My friend is wanting to give me his P. Striata, but...

[scarhbar]

What size Avic? They were great for me to learn about the way arboreals move and behave, but they are pretty specific in their care requirements. I've been told that having good cross ventilation and not drowning them in an attempt to create a specific humidity are the keys to success. To that end, mine has cross and top ventilation, a water bowl, and dry sub. I sprinkle a few drops of water on her sub every week or two in different spots, and I never mist her enclosure or web. I monitor the humidity in the room rather than the enclosure and only do that because I live in a very dry area. We have 30% RH on a wet day here. Through a number of easy suggestions from the experienced keepers here though, I have the room my T's are in at 55-65% RH depending on the day. The one fussy thing about my avic is that she tries to burrow if the temperature in the room is lower than 72F, though she's a sub adult. I don't think this a universal avic trait though, as many people are keeping theirs around 68F overnight without any trouble.

I actually live in Colorado too! In the Springs to be specific, so I understand exactly how that goes! I actually will post some pictures below!

 

[scarhbar]

Here is the tank! Full shot. Lots of cross ventilation (a total of 50 holes!)

Here is where I put a ledge for the water dish. I left it out tonight just to reduce any stress that this T might be experiencing.

And here is the T! About 3.5" A. Versicolor. Was expecting an Avic avic, but I am pleasantly surprised that it was a versicolor instead!

I'm trying this from my iPhone, so hopefully the images upload!

EDIT: Well they're sideways, but I guess that's ok. Just working your neck muscles

 

[Angel Minkov]

Not really, they are "notorious" cause people baby them and you end up with a dead spider. They don't need as much humidity or crazy ventilation like I've seen some cages; you want enough for air flow but you can have too much and ruin your micro climate. My avics might get a little more attention than my other Ts but they are some of the smaller ones in the collection so I monitor them more at that stage anyway. Once you get them to 1.5 inches, they are pretty forgiving as long as you don't drown them, much easier than say, a T.stirmi.

Yes, that's what I meant and that's why I put the last few words in quotation marks. People overcare for them, drown them or add so much ventilation that all the humidity escapes and they end up with a dead avic.

To the OP: You should add some plastic plants/some pieces of wood and/or branches so the avic has more anchor points for its webs.

 

[Sana]

I have to admit that I wasn't paying attention to your location. I'm in Fort Collins, just a few hours away. Neat to make the acquaintance of a semi-local keeper. I adore my avic, and after reading the posts here about them, haven't had any particular trouble with her despite the obnoxiously dry climate. I did start out super worried about her, and probably would have been the keeper that babied the avic to death based on my first round of research about the climate they come from. The folks here, probably without ever knowing it, taught me better. Somebody beat me to the plastic plants suggestion. I actually recently added a couple more plants to mine's enclosure. She likes to make intricate webs and requires a lot of anchor points for her home to be just right. She also gets easily upset by disturbances, though I don't know if that is her individually or all avics. I have a small sheet draped on the side of her enclosure where her retreat is to give her a dark, private place to live. I had to be really careful when I did it to insure that she still had good cross ventilation, but we seem to have things working and she looks content.

 

[scarhbar]

Yes, that's what I meant and that's why I put the last few words in quotation marks. People overcare for them, drown them or add so much ventilation that all the humidity escapes and they end up with a dead avic.

To the OP: You should add some plastic plants/some pieces of wood and/or branches so the avic has more anchor points for its webs.

Yep! I'm grabbing those today. The store closed early last night (Sunday) so I didn't have time to grab them. Today though! I'm grabbing him a vine and fake plants with maybe a little cork bark hollow (like some people use for their pokies).

---------- Post added 12-29-2014 at 10:24 AM ----------

I have to admit that I wasn't paying attention to your location. I'm in Fort Collins, just a few hours away. Neat to make the acquaintance of a semi-local keeper. I adore my avic, and after reading the posts here about them, haven't had any particular trouble with her despite the obnoxiously dry climate. I did start out super worried about her, and probably would have been the keeper that babied the avic to death based on my first round of research about the climate they come from. The folks here, probably without ever knowing it, taught me better. Somebody beat me to the plastic plants suggestion. I actually recently added a couple more plants to mine's enclosure. She likes to make intricate webs and requires a lot of anchor points for her home to be just right. She also gets easily upset by disturbances, though I don't know if that is her individually or all avics. I have a small sheet draped on the side of her enclosure where her retreat is to give her a dark, private place to live. I had to be really careful when I did it to insure that she still had good cross ventilation, but we seem to have things working and she looks content.

Ya, it's always really cool meeting people from the hobby around you! As for the avic, I'm grabbing lots of decor for it tonight! I'm sure it will appreciate lots of cover! I think in the next few months, I'll probably upgrade to a tall Exo terra, and really make it look nice. The tank is actually under a hutch on my desk, so it is pretty dark! I may cover one side with some sort of drape or maybe even black duct tape on the back. I think I baby all my pets way too much haha. I like to micromanage the whole environment so they are comfortable. Our notoriously dry climate is super annoying! Not just when it comes to keeping pets, but to everything else haha.

 

[Ellenantula]

I did similar type of enclosure for my avic but I turned my enclosure upside down and just glued a slightly smaller dish to the lid/bottom to hold some substrate and a water dish.... how do you open it to do anything without your avic escaping? Mine wouldn't go "down" when I'd try to put her back in. (Mine is still a sling -- maybe they outgrow the hang around lid and escape game?

 

[Sana]

I did similar type of enclosure for my avic but I turned my enclosure upside down and just glued a slightly smaller dish to the lid/bottom to hold some substrate and a water dish.... how do you open it to do anything without your avic escaping? Mine wouldn't go "down" when I'd try to put her back in. (Mine is still a sling -- maybe they outgrow the hang around lid and escape game?

Mine hasn't outgrown that game, so I'm not convinced it ever happens. Fortunately mine is pretty calm and as long as I open the lid smoothly she doesn't even move. Heaven forbid I'm in a hurry and bump things around though. Last time I did that and was thoughtless enough to continue to open the enclosure anyway, I had to get an avic off the ceiling.

 

[Ellenantula]

Mine hasn't outgrown that game, so I'm not convinced it ever happens. Fortunately mine is pretty calm and as long as I open the lid smoothly she doesn't even move. Heaven forbid I'm in a hurry and bump things around though. Last time I did that and was thoughtless enough to continue to open the enclosure anyway, I had to get an avic off the ceiling.

Ceiling doesn't sound like an easy retrieval! Mine originally was in a cup until I made her the upside down version of this enclosure for her. With the cup, she didn't "get away" but I just couldn't get her to step off my hand and go down into her container. She'd run around the top rim and then back onto my hand before I could get the lid on. She would sit right under the lid and just wait for me to lift the lid. It was cute, tiny little avic running on your hand is sweet, but then I had to worry that I would accidentally crush her foot/leg when putting the lid back on her cup. She likes the height of her new enclosure better anyway.

 

[Sana]

The ceiling day wasn't my proudest moment, especially when I ended up standing in the doorway keeping one eye on the T while shouting my head off for my S.O. to come rescue me from my spider, or my spider from me.

 

[VenomousMe]

I was tempted to tell you to get the free Poecilotheria, but if you aren't confident enough to get it without asking, don't. You'll most likely end up losing/killing it. That's my ONLY reason for saying so.

 

[Storm76]

Word of advice: The way that tank is setup it's very likely that versi will either web right underneath the lid, or not at all anytime soon. It's better to provide them with any kind of fake plants to anchor webbing onto. They don't really like corkbark like Poecies...

 

[scarhbar]

I was tempted to tell you to get the free Poecilotheria, but if you aren't confident enough to get it without asking, don't. You'll most likely end up losing/killing it. That's my ONLY reason for saying so.

Well thank you, but if it wasn't clear from the last images, I said no, and went with an Avic instead.........

---------- Post added 12-31-2014 at 07:23 AM ----------

Word of advice: The way that tank is setup it's very likely that versi will either web right underneath the lid, or not at all anytime soon. It's better to provide them with any kind of fake plants to anchor webbing onto. They don't really like corkbark like Poecies...

Yep, the Avic has lots of branches to hide in now! But it still chose to make it's web next to the water dish haha

 

[Storm76]

Well thank you, but if it wasn't clear from the last images, I said no, and went with an Avic instead.........

---------- Post added 12-31-2014 at 07:23 AM ----------



Yep, the Avic has lots of branches to hide in now! But it still chose to make it's web next to the water dish haha

Probably hasn't anything to do with the waterdish proximity, all Avics will web up the top of their enclosure usually

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

I was tempted to tell you to get the free Poecilotheria, but if you aren't confident enough to get it without asking, don't. You'll most likely end up losing/killing it. That's my ONLY reason for saying so.

Sounds an awful lot like that fear mongering you are quick to claim you loathe.

 

[VenomousMe]

Sounds an awful lot like that fear mongering you are quick to claim you loathe.

What does fear have to do with my statement? Please explain why you think so...something other then me hitting a nerve, I mean. You know, a rational, thought out response. You can do it! Don't let pride dumb down your answer.

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

Nothing close to fear in telling a person they'll "most likely end up losing/killing it". It's much more confidence inspiring than telling someone to wait til they have more experience.

Instead of ad hominem attacks, perhaps you should have taking your expertise to the thread about rehousing the OBT. Your moment had come, yet you were strangely absent.