hungry lady

[lillycaden]

 

[Tgirl1010]

Hi. She's a pretty girl! I would get her off of those wood chips though.

 

[Denny Dee]

Awesome photo!

 

[lillycaden]

Hi. She's a pretty girl! I would get her off of those wood chips though.

when I got her a year ago, this was what the pet store had her on, so I got the same. she never seemed to mind it, always walked around, hung out on it, then last week I changed her tank for the first time and she was acting weird so I did change the bottom to coconut fiber substrate and she really didn't like it, climbed the walls, sat on top of her log, stopped eating, so I put so chips on top and that seemed to help. but shes just been acting weird. she went from eating 3 crickets every 3-4 days to refusing food. she even webbed up the front of her log like she did before she went to molt. she only molted in march. so im not sure whats going on. what substrate should I be using and will I stress her out even more if I change it again? I would like barry to be normal and happy again

 

[MatthewM1]

Switch her to coco fiber and make sure its completely bone dry. It takes a while for some of them to settle after a big change but its much safer. If she were to fall on the wood chips they could puncture/ get embedded in the exoskeleton. Causing it to bleed out / die from molting issues in the future.

 

[lillycaden]

yeah I used the coco fiber when I changed the tank and it was completely dry, she wouldn't even walk on it, it kept sticking to her feet. now I just don't know what to use. she seems so unhappy

 

[MatthewM1]

Was the substrate packed down tightly? They won't like it loose. Make it slightly moist, pack it down tightly and then let it dry it.

 

[Denny Dee]

Some people use bark exclusively but mostly in arboreal set ups. The bark in the photo most likely will not harm your T. I say mostly as some T's after a fresh molt are extremely vulnerable and there could be a sharp edge that possibly could damage her. Not likely. The problem is that terrestrials cannot burrow in the bark. Which leads to stress. A nice compromise is to go with a better substrate (I use coco fiber mixed with vermiculite) and follow Matthews advice on moisture and packing it down. Then add a think layer on top of it. She appears to have become used to the bark texture and this could give her the best of both worlds. I think you will find that she will re-decorate the bark and burrow if you give her enough depth in the substrate. So, the bark ends up being decorative in time and you can decide if you want to keep it in there or not. Whatever you decide, try to keep it consistent. T's also stress with too many substrate changes.

 

[Alexander White]

Nice shot!