# tank setup for Haplopelma schmidtii



## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

hi guys... is this set up of my tank good enough for the Haplopelma schmidtii (Chinese gold earth tiger)?? care to give some pointers .. BTW i inserted a cut tube of a bottle at the edge as a opening for my baby to induce his tunnel there. and it will keep him there. is it ok? 

looking forward to ur comments.. thanks.. i live in a tropical country.. so not worried about the humity.


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## Rob1985 (Feb 28, 2005)

What kinda substrate is that under the top layer? Personally it looks good is that 5 gallon tank or a 10 and how big is ur T? The only problem I see with your setup is a premade burrow. Burrowers with usually take care of themselves. Now you can encourage them to burrow buy putting a small piece of PVC pipe into the substrate. Homeade burrows are more likely to collapse causing some problesm especially under 5 or inches of substrate. . Go here   http://www.arachnopets.com/tarantulas/tcs.htm


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

i not sure about the gallon. the lenght of the tank is 30cm , the breath 20cm , hight is 22cm (exclude the cover ). the bottom black layer is potting soil or eco soil. the upper layer is mix soil ( mixture of coco peat , coconut husk, burned soil and volcano sand ). my T is coming tomorow. about 4.5"LG.


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## Rob1985 (Feb 28, 2005)

Yeah it looks simlar to mine. I would redo the burrow. I would to have telling us she died or hurt herself . Good luck with her man!!! and keep us up to date!!!  I have 100% Dry Sphagnum Peat Moss. IN a 3.5 gallon kritter keeper. I just put her in there tonight, so I don't have pics. I will put some up when I get a chance :}


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

my H.S will be slightly bigger than my B.smithi here.. so u think its ok??


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## Rob1985 (Feb 28, 2005)

I don;t know much about the B.Smithi, but i can say they are burrows and will burrow when given the opportunity. So I would say next subsrtae change put your smithi in a 5 gallon terraium. it seems a little small in ther. Just my opinion. Anyways make sure you have plenty of subsrtae at leats twice the length of the T. I made a mistake with not enough and she was a cranky T for a week or so. I wold definatly do a search dude for your T and see what comes up.
 
-RoB


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

BTW the smithi tank is the same size.. while my baby was muching on her crix i was bz taking pix of her juz now... lol.. but that did not ruin her meal.


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## Rob1985 (Feb 28, 2005)

I have a female sub-adult E.Pachypus.....soo she is very small and will never get very big(about 4.5" as an adult).Like I said I don't know much about the biger species, buy good luck anyways man.


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## dotdman (Feb 28, 2005)

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=1052&page=1

Scroll down to post #6, Martin H. setup for Haplopelma ssp. work wonders.  H. schmidti, like the rest of them, are very deep burrowers (for example, my female Haplopelma lividum, which is much smaller than an adult H. schmidti, already has a 13-14" burrow constructed for herself), so it's advisable to give them a depth of substrate capable of supporting their burrowing nature.  They also grow to roughly 8"+ in legspan (1.5x that of an average B. smithi).

Kindest kindest,

Kevin P.


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## arachnojunkie (Feb 28, 2005)

If anything (I) would add more substrate to allow more burrowing. Since the spider is 4.5 in I would go with atleast 6 in in depth.  IMO more is better with a burrowing spider.


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## Rob1985 (Feb 28, 2005)

arachnojunkie said:
			
		

> If anything (I) would add more substrate to allow more burrowing. Since the spider is 4.5 in I would go with atleast 6 in in depth.  IMO more is better with a burrowing spider.


I definatly agree my kritter keeper is just shy of 3/4 full and is pletny of room to burrow


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

good news my H.S arrive early.. and i got her with me now.. juz 5mins into the tank. she found the cave n start webbing around it.. i put 4 crix in, thinking maybe the stress of travlling in a box , she wont feed till the next day.. to my surprise, she killed 2 at one time n is now muching at them. i go get my digi cam n post later.


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

sorry. spend too much on Ts.. no money buy good cam..


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## Mike H. (Feb 28, 2005)

You should remove the rock from the water dish...the spider wont be able to drink from the  dish if she wanted to...


Regards, Mike


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

Mike H. said:
			
		

> You should remove the rock from the water dish...the spider wont be able to drink from the  dish if she wanted to...
> 
> 
> Regards, Mike


oic.. i got the ideal form here that putting a rock in there can let the T get easy access to the water n prevent crix drowning.. hmmm i am confuse.. so to put or not to put?


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## NightCrawler27 (Feb 28, 2005)

id have to agree with mike id take the rock out of the water dish ...and just by your pics she looks kinda big so u might wanna make that burrow a lil deeper so se feels a lil more safe in here home ...that would be like us sleeping in our door ways at night..lol..


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## Mike H. (Feb 28, 2005)

I would take it out....

Regards, Mike


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

coolz.. i gona take the rock out now.. hell to the crix.. haha   . i will add more soil the next day.. have to go buy.. now she is enoying yet another fresh kill. total 3 crix getting much!. thanks for the advice bros.


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## arachnojunkie (Feb 28, 2005)

*about the rock*

yea the rock looks a little big.....if you are still worried about crix drowning, some use pea gravel sloped to the top of the bowl at one end....Not me.  I feed my Ts once a week and the crix are usually grabbed up as soon as they hit the ground, so no chance of drowning.


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## Martin H. (Feb 28, 2005)

Hi,

they like to dig and are living in a burrow => I keep them like this:  









see also: 
 VON WIRTH, V. & M. HUBER (2004): Housing specimens of Haplopelma and other tube-dwelling tarantulas. _British Tarantula Society Journal_ 19(4): 107-113.
 VON WIRTH, V. & M. HUBER (2002): Einige Praxis-Tipps zur Haltung von Haplopelma Arten und anderen Röhren bewohnenden Vogelspinnen. _DeArGe Mitteilungen_ 7(11): 14-23.
all the best,
Martin


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## prang11 (Feb 28, 2005)

Wow Martin.  Thats one awsme burrow.


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## bonesmama (Feb 28, 2005)

*Hey Martin--*

What are the dimensions of that tank? Is it skinny so that the T can't burrow to the middle and hide? I can't tell from the pic.


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## StOrM^ (Feb 28, 2005)

beautiful set up martin. looks like i have to get some stuff to build a tank like urs. but i am afraid that the soil might collase and bury her. did u compress the soil 1st in the tank or juz leave it?


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## becca81 (Feb 28, 2005)

Rob1985 said:
			
		

> I don;t know much about the B.Smithi, but i can say they are burrows and will burrow when given the opportunity.
> So I would say next subsrtae change put your smithi in a 5 gallon terraium. it seems a little small in ther.


_B. smithi_ rarely burrows in captivity and are usually quite visible.  A flowerpot turned on its side makes a good hide for this species and although I don't know how big the spider currently is, the setup looks fine.  It has a hide and it has access to water.  You may choose to move it to a larger container later as it grows.


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## evil_educator (Feb 28, 2005)

Lol i'm also from singapore. I never bother to put a water dish as i think our country is humid enough. Occassionally i mist the tank. Thats all. I've been doing this for 2 years and my T's are all still alive and well.

However to be on the safe side, you should put a water dish. Don't put a stone as big as that. Just take a few small pebbles.


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## BakuBak (Feb 28, 2005)

Martin H. said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> they like to dig and are living in a burrow => I keep them like this:
> 
> ...



me too :]


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## Jetzie (Mar 1, 2005)

Im currently putting it in a Terrestrial style tank.. nid to squeeze soem time out to go to the store and get a good size tall container for burrowers.

currently it's in a tank similar to my Vagan's setup , onli with the soil higher. but dont think its able to burrow lol. She'll have to put up with it 1st..


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## StOrM^ (Mar 1, 2005)

they are super defensive.. i try to add more soil juz now.. but when i juz open the lid. she dash out and show me her threat!!.. i had a scary encounter trying to coax her into to a bottle 1st b4 i arrange the tank.. LOL.


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## StOrM^ (Mar 1, 2005)

LOL... i now juz notice!!! my H.S has a smily face on his back.. check it out!   . looks like two eyes on both side n a smile juz below them. Cute!


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## Jetzie (Mar 1, 2005)

Earth tiger with a smiley face yet mean..

fits the phrase perfectly: SMILING TIGER


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## Lasiodora (Mar 1, 2005)

bonesmama said:
			
		

> Is it skinny so that the T can't burrow to the middle and hide? I can't tell from the pic.


Yes, it's slim so that the spider can't make a burrow where it can't be seen.
Mike


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## Rob1985 (Mar 1, 2005)

prang11 said:
			
		

> Wow Martin.  Thats one awsme burrow.


 Don't mean to get off topic. Sucks to see your truck bruned up . That is a Tacoma right? They are sweet trucks. Anyways back to the original topic :wall:


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