# Dr Acula's Enclosures



## Dr Acula

To start with, this is a deli container enclosure I made for a P subfusca "Lowland" juvi. Will update tomorrow, too tired to get pics of other enclosures at the moment  credit to robc for the waterbowl idea!

Reactions: Like 3


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## grayzone

nice delis... how'd you do the waterdish?  ive been using delis too lately, and love them.


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## Dr Acula

I just got a bunch of broken up bark and hot glue gunned em to a cap for a medicine bottle  hardest part was getting the plastic child lock out of the cap :wall: i loooove these specific containers because they look like they're actually meant for Ts, but that could just be the delusions we T keepers get whenever we see any type of container


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## Billeh

Do you have a video you can link us about the bottle cap? Looks interesting. also, is that a piece of bark you have that creates that hide? This is VERY well done lol. Please make a walk through or something!


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## SamuraiSid

Great looking enclosure!


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## Dr Acula

Unfortunately, I just made the waterdish off of my own take on the idea. I saw one of his videos where he's showing a waterdish and says "My wife makes these. All it is, is bark hot glue gunned to a small deli cup" His look much better because, if I remember correctly, they have moss as well.  

However, the next time I do another enclosure like this, I'll definitely make a tutorial on doing so  yes, that is a piece of bark. I packed the cocofiber along the edges to keep as much light from getting into the "cave" as possible.

Reactions: Like 1


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## axle37

Dr Acula said:


> Unfortunately, I just made the waterdish off of my own take on the idea. I saw one of his videos where he's showing a waterdish and says "My wife makes these. All it is, is bark hot glue gunned to a small deli cup" His look much better because, if I remember correctly, they have moss as well.
> 
> However, the next time I do another enclosure like this, I'll definitely make a tutorial on doing so  yes, that is a piece of bark. I packed the cocofiber along the edges to keep as much light from getting into the "cave" as possible.


that is the best deli container home iv ever seen for a T or anything else for that matter


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## Dr Acula

Thanks axle! The inhabitant has reorganized things to its liking so the quality has somewhat downgraded


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## grayzone

lol... damn it... why do they never do what WE want them to do??? tarantulas are too opinionated for my liking sometimes

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## Dr Acula

Here's a small juvi enclosure I set up for my H maculata.  Hot glue gun a gatorade cap and a small fake plant branch to piece of bark and your done 

















This is something me and my dad are working on.  70 gallon terrarium with a tiger salamander and 2 firebelly toads.  Any suggestions as to what else to put in there, terrestrial animals preferably? We just recently cleaned the whole thing out because of a house spider infestation so the majority of the decor is being cleaned off at the moment.  We were thinking about a couple red-eyed crocodile skinks. (once everything eventually dies out, I plan on making it into a P subfusca communal)


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## Masurai

You have some nice enclosures.


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## Dr Acula

Masurai said:


> You have some nice enclosures.


Thanks 

Here's an arboreal setup I made for an A versi that I recieved today.  She was smaller than expected so I rehoused my P striata in it instead.  Can't remember where, but I got the idea from a thread posted on here a while back.  I figured I'd give it a shot!

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## Dr Acula

Arboreal Kritter Keeper w/ BarkBowl How-To 












Materials.

Acrylic
Cork bark tube
Decor
Any sort of lid, top, cap, etc.
Bark
HotGlue Gun
Kritter Keeper (size of your choice)

Steps (1-4/6 are pretty self explanatory) 

1.  Fit acrylic to the inside of the KK & hot glue inside and outside creases.  This is alot easier if you melt the bottom tips, making them round and creating a better fit.  Should cover enough to allow a decent burrow.

















2.  Add substrate








3&4.  3.Add branches, cork bark, plants, etc.  I used the normal wood only because the T I'll be putting in it won't need much humidity.  If this were for an Avic or Poeci, I'd only use cork bark to prevent molding.  
 4.  If you've seen Robc's tutorials you'll know exactly how to set it up.  Just dig out enough substrate to wear you almost hit the back of the enclosure.  Then fill up the tube with about 1/3 of substrate to allow more burrowing.







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BarkBowl How-To

5-1.  Crush slab of bark so that they're many pieces with different size varieties.







5-2.  Working from Biggest to Smallest chunks, hot glue the largest chunks onto the bottom of the lid. Medium sized pieces with flat breaks will go around the outer edge of the lid.  






















5-3  If there are any decent sized gaps betweek the pieces, use a couple smaller pieces of bark to cover them up.  Don't go crazy though, the next step will cover up all the minor gaps.












5-4  Crush any pieces of bark that are left over.  Place hot glue between cracks and crevices, anywhere that the lid is visible pretty much, and press on clumps of the crushed bark.  You could also use cocofiber, peat moss, or whatever else you feel like using.  To prevent the bark from absorbing water in the dish, do the same step over again but along the edge of the lid. 












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6.  Find a high spot to hot glue the BarkBowl to.









The Finished Product.






















Can anyone guess what T this is for?  First to get it right will get a free BarkBowl of any size that fits your liking. 1 try only!

Reactions: Like 5


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## poisoned

I did the same thing with my KK, but I also made a cover for top part, because I was sure that a T would made it's burrow between cover and substrate holding wall


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## Dr Acula

Yea, I was speculating on that. How'd you go about making the cover?


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## poisoned

This is how I made it. I slide the door from beneath and it' thin, because you need to bend it. make door a little longer than hole, so it will be over bottom part because it will hold it in place and you won't have problems with opening it. I hope I was clear enough. Oh, sorry for no photos, I'm not at home


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## Storm76

Nicely done! I like that idea, probably gonna use that myself at some point


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## grayzone

is it for your subfucsa.. that thing has GOT to be ready for a new cage by now...


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## Dr Acula

poisoned said:


> View attachment 105425
> 
> 
> This is how I made it. I slide the door from beneath and it' thin, because you need to bend it. make door a little longer than hole, so it will be over bottom part because it will hold it in place and you won't have problems with opening it. I hope I was clear enough. Oh, sorry for no photos, I'm not at home


I kind of get what you mean.  If you can later, pictures would be perfect!



Storm76 said:


> Nicely done! I like that idea, probably gonna use that myself at some point


Thank you! I'd like to see how they come out  



grayzone said:


> is it for your subfucsa.. that thing has GOT to be ready for a new cage by now...


Nope! But he is due for a new cage. Gunnu be rehousing quite a few Ts actually.  The vertical 10g I'll be setting up for my P cambridgei will be posted on here later on.  Should be awesome!


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## meghanbe

Nice enclosures and awesome idea on the water bowl. I'll definitely have to try that out.

I'm going to guess that it's for your P. striata.


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## catfishrod69

H. maculata?


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## Chris_Skeleton

P. cambridgei?


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## paassatt

Very nice tutorial there. Well done, man.


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## Dr Acula

We have a winner 









catfishrod69 said:


> H. maculata?


Interested in the BarkBowl catfishrod69?

---------- Post added 06-28-2012 at 11:30 PM ----------




paassatt said:


> Very nice tutorial there. Well done, man.


Thank you!  I've got nothing on Robc though


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## KenTheBugGuy

Reallly nice set ups!!!  I try to encourage my customers to do thingd similiar but you really took it to the extreme...very well done!


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## Dr Acula

KenTheBugGuy said:


> Reallly nice set ups!!!  I try to encourage my customers to do thingd similiar but you really took it to the extreme...very well done!


Thanks Ken! Once I get an arboreal lid for my 10g, I'll be doing my first live plant enclosure so that'll be fun


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## catfishrod69

HOLY crap. Seriously? I have just one something for once?  I just took a wing at it. Kinda pictured it to stay dry, and i actually almost chose something else, but changed my mind. OH YEAH! haha. I could take you up on it. How about the biggest one you got? About the size of a hot tub should do, i can hook up some plumbing, and go from there. Thanks. 





Dr Acula said:


> We have a winner  Interested in the BarkBowl catfishrod69?


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## Dr Acula

Major props to you since I removed her from my inverts list so people couldn't find it too easily  Hahaha well maybe not as big as a hot tub but I can still do a fairly large one since I've got a lot of bark to my disposal  any sizes in mind? I can do anything smaller than a large dog bowl


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## catfishrod69

Thanks. I just randomly picked a good arboreal dry loving tarantula. Well whatever you wish, as large as you want to go works for me. If i like it, i might make some too. Dont they get pretty hard to clean out?


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## Dr Acula

Alright cool, I'll get started asap.

I just fill em up, dump out the water, and wipe it down. Any bowl glued to a stick or wall is gunnu be harder to clean though. You can always just suck up the water with a syringe and wipe away the residues. Definitely not dishwasher friendly  

    Since the ones I make use natural bark, they're more prone to molding so an arid enclosure would work best.  Be my guest to use cork bark instead! I'd love to see how that comes out


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## catfishrod69

Sounds good to me. Maybe this one will enjoy a H. maculata females enclosure too. If i like them, i will try it with corkbark.


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## Dr Acula

First large arboreal setup!  Built the lid myself, once again, inspired by robc.





































The new resident checking things out












Everything went swell

Reactions: Like 1


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## grayzone

really cool bro.. youll never see that cambridgei again lol.. lots of hiding spots. 
Are those the neon pothos? I dig em.. going to have to get some myself


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## Dr Acula

grayzone said:


> really cool bro.. youll never see that cambridgei again lol.. lots of hiding spots.
> Are those the neon pothos? I dig em.. going to have to get some myself


Haha that just means she'll be very comfortable 
Those are actually fake plants I had left over to hold the place for the neon pothos, waiting a month for the pesticides to wear off   I'll be posting a whole new set of pictures when the pothos are planted


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## grayzone

lol.. i feel dumb now thats 2x i been fooled by plants


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## voldemort

these projects were really inspiring!!!


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## J Morningstar

grayzone said:


> lol.. i feel dumb now thats 2x i been fooled by plants


Only the close up pic was telling, you can see too much uniformity to the leaves and a litttle texture of the material, but a very very nice setup. I'm trying for a few really good ones soon myself.


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## Dr Acula

voldemort said:


> these projects were really inspiring!!!


Thank you!  I give a lot of credit to Robc, his enclosures are what inspired me 



J Morningstar said:


> Only the close up pic was telling, you can see too much uniformity to the leaves and a litttle texture of the material, but a very very nice setup. I'm trying for a few really good ones soon myself.


The P. cam that's living there now will be my first breeding project so I just went all out.  I'll be doing the same when my P. metallica matures.  Hope all goes well with your future setups


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## Danimal

What's the size of the large setup you last posted? 10 gallon?


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## grayzone

looks like a 5gal, but i could be wrong.. a 10 gal is HUGE
a 5gal vertical dwarves a 8" poeci


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## Dr Acula

it's a 10 gal 

Facing the tank, there's actually a 10 gal sitting regularly to the right of it. Just so you can get an idea of the size.  You can see it in the first 3 pics of the enclosure.


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## longviewsteven

Wow, that is a really tricked out KK. You need to start a series, "pimp out my KK".


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## LuciferKuroro

Hi just want to know, why did you put your bark bowl hanging?, why don't you put it in the substrate?, sorry I'm just a newbie here


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## J Morningstar

LuciferKuroro said:


> Hi just want to know, why did you put your bark bowl hanging?, why don't you put it in the substrate?, sorry I'm just a newbie here


I would imagine it would be because most water bowls become full of substrate before they are useful, because a T never will let you get a "floor spot" they won;t cover with dirt...


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## vespers

Very nice set-up, Dr Acula.  I like it when people take the time to make nice habitats for their arachnids. The Robc inspiration is definitely there, like you said.



grayzone said:


> looks like a 5gal, but i could be wrong.. a 10 gal is HUGE
> a 5gal vertical dwarves a 8" poeci


Dwarf an 8" pokie? No way. A 5.5 gallon tank is only 8 inches wide and 16 inches long. Set up as a vertical enclosure with substrate, it wouldn't even have 2 leg-spans to climb.  That is too small, IMO.


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## MarkmD

I really love your enclosure design's, I am kinda the same making new designs for my T's, mine aren't as extravagant as yours but will be soon lol.


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## Dr Acula

LuciferKuroro said:


> Hi just want to know, why did you put your bark bowl hanging?, why don't you put it in the substrate?, sorry I'm just a newbie here


For my arboreals of course  I heard somewhere that they prefer their waterbowls suspended instead of on the ground so I went with it


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## catfishrod69

Hey i remember this one guy that won one of your waterbowls in a contest. Was pretty crazy .


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## Dr Acula

catfishrod69 said:


> Hey i remember this one guy that won one of your waterbowls in a contest. Was pretty crazy .


Lmao sorry man, I do still have it! I just haven't shipped it out yet.  I'll send it out to you before thanksgiving


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## catfishrod69

Haha i was just totally messing with you. If you can ship it and have it arrive on christmas day, that would be pretty sweet .


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## Dr Acula

That is definitely do-able  !


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## Petross

that waterdish is good idea


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