housing advice for the obt plz???

[meatface]

i just recently bought an obt. it seems to spend most its time in the top corner of its crappy cage. i think it prefers to be aboreal, so ive been looking into getting a large aboreal cage from this site...
http://www.tarantulacages.com/arboreal.html

anyone with an obt know if a front loading aboreal cage is better?

 

[IrishPolishman]

It's not arboreal. It's a terrestrail tarantula. It's just trying to feel comfortable in its new enclosure and will settle down. When they are 2" or less they tend to burrow in deep substrate and web up a large portion of the enclosure. I give mine more room than is needed so I never have to worry about rehousing it anytime in the near future. I keep a rather large water dish because small ones end up floating in the web overnight. Just give it time and leave it in a warm dark place and it will settle down.

 

[meatface]

It's not arboreal. It's a terrestrail tarantula.

ive read that they are semi aboreal, but surely it is still settleing in. i bought it not even a week ago and its slightly over 2''(pet shop customer probly returned it) perhaps i will give the bugger more time to settle in, then move em to a bigger cage for the routine cleaning...

and how deep should i make my peat bedding?

 

[deez8legz]

I've got mone in a KK with about an inch of substrate. She is very contemp and it took her about 2 weeks to come around and feel comfy. Mine is an adult so it was easy to tell when she was comfy because she webbed up one corner completely. She also started out in the upper corner, but eventually moved down.

 

[BrynWilliams]

The OBT is often considered a semi arboreal and semi terrestrial tarantula. Observationally it will often make great burrows given enough substrate.

I have two juveniles and they act totally different in setups that are almost identical. I keep them in setups that are both arboreal and terrestrial in options. I have deep substrate and tree parts for climbing with good head room. My one OBT has used moss to make a ground tube web and hides out there all day. My other has gone up the tree and made a web platform up there on which she's dragged subtrate up to make it quite substantial.

I also thought she was 'trying to be arboreal' or was stressed and so conducted a little experiment in the cage. I took her out and destroyed the tube web platform she'd made, then added two new cork tube hides, one at ground level and one up in the trees.

She chose to go back up in the trees into the new hide and ignored the one on the ground. I then tried a similar thing with my other juvenile who instead remade the tube on the ground ignoring both hides

SO, the long and the short of it is that it would seem that they are highly adaptable and have preferences which vary. So I'd recommend keeping it in an enclosure where perhaps they have both options.

I've also seen many of the 'power keepers' just keep them in a plastic box with some shallow substrate and a few fake plants whereby they just make their own tube webs and hang out in those.

Hope it's helpful and that you are successful in whichever option you choose

 

[codykrr]

dude...obt...is easy...i have 12 right now. and before that i had a very large female, and male. living together. the male died of natural causes, and last year so did the female. but she laid 2 sacs for me(double clutch) and i kept 12 babies(now 3.5 inches) you can either

A. keep them with lots of dry substrate and they will burrow but make alot of webbing and usually stay out on top.

B. keep them in a burrowing/arboreal meaning lots of sub with lots of hight and they will burrow/hangout on top.

or give them a full out arboreal enclosure. any way they will thrive. personally i like the burrowing/arboreal myself, but ive had and am having great success as a full out arboreal.

in the wild they are like a GBB, the will find a shrub(bush) and build a burrow first, or tube web, then they will branch them out towards the top of the shrub. this allows the to be able to catch alot more insects. usually in the heat of the day the will retreat into there tubeweb/burrow to keep cool, and during the night they will be up top "hunting". just get 2 or 3 and keep each one diffrent. truely it doesnt matter because they will literally make enough web to do what they want anyhow. i even seen a few people keep them without any sub at all. though i do not encourage that its possible. id say its easily the most adaptable species currently in the hobby as far as setup goes.