# A. Genic Terrarium Construction



## alexf (Mar 15, 2014)

Decided to share my progress with the new A. Genic terrarium I'm building right now.

I'm using Exo Terra Medium Low Terrarium (24L X 18W X 12H) since it's a good choice for a terrestrial tarantula due to low height and ample ground space.

The construction will feature false bottom. Since A. Genic is a humidity loving species in the past I used large water dish but then figured out why not turn the whole bottom of the terrarium into one gigantic water dish instead? This allows to have a much smaller water dish on the "surface" for drinking purposes only while at the same time greatly enhancing evaporation area to provide humid environment.

I've used expanded foam to mold the burrow using AC exhaust hose as a model. Here it is setting up, it will later be covered with silicone and coco fiber:







Trying the pieces together with the false bottom:







The false bottom features two levels: the lower level for the burrow and the upper level for the main land area.

Here is how the things look like with the window screen on:







In the top right corner is a ventilation tower featuring 80mm fan and a pipe which runs down to the false bottom. The fan is suspended on the rubber bands to minimize the vibrations and allow removal/replacement if needed (this one is used for testing only, it will eventually be replaced with a high quality Noctua fan):







To further aid with the vibrations the ventilation tower does not make direct contact with the glass -- it uses rubber grommets and is held in place with expanding foam:







The air circulation will be from under the false bottom to the top of the terrarium (the top will be covered in the final configuration so it will be in-tank circulation only to maintain humidity) helping to get rid of the stale air as well as help humidity transfer from under the false bottom.

I'll post more pictures as the build progresses.


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## fyic (Mar 16, 2014)

hmmm the only thing I think might be a prob is .......wouldn't the fan vibration bother the T ? 

don't get me wrong I think you got some good ideas there......just wasn't sure about the vibration


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## macbaffo (Mar 16, 2014)

Waterdish is not a must and you could have just watered the substrate instead of doing all that. Maybe i've seen it for dart frogs but still for a simple T seems to me a hell of work compared to what you gain in the end.
Anyway If it works, good for you.


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## MarkmD (Mar 16, 2014)

Looks like you've put alot of work into it well done, not really sure about the need for a fan?. I know you said about air circulation etc but even with the air in the room will always be there before/after using the fan unless you keep it on all the time?


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## viper69 (Mar 16, 2014)

Interesting build- think it's overly complex, however to each their own. Interesting fan silo. I own the top of the line Noctua, and honestly thats over kill. But it's not my money so I don't care. Good use of egg crate!


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## alexf (Mar 16, 2014)

The hide and the circulation tower covered in silicone with coco fiber/some sphagnum moss (the visible foam parts will be under substrate once the build is complete)







It will now have to sit like that for a couple of days before silicone fully cures and after that it can be filled with the substrate.

---------- Post added 03-16-2014 at 11:19 AM ----------




MarkmD said:


> Looks like you've put alot of work into it well done, not really sure about the need for a fan?. I know you said about air circulation etc but even with the air in the room will always be there before/after using the fan unless you keep it on all the time?


My final vision is to have the viv almost entirely sealed (except for the Exo Terra front vents) so the fan will be the only way to move the air inside and prevent things from getting stale. Also I'm planning to keep the substrate almost completely dry and instead rely on the air exchange with the false bottom to keep humidity up. The fan is planned to be on 24x7 and I'm getting one of the best fans out there which can move air with minimal noise and vibrations -- plus it will be hooked to a fan controller so I can control how much air it moves depending on what I see.

---------- Post added 03-16-2014 at 11:38 AM ----------




fyic said:


> hmmm the only thing I think might be a prob is .......wouldn't the fan vibration bother the T ?
> 
> don't get me wrong I think you got some good ideas there......just wasn't sure about the vibration


This is a valid concern and I went to some lengths to mitigate it -- I'll see how it all plays out in the end.


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## alexf (Mar 17, 2014)

The fan has arrived this morning. It's rated 53CFM @ 17dBA which is among the best in the industry for this fan size.


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## MarkmD (Mar 17, 2014)

It looks like a good fan, only thing i can say is let us know how it works out in the T enclosure.


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## viper69 (Mar 17, 2014)

I'll be curious to see it finished, and see how well it works in practice, VERY curious.


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## edgeofthefreak (Mar 17, 2014)

Awesome! I love over-the-top builds! Nice water table as well. I'm using the same "egg crate" for my scorpion enclosure, though without any nice levelling, like you have. Definitely watching this thread!


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## alexf (Mar 21, 2014)

Update.

Terrarium filled with a mix of coco fiber and New Zealand shapgnum moss and some cork bark accents here and there:







Next I transferred the spider (fan is turned off) and after she spent some time in the new enclosure I gave her a small snack (cricket). After that I filled the false bottom with water and turned on the fan into its medium setting (1300 RPM), so far so good and no visible change in behavior -- still eating 







If I sniff the air blowing out of the ventilation tower it comes out incredibly humid -- there are 432 square inches of water underneath the false bottom and the whole thing should essentially work as a passive humidifier.

TODO:

1. Two Exo Terra Canopies are on order so I can close up the whole thing. For now it'll remain open for a week or so to air out.
2. Once the canopies arrive I'll see if I can grow some live moss on top of the burrow -- the humid air exiting the ventilation tower should blow right on top of it providing both humidity and ventilation (we'll see how it'll go) and I can probably get some lights going on at the back without too much disturbance to the spider (she can hide if she does not like it anyways). The front canopy will likely have some red/blue bulbs for night time observations.
3. I'll keep a close eye on how the T behaves and test the fan at full speed eventually -- it is unlikely I'll ever have to run it like that for any long periods of time but it would be useful to know that I can in case I'll need increased air movement.

Reactions: Like 2


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## MarkmD (Mar 21, 2014)

Really cool so far and hope it works out as an enclosure for T's, keep us upto date on your TODO list as things progress.


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## viper69 (Mar 21, 2014)

This looks very interesting. QUITE curious to see how/if you'll be able to keep the moss alive. What species of moss are you getting? Also curious about the water below- if it will get too stale and grow mold. I wouldn't know to be honest. VERY cool so far.

Alex, would you elaborate on the burrow formation more please? I see you used an AC duct/hose of some type, wrapped in plastic. I assume to make it easier to remove from the expanding foam?

Second, after you removed the hose, what if anything, did you do to the interior of the tunnel???


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## alexf (Mar 21, 2014)

I will get a bunch of random tropical mosses and then mix them (in a blender) with dried sphagnum moss and use that to spread around (first in my test tank, of course) and with regular watering it should take off. I'll update on how it'll go.

More details on the burrow:

1. Find an object which has the desired shape. For me it was an AC exhaust hose since my Genic is 4.5 years old and that looked like a right size for her.
2. Position the object inside the terrarium as you want it to be. Make sure you wrap it with something so you can separate it from the foam later on -- I used plastic food wrapper.
3. I used a black plastic garbage bag to cover the inside of the terrarium so when you spray foam it does not make direct contact with the glass. Once the stuff sets in just pull it out together with the bag and then separate the bag from the foam.
4. From here just apply a layer of silicone with a choice of top cover -- you do it to both interior and exterior of the tunnel and as a result you've got yourself (and your spider) a good naturally looking burrow!

Forgot to mention that the black plastic fitting is used to elevate the to-be-burrow entrance. Since the main land area sits higher than the burrow area the burrow has a slight slope downwards -- I thought that would provide a more natural layout as opposed to a burrow simply sitting flat.

There is no worry about water under the false bottom molding -- it's just water and the screen does not let much coco fiber through. Mold needs something to eat and there is nothing to eat down there. Something interesting I've noticed with the fan -- the updraft from the fan is enough to create small water movement so that should steer things up a little and keep things from getting stale too.

So far things are looking good, the spider is chilling out at the burrow entrance (the fan has been working at 1300 RPM for almost half a day by now):


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## just1moreT (Mar 21, 2014)

She is looking happy setting in front of that cave,  looks good to me wether to much work or not, its always fun building enclosures for this guys


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## viper69 (Mar 22, 2014)

You may need to check under the false bottom for mold at times. If you don't get any over time then you've done a great job no doubt! It looks great, thanks for further posting, keep updating over time.

Curious what made you pick that model Noctua?



just1moreT said:


> She is looking happy setting in front of that cave....


 Just1moreT aka The Tarantula Whisperer


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## just1moreT (Mar 22, 2014)

I whispered to my 6 inch L  parahybana stay right there I feed you in a bit ,8 hours later she was still same spot so im thinking im making progress with comunicating with them

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 1


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## alexf (Mar 22, 2014)

Noctua does one of the best fans out there (expensive though), the choice of fan was dictated by its advanced bearings (SSO) which minimize vibrations and quiet operation while producing decent CFM.

This is not my first false bottom setup -- there is never any mold under the false bottom. And if I ever get any issues I can always siphon the water out.


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## viper69 (Mar 22, 2014)

alexf said:


> Noctua does one of the best fans out there (expensive though), the choice of fan was dictated by its advanced bearings (SSO) which minimize vibrations and quiet operation while producing decent CFM.
> 
> This is not my first false bottom setup -- there is never any mold under the false bottom. And if I ever get any issues I can always siphon the water out.


Yes they do. I have their top of the line model for one of my rigs, I love it! Thanks for the info on the mold/bottom, this encourages me to try this at some point!


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## alexf (Mar 23, 2014)

For the second day in a row I wake up to observe a very satisfying picture -- the T (her name is Samantha  ) happily hunting in front of her burrow. There was some slight webbing going on over night as well. Yesterday I was doing some hunting response tests and let the cricket free roam in the enclosure -- she nailed it from the distance with surgical precision so my conclusion so far is the fan does not interfere with a normal T life nor with it's ability to sense vibrations and hunt.







So far the experiment looks like a total success. Does your humidity loving T constantly hangs around inside or near your water dish? You're keeping it wrong!


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## Oreo (Mar 23, 2014)

Noctua fans are great. I'm curious to hear your findings on your T's behavior. Are you considering running the fan in cycles, where it doesn't run at times? At its current fan speed, can you feel the air moving? It'd be interesting to see how controlled ventilation and humidity affect growth and activity. I imagine that would require a number of younger specimens.


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## alexf (Mar 23, 2014)

The fan comes with two adapters which allow to run at 1800, 1300 and 800 RPM. I was initially planning to get a fan controller but so far I was running 24x7 with the 1300 RPM adapter. The second duty of the fan is to pull the humid air from under the false bottom and humidify the enclosure so my plan so far is to run it 24x7 especially considering I have not observed any negative effects so far.

There is a very faint air movement out of the ventilation tower @1300RPM. You can't feel it with your hand but you can with a wet finger or if you stick your head down there ;-) Now that the top of the burrow got some webbing going on I see the web is constantly waving in response to the air movement so it's definitely there. At full speed (1800RPM) there is a noticeable wind blowing out and so far I've avoided running in this mode since I don't see a need.


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## viper69 (Mar 23, 2014)

alexf said:


> The second duty of the fan is to pull the humid air from under the false bottom and humidify the enclosure so my plan so far is to run it 24x7 especially considering I have not observed any negative effects so far.
> 
> Now that the top of the burrow got some webbing going on I see the web is constantly waving in response to the air movement so it's definitely there. At full speed (1800RPM) there is a noticeable wind blowing out and so far I've avoided running in this mode since I don't see a need.




I think the build itself is great . It's always nice when a T uses the pre-made burrow/hide we make for them  , because so often they don't!!

2 things


1. Is the fan serving as self-humidification by spreading moisture through the tower, I think so based on what I read. I think I'm a little lost on this point haha

2. The top of the burrow has web, that is good I think. BUT you observed constantly waving web due to air movement. At this point, you can leave it, and do your best to observe over time if your T is bothered by that air currents. I can't speculate one way or the other if this will be an issue for the T as they are sensitive to movement.

If you see it always favoring one region w/out air currents (assuming there's a region of the tank that doesn't have any), that MAY indicate it is bothered, but w/out shutting down the fan, you won't know for "sure".

You'll have to observe long periods of time to some degree I think.

I think so far it's quite good !! Keep us posted!!


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## alexf (Mar 23, 2014)

Without the fan the air under the false bottom will always be more moist because there is a layer of substrate in between. Because the fan draws the air from under the false bottom it both moves the air around and helps to spread moisture.


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## viper69 (Mar 23, 2014)

alexf said:


> Without the fan the air under the false bottom will always be more moist because there is a layer of substrate in between. Because the fan draws the air from under the false bottom it both moves the air around and helps to spread moisture.


so is more moisture coming through the tower then, as opposed to rising up through the sub? That's what I'm getting at.


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## alexf (Mar 23, 2014)

Yes, the fan facilitates the process by providing active air exchange.


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## pyro fiend (Mar 31, 2014)

i personally love this idea. i been tossing around an idea of doing something like this but kept doubting myself because of fan movements disrupting the T. then again 3 of my 4 T's like dry sub [sadface] but once my albos old enough im def stealing this idea if it works in the long run!


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## alexf (Apr 2, 2014)

Stay tuned, I'm now building a sightly tweaked version in the second Exo 

In the meantime here is some night viewing picture:

Reactions: Like 1


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## viper69 (Apr 2, 2014)

That looks nice. Have you been measuring the humidity, how stable has it been? Any changes? That night shot looks great! A tweaked version, that has me CURIOUS!!! Please post it back in this thread to keep track of easily  Your builds definitely are inspiring.


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## alexf (Apr 11, 2014)

Here is the current state. Both canopies have arrived so I can close the thing up and start getting some humidity measurements. I'm also testing the daytime lighting -- the T isn't exactly happy about that but she has a good dark place to hide.







with the lights on that's basically as far as she comes out (which I think very closely resembles how T sit in the wild during daytime so I think I'm fine with that for now):







snapped a picture when she came out in response to a cricket wandering nearby  (I never tong feed but instead let the cricket free roam and let the T hunt) -- she looks absolutely stunning under the daylight lights:

Reactions: Like 1


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## viper69 (Apr 11, 2014)

alexf said:


> I never tongue feed...


I never use my tongue to feed them either!  Nice canopies from what I can tell from. The "ground" looks very cool. Someone else is using blue LEDs from night viewing, and white LEDs for daytime. I can't wait to see your new build.


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## alexf (Apr 11, 2014)

ahaha.... fixed!


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