"Housework" Day

Wow has it really been over a week since I last posted? Time flies when you are raising tarantulas!

I feel like they are settled in now, and regularly doing their spidery things. A day in the life of a spider looks like this:

-Eat
-Sit
-Move a little
-Repeat

Right now I'm amused that their bellies look really bloated and full after a big meal. They're still working on the crickets I originally bought for them. The crickets are growing, so each meal gets bigger, and bigger! Mustpaha is eating bugs almost his own size!

He's my little monster, she's my little beastie!

I'm feeding the crickets oranges, bird food, cat food, water and I have this goopy cricket food but I'm not sure if I should use it. I hear mixed things about calcium fortified gut loading. *shrugs* I have to research more.

So back to the original point of this post, housework day. Every Thursday I've made a habit of doing something to make their habitat better. This usually consists of picking out mold (ew), adding a bit of water to the substrate, and putting a bit more substrate in.

Today will be a little different because I'm adding a home for Smithy, and giving her new air holes, since her container seems very prone to stagnant conditions.

I have a plastic barrel from one of those giant Kinder Surprise eggs, and I'm going to half bury it so she can have a hiding place. Mustapha seems just fine with his burrow. People (like on the wicked tarantula.us forum) have told me that the B. smithi does not require a home. So maybe it's just for my own piece of mind. I just don't see how she can sit there all day, and not want a little home to call her own.

We'll see how it goes. My guess, is she will end up stuck to the side of the jar for a week!