Mexican Red Knee housing.

[Sean Troy]

Hi all. I'm new to the hobby and just need a few tips.
I have myself a spiderling Mexican Redknee (unsexed). It's about an inch and a half across at the momoment and I had been keeping it in a small plastic box. I just want to know if my new enclosure is too big for it. It's got roughly an A4 sized area of floor space.
I know that it's far too big to feed it and I'll be moving it to the smaller box again just to feed and move it back again. But I dunno if it's ready to even just live normally in the big box. Will it be able to find water etc. And also I've got a heatmat underneath the whole tank but there is also about three inches of orchid bark substrate (not ideal I know, I plan on getting coconut fibre during the week), is this too thick?*
Pictures below. Thanks a millions if anyone can help me!


http://img.ly/ahww
This is the actual tank here, terrible picture I know. That's the T up in the top right hand corner and it's hiding spot is near to it. As I said the ground space is around an A4 sheet of paper.



http://img.ly/ahws
This is the box I was keeping it in with a pen for scale.

Thanks again!

 

[Grin]

The new enclosure is a little to big, you can maybe give him something half the size of it though.
i don't think a person could ever have to much substrate in an enclosure.
i give my juvi's at least 3-4 inches, and they take advantage of it by digging and burrowing.
also try adding a hide and some fake plants for their comfort.

heat mat can be placed on the side of the tank, so the T has an option. if your room is 70f i wouldn't worry to much about a heat mat esp. when he/shes so little.

 

[Sean Troy]

Yeah I was thinking that. Leave it in the smaller enclosure for another while. Sure it hasn't even molted yet for me. I think it needs the heat mat. I don't know if you're familiar with Irish weather but at this time of the year we're expecting snow already.
It has a hide in there, I'll add some plants later. So I'll just leave it in the smaller one for now then?*

Thanks.

 

[Grin]

B. smithi's have a slow growth rate but i'd say maybe around 3-4" inches put him in the larger enclosure. i have a .5" B. smithi still in a pill bottle cause it's so small you will notice their abdomens start to turn black when ready to molt.
yeah i'm not familiar with irish weather, but i live on the northern west coast where we are surrounded by mountains. its already getting cold and i wouldn't be surprised if it snowed here with in the next month. i have my heater on in my room and it stays in between 75F-80F i also keep a humidifier as well soit don't get to dry.

 

[Sean Troy]

Oh really? A half inch?! Do you breed them yourself? The guy in the shop says he gets them from a breeder in Germany. I was wondering what the black spot was, I'll hold the food and leave it be for the next few days. Yeah, I'm a bit worried about the cold but I got a new heat mat and it's really high quality. The sides of the box are literally dripping with water so I doubt humidity is going to be a problem. My ultimate goal is to someday have a Goliath! Great hobby though.