No-nos when building enclosure?

[DesertDweller256]

Hi there, I am new the hobby. Exciting stuff. A particularly nifty part of keeping Ts to me is building terrariums for them. However, I of course want to prioritize their health over a pretty looking enclosure. I currently only have one T, A. chalcodes (feel free to educate me if the stating of the scientific name could be better) and I have her in a very basic setup. Just a cork bark hide, a water dish, and a fake plant (it’s a fake succulent since I wanted to give her some slight desert theming lol). I don’t want to go overboard and that’s all I plan on putting in there. But what I’m worried about is this:

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts? I purchased mine at Michael’s, and ran it under some water to rinse it and dried it before putting it in the enclosure. I put it in a corner she never really goes to. It is one of those fake plastic plants, which I’ve seen others have in their enclosures so I assumed it was fine. No behavioral changes from the Arizona Blonde either.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Hi there, I am new the hobby. Exciting stuff. A particularly nifty part of keeping Ts to me is building terrariums for them. However, I of course want to prioritize their health over a pretty looking enclosure. I currently only have one T, A. chalcodes (feel free to educate me if the stating of the scientific name could be better) and I have her in a very basic setup. Just a cork bark hide, a water dish, and a fake plant (it’s a fake succulent since I wanted to give her some slight desert theming lol). I don’t want to go overboard and that’s all I plan on putting in there. But what I’m worried about is this:

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts? I purchased mine at Michael’s, and ran it under some water to rinse it and dried it before putting it in the enclosure. I put it in a corner she never really goes to. It is one of those fake plastic plants, which I’ve seen others have in their enclosures so I assumed it was fine. No behavioral changes from the Arizona Blonde either.

Always use scientific names it’s much better for identifying. Yes they will be safe there is no need for them a hide substrate and water dish is all that is needed her anything else and it’s for our benefit not the spider but it’s not going to harm it and nothing wrong with having a nice looking enclosure

 

[ShyDragoness]

Number one No No... MESH LIDS!

 

[Vanisher]

Hi there, I am new the hobby. Exciting stuff. A particularly nifty part of keeping Ts to me is building terrariums for them. However, I of course want to prioritize their health over a pretty looking enclosure. I currently only have one T, A. chalcodes (feel free to educate me if the stating of the scientific name could be better) and I have her in a very basic setup. Just a cork bark hide, a water dish, and a fake plant (it’s a fake succulent since I wanted to give her some slight desert theming lol). I don’t want to go overboard and that’s all I plan on putting in there. But what I’m worried about is this:

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts? I purchased mine at Michael’s, and ran it under some water to rinse it and dried it before putting it in the enclosure. I put it in a corner she never really goes to. It is one of those fake plastic plants, which I’ve seen others have in their enclosures so I assumed it was fine. No behavioral changes from the Arizona Blonde either.

Hello there. For many years i builded my own glassterrariums. After a while is is a very easy task. It became a part of the hobby for me! The pros are that YOU decides exactly the measurments if the terrarias. You can build small, large, terrestrial terrariums or arboreal terrariums. You can decide how much ventilation there should be and so on. Another pro is that ut is much more fun to keep tarantulas in glassterrarias that you builded yourself! And with little practise, the terrarium looks as good as those you can buy!
I used perforated aluminiumsheets for ventilation. DONT use mesh!

If you want a moire detailed explanation how to build them, feel fre to pm me!

Good luck!

 

[Ungoliant]

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts? I purchased mine at Michael’s, and ran it under some water to rinse it and dried it before putting it in the enclosure.

Fake plants are fine -- I've used one's from Michaels. You do want to rinse them before use, which it sounds like you did, so you and the tarantula should be good to go.

 

[StampFan]

Hi there, I am new the hobby. Exciting stuff. A particularly nifty part of keeping Ts to me is building terrariums for them. However, I of course want to prioritize their health over a pretty looking enclosure. I currently only have one T, A. chalcodes (feel free to educate me if the stating of the scientific name could be better) and I have her in a very basic setup. Just a cork bark hide, a water dish, and a fake plant (it’s a fake succulent since I wanted to give her some slight desert theming lol). I don’t want to go overboard and that’s all I plan on putting in there. But what I’m worried about is this:

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts? I purchased mine at Michael’s, and ran it under some water to rinse it and dried it before putting it in the enclosure. I put it in a corner she never really goes to. It is one of those fake plastic plants, which I’ve seen others have in their enclosures so I assumed it was fine. No behavioral changes from the Arizona Blonde either.

There are a few fake plants that I have disinfected with Chlorhexidine and soaked for 24 hours that have really leached color when soaked, water was completely green. That said, I'm not sure fake coloring would be toxic to a T. I still regularly put in Dollarama fake plants (Michael's is *wayyyyyyy* too expensive - $20 for a fake plant that looks the same as the $1 ones?) in invert enclosures after a wash with soap.

 

[The Snark]

There are a few fake plants that I have disinfected with Chlorhexidine and soaked for 24 hours that have really leached color when soaked, water was completely green.

What you have there is water soluble dye used to color the plants. Since there are numerous dyes and coloring agents, some highly toxic (cyanide derivatives, arsenic and mercury as examples) they would be your primary concern. Chlorhexidine has oxidizing, bleaching, properties but if not used in commercial/industrial concentrations is not considered harmful.
Keep in mind, most piecemeal commercially produced products such as fake plants and decorative objects find their origins in third world countries where the rule is 'anything goes' and poisonous substances are, literally, as common as dirt.

 

[StampFan]

What you have there is water soluble dye used to color the plants. Since there are numerous dyes and coloring agents, some highly toxic (cyanide derivatives, arsenic and mercury as examples) they would be your primary concern. Chlorhexidine has oxidizing, bleaching, properties but if not used in commercial/industrial concentrations is not considered harmful.

I'd be more concerned about these plastic plants of questionable origin in a reptile cage, where they may be drinking water droplets right off a plant. With a T one can avoid this pretty easily....

 

[The Snark]

I'd be more concerned about these plastic plants of questionable origin in a reptile cage, where they may be drinking water droplets right off a plant. With a T one can avoid this pretty easily....

Yes... and no. (Smacking my head against the wall a few times)
Our world is now wall to wall toxins, far far more than any time in history. More than even just 20 years ago. And it is a world of globalization where greed sternly runs everything. Anything goes, in making a profit. It is literally impossible to keep track of all the toxins, poisons and catalytic agents that can turn harmless into deadly. Consumer protection has been left in the dust.
Chemicals entering the environment is the issue. Mechanisms of transmission can be a sleuthing job that would baffle Sherlock Holmes. And convenient multi-purpose chemicals such as those containing arsenic, cyanide and mercury are in use everywhere where there isn't a very strong government presence overseeing our lives. And even then.
Ex: All vegetable foods from Thailand were banned in Europe when test results came in that they all, from commercial farms through 'organically grown' contained dozens or even hundreds of times the safe level of organophosphates.
Your rule or thumb is assume the worst. You don't need to ingest a substance to get poisoned. We lost an eminent bio doc 3 or 4 years back who, a year down the road when the symptoms sprang up realized she had used the wrong protective gloves and had given herself a lethal dose of mercury.

 

[Andrew Clayton]

Yes... and no. (Smacking my head against the wall a few times)
Our world is now wall to wall toxins, far far more than any time in history. More than even just 20 years ago. And it is a world of globalization where greed sternly runs everything. Anything goes, in making a profit. It is literally impossible to keep track of all the toxins, poisons and catalytic agents that can turn harmless into deadly. Consumer protection has been left in the dust.
Chemicals entering the environment is the issue. Mechanisms of transmission can be a sleuthing job that would baffle Sherlock Holmes. And convenient multi-purpose chemicals such as those containing arsenic, cyanide and mercury are in use everywhere where there isn't a very strong government presence overseeing our lives. And even then.
Ex: All vegetable foods from Thailand were banned in Europe when test results came in that they all, from commercial farms through 'organically grown' contained dozens or even hundreds of times the safe level of organophosphates.
Your rule or thumb is assume the worst. You don't need to ingest a substance to get poisoned. We lost an eminent bio doc 3 or 4 years back who, a year down the road when the symptoms sprang up realized she had used the wrong protective gloves and had given herself a lethal dose of mercury.

Well that has went off topic wasn’t this thread about an enclosure lol

 

[The Snark]

Well that has went off topic wasn’t this thread about an enclosure lol

Agreed and apology. But also full circle. When I made these posts I was recalling rebuilding the hyper-al station at a hospital, trying to take all potential hazards into account. It's a containment, an enclosure of sorts, designed to mitigate the risks of toxins entering the environment.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

There are a few fake plants that I have disinfected with Chlorhexidine and soaked for 24 hours that have really leached color when soaked, water was completely green.

I use fake plants intended for aquariums for this reason. A little more expensive, but I'll pay that to have nice looking enclosures that are undoubtedly safe for my T's.

 

[viper69]

Do fake plants have any chance of poisoning Ts?

Some plants have dye in them, and some keepers prefer not to risk using those.