Our T's and the Infrared Cam

[Riana Sinclair]

Hi there!!

We have two juveniles, one Chaco and one Rosi.

We have put in infrared cams in their cages, which is streaming to a website for friends and family.

We have noticed that at first, the cams were ignored, and the two went on as usual, but now.. more often than not, they sit with their bums right on the camera's, MOSTLY during the day!

THey both have become a bit more scittish than usual, and I am starting to think it is the camera.

Althought the cams are well diguised and not a 'intrusion'... I am still thinking that maybe the infrared light is not a good thing for them.

No matter where we move it.. the find it, and park off.

Anyone have thoughts on this?
Thanks
R

[James Box]

i had heard rumours that they are annoyed by infra red light, but never heard a specific instance like this! this would confirm what i heard, to a point, though this kind of thing is hard to prove...
i think it's assumed they can't see that colour, or something, but maybe they can feel the concentration? or maybe it's a bit warmer somehow and causing them to have a bit more energy and stress then usual?

[Phil Rea]

If the camera has an IR emitter or an illuminator, then they may well be able to see it. Possibly they could also be feeling heat from it.

There was a study done on A. chalcodes, which appears to show very low sensitivity towards the IR wavelengths, but there is nevertheless some response from the ocelli.

• Dahl, R. D. and A. M. Granda (1989) Spectral sensitivities of photoreceptors in the ocelli of the tarantula, Aphonopelma chalcodes (Araneae, Theraphosidae). J . Arachnol., 17:195-205.

[Riana Sinclair]

Hi,

The cam has 12 IR leds, but the thing is.. they come out in the day time. There are places they can go where the IR cannot 'get' them. They seem to favour the IR, and have not webbed up the cams.

Also, 2 of the three tanks has cams in it, and those two are 2degrees warmer.. which I can accept it makes them less lathargic and more scittish.. yet. due to this, we've removed the warming mats, and the temp stays even at about 25degrees.. as it was from the start.

They certainly are not more agressive, but they are more likely to react to me now going in to clean up etc.

Also, the Chaco molted UNDERGROUND! That did my head in completely! I had to 'turn' the soil and thus carefully 'dug it up'. Thought I killed it at first when the 'leg' came off... but then realised it was the shell!

I am documenting the behaviour, and will compare it to the one that does not have the cam inside. Currently, both the ones with cams behave very similar.. whilst the one without, molted like normal and can't be bothered with anyone of us! *chuckles*

R.

[matthew spooner]

hi riana, sounds like a cool experiment, i love doing this sort of thing with the Ts, it makes it more worth while having them. i think more people should research them like this as it increases everyones knowledge and understanding.

[Rich.Harrington]

I had a similar setup to this a while back with A.chacoana, with the exception of it recording to a drive instead of streaming.

It's suprising you mentioning how yours crowd the light, the cam i used only had 3 or 4 led's on it and the spider never seemed to notice it at night at all.

Heres a couple of video links of the stuff I managed to capture.

Daytime. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLxGvNyeUoQ&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Spidercam#1 A.chacoana 23.04.08.day[/ame]

Nighttime. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGkBfS1Rrk&feature=channel_page"]YouTube - Spidercam#1 A.chacoana 22.04.08.night.pt1[/ame]

[Riana Sinclair]

*smiles*Rich,

They tend to ignore it at night indeed! They hover around it in the day-time! That is what is so odd to me!

They used to only come out at night before.. but now they sit and sleep right in front of it!

R.

[Rich.Harrington]

I teneded to switch of the IR during the daytime and just allow natural light to do the work, so that may have been a factor in mine behaving differently.