Burrowing BETF

[caverboy]

The purpose of this post is to ask for information about the burrowing habits of BETFs. To start, Hopper and Buddy are both young, housed in a 10g hex with temp of 75-80 and humidity 70-80. Temp is controlled by small heater blowing on tank. Humidity is controlled by hand misting and bounces up and down. Tank has both live and fake plants with a nice perching vine.

Buddy and Hopper have completely different habits. Hopper is extremely active at night, chows down on crickets and thrills us with his(?) loud calls nightly. Buddy, on the other hand, is a burrower. He(?) disappears for extended periods(a week this last time). After nervously digging up the majority of the substrate this Sunday, I finally found him - moist and seemingly healthy. He sat quietly on my son's hand as I put the tank back together. ( In contrast, Hopper would have been much more active and tried to make an escape...) After putting Buddy back in the tank, he(?) proceeded to chow down 3 good size crickets(with calcium), visited the water bowl, and hung out on a high leaf making soft(weak?) calls. By morning, he(?) was again gone.(Presumably burrowed) Hopper, meanwhile, has continued his normal routine.

The first time I dug him up after being MIA for 5 days, I was beginning to think that maybe it was a territorial issue, but after he ate, he snuggled up next to his tank mate and slept. Then he disappeared.

My questions: how long will a BETF burrow and when do we begin to become concerned about the length of the burrow and his(?) physical well-being? Is it possibly a territorial issue? Is the tank size okay? Are we correct in digging him(?) up to check on him(?) and to insure that he eats?

In a nutshell, what can we do to be better parents to these BETFs?

Many thanks from Massachusetts for all the great info that we have got here so far.

CaverBoy

[John]

I would think they're burrowing due to humidity problems. What is the actual humidity? You should be aiming for over 70%, preferably higher. Bouncing humidity does not mimic rainforest conditions.

[caverboy]

Thanks. We figured that humidity played a role, but is there a reason why one stays burrowed and the other doesn't ???

Thanks for a great site.