Ice Cube!!!

[Colin D Wilson]

Right, lets have a go and try and sum this one up.

My opinion...........
Tubs fine mate. (plenty air holes, nice size for now)
ditch the vermiculite (imagin walking around on marshmallows all day, spiders live on dirt......2-3 cm of compost, peat, top soil (whatever) as long as its been nuked and steralised)
The setups ok with the hide, use a plastic bottle top off a four pinta (dead simple.... IF you want to put water in there)

Thats it......you're sorted

Peter's right about evolution...can't argue there !!

[Richard Shah]

I'm a little bit confused by some comments here, so I'm guessing Richard will be too.

I understand B. smithi comes from Mexico (not known for it's high rain fall!) and a lot of the comments regarding the very conditions in which they are kept. My little smithi has a small to medium sized container and one half is semi moist and one half is dry. Yet Smiffy prefers to stay in the moist area. Or on the leaves of the plastic plant; I'm sure its half arboreal! I know (s)he ventures onto the dry area as there is evidence of numerous strands of webbing all over. It will always return to the moist area if its disturbed. It given up digging and will hide under the plant rather than in the hide I have provided.

Kl! Taking this from wiki/p: The natural scrub-forest habitat is complex, where shading retains moderate humidity (around 55-65%). Many older books are in error to say they are from desert/arid habitats.

When I was setting up the small home for Ice Cube, I drizzled water on the substrate, not a lot though; I also gave it a lil dish (check the picz ^^).

Right, lets have a go and try and sum this one up.

My opinion...........
Tubs fine mate. (plenty air holes, nice size for now)
ditch the vermiculite (imagin walking around on marshmallows all day, spiders live on dirt......2-3 cm of compost, peat, top soil (whatever) as long as its been nuked and steralised)
The setups ok with the hide, use a plastic bottle top off a four pinta (dead simple.... IF you want to put water in there)

Thats it......you're sorted

Peter's right about evolution...can't argue there !!

Air holes - great.
Vermiculite, I heard this was fine for specifically young T's, by itself - I see your point, but this T. seems fine on it and I really dnt wanna pee it off by having to remove it yet again. It has had a pretty tedious week (at least, from a T's POV, that is what I'd imagine) and I dnt wanna freak it out anymore!
The water dish seems fine; I would've thought a plastic bottle cap is too deep for the little T.!

And a pic of the T, however this camcorder is only absolutely brilliant recording HD but not good for the stills, it is way too sensitive to movement (which is good for filming!)

[Clinton Hogben]

In Richard's case we're talking about his first T and I think there's a joy in trying to provide something that looks good visually whilst being careful not to miss a requirement.
I've actually seen my L. klugi and G. rosea drink and I've seen those and some others sitting over the bowl for small amounts of time. I've also seen each of them cover their bowls to the point I've given up providing water for my 2 boehmei.

Same here Peter
My L para often sits herself over the water bowl and drinks from it and on a couple of occasions she has used it as a toilet
I think its just to make work for us owners!! clean me fill me clean me fill me again
Knowing that she does drink from it I would never leave it empty even though i know she could probably do without it if she had to why take the chance and its not a major problem filling the bowl
(unless you have a couple of hundred spiders to look after)

[Nicola Dolby]

I get the same with my Brachys, they sit over the water bowl as well and eat over it as well. Quite clever really, what they drop they pick up when they have a drink! Never seen one use their water bowl as a toilet though!

[Peter Lacey]

tee-hee pooing in the water bowl, my C. fasciatum did that, check out the stone in the water:

http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=25023&postcount=41

[Richard Shah]

tee-hee pooing in the water bowl, my C. fasciatum did that, check out the stone in the water:
http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showp...3&postcount=41

Lmao !