Is there anything I can do about this?

[Gizalba]

Hi,

I posted about this tarantula a while ago when we had mould problems - since adding more vent holes and spring-tails to the enclosure the mould seems to have gone away. However it has now been 5 months since Aurora (Phormictopus sp dominican purple) arrived and hid under the substrate. I still maintain clean water in the bowl and put prey in every week, then take it out again if it doesn't get eaten. I have never noticed any of the prey disappear, or any sign of movement at all :/

I know it is normal for tarantulas to disappear for months on end, at least if they are an adult, but for a 1.5 inch (leg-span) sling 5 months seems like a long time to not eat for? When I first put her in I did think that within a moult or two she'd need a bigger enclosure, so if she has eaten anything or moulted I am not sure how big she is now. When I look closely at the sides and under the bottom I can't see any burrows she has made so she must be right in the middle.

I know the rule NEVER to dig up a hidden tarantula, and I don't intend to do that. However after listening to Tom Moran's podcast, I have wondered about dampening the substrate down the side to stop it from crumbling, then carefully making a hole down to the bottom and dropping in an injured prey item. Tom mentioned that this method is for exceptional circumstances and is controversial, as it was long believed that any tarantula that was hungry would eventually come up to find food. But he mentioned he had had multiple instances where burrowing tarantulas starved to death, as they were too far down to sense the food on top and in the wild it seems they would have food to eat from bugs wandering deep in the earth, which obviously does not happen in captivity. After that he then saved a few by doing the above method - he dropped the injured prey in and an emaciated tarantula grabbed it. Although, I think he maybe could see the tarantula down there, whereas I can't. He also mentioned that 'knowing your tarantula' can help make this judgement call; of course if it is quite normal for yours to disappear for 6 months then appear, leave them alone. But since Aurora disappeared from the day I got her, I have no idea what is normal for her.

I know it is ultimately up to me to decide which risk to take - leave her down there and risk her starving, or dig a hole and risk damaging her during a moult :/ But any advice/thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Below are pictures of the day she arrived, then what her enclosure looks like currently, taken last night. Size wise when she first got into the enclosure the pot diameter was about 3 times her length.

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
you set her up too deep.I will personally recommend enclosures with less height for terrestrial slings. and about an inch of substrate at most.
I know that a lot of people like to give the sling chance to burrow but but if they burrow deep they will not feel vibration from pray as good if at all.Use 8,10,12,10,16 oz deli cups for terrestrial and leave the 32oz for arboreal slings.
I had a Phormictopus auratus that is one of the shy Phormictopus sp and lived more or less fossorial life till it hit 3 inch.It was provided with a hide and about 1-1,5 of substrate and had no problems burrowing if it wanted but when I offered pray it couldn't open the burrow quick enough to get it and sometimes sealed it back in less than an hour.
Pic below of my terrestrial setups for slings with substrate from
1oz pot- 3cm diameter and 1 cm substrate

4oz pot - 5cm diameter and 2cm substrate

8 oz pot - 7-8cm diameter and 2-3cm substrate

when slings burrow they fluff the substrate and raise substrate level right to the top sometimes
like on the pic below.That Cyriocosmus elegans has been living burrowed since I got it 6 months ago

Regards Konstantin

 

[Gizalba]

Hi
you set her up too deep.I will personally recommend enclosures with less height for terrestrial slings. and about an inch of substrate at most.
I know that a lot of people like to give the sling chance to burrow but but if they burrow deep they will not feel vibration from pray as good if at all.Use 8,10,12,10,16 oz deli cups for terrestrial and leave the 32oz for arboreal slings.
I had a Phormictopus auratus that is one of the shy Phormictopus sp and lived more or less fossorial life till it hit 3 inch.It was provided with a hide and about 1-1,5 of substrate and had no problems burrowing if it wanted but when I offered pray it couldn't open the burrow quick enough to get it and sometimes sealed it back in less than an hour.
Pic below of my terrestrial setups for slings with substrate from
1oz pot- 3cm diameter and 1 cm substrate
View attachment 55731
4oz pot - 5cm diameter and 2cm substrate
View attachment 55732
8 oz pot - 7-8cm diameter and 2-3cm substrate
View attachment 55733
when slings burrow they fluff the substrate and raise substrate level right to the top sometimes
like on the pic below.That Cyriocosmus elegans has been living burrowed since I got it 6 months ago
View attachment 55734


Regards Konstantin

Thanks very much! All my other terrestrial slings are in shallower containers however because Aurora was bigger I put her in this 32oz to give her a more space to dig which was meant to be temporary while I found a better enclosure, however she then disappeared and never came back up.

I am wondering now - is it best to make a hole down the side to try to feed her until she is visible enough for me to dig her out? I am really worried she has starved

 

[Konstantin]

Hi
in my previous post when talking about my Phormictopus auratus enclosure substrate 1-1.5 inch was what I meant to write.
In regards of your sling.
If you are sure that it has not moulted last few days or is about to moult next few days just rehouse it in a new enclosure with less substrate.
Do not worry about disturbing it if not in the above mentioned conditions ,take her gently and carefully out of there and put her in correct setup and then once it settle you should have no worries
Regards Konstantin

 

[Konstantin]

You can put the enclosure on its side in a bigger tub and gently brush of substrate off little by little untill you get idea where the burrow is and the location of the sling then can use tweezers to rake most of the substrate faster

 

[Gizalba]

Hi
in my previous post when talking about my Phormictopus auratus enclosure substrate 1-1.5 inch was what I meant to write.
In regards of your sling.
If you are sure that it has not moulted last few days or is about to moult next few days just rehouse it in a new enclosure with less substrate.
Do not worry about disturbing it if not in the above mentioned conditions ,take her gently and carefully out of there and put her in correct setup and then once it settle you should have no worries
Regards Konstantin

Thank you. The problem is I have no way of knowing whether she has moulted in the last few days or is about to :/

 

[Konstantin]

My Phormictopus auratus burrow was closed with a slim layer of dirt.You can try removing the cork to see what you will be able to see from the burrow and if you manage to open a bit of it and offer pre killed feeder close to the opening.
If its eaten then is rehousing time.
Or just bite the bullet and try to dig her out very very gently. At 1.5 inch DLS mine was moulting at about 60 ish day intervals between moults .If has been 5 mounts it has probably moulted a while ago.


Regards Konstantin

 

[Gizalba]

My Phormictopus auratus burrow was closed with a slim layer of dirt.You can try removing the cork to see what you will be able to see from the burrow and if you manage to open a bit of it and offer pre killed feeder close to the opening.
If its eaten then is rehousing time.
Or just bite the bullet and try to dig her out very very gently. At 1.5 inch DLS mine was moulting at about 60 ish day intervals between moults .If has been 5 mounts it has probably moulted a while ago.


Regards Konstantin

Sad news :'( Aurora was directly under the cork bark when I lifted it and had started to decompose there was one moult next to her. The rest of the substrate below seemed to be untouched when I dug it all out, so it doesn't look like she went too far down and couldn't sense prey :/ However I will be careful not to put too much substrate in for future terrestrials.

Apologies for the grim pictures but I have posted them in the hope that someone could estimate how long she had been dead for? And what could have caused her to die?

It looks like she had got out of the moult successfully and when she first arrived she looked healthy to me I had been putting in a small red runner weekly then taking it out when it didn't get eaten, and had also tried leaving a pre-killed mealworm in there then took it out, so there were no crickets/worms that could have attacked her. I had also been moistening part of the substrate every few weeks, whilst trying not to over-do it due to the mould issue. I wonder now if the mould had come up after she had died due to the body remains.

 

[Oursapoil]

Sad news :'( Aurora was directly under the cork bark when I lifted it and had started to decompose there was one moult next to her. The rest of the substrate below seemed to be untouched when I dug it all out, so it doesn't look like she went too far down and couldn't sense prey :/ However I will be careful not to put too much substrate in for future terrestrials.

Apologies for the grim pictures but I have posted them in the hope that someone could estimate how long she had been dead for? And what could have caused her to die?

It looks like she had got out of the moult successfully and when she first arrived she looked healthy to me I had been putting in a small red runner weekly then taking it out when it didn't get eaten, and had also tried leaving a pre-killed mealworm in there then took it out, so there were no crickets/worms that could have attacked her. I had also been moistening part of the substrate every few weeks, whilst trying not to over-do it due to the mould issue. I wonder now if the mould had come up after she had died due to the body remains.

Sorry for your loss my friend, it always hurt but it is a risk worth taking to have Ts raised from slings. I've witness some slings thriving in the worst conditions and other dying in the perfect ones, nature always has ways to surprise us.

 

[Konstantin]

Im sorry to hear about this pal.
The mould is probably after she passed.
Regards Konstantin

 

[Gizalba]

Sorry for your loss my friend, it always hurt but it is a risk worth taking to have Ts raised from slings. I've witness some slings thriving in the worst conditions and other dying in the perfect ones, nature always has ways to surprise us.

Im sorry to hear about this pal.
The mould is probably after she passed.
Regards Konstantin

Thank you for the responses and info *sigh*. Indeed I was so scared of when they die, when I got them, but the joy they bring is worth that pain.

 

[octanejunkie]

Sorry for your loss. It happens.