P. Muticus likes being sealed up...normal?

[syzygy]

Got this one as a 1/2" sling and now a year of so later it is maybe 1.75".

In the initial enclosure it had 2.5" of substrate and immediately dug down to the bottom. At some point in sealed off the entrance and I figured it knew what it was doing and let it be, but after a month I removed the plug and it never replaced it. In fact, after that it created about 10 more vertical shafts and dug around until no substrate was actually touching the bottom of the container. It was actually really cool because I had a perfect view of my "pet hole". It was almost like the wood beast from Flash Gordon.

Anyway, it's in a bigger space now and has about 5" of substrate. It dug down to the bottom and across the entire length and then sealed the entrance again. There is one place along that bottom length where the tunnel is up against the side and creates a window. For some reason this is where it always sits. After a month it was looking thin so I removed the plug and threw in a couple crickets. It ate them without hesitation and then molted a few days later. After that it replaced the plug and after another month I removed it and it fed again, but after eating it immediately replaced the plug.

Should I wait it out this next time? How long is too long for a spider this size to go without eating?

 

[MassExodus]

Welcome to the wonderful world of pet holes. If you wait long enough, the muticus will come to the mouth of the tunnel and remove the plug to hunt, or rather, wait in ambush. She'll do it at night, in the dark, that's likely the only time you'll see her.

 

[syzygy]

I see "her" all the time during the day just sitting or preening in the window.
It never occurred to me that it might remove the plug, roam around at night and replace it before I wake up 5 or 6 hours later. Furthermore, I've never bothered to feed when the tunnel is plugged because it seemed futile. Doing so would be the perfect way to test that theory.

 

[Nicolas C]

With mine (who is a big adult female), I never touch the plug. Instead, I leave one or two preys on the ground and wait until next day. Most of the time, there are no preys left when I wake up. The advantage with such pet holes is you don't risk anything with preys left in the enclosure as the burrow is closed.

My muticus has also excavated almost all the substrate underground at first. But now she is almost done covering the glass walls with dirt so that I soon won't be able to spy anymore...!

 

[MassExodus]

In answer to your question, the tarantula will eat when it feels like eating . Yes, they do come out at night and close the burrow back up. Putting crickets inside a blocked burrow is an unnecessary risk, in my humble opinion. You say your spider molted a few days later..what if one of the crickets escaped? Lunch time. Just sayin..if you like 3 legged spiders, that's a good way to get one.

 

[Ghost]

+1 For what Nicolas C said,the only thing I would add is althought P.muticas is the second largest Baboon Tarantula in Africa their very slow growers,therefore don't get to worried if your T dosent take food every time you offer it as long as you offer food every week then it will eat when it's ready,I have an Adult Female that only takes food about once a month but I still offer food every week at night and if it dosent eat it I remove it the next morning......

 

[syzygy]

I see that my paraphrasing of my feeding method was unclear. I would toss the crickets into the enclosure...not directly into the burrow. I was making sure the borrow was open first so that it could come out and get them...which it always did with authority. The best part is watching the instinct of the hunt.

I will add a cricket b4 bed tonight and leave the burrow plugged. If that works I may have to re-purpose my motion sensitive IR video cameras.

Thanks all for the great input.