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Hello,

I'm a new owner of a Red-Kneed. It has plenty of substrate to burrow in. He burrowed under the water dish and sealed the burrow's opening, and he's been there for weeks. Could it be coming out at night to explore? I want to see it more. Would it be unethical to reduce the peat moss substrate to two inches, and provide a hide, like a broken clay flower pot? It's diameter is about 2 1/2 inches. It hasn't eaten a single thing as far as I can tell, but from my reading, I guess that is no big deal.

Clffdvr

Your red knee wants to burrow, and it feels safe and secure there. Why not let it be happy? It will come out eventually. By digging it out and redoing it's home you will stress it out a little. Didn't you already do this once?

It is likely not coming out every night if the hole is webbed up, but checking it in the middle of the night might be the only way to know for sure. I know it can be very frustrating. My first T was a G. rosea, it sealed itself up in its coconut shell hide for 2 months, then came out for a week, then sealed itself back up again for another 2 months, then it came out and molted. Sometimes my Ts will molt while webbed up in the burrow. Possibly that is what yours is doing, preparing for a molt? I also have a ½" A. chalcodes that has been sealed up in its burrow for 6 months, talk about frustrating!!!

You've discovered the main reason, why I think, people get more than 1 T (at least that's my reason). Ts are fascinating creatures, but day to day, they do little and their habits are kinda boring at a glance. It is many times the subtleties that make them interesting. SO we get multiple Ts so that at any given time one of them is molting, moving, crawling, climbing, mating, laying an eggsac, whatever… just not sitting there or webbed up in a hole. The more you get, the more you actually are able to enjoy them.
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KJ Vezino
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He closed the entrance to his cave with dirt. He chose to excavate under the dinner plate that I keep 1/4 inch of water in. So I let the water evaporate and carefully lifted the plate, and there it was, a pretty large chamber with him huddled at the edge. I carefully put the plate back down, and put water on it.

I found ants crawling along the tank's thermostat probe. That put me in action - I hate ants, they can ruin everything. He wasn't the main attraction, thank goodness, but I can't figure out why the ants want to go up there. I might be purely random, because where I live, when it gets hot and dry, all the wild ants move indoors, invading anything with water or a scrap of food. You can get whole streams of ants on the counter-top just by skipping doing the dishes one night.

If I decide I want a display T, I'm pretty sure I can get a rain-forest type, one that is arboreal. That kind ought to stay out more. But then I'm back to running another rainforest tank habitat - IMO those are tiresome to keep the environment constant in humidity and heat, especially with small tanks.

I've decided I can handle my Red-Knee's secretive habits, and let him stay out of sight if he wants to. At least I know he's there. I'm going to thermostatically heat his tank, at one end, to 85 F, by using a Spyder Robotics thermostat and a ceramic heat emitter, so he won't have to deal with light from a light bulb. The other end of the tank will be at ambient room temperature - in the low 70's throughout the winter.

I figure what I'll do is put one cricket in with him, and see what happens for a day or two. If the cricket disappears, I'll put in another, and so on, until the current cricket remains alive for a few days. Then I'll sip it out and wait another lengthy time before I put in another cricket, unless he comes out and looks like he's hunting, or makes changes to his cave entrance. As far as I can tell, that is all that is left for me to do, now that his habitat is correct. It seems like it takes a long time for these guys to grow, and they are long-lived, compared to lizards. I know myself well enough to predict that I'll not be able to resist to slightly tilt the lid (the dinner plate) to get a look at him every four months or so. He'll just have to put up with that.

If there is anything wrong with my plan, do let me know.

Roger

I'd say there's no reason to heat the tank. If it only gets to the low 70s at night (winter) then your room temp is perfect. I keep my house at a fairly constant 72-74 and that's what all my Ts are kept at too. The only pet in my house that gets heat is my lizard (bearded dragon).

And arboreal setups are not difficult and don't require a lot of effort, you don't need to pay much attention to their temps or humidity either. Misting the cage and seting it up vertically is about all that is required for arboreals.
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KJ Vezino
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I've read a couple of caresheets that say Red-Knee's like 85F. I figure I'll give my Red Knee a heat gradient, so it can choose the temperature it likes the best. Despite your advice, which I greatly respect, I think I'll go ahead and do that. If my T's cavern warms a few degrees and he does not like it, it can burrow into the unheated zones in the tank. He has deep, very slightly damp, non-clumped peat moss as substrate in a ten gallon tank, so excavating won't be such a big job for it, and he'll reach his preferred temperature quickly. I'll probe the substrate to test for underground temperatures; I bet the peat will insulate itself right under the heater, and the underground temperature right under the CHE will be the same as the ambient room temperature. Anyway, if he does not like the heat emitter, he'll move to the other side of the tank. If he does that, I'll remove the Herpstat and it's heater. The 100 watt (low power) CHE will come on at 7 AM and turn off at 7 PM, to mimic a temperate desert habitat. 85F is actually fairly cool; if you put your hand in 85 degree water, it will feel cool to your touch.

I guess I'll get an arboreal T so I have a T to watch and study while the Red-Knee spends so much of it's time underground. If there actually are such T's. From my reading, the tropical T's are very nervous and need very careful care-giving while it is spraying its urticaing hairs at my face LOL. Plus I don't want to unnecessarily spook it. But I read on some Web page that some tropicals do not burrow. Could it be their arboreal habitat that makes them nervous and hyper-vigilant? They may need hyper-vigilance to avoid predation.

Got to mow some hay,

Roger

One thing, if you're using a reptile type heat mat, do not place it under the Ts tank. It should be placed on the back of the tank and to one side.

Ts instinctively burrow to escape heat, so with the heater on the bottom, you have the chance of the T burrowing to it's doom. Yes, Ts have been cooked by under tank heaters.
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KJ Vezino
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Yes I already know that heating pads are dangerous, especially those heavy-duty under-tank ones. Belly heat is dangerous to reptiles, too. Six months ago my chihuahua discovered he could feel warmth by laying on a human heating pad that I had negligently left on the floor switched "on". I thought "How cool is that. He has a warming station". Several days later I noticed three large 1/2-golf-ball sized lumps under the skin on the side of his chest. The vet had to surgically remove them, and the lab said they looked like the result of a slow burn. My T only has a small area of his tank heated from above ground only (by the CHE placed as close to one end of the tank as possible). I figure if he wants it, it's there for him. 85% of the rest of his substrate is room temperature. From everything I've read, and from all the advice from this forum, I should expect my T to choose cool substrate to hang out in. We'l see about that.

I have a built-in prejudice about providing heat. All my life I've had display lizards, and they all needed supplemental heat to stay healthy. I'm just not convinced that my T meeds only room temperature; it gets cold here. So, hoping he can discriminate between warmth and cold, I've heated a small portion of his tank. The screen top will let in room temperature, keeping the heated portion to about 10 - 15% of the floor area. The tank is 15 gallons, which I already know is considered too large for a tarantula. I figure that in nature, they can handle roomy spaces, so they ought to be able to handle a 2 square foot floor area in captivity. So far, it's working.

Roger

Roger

There is really nothing wrong with what you are doing. I hope you don't think I'm suggesting that. It just isn't necessary, but if you want to go above and beyond what is required, that's fine too. They can be kept anywhere between 70 and 85 comfortable so providing extra heat is not a problem. At higher temps they will eat more and grow slightly faster.
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KJ Vezino
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Vez - You don't come across as critical. I enjoy being able to explain what I'm doing, to experts. At least I'm wise enough to know that what seems like a good idea to me, may not be so. So I talk about my ideas on this forum.

If after ten years, T's had caught my fancy and I'd done a lot of reading and kept several T's myself, I could help you answer newbie questions; you seem to carry all the weight on this forum.

Kind regards, and the horses got out gotta go,

Roger

I hope I'm not monopolizing this board, and if anyone feels I am please speak up.

This board just is special to me, as it was one of the first two forums I found when I got into Ts over 6 years ago. I learned a lot here and I want to give back to it.

When I started coming back here, I noticed many questions going unanswered here. SO I decided to step up and answer the mail, so to speak.

I'm not trying to take it over, just provide help. Roger, I know you don't mind, I just hope I'm not speaking up where other members might have wanted to. (if this is you, please let me know)
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KJ Vezino
My Gallery

American Tarantula Society
British Tarantula Society
Nebraska Tarantula Enthusiasts Club
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Strictly speaking, the Mexican redknee isn't an obligate burrower, but an "opportunistic burrower." If there is no hide available, it will burrow, but a great many redknees have been kept perfectly satisfied with just a pot for a shelter. If you chose to alter the environment to a no-burrowing setup, I think the tarantula would accept an above-ground shelter without too much fuss. As for heat, they're flexible. 70 is ok, 80 is ok--it depends on how active you want it to be. The higher temp you keep it at ( within safe limits ), the more active it will be, because it speeds up the spider's metabolism. Mind you, this also shortens its lifespan somewhat. I only heat my T's enclosures to keep them from plummeting below 68 degrees F. or so for a daytime temperature. If they're already in the 70's, I don't bother. Basically, I only heat in cool / cold whether. If you do heat, use a side-mounted heating pad, for the reasons Vez said. A gradient is also a good idea. All around though, a B.smithi is a pretty hardy spider, so I don't expect you'll have any difficulty keeping it healthy. Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

-Venom.