Q about exo terra water falls

Fred

Arachnobaron
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Oct 1, 2004
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A friend of mine gave me an exo terra set up. He also inculded a water fall I want to use inside the terrarium. I was wondering if anyone if anyone has used these. I'm concerned about the vibrations caused from the water pump stressing out the tarantula. I put my hand on the substrate around the base of the water fall and I felt a very faint amount of vibrations.
 

sharpfang

Arachnoangel
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I set one up Rescently...

And have Not filled w/ H2O yet.....Originally planned to use for "swampish" environment Tarantula..... have been advised Not to :cool: So am using for our Crested Gecko :razz: She likes it! Will start today...as have Reverse Osmosis H2O now :p {as Not to create Hard Water stains}

Bio-Ball medium {used 4 Hydroponics} is filled near to where the Cage doors Opens, then layered w/ Micron filter pad, then 1.5" of Coco substrate {stamped down}. It is the sm. sized tank.
Cannot post Pix 2Day, but will when can - GL :) If I ever put a T in it....I'd go w/ a Goliath, or similar High-Humidity species.

P.S. Ask "Talon AWD" = Steve, about the Water Falls....He has many of the tanx 4 T's, and perhaps has used feature. Next Larger tank I set-up, I will incorperate a Humidifying Fogger as well.
 

Fred

Arachnobaron
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Thanks for the info sharpfang. I'm going to be putting P ornata in there so not as high of humidity as T blondi but still pretty high. I suppose I will talk to Talon then.

Thanks again

-Fred
 

sharpfang

Arachnoangel
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Monsoon weather in some Pokie environments

Well Pokies do encounter Seasonal wet weather during parts of the year....and hence, have adapted to become Arboreal T's in the coastal low-lands during Summer climate changes.....I am Only now, beginning to dable w/ the Genus' Sp.'s, especially the Montane Subfusca varieties, and am Far from an Expert on them - I have adults in Lg. tall, live Planted vivariums w/ descent ventilation that they are used to.

Also: I used a Cork background in the tank....Punched a hole through top area, and ran tubing, connected to Pump behind the background, through, as to block substrate etc. from clogging issues over time...Enjoy the nice cage :)

P.S. Again Fred, I have been advised Not to use waterfalls 4 Tarantulas, however, will experiment sometime....I advise some More research, as I shall do so Further also.....Hope that Helps somehow ;)
 

MIC

Arachnosquire
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If you cannot avoid completely the vibrations don't try this thing. It will be a constant torture for your T.
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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I wouldn't use one based on the likelihood that the T will immediately fill it up with dirt anyway.
 

GK.

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Ever notice how you can't reallly feel your clothes after wearing them for a while? Its cause something goes on in our brains where our senses start ignoring stuff after a while. Its possible that tarantula nervous systems do the same thing, but I'm no expert so what do I know? :p
 

TalonAWD

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P.S. Ask "Talon AWD" = Steve, about the Water Falls....He has many of the tanx 4 T's, and perhaps has used feature.
Thanks for mentioning me Jason:)

I didn't see this thread until now but did get a PM asking about this. I have used an Exo-Terra waterfall 10 years ago with an LP tank.

I'll try to locate the exact construction details behind me design as I have stated full details 3 years ago here in this forum.

But to share with all of you what I shared with the OP... Heres my quote.

Yes I have. Along time ago with a Lasiodora parahybana tarantula. They get use to it. In nature there is all kinds of noise. They adapt just fine. What I did to slow down the vibrations is put pebbles and rrounded rocks in the flow of water. The Most important thing is to limit the amount of splashing. The drops would hit the T and that wouls stress it out because they won't really know what hit them.

Heres some pics.
Bear in mind this was over 10 years ago. My designs have changed greatly. She (the L parahybana) was a 9-10 inch specimen.



Now to add, you can see that the plants are strategically placed to absorb any droplets from the water splashing a tiny bit. Also bear in mind as the water is stimulated, the humidity will raise ALOT. My design at that time involved usisng halogen lamps to aid in drying out the excess humidity.

I'll try to find that post.
 
Last edited:

TalonAWD

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Ok found it. Back in 2007 is when I wrote this.

I have successfully done it and it was for a Laisodora Parahybana. This was 5 years ago before I got married and sold them all I had a collesction of 5 tarantulas. (they are in my profile.) Now I'm back in the hobby again. (Took 5 years but finally convinced my wife to accept.:D Persistence is key;P )
What I did was buy a 24" x 24" x24" glass tank with two lids. I bought the waterfall that goes in a corner of the tank. I don't know if its the same one the original poster was referring to. Its basically a corner waterfall with 3 shelves. Water flows from the top via a small pump. The water is collected on the bottom of the unit. I than used the normal stuff to decorate the tank. I built a special cabinet with two 20W light fixtures. (They produced high heat) I placed them hovering over the tank about 1.5-2" and towards the middle of the tank and from that portion to the back completed covered with the cabinet. From the lights foward there was no covering over the tank to provide free air. Basically the side walls of the cabinet were cut at an angle. The screen tops I chucked and replaced them with two 1/4" Plexi or Lexan. It had to be two for ease of feeding and maintenance (Because of the size of the tank) and the split also released more humidity depending on how much of a gap I wanted to leave. (For changes in weather that affect my houses temperature. I chose 1/4" because of the high heat lights I was using. Didn't want to have molten plastic fall in the tank. Drilled 1/4" holes and 1/2" holes towards the middle of the plexi around where the lights were. I placed rocks in the waterfall unit to prevent splashing whereever the water fell. Than I tested it for about a month. Each day (every 24 hrs) I would monitor the humidity level with 3 guages (Both sides and rear of the tank) The lights were put on a timer to turn on in the morning (roughly 7-8 am ) and to turn off at night (9-10pm) The pump was turned on and the tank was decorated with Dry Peat moss (Spagnum )Big Rocks (Situated partially directly under the lights for absorbtion of heat) and no water dish.

Every day I would drill a couple more holes in the plexi depending on my readings of the 3 guages. More humidity I would drill a 1/2" hole and fine tune it with a 1/4" hole. The area with the water fall had 1/2" holes with 1/4" holes around it to let out most of the moisture or humidity. I was able to manage 70-80% humidity.
Also one important detail. The water pump also had a seperate timer. The pump would usually start 1-2hrs (don't remember exactly) AFTER the lights turned on in the mornings. This was important because at night humidity would rise a bit and the lights were used to dry out the humidity level of the night before the pump started. And the pump would shut off 1-2 hrs before the lights shut off at night so that the same thing happens but for the opposite reasons. At night it will automatically become humid inside the tank. After 1 month I put the Laisodora in her new home (she hated the 10 Gallon tank)
My Laisodora Loved it!!! She was a 9" leg span Tarantula. The tank was art. Sometimes she would sit ontop of the HUGE rock cave to sun bath under the light and I have caught her drinking water from the water fall. She got used to it! Unfotunately my wife did not like to see such a large spider and I sold it with the set up for $100 along with the other 4 tarantulas for cheap:)eek: yeah I know I was stupid but in love!!) The most important part of the entire project was the simplist thing.....The Plexi Glass tops. That was the only thing I kept and still have till this day. I will one day Have it again but It was success. It was alot of work to get the plexi drilled with the correct number of holes to make it work. I started out with no holes. The other important detail is that whenever the pump started the flow of water, humidity would rise alot faster. With water standing (Similar to having a water dish) humidity levels would rise slowly depending on temperature. I never had mold nor have the sides of the tank accumulated water droplets during the day. (At night yes the sides would get a fog but near the huge rocks cause the rocks dissapaited heat slowly.) Also as long as the pump was completely submerged, it made no vibrations, it was silent. The rocks in the waterfall unit were also there to prevent the noise of water falling.

It can be done but it should be done with a large spider rather than a small one like the Parahybana or the T-blondi. With the blondi you could even go as far as making a small pool by placing a divider going at an angle and placing the water fall in the small pool. Place fake plants to stop the splashing. (The water droplets can stress the trantula greatly because it will hit them and they won't know what hit them and the fact that its random hits) My Parahybana was too large to even fit in the bowl so there was no chance of her drowning.
I do have a video of this tank setup. Hopefully I can find a way to take a picture of it one day to post. (Its on a VHS tape and I don't have a VHS player only DVD player since I don't use VHS anymore)I tried to describe it as best that I can. I will work on getting pics
.
Reference LINK
 

Moltar

ArachnoGod
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Hey Talon, you didn't have any trouble with her dumping soil into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall? I figured it would be a given that it would happen and the pump would get clogged. No bulldozing from this big girl?
 

TalonAWD

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Hey Talon, you didn't have any trouble with her dumping soil into the pool at the bottom of the waterfall? I figured it would be a given that it would happen and the pump would get clogged. No bulldozing from this big girl?
No she was not one to redecorate. If you look at the pictures, you will see that the fron of the waterfall feature is covered or blocked somwhat. This was there for the droplets from falling water. But looking at it in a different angle, it can serve as a deterant. You can also see that there was also a water dish towards the front of the tank as well. So i would guess this would be the firs place the T would have tried to cover up. But like I said, she was just a bum.{D
 
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