Humidity?
- Thread starter Lucille
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Personally I find the care sheets to be pretty useless. As for humidity I feel it is much more important for a tarantula to be well hydrated rather than in a moist environment. Ambient humidity is not that important. What is more important is to always provide water for them to drink. In addition, make sure your prey items are also well hydrated. Tarantulas get a significant amount of their hydration from their prey.
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As long as your T has a water dish, or droplets on the side of the enclosure, then it has enough humidity. Like the above poster said, don't even worry about % or any of that stuff.
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Correct. Just be careful to keep a rock in the dish so the crickets won't drown as readily.
With respect, DON'T DO THIS! Only a very few tarantulas absolutely require anywhere near that high a humidity. Virtually all adult and near adult tarantulas will adjust quite nicely to a dry cage as long as they have a water dish. Water condensing on the walls is a sure sign you've gone way overboard in believing the malarkey you find on all those care sheets.
This problem with this practice is that it allows the growth of bacteria and fungi on any organic substance in the cage including the tarantula. And, very few people know how to recognize such a growth (except the obvious cottony growth of some fungi), much less know how to deal with the problem.
Lastly, such a high humidity fairly begs a mite infestation.
Amen. Your tarantula will tell you when it's too dry by hanging around the water dish a lot, setting on top of it, or even soaking its abdomen (opisthosoma) in the water. If any of these occur merely cover the open part of the cage with plastic food wrap and make sure the water dish is full.
Baby tarantulas (up to about 1/4 grown) should be kept on damp substrate, but with adequate ventilation. This arises from the fact that they do not possess as heavy a layer of water retentive wax on their exoskeletons as the larger, older tarantulas. However, having said that, we've kept many Brachypelmas and Aphonopelmas with leg spans as small 3/4" (19 mm) in dry bottles and a plastic pop bottle cap as a water dish and they grew and thrived just fine.
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I once had an interesting conversation (it eventually developed into a flame war!) about the humidity requirements of a whole list of species. The other person swore that each species that he kept had to be kept at some precise humidity to thrive, and that he'd been doing it for years with great results. He insisted that he had only a minuscule number ever die for him.
There are at least two flaws in his logic:
1. Because the preponderance of his tarantulas were spiderlings (slightly beyond the baby stage) someone else had suffered the initial losses from infirm babies. All he had were the survivors and they wouldn't start to die off until they reached old age, 10 to 40 years from now. (He was drawing his conclusions from a biased sample.)
2. While he kept all his tarantulas at a raised humidity with success, he failed to consider that a truly large number of us also keep tarantulas, in many cases the same species as his, at a significantly lower humidity or without considering humidity at all, and we are just as successful! (He was wasting a lot of time, effort, and money on an effectively meaningless facet of tarantula care.)
They're not in error. They're bogus. A red herring. If you check up on the authors of these caresheets or read between the lines you'll find several conditions to be very common:
1. Many of them are converts from keeping reptiles, or still primarily keep reptiles with tarantulas being only a sideline. It is true that some (though definitely not all) reptiles do require an elevated humidity. Many of them also require controlled temperatures. Many also require special lighting in order to promote breeding. These herptile keepers automatically translate all this to keeping their tarantulas, even though there is not one shred of evidence that such a translation is valid, and a lot of evidence that tarantulas should be kept using care paradigms a LOT different than typical reptile care.
2. They are rather inexperienced and have done little actual experimenting with tarantula care. They've kept two or three of any species at a higher humidity, they lived (no surprise considering how adaptable most tarantulas are), automatically assumed they'd magically discovered the one true way to care for the species, and wrote up a care sheet based on their limited experiences.
3. They're experienced enthusiasts who got caught in a time warp or ossified into their current position and are unwilling or unable to change their posture. (Somehow, however, that has a familiar ring with yours truly!)
There are several other dimensions to this whole humidity issue: The relative humidity in nature in any specific tarantula's habitat is so variable that making any sort of precise recommendations about a presumed "ideal" humidity is ludicrous. It's like trying to describe how high geese fly! The best we can do is make some very broad generalizations limited to something like "swamp," "damp," "dry," "arid," "mummified," and not even stick very close to these.
Lastly, almost all commercial humidity gauges in the price range we're likely to buy are so inaccurate as to be all but useless except as paper weights. See the footnote in http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showpost.php?p=1338246&postcount=27 for an explanation of this.
For the record, almost all this can also be said about temperature guidelines.
My suggestion is that you throw out all your thermometers and hygrometers and next time use the money to buy another tarantula!
Enjoy your "swamp," "damp," "dry," "arid," "mummified," "frozen," "cold," "room temperature," "hot," "cooked" tarantulas!
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Mites are indeed very closely related to spiders. Some arachnologists have even gone so far as to suggest that mites are the next evolutionary step beyond spiders.
But no, they don't prefer a dry environment. Visit www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/mites07.html for a discussion of mites.
I would think that the best way to go about dealing with humidity is to find out where the species is naturally from and try to match that environment/climate as closely as possible . . .
Im new to Ts, but am a amphibian keeper where humidity is extremely important for health.
I dont see why my above method would not hold true for Ts as well, lots of info about where species are from, and cross reference with weather data online . . .
I agree with the fact that they are adaptable to variuos conditions, and I believe that even the more desert species live in humid tunnels underground, and the more tropical species of course come from places with a higher humidity than most climates in the states.
Im new to Ts, but am a amphibian keeper where humidity is extremely important for health.
I dont see why my above method would not hold true for Ts as well, lots of info about where species are from, and cross reference with weather data online . . .
I agree with the fact that they are adaptable to variuos conditions, and I believe that even the more desert species live in humid tunnels underground, and the more tropical species of course come from places with a higher humidity than most climates in the states.
I'm trying to read as much here on this board as I can, because I figure experienced advice is worthwhile, so I appreciate all the responses.
I spent some time this morning looking at the section where people post pictures of their enclosures. I saw quite a few that had real plants in them, so their must be some sort of moisture in there, even if it is only a little to the root system.
I'm on the Texas Gulf Coast so there is plenty of natural humidity so I certainly would not want to add more, but from what people have said here it seems I don't have to worry about keeping track of it.
I spent some time this morning looking at the section where people post pictures of their enclosures. I saw quite a few that had real plants in them, so their must be some sort of moisture in there, even if it is only a little to the root system.
I'm on the Texas Gulf Coast so there is plenty of natural humidity so I certainly would not want to add more, but from what people have said here it seems I don't have to worry about keeping track of it.
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Living where you are at you at least need to keep on eye on your enclosures to make sure they are not too wet to the point where you end up with mold issues. The best thing you could do is make sure your enclosures are well ventilated. If you have lots of air holes you should be fine. As long as the air has a chance to move and it does not get stagnant you shouldn't experience any mold issues. Beyond that I wouldn't worry about temperature or humidity.
Right now I have my one T in a 10 gallon with a screen top so there is plenty of ventilation. There seems to be differences of opinion about whether his feet might get caught; I may look into a more suitable acrylic container but if I do I will make sure there are plenty of ventilation holes.
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They can get their feet (actually the small claws on their feet) stuck in screen lids. I have had it happen to me once. However the risk of it happening really depends on the tarantula you have. If it isn't a climber the likelihood is very low. I still use screens on several of my enclosures and I have only had one problem over the years. To minimize the risk of an injury for a terrestrial tarantula make sure you fill the enclosure with enough substrate so that it is within the leg span of the tarantula from the lid. By doing this if the tarantula does get stuck it can still reach the substrate and it won't be literally hanging there. It may be able to free itself from there. If not, at least it will be able to support itself until you can free it.
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It entirely depends on the sp you're keeping.
A T blondi will probably thrive in the kind of soil moisture you need for most plants, meanwhile a rosea will be climbing the walls for the rest of its life.
Light is a big consideration too when you're looking at live planting as tons of direct sunlight is really not the best thing for a creature in a big glass box. Conjecture entirely, but I'm guessing that's why you don't see any drier desert-scape enclosures with live succulents.
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One of the few. I'm not sure about T. apophysis. Maybe someone who has kept them would be willing to comment?
It's my understanding that the genus Ephebopus, the skeleton tarantulas, also requires a humid habitat, as well as the Hysterocrates species (large African baboon tarantulas). I've heard mixed reports of some Asian species as well but little or no direct experience so I can't name any.
Again, it's nice to hear from people who report always keeping their favorite species at some highly controlled, elevated humidity, but it's much more interesting to learn from those who don't care and who are just as successful. Let's hear about it folks!
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This, unfortunately, is also not good logic for several reasons. First, the fact that a tarantula comes from a place with some extreme temperature or humidity may not necessarily mean that's best for it. It is also likely that the species in question is about the only one that was resilient and adaptable enough to survive there. This could be true of many desert species, for instance.
Another scenario involves the concept that most tarantulas (a few of us would go so far as to say "all") are so adaptable that they can survive and even thrive in a much wider range of conditions than is found in their native habitat. Good examples of this are the Brachypelma. These come from coastal plains to deciduous tropical forests to outright rainforests in Central America. But, those of us who keep and breed them find that they do as well, if not better, in a cage that's kept bone dry but with a water dish.
All this derives from the fact that nearly all tarantulas come with a factory installed, wax coated, relatively thick, water retentive exoskeleton. And, because of their body mass they carry a significant amount of water with them. If a humid habitat species like Avicularia avicularia suddenly finds itself in an arid environment, it automatically begins to drink more. When it molts again, it merely develops a thicker exoskeleton and wax layer.
Your comments regarding amphibians, however, point out that there are limits for any species or group. The trick is finding out what those limits are and not exceeding them, not (by pure chance) discovering one specific set of conditions that they seem to survive or thrive in, and then passing those conditions off as the only or even the best way to care for them. Too few amateur arachnologists appreciate the difference between these two concepts.
Thanks for your input!
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Tarantulas can catch their claws in woven screen like common window screen. They can also chew through it with ease.
If you ever buy another screen cover for your cage make sure that the mesh is 1/8" to 1/4" (3mm to 6 mm) galvanized wire mesh. The zinc galvanizing fills the crevices between the wires preventing a tarantula from catching a claw.
Robc actually has footage of his Hysterocrates gigas swimming (apparently voluntarily). lol
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I have a room for my T's that is heat and humidity controlled. I'm not exactly sold on the whole humidity control thing either. I have only been doing it for a little while but not every tarantula has the same needs. I have 1 T blondi and am probably going to get a few more. The whole reason I have the room at a high humidity (80%) is because of them. Unfortunately it is very easy to build up mold before you even know it. I'm seriously thinking about taking the humidifier out of the room all together. The more I read the boards the more I learn they dont require all that you read on the "care sheets".