8legfreak
Arachnosquire
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- Nov 19, 2016
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Welcome to AB. Good luck with your T. I am glad you found some good advice. I hope all goes well and she gets better.
Tarantula Heath question
- Thread starter MulsYerrus
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Hides should be buried most of the way. After burying them, I will put a finger or three (depending on the size of the t using it) just to create enough room to allow the t to squeeze in...often after the t gets done excavating, it really just looks like a hole in the ground.
You see the end results here...just looks like a hole, but in fact it is a large piece of wood buried and virtually covered.
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Replace the screen with a piece of acrylic or plexi. Many hardware stores will cut it for you if you have proper dimensions. Then you just drill out ventilation holes. I also have it cut so that I don't have to remove the entire top.
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You have 2 choices, either drop her into a tank with sub that is only 1.5x her DLS from sub to ceiling. OR drop her into a ExoTerra Breeder Box/something similar height. There is no fall potential in that product. I use them quite a bit.
MulsYerrus
Arachnopeon
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- Feb 10, 2017
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Wow I'm envious that looks like a really nice home for your tarantula.
Hides should be buried most of the way. After burying them, I will put a finger or three (depending on the size of the t using it) just to create enough room to allow the t to squeeze in...often after the t gets done excavating, it really just looks like a hole in the ground.
You see the end results here...just looks like a hole, but in fact it is a large piece of wood buried and virtually covered.
MulsYerrus
Arachnopeon
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- Feb 10, 2017
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Hey I recognize that username. Thanks for recommending I post here, I've got some really great help and constructive criticism
Welcome to AB. Good luck with your T. I am glad you found some good advice. I hope all goes well and she gets better.
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Once you have the correct amount of substrate in there, you will be able to take the hide and bury it at an angle so that it resembles a burrow in the ground.
For the lid you should replace that screen mesh lid with pexi glass that has holes drilled into it. If you search up "Pexi Glass Lid" you can find threads where people have done this and posted how to do it. It's fairly easy to do once you get the piece cut to the correct size of your tank (measure the length and width).
If you bought a shallow tank and did a tank swap it would take her a few days to adjust to the new surroundings which will happen anyway when you move her to add more substrate. Either way you are going to have to move her for a bit and she will have to re-adjust (which she will so don't worry). I use mostly Kritter Keepers for my terrestrials. They have great viewing and the lids are not the risk that the metal screen ones are. They are very ventilated though, so keep that in mind.
Also, regarding the water dish: If I were you I would get a sleeve of 2oz souffle cups. The kind that you use for salad dressing. You can get a sleeve of 100 at Wal Mart for like $3.00. When you have to clean the water dish, instead of scrubbing all the nasty gunk off of the dish like you would have to now, you can just swap out the cup for a new one and throw the old one out. Re fill it and call it a day. Easy as pie.
If you do not already have them, I would pick up a pair of long handled tongs for grabbing the water dish and doing spot cleaning. Using bare hands is not recommended.
Here's how I set up my terrestrial species. Note the hide angle and the 2oz souffle water cup. Just copy this set up and you're good. The B. smithi excavated her hide out a bit so that is why hers looks more cavernous. The G. porteri decided hers would be best webbed completely over, so she would have to bust through there Terminator style if she wanted to use it lol.
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@Venom1080 You are partially correct. I did ask of anyone had seen a problem with heat mats. Of course I did ask for evidence of problems under parameters that this case does not meet. I have never advocated putting a heat mat in direct contact with the enclosure itself, much less in the hide. I think if you go back and read the posts all the way through you might notice that. In fact, I've menioned several times that I don't use any heat on mine but if I did, I would use the heat mat for ambient heat, meaning away from the tank. I have been very specific on this point, yet somehow, my words have continued to be misconstrued.
That said, the advice given here thus far is entirely correct. Small gap between substrate and top to avoid falls, heat only under very cold conditions, keep water handy and plexiglass is your friend. I hope that your T makes a full recovery on it's next molt. Always check with the folks here if you decide to change anything at all and welcome to the addiction
That said, the advice given here thus far is entirely correct. Small gap between substrate and top to avoid falls, heat only under very cold conditions, keep water handy and plexiglass is your friend. I hope that your T makes a full recovery on it's next molt. Always check with the folks here if you decide to change anything at all and welcome to the addiction