A coward's guide to pokie maintenance

[Kate Arbon]

Decided my juvenile male P. regalis was really in need of some house-cleaning. Decided to take lots of pics of the process. Decided to make a thread about it. And here we are!

The title is because I am what you may call overly cautious when it comes to this fella. He is my first pokie, my first arboreal and my first Asian T. I raised him from a sling and I love him, but he is very much my learning wheels when it comes to fast arboreals. I do not want to handle him and to be honest I'd rather not have to use the 'cup and lid' method of moving him because I am paranoid about him running over the cup and up my arm (been watching too many escape videos on youtube). It's not so much that I'm scared of getting bit, but more that a pokie on the loose is a pokie I have to catch, and he is fast and agile and moves in 3D space while I am slow and clumsy and mostly 2D.

But I recently discovered the 'tube' method on a different forum. For those not in the know you get a toilet role tube or something similar, plug up one end with tissue and put it in the T's tank open-end-up. Remove the T's hide and then herd the spider into the tube using something like a paintbrush. Plug up the other end, and you have a nicely contained T who hopefully isn't too mad at you. I decided to try it out so I could clean his tank and also practice pokie handling for Friday, when I will be receiving a 5" female P. regalis - hopefully this guy's future wife

Anyway enough rambling on with pics.

'Before' pic of the tank. It hasn't been cleaned since he went in there and is pretty gross.


Took the opportunity to get some photos of my boy as it doesn't happen often.




Got him into the tube


Safe and sound! Not taking any chances, haha


Newly cleaned tank. I know, it's an exciting setup


Put pokie tube inside tank, remove one tissue plug, slowly push 2nd tissue plug up the tube to coerce pokie out!




Couple more not-very-good photos





Aaaand I'm done. Hopefully that wasn't too boring. And hopefully if there's anyone who's put off keeping pokies etc because they think they're scary this might help convince you that you can be a wuss and still deal with them

[Craig Toon]

Kate,

like you I don't handle my Pokies, but what works for me is put the old viv or dirty viv side by side to the new viv in the bath, and then I just usher him or her up the side with a paint brush or a chop stick. Some times they go in the wrong direction but most of the time it works as the pokie gets to the lip of the viv and starts to feel around for another surface, However I always have a catch tub just in case.

I did have one instance with my P. Met 5", where she bolted over my hand and up the side of the bath before I could blink, at that moment I thought I was going to have a heart attack but its all part of the experience

The tube is good for small Pokies but I think it would be a bit of a nightmare when they are fully grown as most of the time they just go straight into the defensive pose as they feel they are trapped

[Peter Lacey]

Ive always recommended the above for posting tarantula, with additional padding though.

I suggest getting a proper cork bark tube, bamboo tube or even some guttering for the hide. When it comes to cleaning or rehousing, just disturb the enclosure enough to see the pokie retreat into the hide and lift the whole tube out. simples!

[Kate Arbon]

I actually ordered some cork bark tubes the other day and just got the e-mail to say they had been dispatched, so when they arrive I'll be swapping his hide out for one. The one he has now is actually a hide/toy that was used by pet mice when I had them. It was fine for him when he was a smaller but at his current size he struggles to find a fully enclosed spot to hide.


In other news I got my 5" female P. regalis today. She is absolutely stonking gorgeous and I am in love already. She reacted very differently during unpacking to how the male did when I cleaned out his tank. He was very skittish and trying to run all over the place. This girl very much stood her ground, took a bite at the ruler I used to gently nudge her out of the tub she came in, and stayed in the threat pose through the whole process. I actually think I prefer that though, because she stayed in one spot and it's the running around that makes me jump, lol.

Anyway here are some pics








So that's three pokies I have now and I think I'd like more. Maybe a rufilata next. But it will have to wait as I've spent way too much on spiders this month.

[John chambers]

Re: A coward's guide to pokie maintenance

Ive always recommended the above for posting tarantula, with additional padding though.

I suggest getting a proper cork bark tube, bamboo tube or even some guttering for the hide. When it comes to cleaning or rehousing, just disturb the enclosure enough to see the pokie retreat into the hide and lift the whole tube out. simples!

sound advice mate..
I use 30x45 exo so loads of room for cleaning..

[Lee Furness]

This girl very much stood her ground, took a bite at the ruler I used to gently nudge her out of the tub she came in

Nice looking girl you got there, but I would opt for something like a length of thin cane in future for "encouraging" them to move, a ruler just makes for a nice ladder to run up