It's not often you're doing the rounds, checking on the spiders when you come across this:

 

 

As you can see, young Tenbrus has got slightly ahead of herself when exploring, has squeezed through the small central hole in her inner tank lid, and has now become trapped somewhat between it, and the outer lid. Not so good. I gave her an hour after I first noticed to see if she could sort it out herself, but either she couldn't, or didn't feel the need to, so JW here felt the need to go in and assist. The problem ? 

 

This is a spider that can move faster than the eye (or in many cases a video camera) can see, has rather unpleasant venom and has nowhere to run and hide and feel safe, so is likely to bolt, or do something unpredictable the second I go in to 'help'... it will also be blissfully unaware that I am trying to help, and will invariably view me as something large, heavy and scary that probably wants to eat it.

 

So - a multi stage plan was devised, which would go something like this:

 

Stage 1: Move current tank into very much larger one

Stage 2: Free lid on smaller tank, and gently lift off with long tweezers

Stage 3: Withdraw and wait for spider to realise it is free, and move

Stage 4: Remove inner lid, and persuade tarantula back into original burrow

Stage 5: Remove inner tank from big one, and return to normal placement.

 

All went well, no bolting, and no threaty behaviour from our young orange-striped friend.

 

Here's the photo of stage 3 - tank-in-tank, lid-off, and spider realising this is the case:

 

 

However, it all rather fell apart when we got to stage 4 - persuading little Tenebrus to return to home base.  Everytime I tried to move the inner tank so she would encounter it as she climbed the outer tank walls, she would panic, and run and jump at the sides of the holding container, and generally get very agitated. So I left her for a good 2 hours, and monitored from afar. Would she go back in to her old home ? No. not even slightly.

 

I didn't feel the need to physically manoeuvre her in there with a paintbrush (she'd only feel threatened, always having been given the time and space to hide before intrusions into her tank space) so I adapted the plan to include a tank upgrade / transfer at the same time.

 

So, I grabbed one of my handy bottle-top-spider-catchers, enclosed our orange striped friend therein and set about building her a new house.

 

Binky's old tank was available, so the first step was to thoroughly clean it out and sterilize it. Lots of hot soapy water, and a microwave dry later, and here's what we've got...

 

 

P. irminia, contrary to popular belief, are not strictly arboreal spiders. In actual fact, they choose burrows at just above ground level, in low bushes and shrubs, utilizing any natural hollows in tree trunks and branches that may be around. So, given the size of this spider, relative to the tank, I do not see it as particularly important that we give Tenebrus more height than floor space - in this case, she will have plenty of both, and a choice of low, dark places to hide, and high walls to climb to her hearts content. Falling is not an issue with this species - it just never happens.

 

Substrate will be damp 100% peat moss, but we will avoid mites and the like by using a smaller water bowl, giving good ventilation, and misting to adjust humidity. Over time, the peat will be allowed to dry out, further minimizing the problem, we'd hope.

 

A choice of hides is provided - the one from her old tank, complete with her webbing, so she has somewhere instantly familiar to go when she arrives, but also a much larger hollow tube that she can move into when she outgrows the bamboo hide she used to use.

 

Here's the photo of all that...