climbing spider

[vincent winyard]

hi there another problem.i have a very young smithi who,s climbed to the top of the tank, she,s been in the same spot all day and yesterday. should i bring her back down or just leave her alone.she did this the other day but i got her back down. i,ve got a mixture of three quaters soil one quater vermiclite mixed she was ok as she has been burrowing and covered the front of her hide. the heat,s sitting around the seventy mark so i cant think of any reason why she,s spending so much time at the top. can anyone tell me whats the best thing to do.

[Michael Peachey]

Hello mate. Mine did very much the same thing, the soil could possibly be slightly damp in which case he/she will find shelter behind the dark upper corner of the tank until its happy with the texture of the soil.

Failing that, there might simply be a lack of the soil. I found when i added a few more inches to the tank, my smithi settled down instantly. My tank has roughly 3 intches, which is plenty of soil for a sling to use.

Also, if your using a head-mat to maintain the temperature be sure to use it on the side of the tank, it may be keeping elevated due to the temperature of the soil.

If you've recently re-homed it, it will take time for the little fella to adjust and sometimes they do tend to check the surrounding on the enclorsure because if they can escape they generally will go for it.

I presume you've given it a hidey hole correct? Sometimes if the hide is significantly bigger then the spider they will tend to ignore it, mine certainly did. So you could try re-arranging the hide to a position where the spider might find it more favorable, or if you've got a large peice of cork-bark; cut it down to a smaller size.

Anyhow, i hope some of that helps. Do you have any info on what your keeping him/her in? Or indeed any picture
Mike

[vincent winyard]

thanks Mike
i dont know how to put a piccy on here but she has a hide about 2inches of soil on the bottom the tank is 12 by 12

[vincent winyard]

hi mike i just try,de again with a photo of my smithi,s tank but i just dont know how to send it to you sorry. i am very greatfull for your help it,s good to be able to get help and advice from this website. if i can work out how to send you a photo i will thank,s again mike for your help and advice.

[Craig Mackay]

Hi Vincent, I wouldn't worry. As Michael mentioned above she's just been rehomed and'll take a few days or a week or so to settle in. They tend to climb when the hunidity is too high. If this is the case then let the substrate dry out a little and you should find she'll be quite content.

[Michael Peachey]

Okey. I'm sure if it's just a small sling that size is ideal for him/her. 2 intches of soil is probably okey as well.

My guess is if it's recently been re-homed, the soil is still fairly new it's probably not used to it yet, it will take time before it becomes totally dry.

Give it a little bit longer, see what happens

If you'd like to upload a picture a good site on which to do this is the following link: http://tinypic.com/

Browse your drive, select your photo and click upload. It will host the image on the site, then simple copy and paste the forum hyperlink

Mike

[matthew spooner]

b.smithi like a dry substrate. there is a possibility that the substrate is too damp and needs to dry out. usually if a T stays on the side of the tank it means there is something about the set up it is not happy with, also is there any heat source on the back of the tank like a heat mat, if so it could just be snuggling up to the warm

[vincent winyard]

hi craig thank,s for your advice. i did lightly spray the corner of the tank tonight to humidify it i,ll leave it to dry and hopefully she,ll come down soon. thank,s again craig.

[vincent winyard]

hi matthew like i said to craig i did spray the corner a little tonight to help humidify the tank alittle. i,ll leave it to dry and see what happens. i havent had my spiders long so i still have much to learn about them.thank,s for your help matthew.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Vincent, I don't know if it's any help, but we have 3 Smithi and our's always tend to climb to the very top of the tank if it's less than 22-23c, so might be worth trying a little extra heat as well.

[vincent winyard]

Thats what my wife said as heat rises think I'll put a bigger heat mat on the side of the tank
thanks for your advice

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Vincent, that's good advice, you should listen to what you wife says more often, that's what I keep telling my hubby!! by the way ours are on dry substrate and at this moment the temp is 23.5c and all three Smithi are sitting on the substrate.

[vincent winyard]

thanks I will get this right one day (with your help)

[Peter Lacey]

Perhaps as has been mentioned there something that your B. smithi isn't comfortable with but I think its just displaying the same thing many of us witness.

Tarantula live in burrows, their burrows are often vertical and they often sit at the top of them waiting for passing food.
Our enclosures try to immitate the tarantula's natural habitat and if we get it right they perceive the enclosure to be their burrow.
So, its my opinion that when our tarantula climb up our enclosures they're only doing what they'd normall do in the wild.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Vincent, was reading your other thread, hope your Smithi is starting to settle down now.