Need help with B. smithi

[jason holland]

well some good news. not getting much condensation. only in the corners. so people can see in. so thats good. the temp inthe middle of the tank (on the substrate) is aobut 25/26 C. so thats good. and best of all, my t has finally entered its cave. so the substrate must not be too damp now. next thing i gotta do is feed it, so ill try again today

[Colin D Wilson]

Excellent Jason, glad it's all working out well.

You'll have to get some feeding shots and put them up in the pics section for us all to see.

Colin

[jason holland]

i will do.... if its eats anything... had it since tuesday and it still hasnt eaten anything. im leaving the cricket in there now. and ill check the tank later. see if anythings happened. but if i can manage to get some, i will def take some pics of it eating

[matthew spooner]

beautiful b.smithi you have there.
i have a 3 year old female b.smithi and i have found her to be a bit funny with her set-up. i have got mine as a vermiculite substrate with a water dish and bark hideaway with the heat mat on the back of the tank, once a week i give 2 sprays of water in the tank and i have found that the temperature sits nicely at 25.5c and the humidity at 76%.

[jason holland]

cool. been checking my temp today. and funily enough thats the same temp as mine. ill do the same thing with the 2 sprays of water. ill wait till next week tho as ive only recently done its tank.

and more good news. my b. smithi caught her / his first cricket today. i havnt taken any pics as i dont want to disturb it to much. ill wait till its a bit calmer and used to me being here, but its currently munching away in its cave.
didnt really see her/him catch it... just saw abut a third of it leap towards where i knew the cricket was. but just seeing that glimpse of it jumping was still darn cool. so looks like its settling in nicely. cheers all. and cheers for the info on the spraying of water. ill do that as well. but yeah cheers all

[matthew spooner]

if you have any moe trouble with condensation, i find plstic tanks are better, they dont seem to condensate at all

[jason holland]

well i havnt really got any... well not much any more. only in one corner. and the tarantula isnt in that cornery part of the tank. so im not too fussed with the little that is there now. plus i wouldnt really like to go buy a plastic one as ive just bought a glass tank. but cheers for the info all the same

[jason holland]

well i can no longer see my smithi... last night it covered up the bigest entrance to its home lol. so you have to go round the back of the tank which is next to a wall. i knew i shold have rearanged its home b4 it settled in lol. any suggestions on things like this. (situating homes i mean) maybe pics of other peoples tanks and how they sort out there tarantulas homes etc.

[jason holland]

ok apon further inspection (i lifted up part of the roof to check on "spidey") and it has also filled up the other end of the cave / tunnel i have made for it. (meaning its enclosed inside the tunnel) so could this mean its the beginning of molting stages. eg hiding away to get ready to molt. as my t has never molted before, and i have never had a t before, i dont really know the different things they tend to do before a molt.
the bald patch on his opisthosoma seems to have darkened a tad (but this might just be me thinking this due to molting etc. (you know wot i mean. like when u only feel pain when you see the cut on your self kinda thing)

so any ideas on this, seeing as almost all of you must have had a t which has moulted at some point lol

cheers all

[Elaine Ross]

Hi Jason
Yip I've had 3 moults today

Best thing to do if you think she may be in premoult is to leave her completely alone. Stress can do damage. She may stay in there for some time (weeks) so just make sure she has fresh water and offer food. If the food isnt eaten within a few hours remove it as crickets can damage a moulting spider. They tend to not eat when they are in premoult and will barracade in for peace and safety. They get pretty lazy too so not moving around much.
Dont panic if you see her on her back, she is ok, just getting ready to moult. I would say, try not to worry but I have a fair few here and still worry

Elaine x

[jason holland]

cool cheers. i do understand what they do when they molt. eg the upside down thing. (although apparently some do molt right way up) but i dont really know what they do before hand other than not eat. luckily i can ease the roof off a tad to peep inside to check on her/him. and that shouldnt bother it too much. but thanks for that info. also how would i offer food if its barricaded itself in? surely it wouldnt know food is outise its tunnel if it cant see or feel it due to the substrate in the way?. ill mkae sure she / he's watered anyway. thanks for the info. (pretty good timing with 3 moults in 1 day lol)

[Elaine Ross]

Dont worry, she will know the food is there. If she is hungry she will get it and if not then just remove it after a couple of hours.
There are a lot of tarantula's that live in burrows and they still get their food fine.

I have another 14 in premoult so there might be a few more moult by morning. I love to see the shiny new colours and larger size after a moult. It never gets boring.

Elaine x

[jason holland]

yeah i cant wait till mine moults. other than watching them feed, got to be one of the coolest things about having them as pets

[jason holland]

ok, well checked up on spidey (its its nickname for the mo lol) and still exactly the same. both ends blocked up, and still inside. anyway i had a look around the tank and found a dead cricket. so im hoping that this means as it not eating and has locked itself away, it is in the beginning of pre-moult... hopefully. just have to wait it out i suppose.

[matthew spooner]

my smithi has done almost the same thing and has completely dulled in colour within the last few weeks. i know this isnt due to a moult approaching as she only had one a couple of months ago. i dont know if the smithi is one of them but i know some species like the g. rosea do shut down and hibernate this time of year due to their natural body clocks helping them adapt to weather changes they would expect in their natural habitat