Cleo's Outing, and Safe Return

[GreenKnight]

Hello All,

Need some advice based on the below. Learned alot, but wondering if any of it had to happen at all.

I had crushed the head of a roach the other day and dropped it in the enclosure, but looked as if the roach hid under the dirt by the plastic bushes. I hadn't seen Cleo find and eat the roach for days, so was getting concerned that the roach had died and was going to spread bacteria etc. in the small enclosure. So took the enclosure and placed it in a much larger enclosure and attempted to nudge Cleo out into a nearby container, so I could rummage through the soil and dig out the dead roach. Long story short, Cleo bolted right out, and ran to the very edge of the largest enclosure. I've posted pictures of the method by which I eventually got her back in her enclosure (numbered for your viewing pleasure), but through this ordeal, a couple questions came to mind:

1. Should I have even done this in the first place? I never found the roach so of course she hunted and ate it (probably at night)...she knows what she's doing. However, if she hadn't, was this the right thing to do? Any rules of thumb for when to go through this trouble to confirm if a feeder has died and should be removed?

2. As you can see, she was very close to being able to simply go over the big enclosure's corner and then be lost in the garage. When folks re-house their tarantulas, I heard not to do it on a table, since they could fall, so garage floor was my best bet...but then there's plenty of places for the tarantula to hide. Where do folks do their re-housings etc?

3. When I initially touched her abdomen with the paint brush, she didn't budge at all, and then the second time, she just bolted straight out and kept running. With such a small enclosure, was their a better approach I could have taken to make her slow walk out (which she did the first rehousing I did when I bought her)?

I was thankful to have seen lots of Tom's Big Spider videos for Re-housings, as her sudden bolt, while surprising, didn't cause mass hysteria. I stayed calm and collected and thought through how best to bring her back. Now I feel a bit ridiculous that I put her through all that, when she had eaten the dubia all along.

Thanks for your thoughtful feedback in advance. I want to get better at this and avoid any needless stress on the T, but honestly was concerned for her health. It's my first T by the way so learning a lot about T Husbandry.

 

[Aracnoenthusiast]

I apologize if I missed this, what kind of t is Cleo? If she's a dry species then a dead roach is not much concern as far as contamination is concerned

 

[m0lsx]

When feeding with roaches, I find they get the best feeding response when placed on their back. On their back they tend to move their legs & show more movement & they tend to stay in the same place, so are easier to remove.

 

[Gizalba]

I am not sure about the first question as I wonder the same regarding uneaten prey that is then hard to find/get out again.

I do all of my re-housings in the bath with the plug in now, regardless of the species. I had a few near-misses trying to do it on my biggest floor space in the kitchen as indeed there were still things for them to run under. Your catch cup catch looks good I do the same with the holes in the catch-cup so I can gently poke them in the right direction as Tom does.

 

[WolfSpider]

Green Knight

You did nothing wrong. sometimes upon changing enclosures, you get a runner. Ts can bolt faster than you can blink--so Sh@# happens. You had a catch cup and your T was safe on the floor. Good job.. As you know, after about 10 feet, their passive respiration with book lungs forces them to take a little rest, so unless your T moves into a difficult crawl space, they can be easily captured.

As far as digging up the roach, I suspect many would not, but it is worth a poll to find out.

 

[GreenKnight]

Thank you all for your helpful responses! This was a G. pulchra, about 3.5". Great and simple idea about putting the roach on the back. I do that for my Leopard Gecko...don't know why I didn't think to apply that logic to Cleo.

I think from now on, I'll just have to trust that Cleo can hunt better than I can guess if a roach is still in the enclosure. She was born for this.

I'll keep noodling on where best to do re-housings. Maybe I can construct a very simply walled off area just in case.

I did not realize about the passive book lungs. If I understand you correctly, you're saying that eventually they have to stop running (after about 10 feet), since their lungs aren't efficient enough to supply the needed oxygen? So essentially they are built for very fast but SHORT bursts of energy...not a long haul. Is that right?

Any more opinions are welcome! Appreciate everyone's thoughts and experiences.

 

[WolfSpider]

Well said.

 

[WolfSpider]

Well said

 

[octanejunkie]

Much ado about nothing, IMO

A dead roach in a dry enclosure won't create any issues for you or the T. If you can't find the feeder it's most likely the T did and ate it.

All rehousing/packaging I do is via catch cup with near-zero risk of escape, I've never lost a T in a transfer event.

Paint brushes are gentle but not always the best or easiest tool to coax a spider with - literally any "tool" can work if used gently. I favor zip ties because they are soft,long, flexible and wont injure a T, nor provide a ladder for them to run up; plus you can bend them and they are narrow and can fit through slits and spaces a paint brush can't. Try it sometime.

You can also tap a tarantula anywhere, not just on the abdomen, any of the legs, pedipalps, etc. in order to get it to move in a direction that you want, and don't overlook the most primary tool you have... A puff of air from your mouth directed at the tarantula will often be much more effective than poking and prodding with any rigid or semi rigid tool.

Show me any enclosure and I can show you the safest, most effective way to move the tarantula into or out of it.

I'm glad it all worked out. You gained a valuable lesson, and experience; which is priceless.

 

[GreenKnight]

Much ado about nothing, IMO

A dead roach in a dry enclosure won't create any issues for you or the T. If you can't find the feeder it's most likely the T did and ate it.

All rehousing/packaging I do is via catch cup with near-zero risk of escape, I've never lost a T in a transfer event.

Paint brushes are gentle but not always the best or easiest tool to coax a spider with - literally any "tool" can work if used gently. I favor zip ties because they are soft,long, flexible and wont injure a T, nor provide a ladder for them to run up; plus you can bend them and they are narrow and can fit through slits and spaces a paint brush can't. Try it sometime.

You can also tap a tarantula anywhere, not just on the abdomen, any of the legs, pedipalps, etc. in order to get it to move in a direction that you want, and don't overlook the most primary tool you have... A puff of air from your mouth directed at the tarantula will often be much more effective than poking and prodding with any rigid or semi rigid tool.

Show me any enclosure and I can show you the safest, most effective way to move the tarantula into or out of it.

I'm glad it all worked out. You gained a valuable lesson, and experience; which is priceless.

Thanks so much OctaneJunkie for your feedback and advice! Never thought about Zipties (one more reason to love them). Appreciate the help and walkthroughs. It's my first, so even though I've seen so many videos, the real situation really puts your theory into practice.

Thanks!

 

[SprintMike]

As stated before, in the bath with the plug in is where I move my T's into any new enclosure. Havn't had any escape yet but at least you've got a good size space with no places to hide in the event.
I also use the bath for transferring crickets from shop tub into their enclosure that they live in, & whilst a pain to end up individually picking up 20-30 that often escape into the bath in the process, much better than trying to find them under furniture, or racing my cat to catch them.

 

[GreenKnight]

Well, moved cleo into a new enclosure and this time made some surrounding walls...just in case. Transfer went fine but was glad I had this as backup.