Unpopular opinion: using bigger enclosures for juveniles and adults is absolutely fine

Lice1721

Arachnopeon
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Nov 11, 2018
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I get that slings can 'lost' and hard to feed etc. in big enclosures so I use small delicups as well. However for juvs and adults I think it has several advantages to use bigger (6-7x span or bigger) enclosures than the often recommended 3-4x span.
For example when I had my sub adult C. darlingi in a ~2,5x span enclosure she just made a layer of web on the surface of the substrate and often just stayed in one corner in stress pose, never burrowed (even tho it had plenty of depth). But after I rehoused her into a 2x bigger enclosure she made several burrows and webbings and she's more active.
So I think bigger enclosures offer more opportunities to a tarantula to utilize.
Also feeding shouldn't be a problem, you can just put the prey item near the T or wait 24 hours to find it (my T's 90% find it within 24 hours if hungry).
It's also safer and less stressful to do maintance if your T has more space and not near your hands/tongs.
So overall I think if you have enough space for big enclosures you can absolutely use them, it won't stress your T (they don't have small enclosures in the wild), infact it can provide more opportunites for your T. Of course I'm only talking about surface area, height shouldn't be more than 2x span.
Thoughts?
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
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Oct 9, 2016
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For example when I had my sub adult C. darlingi in a ~2,5x span enclosure she just made a layer of web on the surface of the substrate and often just stayed in one corner in stress pose, never burrowed
I keep my C. marshalli in an enclosure about the size you described as your larger enclosure. She chose a corner, dug down to the bottom and made a horizontal tunnel about 5 inches long. She mainly stays in this tunnel, so she only uses about 25% of the enclosure. I think tarantulas should not be 'cramped', but it also depends on the personality and behaviour of the spider.
 

Tenebrarius

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Sep 8, 2018
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912
yeah nothing wrong with that. There is a minimum requirement, but you can make an enclosure big if you want. Terrestrials will always have height cut offs and arboreal probably wont end up using much horizontal space.
borrowing spiders will be more attached to their burrows and not use most of the space.
for fast Ts like my p met I kept it's sling form in a slightly larger enclosure just for my sake, that it doesn't bolt out and I have more time to react.
There is a size minimum that cannot be smaller, but for older Ts you can go larger if you want while considering it's safety, but often the space will be wasted. It's kind of pointless to talk about. It's best to just use a rough standard to not confuse people. height minimum and size minimum.
the maintenance you'll still do will be near your tarantula since it's the source of the mess.
 

Urzeitmensch

Arachnosquire
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Feb 23, 2019
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128
At the moment I keep my juvies in rather small enclosures. I now intend to move to bigger ones with the next rehouses simply for optical reasons and to avoid too frequent rehousing. Some of my Ts grew a lot faster than I expected.
 

Andrea82

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Jan 12, 2016
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I think it depends on the species. With OW and some NW species you'll want to give them and you more space to work with.
C.darlingi definitely qualifies for more space imo, yes.
 

Mirandarachnid

Arachnobaron
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Nov 11, 2017
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532
I'm all about giving them space when I can.

I think you get to see a lot more interesting behavior when you allow them space to move and objects to interact with, but there are some T's that just don't use it.
 

Urzeitmensch

Arachnosquire
Joined
Feb 23, 2019
Messages
128
It is also about display value.

Atm my T collection resembles a book shelf full of dirt-filled critter-keepers and various DIY plastic containers.

I intend to change this to a shelf with more spacious glass enclosures with some decoration over time, maybe some unobstrusive lighting. The Ts don't care for all I know but it will probably increase the observation value and also the interest and acceptance by guests and friends. People are superficial.
 

Vanessa

Grammostola Groupie
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Enclosure sizes are given as guidelines only. Once they get a bit of size on them, and desiccation is not as much of a threat, then it is up to the keeper to observe their behaviour and rehouse them accordingly. The guidelines of 3-4x their dls is always specified as the minimum requirement. This has become even more important as I am seeing more and more people keeping juveniles and adults in pathetically small enclosures permanently to save on space.
I have had plenty of species who went into their adult enclosures earlier than others due to the fact that the space provided them with more security and more area to explore.
Nobody is claiming that you can't keep them in larger enclosures, you need to observe their behaviour and rehouse accordingly. It is never a cookie cutter situation. Some are not going to react well to a lot of space and some will do just fine. People need to learn to look to the animal to tell them which it is.
 

Patherophis

Arachnobaron
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May 24, 2017
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407
I would say that unpopular opinion is that ts can actually do very well in enclosures smaller than "AB minimum", but let's not start WWIII here. :embarrassed:
 

Tenebrarius

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I would say that unpopular opinion is that ts can actually do very well in enclosures smaller than "AB minimum", but let's not start WWIII here. :embarrassed:
actually I based the formula on a simple fact: 4(dls)^2 - LW >= 0, is based off fitting the tarantula itself. that's 2(dls)^2 and enough room for molting and a water dish that's the other 2. It's the bare essentials. You could keep a fossorial in a more arboreal dimensional space but filled with dirt, but I don't recommend exceeding this rule at all.
any smaller is asking a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. Fine for transportation but inappropriate for living.
I suppose this is a joke right?
 

RezonantVoid

Hollow Knight
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Jan 7, 2018
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1,354
For all mine I keep them from sling size to around 4" in containers with a 120mmx120mm base and 150mm height. They don't seem too fussed and considering their venom and temperaments, I'm keen for as few rehouses as possible. I'm all for larger sling setups that reduce the amount of rehousing we have to do
 

MintyWood826

Arachnobaron
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Jun 16, 2018
Messages
401
I think it's more of an unpopular opinion on here to think seriously cramped enclosures are fine than larger than the recommended size, but that's just what I have noticed.
 

NukaMedia Exotics

#1 Tarantula Vendor in the USA! Ships Nationwide.
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Agreed definitely better in most all cases than the people who put them in tiny enclosures where they can barely move... Big enclosures are usually only bad when its either a sling in a huge enclosure, or something with too much height for a terrestrial species.

A good example of a super roomy enclosure that is still appropriate is one I placed my P. ornata female in today.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Agreed definitely better in most all cases than the people who put them in tiny enclosures where they can barely move... Big enclosures are usually only bad when its either a sling in a huge enclosure, or something with too much height for a terrestrial species.

A good example of a super roomy enclosure that is still appropriate is one I placed my P. ornata female in today.

how come you filled up the tank bottom to the bottom of the doors?

I get that slings can 'lost' and hard to feed etc. in big enclosures so I use small delicups as well. However for juvs and adults I think it has several advantages to use bigger (6-7x span or bigger) enclosures than the often recommended 3-4x span.
For example when I had my sub adult C. darlingi in a ~2,5x span enclosure she just made a layer of web on the surface of the substrate and often just stayed in one corner in stress pose, never burrowed (even tho it had plenty of depth). But after I rehoused her into a 2x bigger enclosure she made several burrows and webbings and she's more active.
So I think bigger enclosures offer more opportunities to a tarantula to utilize.
Also feeding shouldn't be a problem, you can just put the prey item near the T or wait 24 hours to find it (my T's 90% find it within 24 hours if hungry).
It's also safer and less stressful to do maintance if your T has more space and not near your hands/tongs.
So overall I think if you have enough space for big enclosures you can absolutely use them, it won't stress your T (they don't have small enclosures in the wild), infact it can provide more opportunites for your T. Of course I'm only talking about surface area, height shouldn't be more than 2x span.
Thoughts?

Haven't seen a soul on here that thinks larger is bad w/adults.
 
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NukaMedia Exotics

#1 Tarantula Vendor in the USA! Ships Nationwide.
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how come you filled up the tank bottom to the bottom of the doors?
Honestly no idea lol. Maybe so when I look in the front doors it looks even I really don't know what I was thinking, but it does slope down going to the back.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Honestly no idea lol. Maybe so when I look in the front doors it looks even I really don't know what I was thinking, but it does slope down going to the back.
I thought it was odd that you didn't give that nice T more leg room. Hold your hand out for it to hang out on, and dig a lot of that out ;)
 

Vanisher

Arachnoking
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Adults can be housed in large tanks, but it takes more of a design thinking than in a small, what i mean is that it is harder to get them to thrive with ease, in a very large enclosure. Juveniles and slings are 8/10 times not thriving in a to large enclosure. I often hear "but in the wild they have infinitive space!" Yes, the wild is a totally diffrent thing. In the wild they have millions things to their disposal, totally diffrent from captive keeping. Indirectly in a way, they have no infinitive space. Tarantulas are no explorers that like "bear Gryll" happily walking miles into the jungle. They have their burrow and maybe out of the burrow they walk 8 inch? It is not good for them to venture far from their burrow mouth. I'd say it is more important to keep a deep layer of sub than have a large areawise enclosure!
I say this with 20 years of experience of tarantulas, among this experimenrations with diffrent cages
 
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