L klugi is in premolt + rehouse status on T stirmi

[Whitelightning777]

Mental freakout until successful molt begins in 3...2...1...

Pics of her after the molt (The Gods and Goddesses be willing) will follow.

Her abdomen is darkening and she ran away from the water dish when I filled it. Historically, this gesture makes premolt official.

My T stirmi Mindy is larger, but Justina is determined to give her a run for the money. Hopefully she'll remain small enough to stay in the 5 gallon.

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I haven't rehoused the T stirmi yet because I've decided to wait for one more molt. Her current cage is probably too small but the newer one is a bit on the large size. I'm also sure that a hissy fit and much drama will unfold.

Pics to follow on that .

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Ok. Waiting for pics... {Taps foot impatiently...}

 

[Arachnoclown]

 

[Whitelightning777]

The tarantula has to actually molt before photos can be taken.

The stirmi cage, of course, will be built when I get around to it. Still, that thing is huge, made for a tarantula with 12 inch DLS. Mindy is only about 7 inches, maybe just 6.

I can and will slope the substrate, but if she does something really stupid, she will fall pretty far down. Adding frog moss and soft decor to gradually slow down a falling T is possible but the floor to ceiling is 18" high. With substrate, that's fine for a 9" to 12" DLS, but a bit much for only 7".

The other problem is that I need excavator clay to make barriers and keep the slope intact so that one day I won't find it piled up against the doors.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

My smaller stirmi stays down in its excavated burrow under the cork bark. It only comes out at night and when its hungry. My big stirmi (6-7") doesn't even try to hide. Just sits right out in the open waiting for the next roach to fall from the sky. When I first got the big girl, I tried to house her in a 10 gallon tank with a screen top. On day two, she was up messing with the screen. I fed her two adult dubia, thinking if she was fat and happy she'd stay down and leave the screen alone. Nope. Had to re-house her into a big Sterilite-type tub. She did not like the catch cup. She is the most gorgeous spider I own, and I'd really like to have her on display behind glass, but I need to find or make an enclosure with no screen. Plexi doesn't hold up well long term, so looking for something glass.

The point of all that is: I'm looking forward to whatever you come up with to house yours. Looking for ideas and and enclosure inspiration.

 

[Whitelightning777]

The next cage?

It isn't built yet but here's where she's going.

That's an 18x24x18 ExoTerra.

FWIW, when I point my infrared thermometer at my T stirmi, her body temperature is usually 77 to 78 degrees to within half a degree.

If you can raise your home temperature to 75, I bet the climbing stops. Keep in mind that if they are upside down and fall, it's bad news regardless of whether or not it's a screen or acrylic or glass.

Irritating substrate can also drive them up the wall in the most literal sense on the word. All my terrestrials absolutely hate vermaculite, even if just a little bit is mixed into the surface layer.

I used organic chemical free peat for mine, with a very thin layer of Coco fiber aka EcoEarth on top. The benefit of peat is that it is very resistant to mold, which can happen with moisture dependent species.

I also use frog moss. They just love how it feels and it holds in moisture and humidity almost perfectly. The green contrasts nicely with their Earth tone coloration very nicely.

This is how I did her cage. Unless you are in a living situation where you can't have a home temperature over 68 degrees, disregard how the heating works. My roommate has fibromyalgia and she needs the cold to be comfortable. It's over engineered, especially for a juvenile enclosure.

The simplest thing to do is to just raise your home to 75 and maybe put her on a higher shelf or next to a computer or TV & you'll probably be ok.

Since she was wild caught and in horrible shape, I wanted to create ideal, not just adequate conditions.

Bonus video.

Enjoy!!

 

[Whitelightning777]

Let's get the anticipation up even further. Here's 5 pics of her in premolt. Contrast that to how she looked in my Avatar. If she fades anymore, I might mistake her for G porteri!!

You can see some of the black on the abdomen even extending to the cephalothorax. I didn't want to stick the phone right in and bother her.

She's right by the water dish. That means she'll take that last big drink before flipping so that hydraulic pressure can be maximized.

She hasn't eaten in about 2 weeks.

Those small stones came with the spring tails I added a month ago.

Let the good times roll (over & then flipped back in one piece) M-kay....

I'm getting no sleep for work tonight.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Update:

I just ordered all the parts and pieces from Amazon that I need for the T stirmi enclosure + the cork round I need for the P striata rehousing. The rest I can get from PetSmart or Rick's.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Ok guess what?

She's ok!! She looks spectacular. I just want her to get out of the way far enough to pull out the old molt and tidy up the cage.

I'm not sure if there is really that much blue there it not, kept showing up in the edited photos.

It's hard to get them exactly as you see them.

She's somewhat skittish, which is what I've come to expect. Seeing her laid out in the water dish was surprising especially since there was still some water in it. When I added more water, of course she moved.

Still, the pictures don't really do her justice. There's an sorts of color tones that cameras just can't capture.