By request i'm putting this to those in the know !!!

[Lee_Ross]

ok in lisa's thread "Why is my T always in her water dish"

http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=4271

i wrote the following as a possible answer

ok,

now don't 100% quote me on this but i reckon there could be an alternate reason outside of humidity but at the same time related.
(experts feel free to completely dismember this post if i'm wrong)

I remember watching a documentary, i can't quite remember if it was bbc's "Lost Land Of The Jaguar"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/jaguar/

or if it was the documentary dvd i have which is animal planets "Worlds Most Dangerous Animals -TARANTULAS"
(couldn't have got that title further from the truth huh!?)

http://www.lovefilm.com/product/3452...arantulas.html

*HOPEFULLY THATS PROPS ENOUGH FOR QUOTING - NEW HERE BUT TRYING*

anyway, regardless of where i heard it back on topic.
......................

what was said was this "Tarantulas do not drink as a rule but rather they dip their legs into water to replenish the hydraulic properties of their legs"

i did a bit of scouting and if you google "TARANTULA" and "HYDRAULIC"
(do it yourself because i'm not away to sit and write props forever lol)

you find a load of diff sites that say the leg muscles are only used to contract the leg and blood is used to expand, hence when a spider dies the legs curl underneath as the hydraulic pressure drops.
.........

a couple of them mention moisture escaping from the booklungs and humidity playing a massive part in this, but i haven't seen anything online that mentions the "CHARGING" using the legs in the water ?

does anyone know more about this ?

do they top up leg fluid using water ? or is it actually blood they use for the expanding ?

just a theory but i have seen my singapore blue sit with her front legs in the water and then a while later she's back up the back wall
(possibly legs get tired with the climbing, recharging then climbing again ?)

i'm not an expert, but i'd love to hear opinions, the initial question in the thread got me to thinking about this and it could very well be the reason i think ? i noticed no one else had commented on it !

the reply i got was...

I'm certainly no expert but that seems contrary to what I've read in Stanley Schultz's book The Tarantula Keeper's Guide. To suggest that the spider puts its legs into the bowl and absorbs water seems against the excellent water retention properties they have.
I'll let someone with more experience answer this further.

so i added....

Like i said i don't actually know myself i'm just going on what i've heard and self assumption !.

however i don't think water retention comes ijnto it, it's more hydraulic pressure, every now and then *like most other things that run on hydraulics* the pressure will drop in turn the fluid will need to be topped up.

what i'm wondering is if the documentary was right in stating this fact, it would make sense that this is the reason they stand above the dish.

also the fluid loss takes place around the booklungs when humidity is too low seemingly, so this could be another reason.

again i'm only going by what i've heard and read so far. someone here must know a little more about this ??

i was then prompted by Claire Beckett to put this theory in another thread in a hope to gain more educated responses from thoise in the know
*no offence to peter - i'm no expert myself*

I'm interested in your opinions, and claire said she'd like to read em too

bring em on

[Lisa Grose]

I think that my T was certainly lacking moisture. After I really wet one corner of the tank she has moved about and left her dish alone and is her normal self again, and she is now over the opposite side of the tank. Thanks for starting a new thread on this. I also want to know more on this subject. I think you are right. They use liquids to replenish strength in their legs the same way that we eat to restore energy in our muscles. I hope you do well with this.

[Mark Pennell]

As far as I am aware they replenish lost fluids the same as we do, by drinking.
Tarantulas exoskeleton is impermeable to water so it would be impossible to take in water by dipping legs in water.

There are no Gortex system in tarantula legs..

As stated the legs use hydraulic pressure to extend them and the muscles only pull back, hence the death curl.

They will sit near a water dish that's empty just as often as one is full. They are just used to being the place to drink from, and often as not is a bit damper around this area. Thus reducing moister loss if the heat is excessive or the humidity level is low or both.

regards
Mark

[Lee_Ross]

so basically the documentary dvd was talking a load of urine then aye

lol

[Lisa Grose]

Thank you Mark for putting us straight. She is back by the water again with two legs in the water now. I am sure the humidity is good now. It seems to me that the tank she is in now is too big for her. She is not using all of it. I might divide the tank and put another the other side. The tank is big enough for this. I have found she was more active in the 12inch length rather than this 24inch. Weird ! You would think that she like to stretch her long legs a bit. She is still curlled up as though she aint got room. I hope she doesn't mind me learning with her. It is like I wasn't meant to have a spider especially when her heat mat caught on fire and we had to rush the tank out side ablaze. Dont worry we managed to put the fire out before any damage (other than to the mat) and we had a happier T which thought that it was an indian summer. The type of mat was a Exo-terra. Should I make a sticky about this. We returned it to the pet shop who said they were going to phone the manufacturer. I dont seem to have much luck with Dora.

[Mark Pennell]

Thank you Mark for putting us straight. She is back by the water again with two legs in the water now. I am sure the humidity is good now. It seems to me that the tank she is in now is too big for her. She is not using all of it. I might divide the tank and put another the other side. The tank is big enough for this. I have found she was more active in the 12inch length rather than this 24inch. Weird ! You would think that she like to stretch her long legs a bit. She is still curlled up as though she aint got room. I hope she doesn't mind me learning with her. It is like I wasn't meant to have a spider especially when her heat mat caught on fire and we had to rush the tank out side ablaze. Dont worry we managed to put the fire out before any damage (other than to the mat) and we had a happier T which thought that it was an indian summer. The type of mat was a Exo-terra. Should I make a sticky about this. We returned it to the pet shop who said they were going to phone the manufacturer. I dont seem to have much luck with Dora.

Lisa
Heat mat will catch fire if place under the tank and without a thermostat, always make sure the mat is place in the back of the tank with a heat reflective material behind it, such as a piece of foil and polystyrene.

As for the size of tanks, tarantulas especially the ones that don't really make and effort to dig a burrow, tend to treat the whole tanks as the inside of their burrow. Thus could be a bit stress when moved to larger quarters. Try placing a nice cork half tunnel for a home.

They will most likely chill out a bit once under this.

Cheers
Mark

[Lee_Ross]

i usually sellotape mines to the inside wall...

but only because i bought my first T from lee over @ the spidershop....

and his advice on setup can be found here ...

http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/insect/settingup.php

*touchwood* i've never had any problems with this technique so maybe worth thinking about .... the only T i have thats not setup like that is my L. parahybana..

she's in a 2' glass tank with the heatmat outside (polystyrene reflector)

[Nicola Dolby]

Could it be a temperature issue?

[James Box]

i've heard solifugids use a type of capillary action to draw water up their pedipalps to their mouths, so they drink by dipping their toes in the water, then sucking it off their legs.
i am just throwing it out there, but is it possible that T's do something similar? they do clean their legs, so moisture collected in hairs on the legs could be drunk in this fashion, i would assume.
not saying i've seen them do this after sticking their legs in water though.

[Peter Lacey]

i usually sellotape mines to the inside wall...

.... the only T i have thats not setup like that is my L. parahybana..

she's in a 2' glass tank with the heatmat outside (polystyrene reflector)

You heat each tank seperately? sounds like a terrible waste
Why don't you put them in a container tank/cupboard and use one big heatmat? Is your room so cold you need these?

One of the reasons I don't put mats inside enclosures is things get behind them. Each to their own I guess.

[Lee_Ross]

i have 3 terrestrials on smaller heatmats individual...

i also have one large exo with 5 t's in and one medium with 8 slings in ...

so only 5 mats !.

...

i've just not got around to building something to house them all offa one mat

my house is bloody warm though ... must be all the heatmats ...
*the dragon tank doesn't help much what with that being 102 farenheit*

lol