Tarantula Madness

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Well, I had an adventure in "Tarantula Madness" this weekend! I had to transfer my Cobalt Blue Tarantula to a new enclosure.

Essentially, this species is an "Obligate Burrower". It does poorly if it is not allowed to dig a home and live under the ground 99% of the time. Its old enclosure was a plastic critter keeper that did not allow for a stable burrow, and truthfully, was a little small for this spider. Not to mention, the lid always made me nervous. The new one is a 5 gallon glass tank with an interlocking lid and the substrate is 1 part shredded coconut to 2 parts topsoil, excellent for stable burrows.

That was problem #1. Problem #2 was actually moving the spider!

The thing about the Cobalt Blue Tarantula (as I may have mentioned previously), is that it is an Old World Species (specifically, from Southeast Asia). Those species are almost without exception, mean, aggressive, and willing to bite the first chance they get. The Cobalt is known in particular for being very high strung and for having a particularly painful bite, and mine fits that stereotype. Where all my other tarantulas "creep" about, this one power walks everywhere, and is easily frightened, always on guard.

For our first attempt to move it, my girlfriend and I sealed off the bathroom, the sinks, and the vents, so that if it escaped, it would be trapped. attempts to get it into a cup failed, and instead, the spider climbed up the side of the old cage and sat just about where the lid comes off, waiting for a chance to leap for it.

For the second attempt, I had planned to use a small net, but instead, I just literally dumped it into the cage. It resisted, but the avalanch of its old bedding finally knocked it down into the new cage (the old stuff was still clean, and besides, the spider would dig it all away anyway). The sheer determination to resist any attempt to influence the spider was staggering.

In any event, it took a few nights, but now the spider has dug its new (stable) burrow in its old home that i buried against the glass prior to putting the spider in. Hopefully, the spider won't silk it up to much and it will remain visible for some time. It definitely has more room to hunt, and there are no places for the crickets to hide.

Overview. The burrow entrance is at the very back end of the cage.





Close up. Some of her "blueness" has turned brown as she has aged, but she will likely return to a vibrant color after the next shed. You can see some vague "tiger stripes".