# Enclosure for Goliath Birdeater?



## Billboosie (Feb 10, 2018)

Hello everyone, i am a relative noob and I have just recently bought what the pet store claims is a Goliath Birdeater. I’m unsure but regardless, I like him a lot. 

However, I skimped a little bit on the enclosure and I think I shouldn’t have. I just have a 20 gallon aquarium tank. I’ll put up a picture of the setup and the T.

Mainly, I have noticed that the humidity is staying rather high and after a week, some slight white mold has appeared. I’ve been keeping the humidity around 80-90% and temp in low 70s.  I put the substrate in  damp and the tank has no cross ventilation. I’ve been venting it by having the ceiling fan go above it 
	

		
			
		

		
	








	

		
			
		

		
	
 which seems to work. 

He also hasn’t been coming out of his hide much at all after the first few days. Is that normal behavior? I ask because I hope I haven’t made him uncomfortable. 

Should I go tomorrow and get one with better ventilation? Am I doing anything else badly wrong?

Reactions: Face Palm 1


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## spookyvibes (Feb 10, 2018)

I'd personally put a bit more substrate. I can't really tell the height of the tank in the photos or how big the tarantula is, but you want to make sure that the height is no more than the tarantula and a halfs legspan. So if you have an eight inch (20 cm) specimen, have no more than twelve inches (30 cm) from the top of the cage to the sub. I don't know very much about Theraphosa sp, so hopefully someone who does have some experience dealing with them can give you some better suggestions if anything is wrong with your setup. Btw, beautiful spider and welcome to the hobby!


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## Billboosie (Feb 10, 2018)

spookyvibes said:


> I'd personally put a bit more substrate. I can't really tell the height of the tank in the photos or how big the tarantula is, but you want to make sure that the height is no more than the tarantula and a halfs legspan. So if you have an eight inch (20 cm) specimen, have no more than twelve inches (30 cm) from the top of the cage to the sub. I don't know very much about Theraphosa sp, so hopefully someone who does have some experience dealing with them can give you some better suggestions if anything is wrong with your setup. Btw, beautiful spider and welcome to the hobby!


I really do need to do that then because this tank is quite tall, 16 inch total. I’m going to go look tomorrow at some better ones with cross vents that might also be a little shorter because this one would need a lot of substrate to get that high.

Thanks for your tip and the warm welcome  .

Reactions: Like 1


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## chanda (Feb 10, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> I really do need to do that then because this tank is quite tall, 16 inch total. I’m going to go look tomorrow at some better ones with cross vents that might also be a little shorter because this one would need a lot of substrate to get that high.
> 
> Thanks for your tip and the warm welcome  .


Actually, for a Theraphosa species, the height (depth) of the cage is fine - but it should have _deep_ substrate because these guys like to burrow. Just add more substrate and you'll have a happy spider - though you may not get to see him/her all that often. My AF T. stirmi spends most of her time in her hide or in her one of her burrows. (She has two - one under her hide and a second burrow under her water dish.) But when it's feeding time, if I drop the roaches right in front of the burrow, I get to see her lunge out and grab them. Also, I sometimes see her prowling around if I sneak into the room late at night with a flashlight.


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## Billboosie (Feb 10, 2018)

chanda said:


> Actually, for a Theraphosa species, the height (depth) of the cage is fine - but it should have _deep_ substrate because these guys like to burrow. Just add more substrate and you'll have a happy spider - though you may not get to see him/her all that often. My AF T. stirmi spends most of her time in her hide or in her one of her burrows. (She has two - one under her hide and a second burrow under her water dish.) But when it's feeding time, if I drop the roaches right in front of the burrow, I get to see her lunge out and grab them. Also, I sometimes see her prowling around if I sneak into the room late at night with a flashlight.



Ok good to know. I have another brick of ecoearth left so I’ll try adding that tomorrow. I really appreciate the advice. 

Mine acts the same about his little rock, doesn’t like coming out much. I’ll have to stay up late one night and see if I can catch him out and about .


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## Venom1080 (Feb 10, 2018)

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/theraphosa-care-and-info.303033/

Search function is your friend.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 2


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## Rittdk01 (Feb 10, 2018)

I have two T stirmi that are kept identical to one another.  My big T stirmi is in a large Rubbermaid tub with holes drilled on the sides and top for ventilation.  About seven inches of jungle mix substrate and a huge borrow made from  a water pitcher.  There is also a large water dish, Moss for decoration and holding in water, springtails and isopods to keep everything clean.
The smaller is kept the same just on a smaller scale.

I’ll post pictures of the enclosure when I am home.  My adult female just molted last night and I was wanting to post some pics anyway.  Going to preserve the molt and put it with her other one from last December.  I’ll put the molt on a ruler for anyone curious about such things.


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## Nightstalker47 (Feb 10, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> Hello everyone, i am a relative noob and I have just recently bought what the pet store claims is a Goliath Birdeater. I’m unsure but regardless, I like him a lot.
> 
> However, I skimped a little bit on the enclosure and I think I shouldn’t have. I just have a 20 gallon aquarium tank. I’ll put up a picture of the setup and the T.
> 
> ...


Too much height in your enclosure, and your specimen is T.stirmi btw.

What kind of lid are you using? I would rehouse, sterilite/rubbermaid bins work far better for this genus anyway.


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## Billboosie (Feb 10, 2018)

Sorry everyone for not using the search. I really appreciate all the help and will use it instead in the future.



Nightstalker47 said:


> Too much height in your enclosure, and your specimen is T.stirmi btw.
> 
> What kind of lid are you using? I would rehouse, sterilite/rubbermaid bins work far better for this genus anyway.


Thanks for the ID and the help.  I did have a mesh lid but I read the guide.  Got a clear sterilite tub with similar dimensions but shorter today. I’m going to drill some vents in it and  rehome asap.

Reactions: Like 4


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## darkness975 (Feb 11, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> Hello everyone, i am a relative noob and I have just recently bought what the pet store claims is a Goliath Birdeater. I’m unsure but regardless, I like him a lot.
> 
> However, I skimped a little bit on the enclosure and I think I shouldn’t have. I just have a 20 gallon aquarium tank. I’ll put up a picture of the setup and the T.
> 
> ...


What color is the exoskeleton under the bald patch?


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## Billboosie (Feb 11, 2018)

darkness975 said:


> What color is the exoskeleton under the bald patch?


I haven’t been able to see it for a couple of days but when I got him, it was a pinkish red color like the picture.


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## Andrea82 (Feb 11, 2018)

darkness975 said:


> What color is the exoskeleton under the bald patch?


It's pink on the first picture


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## Billboosie (Feb 12, 2018)

Ive rehomed him successfully and he just had his first feeding in the new enclosure! 

One thing though I’ve noticed is when I remove/replace this lid, the snapping seems to frighten him much more than the old one. He also isn’t seeming to want to get into his hide anymore since the move. Is he just settling in? 

And will he get used to the snapping of the lid or should I not latch and just weigh down?


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## Ungoliant (Feb 12, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> One thing though I've noticed is when I remove/replace this lid, the snapping seems to frighten him much more than the old one. He also isn't seeming to want to get into his hide anymore since the move. Is he just settling in?


They can take a while to settle in, maybe even a week or two.




Billboosie said:


> And will he get used to the snapping of the lid or should I not latch and just weigh down?


He may grow out of being skittish (or become less skittish as he settles in), but sometimes they don't ever get used to the latching or opening/closing of enclosures. If you have an alternate method of securing it closed, feel free to try it.


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## Billboosie (Feb 16, 2018)

Thanks ungoliant! Just weighing it down is working much better as I can get the lid of without frightening him.

I’m posting a picture of the new set up and see what you all think.

Does the soil look damp enough? I left one corner drier than the rest.
I feel like I’m doing something wrong because unlike the  aquarium, he’s actively trying to escape this container.

Temperatures inside are the same (mid 70s)and humidity is high down south. The only thing I did differently this time is add sphagnum moss into the substrate  and I used the bagged eco earth rather than the bricked stuff.

As I had to soak the bricks, it was still good and damp after drying so that’s the only major difference I can see.


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## Nightstalker47 (Feb 16, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> I feel like I’m doing something wrong because unlike the  aquarium, he’s actively trying to escape this container.


Completely normal, roaming behavior should be expected after any rehouse. It will settle with time.

Your setup looks good, little on the larger side, but it will grow into it. You might want to add more ventilation holes on the sides though, very important with this genus.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Billboosie (Feb 16, 2018)

Ok great, I really appreciate that. That was my thinking on getting a slightly larger container. 
The picture I took doesn’t really do justice to the amount vent holes I have though, I’m including some pics. I have about 40~ holes on the ends and a  single group on the sides. I also drilled a few in the top.

Should I still get him out and add more?


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## Nightstalker47 (Feb 16, 2018)

Billboosie said:


> Ok great, I really appreciate that. That was my thinking on getting a slightly larger container.
> The picture I took doesn’t really do justice to the amount vent holes I have though, I’m including some pics. I have about 40~ holes on the ends and a  single group on the sides. I also drilled a few in the top.
> 
> Should I still get him out and add more?


Should be good, couldn't see the rest before.

Enjoy your theraphosa man! And feed it heavy until it rounds out, looking back at those pics it looks very slim.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Billboosie (Feb 17, 2018)

Nightstalker47 said:


> Should be good, couldn't see the rest before.
> 
> Enjoy your theraphosa man! And feed it heavy until it rounds out, looking back at those pics it looks very slim.


Thanks a lot again for  all your guidance, it makes me feel a lot better. I’m already enjoying so I’m sure more is to come.

I’ve been feeding him pretty well, I’ll make sure to keep it up. The crickets they were feeding him at the pet store were horribly small. I’m buying  the biggest I can find.

Reactions: Like 1


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