Adding deeper substrate

[Stuart Common]

hi folks,

Just wondering what you would do in this situation, I have an adult female C.bechuanicus and want to give her hopefully as nice a place to stay as I can with a view to breeding in the future.

When she arrived a couple of weeks ago I put her into her new home, petpal type thing, and only then did I realise I didnt have as much substrate as I wanted but put in what I had and then bought some more.

Because my new flat doesnt have an oven I have been unable to dry the new batch of substrate straight away and now that it has dried, what does she go and do, but started 2 days ago to create a burrow. It is currently about 4 inches deep (she has built it at the side so can see in)

I had planned to give her alot more digging space to give her more to play with, she has now at 4 inches reached the bottom of the tank and webbed the walls and surrounding ground to make it solid.

So.. the question is, now that she has started making a home, just as the extra substrate is ready.. do I just leave her to it, dont want to stress her out, is she in deep enough as it is, and if she wants to dig more, will she dig along the bottom rather than trying to dig further down? If I put more substrate in the other side of her tank, would that be an option for her to use some of that

Thanks in advance..

Stuart

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi Stuart,
I'd add the substrate on the other side of the petpal to the spider's burrow only. Create a bank or something. If she isn't happy with the one she's got now she'll just dig another in the deeper soil. My Koh Samui has done a similar thing and has 2 burrows, I guess she wanted a "holiday home". Either way by giving your spider the choice you're guaranteeing she'll be where she's happy.

[Peter Roach]

I had the same problem with an adult female marshalli, I just piled extra substrate evenly around the tank upto a depth of about 1 inch every other night and she did the rest.

[Stuart Common]

Thanks Nicola and Peter, will give that a try