Help please for a new gbb owner.

[Paul c 84]

I have a 2-2.5" gbb. I'm a begginer to keeping t's. I need some advice as to why i wake up every morning and my substrate has moisture in it?. Is it to do with poor ventilation? The substrate i was given is habistat spider bedding. I was told by the pet shop that i don't need to dry it out. When i touch the flooring in my enclosure it is nice and dry. I have a water dish in there too. Am i missing something or do i need to change my substrate?

 

[Thekla]

If there's moisture in the morning, then yes, it is too wet... especially for a GBB. It could be poor ventilation, but to determine that we need pictures of the enclosure.

C. cyaneopubescens is an arid species, and apart from slings, they need their environment completely dry with only a water dish. Don't listen to what pet shops have to say! Their care sheets can kill tarantulas.

 

[Paul c 84]

That is the enclosure the pet shop recomnended as I've been reading a lot about gbb's i believe there is poor ventilation I'm literally ready to go out and get a new set up this morning. Is there anything i can do other than completely change the substrate?

 

[Vanisher]

Petshop owners in general gives crappy advise in tarantula rearing! Dont listen to them! This spider is from an arid dry area in Venezuela! Some periods in the year it may get little humid there, but in general, keep this speicies bone dry! With a waterdish, and a lots of anchorpoints, like a small dry bush!

 

[Paul c 84]

Ok thank you I've decided that I'm going to get a whole new set up and go with the advice here. I've had it for 3 days now and my gut feeling is telling me to changing everything today. I will post more pics once the new set up is done. Thank you. This is my first post here and happy to get great responses

 

[Vanisher]

I think moist sub during a longer period will kill it??? Change sub to dry. And just ad a wsterdish! I have reared those guys from juveniles to adults on bone dry substrate! Inly when spiderlings they need slightly moist substrate!
Good luck

 

[Paul c 84]

Thank you for your help it's very much appreciated

 

[Thekla]

Yes, that's way too humid for this species. And there's basically no cross ventilation, which is bad. I definitely second the idea of a whole new set up. You can keep the cork bark and plants, they'll make nice anchor points your GBB will love for her web constructions.

I'd get a slightly bigger water dish. Don't worry, your T won't drown.

As for an enclosure, I'd get a nice plastic box and drill or solder vent holes on each side and just some on the top (I prefer to make some holes in the corners where the water dish is, so I can fill the water dish without disturbing the T). Then add dry substrate and loads of anchor points and watch the show.

This is my set up only a few weeks after she moved in (it's way more webbed up right now ):

 

[Vanisher]

Yes, that's way too humid for this species. And there's basically no cross ventilation, which is bad. I definitely second the idea of a whole new set up. You can keep the cork bark and plants, they'll make nice anchor points your GBB will love for her web constructions.

I'd get a slightly bigger water dish. Don't worry, your T won't drown.

As for an enclosure, I'd get a nice plastic box and drill or solder vent holes on each side and just some on the top (I prefer to make some holes in the corners where the water dish is, so I can fill the water dish without disturbing the T). Then add dry substrate and loads of anchor points and watch the show.

This is my set up only a few weeks after she moved in (it's way more webbed up right now ):
View attachment 305377

Nice!

Or this! This is a screenshot from my youtube channel i was active on years ago! This is a breeding project. Female was in a large tank with a bush. She dropped a sac but it was trash unfortunatly!

 

[The Grym Reaper]

You need to rehouse to a terrestrial enclosure, that enclosure is meant for an arboreal species. I see those polycarbonate cylinder enclosures have become quite popular in the UK, I don't like them, they offer no cross ventilation at all and the top vents are those flimsy circular mesh things that tarantulas have a penchant for destroying.

A medium faunarium will be perfect, it's a terrestrial enclosure and offers great ventilation so your sub will dry out quickly (this species should be kept dry once they pass 2").

 

[Paul c 84]

Thank you all. I have changed my gbb's enclosure i got a faunarium plastic tank as it has much better ventilation. I went with what advice was given. I will be posting pics in the near future. I feel much happier now. Thank s once again

 

[StampFan]

I have a 2-2.5" gbb. I'm a begginer to keeping t's. I need some advice as to why i wake up every morning and my substrate has moisture in it?. Is it to do with poor ventilation? The substrate i was given is habistat spider bedding. I was told by the pet shop that i don't need to dry it out. When i touch the flooring in my enclosure it is nice and dry. I have a water dish in there too. Am i missing something or do i need to change my substrate?

It could also be the webbing is wicking the moisture away from the water dish. That's pretty common.

 

[Paul c 84]

Here are a couple of photos of my gbb in its new home. It seems to be much happier in its new enclosure spending a lot of time exploring. It has a very healthy appetite too

 

[Ungoliant]

Here are a couple of photos of my gbb in its new home. It seems to be much happier in its new enclosure spending a lot of time exploring. It has a very healthy appetite too

Show us pictures in a month or two when it's covered in webbing.

 

[viper69]

View attachment 305369 View attachment 305370 View attachment 305371
That is the enclosure the pet shop recomnended as I've been reading a lot about gbb's i believe there is poor ventilation I'm literally ready to go out and get a new set up this morning. Is there anything i can do other than completely change the substrate?

Yes- get a new setup. They told you an arboreal setup for a terrestrial T. It won’t die in there, just not optimal.

Also, before you do anymore T husbandry ask questions here first. Your pet store has stupid people in it that don’t know GBB’s come from an extremely xeric environment!!!!