Right time to move my T into her final enclosure?

[Mr Garisson]

Hi there, I just got a Chaco Golden Knee as my first T, I thought I had all the info I need but now I m having a doubt.

I wont ask you what is the right size as I have an idea of it, but rather I wonder if she is old enough and big enough to go into her last enclosure now.

My Chaco is a female, 2 years old and a bit more than 3 inches wide, is it too early to give her now her final home?

I want to get something roughly about 18 L x 10 D (or 12) x 9 H, would that be too big for how she is now?

And also, the height of the enclosure is kinda problematic to decide because I plan to put the enclosure under a TV stand (to keep it out of reach of my two cats), but on all the stands I've looked at it seems that 9 inches high is the max that will fit in.

So hence another question, will 9 inches high be enough? (so as to leave enough substrate to burrow when she gets older).

I know that high isn't very important for a Chaco, in fact I think I can answer my own questions but like i said I m suddenly having a doubt and want the best for me and my T so I thought it's better to be safe and ask.

And I just wanna thank you all for creating such a place where tons of info is freely available, you saved me a lot off stress!

Many thanks in advance

 

[Osmo]

Why not? The size thing is only to make sure they can find their food. As long as she/he can find their food I would go ahead. If you think about it in the wild they have the earth as their enclosure and manage to survive. i doubt 1 foot of "extra" space can hurt.

just make sure he/she keeps eating.

 

[poisoned]

as long as your enclosure is really plain it will be fine. If you add much decorations, it will have trouble finding food

 

[macbaffo]

Why not? The size thing is only to make sure they can find their food. As long as she/he can find their food I would go ahead. If you think about it in the wild they have the earth as their enclosure and manage to survive. i doubt 1 foot of "extra" space can hurt.

just make sure he/she keeps eating.

In wild, most terrestrial Ts and Grammostola sp. don't really wander around looking for food. They stay near their hiding. That's why having too much space is pretty much useless for the T.

 

[Osmo]

In wild, most terrestrial Ts and Grammostola sp. don't really wander around looking for food. They stay near their hiding. That's why having too much space is pretty much useless for the T.

I didnt mean they wander around the earth. I meant they are able to find food in the wild so finding their food in an enclosed area as juvies/adults shouldnt be to much of an issue.

 

[poisoned]

I didnt mean they wander around the earth. I meant they are able to find food in the wild so finding their food in an enclosed area as juvies/adults shouldnt be to much of an issue.

In wild it doesn't matter that much if food passes by. In captivity, you want to control feeding, since feeding response tells you alot about status of your T. Also, crickets for example, can be dangerous during molt.

 

[Osmo]

In wild it doesn't matter that much if food passes by. In captivity, you want to control feeding, since feeding response tells you alot about status of your T. Also, crickets for example, can be dangerous during molt.

Yes, i know. i think your missing my point.

 

[Mr Garisson]

Thanks for the replies guys, that's much appreciated. This is the situation when you re pretty sure about something but you still get paranoid about the consequences if you re wrong! So you reckon 9 inches high enclosure will still be high enough when she s fully grown?

 

[SamuraiSid]

The height will be fine. If the T falls at its current DLS, it could suffer a ruptured opisthosoma. Now that Ive scared you, Ive had a lot of my terrestrials climb to that hieght, while being super duper fat!!!!! only one rupture, but it seemed more aesthetic than anything else. It molted out fine. Just make sure you dont keep your T fat to minimize the chance of a fall.

IME: With the overall size of the enclosure, if you provide lots of decor for the crickets to climb and hide in, they will. The T might forage a bit and come across a cricket, but Ive noticed more times than not the terrestrial T will sit in ambush pose, and the cricket will feel comfortably hidden and stay still and out wait the T.


If you keep your enclosure barren the crickets will roam the perimeter to get ambushed.