Cobalt Blue Question

[Andrew Murdoch]

Thanks for your replies to my last couple of posts.

I got myself a Cobalt Blue on the 11th Oct, it appears to have settled in well and went straight into her burrow that was made for it. Then it covered the burrow enterance with webbing and went into molt. I dont know the date that it molted but I was able to retreive the molted skin. She covered the enterence with more webbing and I have not really seen her since then.
Is it normal for her to be hid away for so long without eating?
Should I break through the webbing to encourage her to come out?
Should I put some crickets in the tank and the movement of prey will get her into action?

The temp of the tank is about 75 farrenheight and I have been able to maintain high humidity.
I look forward to reading your experiences.

Thanks, Andrew.

[matthew spooner]

have you tried watching at night, she may be coming out then

[michaelmckinney]

Hey Andrew,

I was having the same dilemma mate, only mine hasn't molted yet and she is not eating even though she looks a bit thin for my liking. So I broke the webbing and changed the tank and she has started eating again. You will probably find that yours is coming out at the dead of night then shutting the door so to speak when she returns to her burrow. I would toss a cricket in and just monitor its whereabouts, if it is still there after a day or 2 just take it out and try a week later or so.

[wesley flower]

i would leave her matey, she could stay in the borrow for a number of weeks post moult. i would just wait, she will be fine.

[Lisa Baines]

With our Matthews big female lividum, she comes out when its pretty dark.

On an evening we only have the light off the tv and pc monitor lighting the room. Mainly because most of our collection is in here lol. But it means that the Tarantula's and the scorpions come out so we can see them on an evening.

back to the lividum, she 'locks the door' every night, so it looks like she has never been out, but because we have dim lighting we can see her late on at night.

Just stay up late one night and have a torch to hand. its bound to show itself, even if it's the first couple of pairs of legs

[Nicola Dolby]

I wouldn't be too worried about your spider Andrew. If she is an adult (I presume) then she will cover her burrow with web every morning to protect herself while resting in the daytime from critters which may come down the hole and hurt her. It is a natural instinct to protect themselves in the wild from (again I presume) snakes and things like that. When moulting the burrow will be completely burried with substrate and web, in fact if you have moss in there then the chances are you might have fun trying to remember where the entrance was, they are masters of camouflage!!! In fact from my (limited) experience it is a good sign that your spider is going to moult if the burrow is open during the day, so she can encourage more food in there (or that she is hungry). H. lividium are elusive and very nocturnal, as Lisa says, but if the crickets keep dissapearing then ok. Temp should be 27-30 degrees and humidity around 80% (high like with minax). All the best!!!

[Alexander Ramsey]

lividum behaviour

Hi, I thought I'd post on this thread as my lividum has been up to some spectacular behaviour of late.
It's only a juvenile and in hindsight, the tank I have it in probably was and is way too big, however I put a good hide in there (green jar in pic) where it quite happily lived for some time. It only ever came out at the artificial night time I had set up and was quite happy roaming round the extent of the tank and eating well.
A couple of months ago, it sealed itself into the jar and stayed there for about a fortnight. After a molt it reappeared and in a couple of days dug a new hole at the side of the jar and quite deep under it. A fairly impressive task in the time scale and given the amount of silk etc.
I read a thread about putting real plants in terrariums which hadn't really bothered me before but I read leaves and moss etc make good materials for burrowing Ts to use. I took a leaf from my rubber plant and ripped it to strips which I then put in the tank (where the one at the bottom of the pic is). The next time I looked in on it, the hole looked as it does now in the pic and that little gap is where my lividum sits only briefly dashing in or out depending on what disturbs it.

The other pics are my minax (under the claw) which did something similar only for a week before its molt.

Also "Helios" my new sun tiger (Psalmopoeus irminia) in temporary accommodation while I build its "arboreal tank".

[James Box]

your setups are quite cool, Alexander

[Alexander Ramsey]

James Box

Cheers James, when you get a few Ts like me ( you could try some cool set ups! LOL only kidding mate, I've seen your list!! very impressive!!
I would imagine with that many, you either have a very organised set up of various sized boxes or a dirty great tarantula room (or several) thats floor to ceiling with terariums?

[michaelmckinney]

Psalmopoeus irminia one of my fav tarantulas Alexander, I got a cracking poster of one from the spider shop. My 2 irminia's are looking rather shabby at present due to impending molts soon.........hopefully its like watching paint dry waiting LOL.

[Craig Mackay]

hopefully its like watching paint dry waiting LOL.

Tell me about it!! I think watching paint wins, lol I'm still waiting on my GBB sling moulting. Its been in pre moult for what seems like ages now and I'm desperate to see if any of its colours are gonna start to come through. Hopefully it'll read this and hurry it along