Watering

[James Box]

Thought i'd try to get some help and discussion about how everyone keeps their animals hydrated.
i'm wanting to know about:

1 desert/scrubland species
2 humid area species
3 arboreal
4 burrowing (especially those that seal themselves in and don't seem to care that you've put a water dish out for them!)
5 lazy terrestrials who don't bother hiding

it would be really helpful if people told me their methods of watering slings, juvies, and adults of any species they can think of.
do you rely on prey items to provide water? do you mist? use cricket water?
do slings have tiny water bowls provided? is water poured on substrate when it's dry for certain types?

if anyone even has info for other inverts, that would be great.
obviously a well-supplied water dish is great for adults, but do you water the soil for those that love a bit of moisture? how wet is too wet? how long is a piece of string? am i asking too many questions? are there warning signs of dehydration other than a shrunken abdomen?

anyways, any and all views/opinions/pieces of advice would be appreciated.

[Colin D Wilson]

my watering techniques (there are, of course, exeptions to these occasionally)

desert /scrub - water bowl, topped up when dry
humid area - waterbowl topped up regularly and overflowed into the substrate
arboreal - small water bowl, plastic plants finely misted occasionally with tepid water.
burrowing - water bowl topped up regularly and overflowed
terrestrials water bowl, topped up regularly
slings - very fine mist on side of tub with tepid water.
scorpion colonies (imperator / spinnifer) - medium misting every couple or three days, and topped up water bowl
scorpion singles (desert species) small water bowl topped up and allowed to overflow a little (i try to place the water bowl on the sub above the burrow so it soaks down into the sand / sub mix simulating the natural habitat)

Dehydrated spiders i've seen in the past have also had a crouched appearence accompanying the sunken look to the abdomen.

[James Box]

thanks, much appreciated, Colin! turns out i'm doing things fairly similarly, which is a good sign, i think.
i tend to mist and water when they dry out, which seems to happen alot in this dry winter, near the heatmats as they are.

[Colin D Wilson]

I don't use heat mats, i use bulbs for lighting and heat throughout the day in my display tanks and all the others are in a little room that is kept a constant ambient temp (10 ish degrees difference between the top and bottom shelf so you can differentiate between species temps).
this is my own opinion and a lot of people will disagree i know but, the earth is heated from the top by that big orange thing, and this provides a surface ambient temperature. (yes i know there's under ground geysers and larva flows for the clever one's just about to click the reply button).
I have had several, cheap and damn expensive, heat mats go wrong and have lost some spiders and reptiles through it, so i only have them in a kenyan boa enclosure now (they have more than ample room (10 square foot of sand approx)to get away from a rogue over heating mat if an error occurs)
an example of the problems i have encountered is......
heating a desert burrowing scorpion species from the bottom - naturally the burrow should get progressively more cool and humid as it goes down, NOT hotter and dryer.

I mist occasioanally for spiders, this is mainly arboereal and probably once a fortnight if that, the water bowl is topped up and overflowed to gain humidity. the spiders get their moisture mainly from their food stuff (although, yes, they do like a drink). the arboreals get a humid and dry season throughout the year, the humid season comes from extensive overflowing of the water bowl (dependant on species...ie not too humid at all with P fasciata)

opinions vary, but this has successfully been "my way" for many years

[James Box]

i can understand that view on heat mats and all the reasons you've stated!
i had mine underneath, but now they're to the back vertical against the wall and not directly against the tanks. it creates a warm area that, if not from above, at least doesn't heat from below so much. i don't at present have the room or space to use lots of bulbs, and the ambient temperature in the house is a bit unreliable at the moment, so i'm making do.
of course it would be great to simulate day and night cycles with lights on dimmers and timers...maybe one day i can do that!
at present, things are going fairly well (touch wood). i cycle the animals around in position as i check them (except the big tanks, and even they get a turn from time to time). that way the heating isn't always the same for every tank.
i try to keep water bowls topped up, and the slings get a tiny bit of spray down the sides of their tubes every few days, as it dries fast. maybe that's too much, though.

[Ray Gabriel]

This is a good subject for a BTS article hint hint

Ray

[Colin D Wilson]

There you go James, one for you to write up.

[Toran Tanner]

Ray I have been working on one but it is going to be a bit diff than anyone is use too.

Jame's they way I have keep my spides and scorps if you remember talking about it a little bit on the way to newark. I will explain a little bit.
For most o my T's I try not to give them water (WHHHHAT EVERYONE SAY'S) yes I don't give my T's water dishes nor my scorps. But this is only when I have been able to provide them great large home's. When I had the space back in vegas, at the moment I have a few with water dish's due to lack of space. When I started keeping scorps I just never gave them water I alway understood they got water from their food and in the wild there is not always water. But they have evolved that way.

and that thinking has just followed me into my spides as well. So far has worked great and had no problems. of course with my more humid specie's I mist them once to twice a week light mist I will say just enough to wet the spider and the side's of the encloser.

I would not suggest anyone just do away with water, but understand they don't have things handed to them in the wild. So to be fair they have it easy in captivity.

hopefully I can get my write up done soon for everyone to read but as some of you know my grammer and writing sucks. so might take awhile

[James Box]

Ray...yes, an article would be great on this subject, as well as one on heating!
lol Colin...i'd love to have the knowledge, experience, and note-keeping skills necessary for article writing...but at present i don't, so it'll be a while for me i think!

Toran, i'll be very interested in reading that! i know you have some very compelling theories on the possible negative effects of over-watering as well.
nevermind the grammar and spelling issues...write what you can and then get someone else to proof-read. might be easier and allow you to get your thoughts down without having to concentrate much on the proprieties.

i just thought of something else...someone i was speaking to at Newark (i forget who) was telling me and someone else their experiences with giving spiders a small pool to swim in! apparently some of their spiders just dived in on occasion and seemed to "enjoy" it. maybe they cooled down or absorbed some needed moisture? the conversation may have begun by speaking about the diving and fishing habits of H gigas observed by some.
of course, giving spiders a pool requires alot of space, so this would be something not everyone could do...but it's an interesting idea.
i know if and when i start to care for H gigas, i'll want to give them the whole fishing experience!

[Toran Tanner]

Ray...yes, an article would be great on this subject, as well as one on heating!
lol Colin...i'd love to have the knowledge, experience, and note-keeping skills necessary for article writing...but at present i don't, so it'll be a while for me i think!

Toran, i'll be very interested in reading that! i know you have some very compelling theories on the possible negative effects of over-watering as well.
nevermind the grammar and spelling issues...write what you can and then get someone else to proof-read. might be easier and allow you to get your thoughts down without having to concentrate much on the proprieties.

i just thought of something else...someone i was speaking to at Newark (i forget who) was telling me and someone else their experiences with giving spiders a small pool to swim in! apparently some of their spiders just dived in on occasion and seemed to "enjoy" it. maybe they cooled down or absorbed some needed moisture? the conversation may have begun by speaking about the diving and fishing habits of H gigas observed by some.
of course, giving spiders a pool requires alot of space, so this would be something not everyone could do...but it's an interesting idea.
i know if and when i start to care for H gigas, i'll want to give them the whole fishing experience!

I think that may have been me mate member I was talking about how I gave my T.blondi and very large dog bowl to swim in

[Mark Lynes]

I'm with Toran on this one, I don't give any of my spiders water in the conventional sense. You do have to be careful though.

Mark

[James Box]

oh yeh, that sounds right!
well we can add that to the question of watering...allowing inverts the opportunity to swim!
i have a few t's that may enjoy that...if i can find the space for bigger tanks.

[Ray Gabriel]

[QUOTE=James Box;20458]Ray...yes, an article would be great on this subject, as well as one on heating!
lol Colin...i'd love to have the knowledge, experience, and note-keeping skills necessary for article writing...but at present i don't, so it'll be a while for me i think! QUOTE]

They are/can be related..................

I never had the experaince for article writing till i wrote my first one..........you never really know you can until you do.

Ray

[Peter Lacey]

I thought the idea of providing water was not so much to provide somewhere for the occupant to drink (or swim the 100 metres ) but to maintain humidity.
I haven't as yet seen my G. Rosea show much interest in her water bowl as far as drinking is concerned, to be honest she keeps burying it. But I have seen my Klugi drink from it a number of times as well as web it.
I've never misted either of their enclosures as I've read spiders interpret that as a threat. The only experience of my Klugi acting alarmed was when I accidentally spilled a couple of drops of water onto the substrate whilst changing her bowl - she seemed to want to attack and I rather quickly withdrew!
I presume, and I'll have to follow this up, that spiders feel the atmospheric pressure in the wild which warns them of impending rain.

[James Box]

I never had the experaince for article writing till i wrote my first one..........you never really know you can until you do.

well, we'll see Ray lol! anyway think Toran's already got a head start on this subject.

some of my animals bury their waterbowls routinely. silly things! but some of them actually sit in their waterbowl for ages. had the rosea, the albopilosum and the chalcodes doing that. my imperators also love to sit on their waterdish!