Whew! I'm not worried anymore. Down at the bottom of her cave, she was obviously eating, because she grew. Now she's way bigger than the on-inch spiderling I got. I think it was only one inch. Anyway I didn't see her for months at a time, but I could tell she was alive by all the bulldozing she did every night.

One day she remained above ground, and stayed there. She quit using her hide. I didn't worry because when she was hungry she was not at all shy about me prying up the lid and dropping a roach into her fangs.

I think I discovered something about Brazilian White-Knee'd
Tarantulas. They drink a lot more than other species do. Sometimes when she was inhabiting her cave, she would come up and wait. Then I would fill her tiny water bowl, and within a half hour she was squatting over it, drinking. AFIK, she may have drunk water several times per week. That might be due to her semi-tropical heritage. She lives in a tall water glass with a screen top, in the big tank with the Red-Knee'd, kept at a steady 85F, with no humidifying except my wetting some patches of the soil a little bit every so often. OTOH, the Red-Knee'd in the big tank with her has never let me see her drink, even after refilling her little bowl a month after it went dry. Or maybe the roaches are giving her all the fluid she needs.

Roger

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]