My 10cm H.maculata is morbidly unhappy. She's been that way since we got her. She's not aggressive, she's very passive and only really responds when you poke around in the cage. I've never seen her eat, but she looks hydrated and had one successful molt already.

I've changed her enclosure 2 times already (to try and figure out what she likes and dislikes). It looks like she's been the "happiest" with an enclosure that has (more than) enough width AND height AND lots of peat depth, with a HUGE piece of bark (curved inwards) to hide in/under/behind. Unfortunately, I had to rehouse her and now she looks on the verge of suicide (I used a more cylindric enclosure the last time with less peat ~ but still enough peat for her to burrow to her hearts content - she doesn't like it).

Couldn't really find anything concrete or specific as to their housing requirements (all the articles have the "they are happy in the air, but also burrow and love running around" philosophy).

So, I need some advice from the forum members (personal experience only please). Should I revert back to her original enclosure (includes lots of height and width and depth and a massive hide) or am I missing something? She is really not like ANY of the other OW's or arboreals I have, so I have no frame of reference as to what is 100% correct.

Oh, and if you could give some indication % wise as to how much peat in relation to the enclosure, other types of hides I can consider using .... that would help me a lot

What makes you think the spider is unhappy?

Has she spun web and made herself a home?

Call it "motherly intuition" !

She's definitely very unhappy in her current enclosure, has not spun a web at all. That's why I'm inclined to switch back to the first type of setup we had her in, where she had a long, big cork bark hide, lots of peat and a surface area more than twice her legspan.

I'm just worried that I'm missing something......?

Dont know why you would say she is "depressed" V. Sometimes they go through these passive stages. My H maculata comes out at night and roams all around the cage now. Before, for quite some time, she was really passive too.

Here's a pic of her new enclosure in which she seems happy.

Well the fact that it molted out, would mean she comfortable.

Do you have places for her to hide in.

How long has seen been in the new tank?

Thanks for the pic! Looks a lot like the first one we had for ours (without the plants). Which means I was on the right track first time around.

I can't really explain it G, - she looks "sluggish" and "morbid", even after a successful molt. And she hasn't matured yet, so it can't be old age settling in I've seen quite a few videos of H.maculata and I always thought they had more or less the same temperament than S.calceatum. So I was just a bit worried that I did something wrong with this female. Was even tempted to stick my hand in the cage to get some reaction out of her :eyepoke:

Anyway, I will rehouse her again and hopefully she'll develop some attitude later on :evil: