Complete Clean Out

[Rick Stallard]

How often do you completely clean out all the webbing and substrate, or do you??

 

[Martin Oosthuysen]

How often do you completely clean out all the webbing and substrate, or do you??

Hello
I try to do cage maintenance in the way of removing bolus etc,I do not break a nest unless it needs a rehousing. If the substrate gets some type of mite,or mold then I will make a radical change most of the time I leave as is and I have not had any gremlins jump out screaming we killed your T.

 

[Rick Stallard]

Thats about what I do. It gets pretty messy looking in some of them. Just wondered if anybody did an overhaul to clean it up. It's just the younger ones that seem to make a mess, go figure!!

 

[BossRoss]

It is very stressful for a T for someone to breakdown their homes/webbing. It requires a lot of energy from a T to build a webbing castle.

Many guys who have been in the hobby for years will never, or almost never, change the substrate once the T is in its final enclosure. Only a valid reason should warrant changing all the sub(like mites, mold etc)

I never change the sub, spot cleaning of bolus and poo on the side of the enclosure buts thats about it.

 

[Rick Stallard]

It is very stressful for a T for someone to breakdown their homes/webbing. It requires a lot of energy from a T to build a webbing castle.

Many guys who have been in the hobby for years will never, or almost never, change the substrate once the T is in its final enclosure. Only a valid reason should warrant changing all the sub(like mites, mold etc)

I never change the sub, spot cleaning of bolus and poo on the side of the enclosure buts thats about it.

I agree, but nobody really knows for sure what is stressful to them. Maybe something will happen and it will react in a way for a day or two and we might call it stress. I'm sure they get stressed out, shipping would be #1. Who knows maybe they like building a new home. In the wild, they are fairly nomadic. People get tired of where they live, and remodel or move. I doubt it's the same with a T, but we don't know what they think. It's like all the people that pull an egg sack and then say it does not bother her, it's no big deal. I think it does bother her, why else does she fight so hard to keep it. That would be stress #2. As far as guys who have been in the hobby for years, it's a good place to start, but thats it, a start. The only way to learn is to do it yourself. Help can be gotten, but it doesn't mean everything they say is the way to do it, far from it. The book that everyone always wants to bring up by Schultz is full of mis-information and conflicting information. Things have been learned since then, we know more. So, back to changing substrate, I agree, it should "probably" only be done with an enclosure change.

 

[SniperCrown]

Well said Rick. I agree 100%

 

[Rick Stallard]

Well said Rick. I agree 100%

Thank you. A lot of whats involved in keeping Ts is just common sense. As they say, "It aint rocket science". For many many years I dealt in antiques. People would buy up the price guides and I would see them at auctions going thru it like it was the gospel . What a joke price guides were!! I don't put much stock in "guides" and if you do, remember it is just that a "guide", nothing more. As you might already know, many of the so called terrestrials don't act that way, and the same goes for arboreal. Maybe they enjoy making a new home, who knows???

 

[SniperCrown]

Exactly. It's trial and error. Thankfully these creatures are low fuss and don't require exhaustive maintenance. If the T is eating, pooing, roaming/burrowing/hiding, and molting regularly you're doing things right.