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My T utilizes less than half the space in her cage, so this large Exo terra reptile hide suits her fine. She found her way into it, last night. I hope she's more comfortable in there, where it's dark. consistently.
I might adjust the peat and vermiculite levels, around the hide. This is a huge improvement over the flower pot, because now she can dig downwards a bit, and is enveloped in complete darkness. If she does molt in the next few weeks she'll be less stressed! I know I already am!
I'm going to add a few rocks. Just to liven the place up a bit. My T doesn't seem to give a crap about the decor. I don't like the prey items to be able to hide, so I'll bury the rocks enough, so that the little victims can't dig right underneath them. Maybe I'll stick a soft fake plant in the right rear corner, to kind of close the place off. A rock with a bit of texture, added to the left front corner would look nice and add more interest to everything. In the wild they are around all kinds of rocks, but one thing I worry about, is her trying to climb the glass then falling. This species doesn't seem like much of a climber though.
I really admire the time you have taken to make sure your buddy is safe. My Picklez is an LP, who, as cumbersome as they are, still like to try to climb. Hence all the substrate, plus she loves to burrow. But when I first started in the hobby, I had decor that she could have indeed hurt herself on. I thank the folks here in these pages for POLITELY helping to correct my ignorance. Would that the rest of the world were as kind as some of the folks in this hobby Well done. I can't wait to see it finished. I might copy it for my new addition Still undecided about a red knee or flame leg.. learning towards the red knee though since the other buggers are famous for kicking hairs at the slightest provocation, and trust me when I tell you I have a terrible reaction to them. It looks as if I rolled in a bottle of Elmer's glue and then jumped around in a fun house made of pink fiber glass insulation... lol
Ad, you don't like the cocoa fiber? I like to mix a bit with some sphagnum moss to keep up a tiny bit of humidity under the water dish and catch overflow and then pack it down real tight in the rest of the tank. My t's never seemed to like a substrate that was too soft My chilean rose was my first, and that poor thing put up with so much! When I first got her from the pet shop, the attendant sold me a bag of pink cedar shavings as a substrate for the 20 tank he sold me and told me they don't like to drink water but absorb it through their skin so I should spritz her really well with a some water when I got home and not feed her for a week or so.
Even as a total newbie this sounded not quite right, and instead ( this was in the days before the internet was even available) ended up soaking a bunch of potting soil (pesticide free thank god I was smart enough to think of that) added a branch from my yard, an old flower pot, a water dish and a pinkie mouse and tossed Rosie in. For days and days after wards I wondered why she didn't come down from hanging off the top of the wire mesh screen!!!! I laugh now, but seriously, she dealt with a lot until I was able to find a book at the library, not Schultz I'm afraid, that taught me about their natural environments etc.
I immediately changed everything I had done previously and for the next 7 years of her life (she was pretty much past having reached maturity when I got her) she lived happily as a Chilean Rose should.
Whew, what a long strange trip it has been. I visit youtube every so often and there is one person in particular who's videos drive me to distraction. They are very well versed on the hobby, but something is seriously wrong with this person. They have over 300 T's of a myriad of species, and feeds them on MEAL WORMS maybe once or so a month. . .
Anyway, I digress, lol, so kudos to you for making sure you have what you need for your little friend. I look forward to seeing more
Thank you for the comments! I tend to be on the obsessive side about my animals. It's been a year looking barren like this, so I'm going to try and simulate A. Hentzi's natural texas habitat with a little more rocks. They are no strangers to rocks, I've watched youtube videos of people going to collect mature female texas tarantulas, and they are under just about every large rock. I'm also going to get some fake texas looking grass. lol Whenever I clean the cage out next I'll look into Cocoa Fiber and sphagnum moss. I came close to buying them this last time. At the time this photo was taken she was inside the hide and now she's back outside sitting in the front left corner. I offered her up a roach after letting her adjust to the dimmer lighting and new cage and she became aggressive biting the tongs repeatedly, so I took that as a sign to stop all feeding attempts and let her either fast or molt. I've been through molts before......this ain't my first rodeo!!!, but I always get nervous when they stop eating for weeks and become sluggish like she has. This will mark the first time she's molted in my care and I've had her for a year and a half now. I think at her juvenile stage she's a little overdue for a molt.
I think you are doing fine with what you have. Just because I fancy cocoa fiber doesn't mean your T will If it's been happy as is, leave it as is. Adding a few more rocks it would have hidden out in in its natural habitat wouldn't hurt, but, if something is working, no need to fix it. And is does sound to me as if she is displaying pre molt behavior. But, I'm not a pro by any means, I only know how I freaked out when mine stopped acting "normal". There is lots of advice here on the site better than what you could get from me. lol
Good luck and please keep us posted on your friend's progress
As the weeks have gone by the abdomen has progressively darkened. My other tarantula, a rosie always waited until we were gone to molt, it looks as if Theia is going to molt out where I can see it all happen. Our furnace has been acting up lately, so I may need to keep a space heater right outside my door! of all the times to pick to start failing.......geez.
don't know the humidity requirements for your particular T, but maybe upping it a wee bit, just an overflow or something under the water bowl, might help. I think during a molt slightly higher warm and slightly higher humidity helps. Double check on that one. How exciting to be able to see a molt out in the open... you tube has vids that are time sped up and it is one of the creepiest thing i have ever seen. lol
