Preventing mildew & musty odors?

[BobBarley]

TarantulaGuy1976 is a joke IMO. Years ago was put in a sort of pedestal "status" by some people, here. Laughable. T's in his back, crawling all around his body. Bitten several times... with all the respect and all for him, of course.

Never watched any of his vids, but t's all over his body? I wouldn't trust his info lol.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Never watched any of his vids, but t's all over his body? I wouldn't trust his info lol.

Well, it's not that. He knows "how to" at the end of the day. And everyone risk a bite, granted. After all, we keep venomous inverts at our homes. Just that like i love to say: "It's the attitude... " ;-)

 

[BobBarley]

Well, it's not that. He knows "how to" at the end of the day. And everyone risk a bite, granted. After all, we keep venomous inverts at our homes. Just that like i love to say: "It's the attitude... " ;-)

Ah, I see. My favorite t Youtuber right now is "Greg Rice". Love his vids, especially one of his latest:

 

[BlueGuy]

Thanks guys. I just assumed because he had a huge following and was pulling eggs with legs he would be a credible source. :/
I'm not really understanding why 80% ambient in the whole room would make a difference than 80% in the enclosure? I have kept neoptropical treefrogs for years, and have had to modify exo terra systems to include small computer fans that would pull air in the front and up through the top to prevent spores from propagating in there. I am using coco fiber as it is readily available and I hydrate it with boiling water to kill anything nasty pressed in it. So I am going to let the coco dry out more before incorporating it into the habitat, remove the dead moss to prevent it from becoming a spore host, and for the final answer would you say NOT to use live pothos plants because they are going to be smothered in web?

 

[BobBarley]

Thanks guys. I just assumed because he had a huge following and was pulling eggs with legs he would be a credible source. :/
I'm not really understanding why 80% ambient in the whole room would make a difference than 80% in the enclosure? I have kept neoptropical treefrogs for years, and have had to modify exo terra systems to include small computer fans that would pull air in the front and up through the top to prevent spores from propagating in there. I am using coco fiber as it is readily available and I hydrate it with boiling water to kill anything nasty pressed in it. So I am going to let the coco dry out more before incorporating it into the habitat, remove the dead moss to prevent it from becoming a spore host, and for the final answer would you say NOT to use live pothos plants because they are going to be smothered in web?

You don't get mildew and mold growing every that is humid and a room would probably have better airflow than a cage. Yes, that'd be a good idea. I'd say no pothos as it would, yes, be smothered by web.

 

[BlueGuy]

Yeah Florida is a dream for raising exotics. I moved to MI in 2011 and half my delicate collection died in the first year because of 30* temp swings and humidity fluxes. It's a bitch to keep an environment stable here. I am working on it though. Believe it or not I have never had fungal issues like I have had here. And I was keeping exotics in Palm Beach with water pools and canals everywhere. No live plants then he/she will get the plastic stuff that won't decay. Thanks for everyone's help, i'm not trying be a dick, just frustrated so many people have told me to keep them in a sauna basically.

 

[BobBarley]

Yeah Florida is a dream for raising exotics. I moved to MI in 2011 and half my delicate collection died in the first year because of 30* temp swings and humidity fluxes. It's a bitch to keep an environment stable here. I am working on it though. Believe it or not I have never had fungal issues like I have had here. And I was keeping exotics in Palm Beach with water pools and canals everywhere. No live plants then he/she will get the plastic stuff that won't decay. Thanks for everyone's help, i'm not trying be a dick, just frustrated so many people have told me to keep them in a sauna basically.

Yes , there is wayyyyyyyyy too much misinformation out there. It's a real problem, what with the number of people posting "My Avic Died" and finding out that they've been keeping it wrong, almost daily. It is absolutely infuriating!!

 

[BlueGuy]

Thanks for your time. And last but not least while I have you here, can I feed a stable diet of Dubia and ONLY Dubia? I understand some critters REQUIRE variety of diet, but I have raised some species on JUST superworms with outstanding results. I know roaches are more nutritional and am working to incorporate a food source I can produce on my own.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Reading over this thread I can see why BlueGuy felt singled out and attacked. The posts may have been informative, but the delivery came across as snobbish. There are reasons why several people that I know personally and used to be avid posters here no longer frequent the forums.

The advice they gave you works for Avics. I have raised them this way and have also raised 4 of them with equal success in a massive fully planted vivarium (120 gallons) that had multiple water features, excessive moisture, warmth, and little airflow. I started with 4 slings and ended with 4 mature adults (3 males... woo). In the end I pulled her two sacks and converted the tank into my chicken spider vivarium since it felt like such a waste to have one spider in such a huge tank.

My ways work because I spend months grooming an environment and getting it stable before I add animals. I add detritivores like isopods and springtails to control mould and eat decaying plant material (and dead crickets). I compose a proper soil mix that keeps plants healthy, drains well (into a drainage layer), and has acidic properties to discourage more fungal growth. The techniques I've learned through research and trial and error are ones the average new hobbyist doesn't know and usually does not want to invest the extra time and money into. Achieving balance is rewarding, but tough and no new hobbyist should dive into living environments before mastering the fundamentals.

Have I butted heads with a lot of people on these boards? Absolutely. I lived in the same city as Stan Schultz and we even had an argument that my planted vivariums would lead to mold and mites killing all my tarantulas. Yet here I am after a decade of producing thousands of slings while importing and breeding many species of invertebrate and have not lost one to those problems. Are their techniques wrong? No. It's all about application and my hobby is about balance with social species in living settings. I try to replicate an entire small niche of an environment. However most on this board are about keeping just tarantulas and the "Gospel" spoken here suits that way of keeping. It allows a higher success rate for keeping tarantulas happy and healthy. Especially for new hobbyists.

 

[viper69]

Abraxas is correct without a doubt.

BlueGuy the reason I said keep them dry, is primarily because beginners and even experienced hobbyists don't take the time (reasons don't matter for my writing) to have elaborate setups like Abraxas. Any person that owns Dart Frogs for example knows the setups are more than greens, substrate, frogs, fans and water. They also know that those tanks are highly complex microecosystems. The truth is, the average T keeper does not create such a setup and thus as a hobby has less experience in creating such setups for Ts when compared to the dart frog hobby. Granted by default of owning a dart frog one HAS to create a serious microclimate or they die. Oddly this seems to not be true of Ts from what T breeders with more experience than myself have observed over time.

With your frog experience, darts by chance?, you could create a setup like Abraxas. As I'm sure you know all serious dart frog keepers let their tank setups cycle for a while before adding in the frogs.

Personally, I think your experience in creating what sounds like realistic frog vivaria will be an asset to your T husbandry should you go that route.

There is a guy on the forum here a few years back that setup a nice planted system with misting for a Goliath Bird Eater. He said it worked quite well.

If you go the "dry route" for T keeping you will find T keeping far easier than frogs. Heck, I know I do and I've only kept White's Tree Frog and Red Eye Tree Frogs.

As for plants, it isn't that one can't keep live plants, it just seems that more often than not people report their Ts digging them up or webbing over them.

I'm curious to read what Abraxas has observed over time with different species/localities??

As for food, there's a variety of opinions on feeders. Personally I just feed them gutloaded crickets, because crickets aren't that nutritious. There's a breeder on the forum that just feeds them crickets as well, and he's quite successful. I suspect you may be able to do the same with roaches. Mealworms can be fed, and of course roaches. Some people have tried wax worms, but wax worms have one of the highest fat content value for the common feeders most people use. I wouldn't suggest waxworms at all, plus they don't move that much compared to crickets etc.

 

[viper69]

Reading over this thread I can see why BlueGuy felt singled out and attacked. The posts may have been informative, but the delivery came across as snobbish. There are reasons why several people that I know personally and used to be avid posters here no longer frequent the forums.

The advice they gave you works for Avics. I have raised them this way and have also raised 4 of them with equal success in a massive fully planted vivarium (120 gallons) that had multiple water features, excessive moisture, warmth, and little airflow. I started with 4 slings and ended with 4 mature adults (3 males... woo). In the end I pulled her two sacks and converted the tank into my chicken spider vivarium since it felt like such a waste to have one spider in such a huge tank.

My ways work because I spend months grooming an environment and getting it stable before I add animals. I add detritivores like isopods and springtails to control mould and eat decaying plant material (and dead crickets). I compose a proper soil mix that keeps plants healthy, drains well (into a drainage layer), and has acidic properties to discourage more fungal growth. The techniques I've learned through research and trial and error are ones the average new hobbyist doesn't know and usually does not want to invest the extra time and money into. Achieving balance is rewarding, but tough and no new hobbyist should dive into living environments before mastering the fundamentals.

Have I butted heads with a lot of people on these boards? Absolutely. I lived in the same city as Stan Schultz and we even had an argument that my planted vivariums would lead to mold and mites killing all my tarantulas. Yet here I am after a decade of producing thousands of slings while importing and breeding many species of invertebrate and have not lost one to those problems. Are their techniques wrong? No. It's all about application and my hobby is about balance with social species in living settings. I try to replicate an entire small niche of an environment. However most on this board are about keeping just tarantulas and the "Gospel" spoken here suits that way of keeping. It allows a higher success rate for keeping tarantulas happy and healthy. Especially for new hobbyists.

What ever became of your Holothele sp. Columbia??

 

[AbraxasComplex]

I had a second generation communal tank with several adult females and a few separate females in other enclosures. I paired them up with males several times from various sources, but never got sacs to start a third generation. I currently have one solitary female left that I hope is gravid after a recent pairing. Time will tell. Much like H.incei it seems the lifespan on this species is about 4 to 5 years for solitary females that have not had breeding stress each season (my second generation hatched in 2011).

As for food I've had much success just with crickets. And I read something about living in Florida? I'm under the impression roaches cannot be legally raised in Florida unless already native to the area.

As for plants and tarantulas most web over or burrow under. Some Pamphobeteus appreciate a pre made burrow and won't disturb your plants. H.incei webs everything to death while Holothele sp. Colombia will make a hidden web tunnel covered in dirt that may partially wrap around a plant base and go a few inches into the substrate. They were great with plants. It really depends on the habits of the animal and how big the enclosure is. A solitary spider with less "destructive" habits will do fine in a large tank with many plants as long as they are fed well (prey items learn to avoid burrows). A social group will wipe out every plant in a large vivarium once the population explodes.

An alternative for heavy burrowers is using a plant like bird's nest sansevieria (stays small, grows compact, and has lower light and water requirements), but keep it in a tightly packed pot that will prevent the tarantula from digging into the roots. You then hide the pot with substrate and ornaments and it allows you to water just the plant and not the entire tank.

 

[BlueGuy]

What would you recommend for an appropriate size for a living terrarium for a single avic? I agree with the organic eco-model, and in my past experience with keeping captive animals they do much better with living plants in their habitats. My concern is the welfare of the plant as with my experience it's not whether it will root and grow, it's whether the animal will kill it. Are you using expanded clay pellets layered with coco and then your soil mix? Do the avics just leave the cleanup crew alone or do they become food if the T gets curious? I have discovered that if you use wiggle worm brand worm castings in your soil mix it prevents root aphid populations from even starting. I assume nematodes or some form of microbeast in the castings attacking larve. Interested in sharing the soil recipe? I have one i'm working on for growing lettuce for the roaches. Just add water recipe. Well I have to lower my ph (well water) with citric acid, but it's still 100% organic.

 

[viper69]

I had a second generation communal tank with several adult females and a few separate females in other enclosures. I paired them up with males several times from various sources, but never got sacs to start a third generation. I currently have one solitary female left that I hope is gravid after a recent pairing. Time will tell. Much like H.incei it seems the lifespan on this species is about 4 to 5 years for solitary females that have not had breeding stress each season (my second generation hatched in 2011).

As for food I've had much success just with crickets. And I read something about living in Florida? I'm under the impression roaches cannot be legally raised in Florida unless already native to the area.

As for plants and tarantulas most web over or burrow under. Some Pamphobeteus appreciate a pre made burrow and won't disturb your plants. H.incei webs everything to death while Holothele sp. Colombia will make a hidden web tunnel covered in dirt that may partially wrap around a plant base and go a few inches into the substrate. They were great with plants. It really depends on the habits of the animal and how big the enclosure is. A solitary spider with less "destructive" habits will do fine in a large tank with many plants as long as they are fed well (prey items learn to avoid burrows). A social group will wipe out every plant in a large vivarium once the population explodes.

An alternative for heavy burrowers is using a plant like bird's nest sansevieria (stays small, grows compact, and has lower light and water requirements), but keep it in a tightly packed pot that will prevent the tarantula from digging into the roots. You then hide the pot with substrate and ornaments and it allows you to water just the plant and not the entire tank.

Abraxas that's pretty impressive you made it to a second generation w/that locality! I would love to own a few of these. I think they are one of the most striking Ts out there.

Did you ever post pics of them through their growth phases? Those would be great to see.

That's a shame you only have one left. I do hope you get a sac with EWLs. Your breeding attempts are consistent with Martin's up at TCanada, I asked him how it went, and also consistent with someone here in the USA. I THINK he has/had the opposite situation as you, ie ended up with males. He may still have his, but I don't know.

 

[AbraxasComplex]

BlueGuy I do a variant of the Atlanta Botanical Garden mix. Except I have no access to tree fern fiber and counter that by using more peat and coconut fiber. I'll also add sand for a bit more drainage and when setting up for tarantulas I use less or no fine orchid bark. Earthworm casings work well when you use small amounts, however it can burn out sensitive plants if you use too much with all that nitrogen. I avoid it now, but I'm sure the bacteria and other beneficial organisms found within it are great for getting soils started.

So I use:
2-3 parts coconut fiber
1-2 parts peat
1 part mulled spaghnum moss
1/2 part fine carbon
1/2 part silica sand
1/2 orchid bark


For drainage I have used the balls or fine gravel with up to an inch of sand on top (keeps soil from entering your mini aquifer). Burrowing tarantulas sometimes stop at the sand layer, but not often.

For a vivarium for an Avic you can use a 10 to 20 gallon long on its side. They won't utilize the bottom at all, but you can plant various hoyas, pothos, creeping fig, or other plants that can climb up your background and branches. Sansevierias work great for this too and add height and can be webbed up for months without the leaves dying. They will all tolerate drier conditions should you choose to go a route of higher ventilation (which I recommend for learning) by using a screen door.

As for the clean up crew most tarantulas avoid eating them. They don't seem to taste so great, however they may end up all becoming attempted snacks as the tarantula grabs them and tosses them aside. So I would use the dwarf varieties of isopod. They tend to escape the attention.

Viper69 sadly I'm bad at keeping track of my old photos. They exist, but are most likely trapped on dead laptops and broken phones. Martin actually sent the last male to me. I hope he did his job well.

 

[BlueGuy]

Oh man thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for!

 

[AbraxasComplex]

Glad to help. If you need more help feel free to ask more questions. You can either pm me or post here so others can learn as well. Keep us posted in your endeavours and those of us that are experienced in this topic can continue to give input to make sure you have the resources to keep your tarantula and vivarium healthy.

 

[BlueGuy]

Put this together for a starter setup while I work on cultivating the spidey biodome. Added a small planter of my organic mustard greens for jungle foliage. When the crickets eat it they gutload themselves, and I can easily replace it with a new one each cleaning.

 

[BobBarley]

Put this together for a starter setup while I work on cultivating the spidey biodome. Added a small planter of my organic mustard greens for jungle foliage. When the crickets eat it they gutload themselves, and I can easily replace it with a new one each cleaning. View attachment 204994 View attachment 204995

Awesome, that should work!

 

[viper69]

BlueGuy I do a variant of the Atlanta Botanical Garden mix. Except I have no access to tree fern fiber and counter that by using more peat and coconut fiber. I'll also add sand for a bit more drainage and when setting up for tarantulas I use less or no fine orchid bark. Earthworm casings work well when you use small amounts, however it can burn out sensitive plants if you use too much with all that nitrogen. I avoid it now, but I'm sure the bacteria and other beneficial organisms found within it are great for getting soils started.

So I use:
2-3 parts coconut fiber
1-2 parts peat
1 part mulled spaghnum moss
1/2 part fine carbon
1/2 part silica sand
1/2 orchid bark


For drainage I have used the balls or fine gravel with up to an inch of sand on top (keeps soil from entering your mini aquifer). Burrowing tarantulas sometimes stop at the sand layer, but not often.

For a vivarium for an Avic you can use a 10 to 20 gallon long on its side. They won't utilize the bottom at all, but you can plant various hoyas, pothos, creeping fig, or other plants that can climb up your background and branches. Sansevierias work great for this too and add height and can be webbed up for months without the leaves dying. They will all tolerate drier conditions should you choose to go a route of higher ventilation (which I recommend for learning) by using a screen door.

As for the clean up crew most tarantulas avoid eating them. They don't seem to taste so great, however they may end up all becoming attempted snacks as the tarantula grabs them and tosses them aside. So I would use the dwarf varieties of isopod. They tend to escape the attention.

Viper69 sadly I'm bad at keeping track of my old photos. They exist, but are most likely trapped on dead laptops and broken phones. Martin actually sent the last male to me. I hope he did his job well.

Had a feeling Martin may have been involved.

Curious, on the peat, is all peat the same? I somehow doubt it. As you know not all topsoil that is sold is the same, thought I'd ask just the same on that one.