her hide but climbed up to get out again.
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She fed two days ago, I've kept her enclosure humid (half substrate wet, half dry). I've sprayed water every night so she had droplets to drink from. I don't think she is unhappy from her home although since she was a first instar when I got her, she had a tendency to climb but it seemed she couldn't that's why I wasn't worried much and never thought she'd get out. o_O I'm thoughtless atm.
 

Enn49

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I'd say it has squeezed out of one of those air holes. You need to put it something with smaller air holes.
 

Agno

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She doesn't seem to be hurt so far and now she is eating -.-'
 
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Kymura

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Change the cover and make about a zillion pinholes (with a large darning needle) like Enn said.
Might be a little to wet actually.
Get a bottle cap or a plastic thimble or a monopoly house and keep it full of clean water. A little damp is good for slings. Wet isn't quite so good as it makes a stuffy enclosure which is not good. .
 
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kormath

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agree with @Kymura it's too damp and that's why it's running away.

For all of my Brachy sp slings i use moist substrate for burrowing (if you squeeze the substrate and it releases any moisture it's too damp) and a water dish. I don't give them a hide as they're always in their burrows. I never mist them. In the wild the boehmei live in dry scrublands, most commonly found in the hills in the western part of the Guerrero state.
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Phil

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New house! I used a shallow shell as a water dish. What do you think?
I have to say, compared to my A. versicolor, she eats more.
Looks cool. I did read somewhere hough that salt is bad for spiders so if the shell is from a seashore would that matter? Advice from others welcome......
 

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