At what age/size....

[Tigergenesis]

Can I move my baby onto a soil substrate?

She's on some now, but that's because I didn't plan on feeding crickets - can't find them small enough. But should I find some I'll switch her to paper towels. But just wondering when I can permanently move her onto the soil substrate?

[Marla]

When you can see that she's hunting well enough and has good enough control of her limbs for you not to worry about her getting a mouthful. I'd guess around 3 months would be a good age. They're so puppyish and can be a little clumsy, but you could also just feed crickets in a separate container and keep her on soil from now on if you like. It's not as if she's likely to be too stressed or shy to hunt them in an unfamiliar container.

[Tigergenesis]

She is a bit clumsy. The other day she jumped from one are to another, was loosing her footing on her landing, grabbed the branch with her tail and just swung a bit by her tail till she stopped and her front feet and head were resting on the ground. Then she just stayed there for a few minutes like she was trying to pretend she meant to do that. So funny. I thought about feeding in a separate container, but I'm a little nervous about handling her right now. She's so tiny and looks so fragile. She seems just as scared as I am. I figured I'd not really try handling her until she reaches the 3 inch STV as recommended in one of the books I bought. I haven't held her at all yet. When I first brought her home and moved her into her temp cage, she jumped on my hand and then I just put my hand in the cage for her to jump off.

[Marla]

Very cute! Every now and again one of mine will jump on the bamboo in a way to make it spin, and they always look so surprised when it does.

You don't necessarily have to handle her to feed in a separate container -- you could use a Gladware type container to scoop her up in, or just put a container with deep sides and nothing to climb on inside her enclosure. Little crickets can't jump that far, and they're better at climbing rough surfaces like eggcrate than smooth ones like glass or plastic. Just make sure it's either heavy or anchored well enough that her jumping onto or off it won't cause it to fall over.

What are you naming her?

[Tigergenesis]

Excellent ideas! Thank you. Would one of those tall deli cup/containers work (of course I'll still have to weight it down a bit)?

Am I being too cautious about handling her or am I doing the right thing by waiting?

I have 2 girl names picked out: Piper and Phoebe (but Phoebe will be my bluey's name if it turns out to be a girl) and the only male name I've come up with is Nemo. I'm not good with names.

[Marla]

If you weight the tall deli container, it should work perfectly. Alternatively, check your dollar store for ceramic pitchers or the like. I heard about waiting after I'd already gotten and handled Waldo and Scooby, and neither of them seems traumatized by it, but they were already about 8-10 weeks old when I got them, so they were a little bigger. I'd worry more about her making too big a jump and hurting herself than about her being traumatized by handling. They really do adapt to it very well over time.

Nemo is a cute name, and so is Piper. Are you waiting for months to find out which it is before sticking the name?

[Tigergenesis]

Yeah, I'm going to wait to find out the gender before naming. I've tried getting her to jump on my finger in the cage - she just takes off the other direction. So I think that makes me more nervous about trying to handle her.

[Marla]

It definitely takes some handling before they'll come to you voluntarily, so don't be discouraged about that just yet. The good thing is that when they're not panicked, they'll give you warning when and where they're about to jump (like a puppy wiggling before pouncing), and you can put out a hand or something for them to jump to. I'm sure you've read about the hand-to-hand walking method. I'm not saying you *should* handle her now, just don't wait for her to ask you to pick her up before you decide it's time to start handling her.

[Tigergenesis]

And another 'Thank you'.

[Marla]

No sweat. I'm glad to have another regular to discuss these great lil guys with.