Let's start a controversey...how much space do tarantulas really need?

[Stylopidae]

I've decided to rehouse my female Haplopelma lividium in order to make more room for future purchases (haven't been around to accept packages...so, yeah).

Anyways...here's the container she's been in since I had her:

Here's the entrance to her burrow:

Digging her out:

Here's the cool part...I actually got part of her burrow intact. It's completely dry, so it has to be silk and not fungal mycellium:

Next to a ruler:

Container dimensions:

Here's the finished product:

So as you can see, she's in a considerably smaller container. However, she's still comfortable. She's using the part of her old burrow as a makeshift burrow right now and will probably dig it back out, which means I'm probably going to have to remove substrate as she digs her burrow. I'm fine with this.

I'm not too worried about a waterdish because she walled off the waterdish in her old container, but I'll be adding one tonight anyways.

She has enough room to moult properly, burrow and eat. She should be OK.

I could now keep 6 H. lividium in the same setup as I am now keeping her in.

So...what do y'all think?

 

[GailC]

I think that she can and will live in a smaller home just fine but personally I feel its too small, why not use something a bit bigger?

 

[syndicate]

should work fine.i would of added more airholes on the actual container itself tho to get better airflow.

 

[butch4skin]

It's not small enough to adversely affect her health; only a container so small that it did not allow her space to hide and as a consequence caused her to constantly be stressed would do that. Even an extremely small container a few inches wide and maybe twice her leg span would be fine if constantly kept quiet and in the dark, though not so great for observation or cleaning.

 

[The_Thunderer]

I actually made a container specifically for burrowers (although it could be adapted for arboreals as well). I followed the instructions on a post Keeping Burrowers and I've got a container that doesn't follow the dimensions exactly, but comes close. I think that by doing it this way, you could both provide some "terrestrial space" for the spider up top, but still get a GREAT chance of seeing it in its tunnel as it will have to build close to the glass in some places.

Funny thing is... I made the tank for a H. lividum but adapted it for an arboreal Singapore Blue I recently bought. Guess what I bought today... a female H. lividum! LOL. Now I gotta build another tank.

Ohhh... unless you're a glass cutting genius... DON'T bother trying to cut the glass yourself. Save time and money by having a hardware store do the cutting. I must've wasted $10.00 on glass.

No controversy here... I completely understand the desire to have more than a "pet hole".

Hope this helps!

 

[Talkenlate04]

I agree that most people do keep them in big enclosures just because they feel the need to as pet keepers. But for most Ts, aside from some tree spiders, they can be kept in much, much smaller enclosures. I mean think about it, they normally live in holes in the ground. Some are deep holes some are shallow but the space they reside in stays pretty small. I'll get flamed for this I am sure but really most T’s can go in 5 gal or even smaller if you wanted to.

On a side note those smaller setups need to be monitored a bit more but they still work just fine.

 

[REAL]

I once had my tarantula in a small jar like that but even though many ppl say its okay, I just couldn't sleep cause I kept thinking "what if its me in that jar?"

Many ppl tell me not to compare myself with them, that they are different, but there's many things that we don't know about them yet so how are we so sure what we say is indeed correct? Tests? Even tests have many flaws in them, no test gives out an answer thats 100% correct. I can live in a closet, I can eat in there, I can move a bit, etc, but it doesn't mean I would wanna be in there. I don't want to just be able to live, living is more than being able to breathe, being able to eat, being able to breed.

I've also kept centipedes and many ppl keep them in jars and say they actually like that, but after having them in a small jar for awhile I just couldn't handle it anymore. I have a lot of mix feelings and thoughts about everything, this is a tough question to answer really...

I guess every person is different. In my opinion the jar is too small. Thats my own opinion and thats how I feel.

Thank you
Nathan

 

[Talkenlate04]

And what happens when you put them in something bigger then the jar he just put a T in?

Ill tell you, they pick a corner and burrow! Lol. The other 95% of the tank goes un used. :}

 

[REAL]

And what happens when you put them in something bigger then the jar he just put a T in?

Ill tell you, they pick a corner and burrow! Lol. The other 95% of the tank goes un used. :}

I haven't explored most of this world yet, but it doesn't mean the rest of the world is useless/unused. Maybe one day I'll decide to go places when I have the money.

I like knowing its there, incase one day if I decide to go over there, it'll be there. Maybe the tarantula might not be using most of the space, but it gives him an option if he is to ever change his mind.

Again this is just how I think and feel

 

[Talkenlate04]

Common REAL keep it real.

 

[REAL]

Common REAL keep it real.

Haha :

Like I said, I have a lot of mix feelings about the whole subject I think I'll just sit around and watch what everyone else will say about this subject from here forward.

Controversal indeed.

 

[The_Thunderer]

And what happens when you put them in something bigger then the jar he just put a T in?
Ill tell you, they pick a corner and burrow! Lol. The other 95% of the tank goes un used. :}

I understand that... however, you're still giving it more surface space to "roam" if it ever does - even rarely. Perhaps putting the water dish over in the other corner???

Also, you'll have a good chance that it'll show up tunneling somewhere next to the glass in the other 95% of the space.

I'm not saying he should change it... far be it from me to tell someone else what to do with their T's. I just offered the thread to show what some other brilliant mind came up with (that I was happy to follow) and to let other readers know that there is "another way".

 

[Nitibus]

I haven't explored most of this world yet, but it doesn't mean the rest of the world is useless/unused. Maybe one day I'll decide to go places when I have the money.

I like knowing its there, incase one day if I decide to go over there, it'll be there. Maybe the tarantula might not be using most of the space, but it gives him an option if he is to ever change his mind.

Again this is just how I think and feel

Don't you just love it when someone anthropomorphizes tarantulas.

BTW they can't change their mind. They really don't have one...

 

[Talkenlate04]

BTW they can't change their mind. They really don't have one...

I almost want to use that as my quote. :clap:

 

[sick4x4]

i think its kinda small...even with burrowers, i think and belive they do need surface space..maybe not as much as most terr t's but enough to explore a bit..maybe the the diameter of the t around the burrow...remember they are not trapdoors which dont need much surface space at all....

i think the BTS had a journal entry awhile back covering this issue, in which most agreed we do give alot of extra room but to me that pic shown is kinda extreme lol..just my 2cents

wayne

 

[Nitibus]

I almost want to use that as my quote. :clap:

I'd be honoured : You have my permission Ryan.


In regards to the OP : Doesn't leave a lot of room to hunt. I personally love to watch any T get that cricket that is just out of their reach... cause I placed it there

 

[problemchildx]

I guess I'll throw in my opinion..

I wouldn't house a small T in a big cage, and I wouldn't stuff a T into a cage that is too small for it.
Even though they don't NEED the space to survive, I look at them as my pets. I like to feel something that is my responsibility to feel at home.

Though, I do not have hundreds of T's, so I think your needs for extra space come before an insects. At least it has enough space to burrow right? Then I would see this as bad.

 

[butch4skin]

I haven't explored most of this world yet, but it doesn't mean the rest of the world is useless/unused. Maybe one day I'll decide to go places when I have the money.

I like knowing its there, incase one day if I decide to go over there, it'll be there. Maybe the tarantula might not be using most of the space, but it gives him an option if he is to ever change his mind.

Again this is just how I think and feel

If that's really how you feel, you should really be advocating the release of all "pets" into the wild. Spiders are found all over the world, so obviously they CAN travel long distances, be that of their own volition or on the wind as spiderlings or on floating debris or even a moving continent or whatever. Still, the vast majority of observation of both captive and wild specimens suggests that this is by far the exception rather than the rule (excluding of course mature males), and hobbyist therefore tend to keep their spiders as rather stationary animals. Of course, there's no real way to prove that a T died of "lack of space", but I feel like thats pretty uncommon. If you want to keep animals at all, you need to be comfortable playing god just a little bit.

 

[REAL]

If that's really how you feel, you should really be advocating the release of all "pets" into the wild. Spiders are found all over the world, so obviously they CAN travel long distances, be that of their own volition or on the wind as spiderlings or on floating debris or even a moving continent or whatever. Still, the vast majority of observation of both captive and wild specimens suggests that this is by far the exception rather than the rule (excluding of course mature males), and hobbyist therefore tend to keep their spiders as rather stationary animals. Of course, there's no real way to prove that a T died of "lack of space", but I feel like thats pretty uncommon. If you want to keep animals at all, you need to be comfortable playing god just a little bit.

Well yeah thats why I still do keep them, I'm just saying I like keeping them in a bigger space than a small jar is all.

I gotta go cook dinner. Later

 

[penny'smom]

The only thing I can say to all this, is that Penny certainly seems more content in the 2.5 gal KK she's in now, compared to the 10 gal tank she was in for the first 8 months I had her. I downsized her upon the advice of another T keeper, who has more experience than I with terrestrials.

She actually goes IN her hide. Before, she never went near it. She also is more active, as far as checking things out in her surroundings. She's almost like a jack-in-the-box, the way she's always turning booty in/booty out of the hide opening. LOL.

Here's a pic of the tank during maint: