B. Smithi (Redknee) Spiderling Filling Water Dish

[kwikness]

I just got my first tarantula. It's an unsexed B. Smithi. I've had it for about 3 weeks on the money now and still haven't seen it molt, so from what I've read, it's coming to about that time.

This is my little bud in it's home:

In all the time I've had her, I've never seen her do what she did last night. She must have been pretty busy throughout the night because when I woke up this morning, I noticed that it had completely filled up its water dish:

I use a little piece off of an egg carton as her hide. When I first came over in the morning, I could see her moving around a bit in there. My guesses as to what she could have been doing include preparing a silk mat for molting, digging for fun, or grooming-- or something else. You tell me!

After a while of watching her, she came out and started kind of rotating around on top of the vermiculite-covered cup. I've watched a Youtube video (

) of a B. Smithi preparing a mat, and the movements were similar to what mine is doing, although mine seems to be doing it at a more relaxed pace and without the abdomen kicking in the video.

I'm new to tarantulas, but I'm pretty confident she's just getting ready to molt. But why in her water dish? I want to provide a place for her to get some water, but now I'm not just going to go in there and ruin all the work she's potentially put into making a molting bed.

What do you guys think?

 

[Sabeth]

Has she been refusing food recently? That's a very strong indicator of an impending molt. I'm not sure why she would be filling her water dish! Hopefully someone will answer who knows more about that.

 

[kwikness]

She's been eating okay. 2 small dubia nymphs a week. I guess it does seem like she has been going after them a little less aggressively, but I'm not sure since I'm still learning more about these guys every day.

She's just been standing on top of the cup with the vermiculite in it now all day. She must be pooped from moving all day, lol. Look at how much is in there! Hope someone's seen this..

 

[Christell Erasmus]

My choco golden knee also use to do the same thing. She is a little bulldozer. I eventually realized that the water dish was in the spot where she wanted to burrow and therefore all the peat ended up in the water dish.