Humidity - Experienced keepers welcome...

[misfitsfiend]

I keep mine bone dry for the most part with a nice water dish always full unless the spider is in premolt, then i mist a little just to moisten the top layer of substrate every few days. it dries up quickly and keeps the air a little more humid. And as for the mites, plenty of ventilation and keeping a clean habitat for the T's is a must.

 

[SergioCR]

Congratulations on the find, you are very lucky to live in a place where tarantulas are common. As far as the condensation goes, are you misting, is the substrate wet as it is being put in, what kind of substrate are you using? 30 holes seems like it would be enough unless you are intentionally keeping the enclosure wet. If the spider is still under 3" the condensation should be fine and IMO is normal so long as it isn't a pond in there. If the spider is over 3", change substrate to bone dry peat and/or organic soil, and supply it with a water dish. This should solve all of your problems......I think.

Matt

Hi!
Yep, actually i'm enjoing to have such a great spiders going around here

No misting at all, the substrate was a little wet, it was packed inside a plastic box and it's basicly bare ground with some small wood chirps.

i think that i'll do some more holes for air breathing just in case... spider still under 3" but growing fast...

Sergio.

 

[SergioCR]

I would add more holes for additional ventilation. You are in a fairly humid place to begin with, so I don't think you really need to worry much about increasing humidity. If you enclosure has condensation, then you are inviting mold, mite and fungus outbreaks.

Hi!
Yes, that's what i thought too... i'll do some more holes at top and see if the problem dissapear....

probably high humidity it's not a problem for that spiders since this country it's basicly tropical and lots of rain time to time... i'll do more holes anyway...

Sergio.

 

[Saphire]

I have a true zebra T

I have a true zebra T that has burrowed its self the most deep webbed hole, I mean it is beautiful. I see her out everyday several times so I know she is ok but I need to know since she lives under ground will she molt there or will she come above ground to molt? :?

 

[Stylopidae]

Umm...we should sticky this

 

[David_F]

I have a true zebra T that has burrowed its self the most deep webbed hole, I mean it is beautiful. I see her out everyday several times so I know she is ok but I need to know since she lives under ground will she molt there or will she come above ground to molt? :?

She'll probably molt in her burrow.

 

[Drachenjager]

IThat's it for now... You'll have to wait for my article on this subject in the July 2005 issue of 'ARACHNOCULTURE' for more

Cheers,

Michael

PS: Experience does not equal knowledge, which cannot be measured in years. Some people do something wrong for their entire lives. Others, learn from someone experienced and/or with a thirst for knowledge and become great keepers in a short amount of time. Numbers don't mean much. That said, I hope my 32 years keeping tarantulas qualifies me

:worship: :worship: :worship: Hail Michael ... sorry. I think you are definatly qualified lol

 

[luther]

I only keep NW terrestrials, but all are on bone dry substrate with a water dish that gets filled when I remember (weekly/fortnightly). When the Ts are thirsty they will leave their hides and walk across the tank to the fresh water as soon as I close the tank. They have all demonstrated to me that they can detect water from a distance and find it easily. None of my 10 Ts has ever had a molting problem (10 years and counting). All are fat and healthy.

 

[TheDarkFinder]

I only keep NW terrestrials, but all are on bone dry substrate with a water dish that gets filled when I remember (weekly/fortnightly). When the Ts are thirsty they will leave their hides and walk across the tank to the fresh water as soon as I close the tank. They have all demonstrated to me that they can detect water from a distance and find it easily. None of my 10 Ts has ever had a molting problem (10 years and counting). All are fat and healthy.

yea with a average of 40-60mm of rain a year, and highs in the 19C, I could see you going bone dry with water dish and have very few problems.

 

[Joe Xavier]

Please do check out my method for keeping the tanks humid:

http://joexavier.vox.com/library/post/terrarium-setup.html

I read this up from somewhere (I forgotten where...)
So far, it works great... I mist like once every 3 days instead of daily. I think this is a good way to prevent mites as the moisture gets absorbed from the bottom... Mites have no access to the moist substrate...

 

[spid142]

humidity

I also keep my containers mostly dry, using peat moss, along with weekly misting ( only to the sides of the container), and lots of ventilation hole up and down the container, to provide plenty of air movement. Ive found this keeps mold from appearing, which was a problem with more frequent misting and less vent holes. I also agree that how many years in the hobby doesnt necessarily equate to experience level. People learn from experience at different rates.

 

[TheNatural]

I keep my tropical species enclosures just as similiar as a tropical forest as possible, I keep the substrate almost damp and I mist twice a day, I ve been keeping this way for the last 20 years. When I started keeping spides there was no internet, no books that I could have access, so I just did a lot of abservation in the nature to see how they live in their natural habitat and tryied to copy everything I saw, I always did a lot of research about the climate, vegetation and substrate of their natural environment.

I have these tips (for tropical species):

1- dont sterilize your substrate otherwise you will have an infestation.

2- goood, good ventilation

3- one side of the enclosure shall be more humid than the other

4- raise up the humidity during pre-molting period

5- take the prey ramains out

6- plants help to keep the humidity in the air, they need good illumination.

7- sunlight helps a lot to control infestations, Im not saying to put your enclosure directly under sunlight but close to a window.

8- use something to drain the excess of water, like gravel for example.

9- dont fear humidity, its just part of tropical Ts life, learn to to use humidity instead.

Im still learnig, always changing and trying new techniques.
We must to try to learn,

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Hehe, this old thing comming up again every now and then I guess I say how I've been keeping them since

Basically bonedry, everything, without any exception (blondi, versi, avic, lividum, brachy, grammostola and more, even my pimps!). I do pour some water on the substrate or into digger burrows every now and then, but the main thing I do is that I water my arboreals every other day so they can get themselves a drink, and other than that I pour water on the substrate right infront of the sling and juvies. The large juvies and adults have their water dish.

Havn't had any single problem of any kind up until now and from what I can tell the T's are doing great (scorps included).