Acanthoscurria chacoana - Burrowing information needed!

[Mark E]

Hi,

This new female has taken residence in her new home, which I furnished with 3" of substrate (vivarium 'block' - like soil/peat but artificial) and a cork log + water dish.
She has spent two days rearranging the 'soil' and completely dug-out behind the bark to the glass which took 1 day. She has now (last night) blocked her normal entrance and dug a complete tunnel underneath the cork bark to the main vivarium! The floor of her den is cleaned glass, which must have taken some effort.

My question is this: I know this substrate dries out quickly and becomes quite thin - will the spiders webbing hold this in place or do I need to ensure everything is kept moist?

This spider is a beauty, but I hope she won't spend all her time in her new den (we cannot see her behind the log, as she has webbed the 'soil' up to the ceiling on both sides.

Does anyone have information on these burrows and whether the spider is likely to become a recluse?

Amazing amount of change in a short period of time (2 days). Is this what everyone would expect of this species, which is also known as the Bolivian Red Rump?

Thanks,
Mark

[Adam Smith]

Unfortunatley the irony here when it comes to TS is that an unseen tarantula is a happy one so the setup in the vivarium you created has made it its home and is happy, the downside to them been happy is rarely seeing them, ive learnt this through many of my ts seeing glimpses of.

[J M Clegg]

I have an adult female, that was in a tank with quite shallow substrate when I got her. She didn't burrow she just sat there, there was a half plant pot in that she didn't touch. I moved her to a bigger tank with quite deep substrate and it's own heating, and she dug into it and made a real mess of things. She made a nice little cave under some cork bark. I left her alone and she moved it round again, filling in a burrow she had previously excavated. She is currently sat half in and half out of the semi burrow.
In the wild Tarantulas head into burrows as the temp and humidity are always more constant. Cooler on a hotter day and warmer on a cooler day. I noticed that mine altered it's burrowing activity based on the weather outside. When it was red hot in July she burrowed, when it cooled in September she came out. I suspect that this species is more sensitive to temperature variants and likes to regulate itself by burrowing. It's a fantastic spider though! I would be interested to hear other thoughts and opinions.