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
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
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