# Obt enclosure



## AlmightyQues (May 18, 2016)

Good obt enclosure ?
4 to 5 inches of eco earth 
Borrow in the corner and to climbing areas the enclosure is sprayed down


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## Poec54 (May 18, 2016)

Sprayed down?  They need *dry* substrate.  Moist cages can kill tarantulas from east and southern Africa.  They also need good ventilation.

What's the lid made of, screen?  If so that has to go; they can get their claws stuck on it and hang for hours or days. Plus tarantulas can easily tear thru fiberglass or aluminum screen, and that's not a spider you want loose in your house.  Are there other people living with you?  If that spider gets out, everyone in the house is at risk of being bit.  If you have cats or dogs, the bite can be serious, even fatal.   

Where's the water bowl?  'Climbing areas' = runways for it to allow it to bolt out of the cage easier.  You want it living at or under substrate level.

Did you do any research on what kind of caging OBT's need?

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 5


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## Chris LXXIX (May 18, 2016)

I have a 0.1 in a way more little than yours enclosure, with bone dry substrate, a water dish, a piece of cork bark, some fake leaves and anchor points for the web.

Being you i would add just a couple of fake leaves. Spraying? Misting? Don't.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## AlmightyQues (May 18, 2016)

Poec54 said:


> Sprayed down?  They need *dry* substrate.  Moist cages can kill tarantulas from east and southern Africa.  They also need good ventilation.
> 
> What's the lid made of, screen?  If so that has to go; they can get their claws stuck on it and hang for hours or days. Plus tarantulas can easily tear thru fiberglass or aluminum screen, and that's not a spider you want loose in your house.  Are there other people living with you?  If that spider gets out, everyone in the house is at risk of being bit.  If you have cats or dogs, the bite can be serious, even fatal.
> 
> ...


Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables

Reactions: Disagree 4 | Funny 4 | Optimistic 1


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## AlmightyQues (May 18, 2016)

Chris LXXIX said:


> I have a 0.1 in a way more little than yours enclosure, with bone dry substrate, a water dish, a piece of cork bark, some fake leaves and anchor points for the web.so how about humidity 65-75% ? Dont blame me the care sheet at lllreptile have me the information and Mike tarantulas website
> 
> Being you i would add just a couple of fake leaves. Spraying? Misting? Don't.


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## Chris LXXIX (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables


Don't make me laugh, now.

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 6 | Funny 1


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## Flexzone (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables


Let me flip it... do you get all your needed moisture from just food alone, answer is no... just like a human T's need *liquid water*, Put a water-dish in there.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 3


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## Poec54 (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables



You set up an OBT cage like that, and you know more about spiders than we do?  You can learn a lot here from experienced collectors and breeders.  There's a lot of misinformation on the internet, like care sheets that will kill spiders if you follow the advice.

Reactions: Agree 3 | Funny 1


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## Chris LXXIX (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables


What really isn't needed is a moist/or a too wet substrate of all sorts and spraying/misting in a _P.murinus _enclosure.
Not a water dish.
Doesn't matter the prey, how much they are well fed and hydrated (and that's important, btw) if your _Theraphosidae _is forced to live into the wrong environment.

Another thing: IMO misting is completely useless, and the effect ephemeral, even for those T's that require a more "humidity" on their care like _H.gigas_, or _M.robustum_ (just example). Again, water dish, and with a pipette, i pour water directly in/to the substrate when needed.

Misting and spraying is perfect only for piss off a _Theraphosidae _well IMO.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 2 | Funny 1


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## Chris LXXIX (May 18, 2016)

Man, don't trust those humidity % numbers. Think. Compare those! They are like the Lotto, or Powerball numbers. They vary, always. Someone say 65%, others (ah ah) 80%, another from ... to ...
Seriously? And there's always 9 out of 10, a gauge, inside the enclosure, of all sorts. Coincidence ;-)

Listen to this, the story of my 0.1 _M.robustum_. A man, here in Italy, bought that amazing NW _Theraphosidae_. Now, not even entering into the fact that he was clueless about the "know how", he followed those care sheets.

Result? A spider living in a pool, because: "the humidity gauge is stuck to 70%, and they need 90%". Therefore water.

I ended up with that _Theraphosidae _for free, thanks to his Lady, but trust me... i saved that spider.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Poec54 (May 18, 2016)

Chris LXXIX said:


> Man, don't trust those humidity % numbers. Think. Compare those! They are like the Lotto, or Powerball numbers. They vary, always. Someone say 65%, others (ah ah) 80%, another...



How do they know?  They're just making up numbers.  Besides humidity in their native habitats varies widely depending on when the rainy and dry seasons are.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Chris LXXIX (May 18, 2016)

Poec54 said:


> How do they know?


That's a mistery. I'm clueless about that. And i saw even "virtual fights" among those people, stating things like "mine" numbers are the ones right, "yours" not. Seriously.


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## Venom1080 (May 18, 2016)

water bowl needed, smaller cage would be better, add a lot more sub, get a better lid if yours isnt already steel wire, the distance between the top of the cage and sub level should be no more than 1.5x the Ts legspan. they need bone dry. no, lol, they dont get all their water from crickets, they get a little bit, but not enough, water dish is the way to go. honestly, i know care sheets are absolute crap, but i ve never seen one this bad!


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## cold blood (May 18, 2016)

OBTs actually do well with more room, it allows them to have an area within the enclosure to call home, otherwise they web the bejezzus out of the entire thing, making the entire enclosure essentially its burrow...thereby making for a significantly more defensive t to work around.

It also allows for a water dish that doesn't automatically get webbed over as there is generally an un webbed or lesser webbed area to put the dish.

The enclosure does need to be filled at least halfway (if not more) with sub...as said the climbing things should be removed...despite the common idea that they are semi-arboreal, they are not, they're fossorial...their extensive webbing just allows them to be more adaptable....Like poec said, you want your OBT living *beneath* the substrate.

I am in shock that anyone would add moisture to an OBT enclosure, the monsoon is just baffling...no t needs it *that* moist.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2 | Love 1


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## BorisTheSpider (May 18, 2016)

Poec54 said:


> Sprayed down?  They need *dry* substrate.  Moist cages can kill tarantulas from east and southern Africa.  They also need good ventilation.
> 
> Did you do any research on what kind of caging OBT's need?


Agreed all the way .



AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables


Nope .

The weather this week for the Usambara region of Namibia is lows in the mid sixties with daytime highs in the upper eighties . The humidity should run in the mid twenties all week with almost no chance of rain . Winds all week will be from the north northeast between 10 to 15 miles per hour . In other words Poec is 100% correct . Do a little research before you get a new T and when in doubt just look up the conditions for region the they come from . I don't mean to sound rude but OBTs aren't exactly the T for everybody .

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Sky`Scorcher (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Good obt enclosure ?
> 4 to 5 inches of eco earth
> Borrow in the corner and to climbing areas the enclosure is sprayed down


They can do with a lot LESS height and less floor space with the same amount of substrate. They aren't strictly arboreal. Their orientation is still on the ground and/or under it. When presented with an opportunity to dig, they will dig. With that setup I'm guessing you want him as a display specimen but I'm telling you right now, they're gonna hide most of the time and expect a lot of webbing.

Don't mist. At all. They like it dry and always, always provide a water dish when able. Don't skip out on the most basic of necessities.

I mean no offense but what you said about not needing a water bowl because of 'feeders are enough water source when fed with fruits and veggies' sounded to me like the lazy way to do it and/or afraid to have a regular obligation to fill or clean the bowl when necessary because that obviously means opening the lid and reaching in for it with tongs. I hope you have tongs. Long ones. lol

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Poec54 (May 18, 2016)

AlmightyQues said:


> Water bowls aren't really needed if you gut load the crickets with fruits and vegetables



One of the flaws of that theory is during molting they lose a large percentage of their body fluids, and aren't able to eat yet because their fangs haven't hardened.  They'll quickly die without water. 

I don't know where you've gotten your info in the past, but you're better off getting it from this site.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## cold blood (May 18, 2016)

Poec54 said:


> One of the flaws of that theory is during molting they lose a large percentage of their body fluids, and aren't able to eat yet because their fangs haven't hardened.  They'll quickly die without water.
> 
> I don't know where you've gotten your info in the past, but you're better off getting it from this site.


Just prior or just after a molt are the most common times to catch a t drinking.....its a big help at both times.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Chris LXXIX (May 19, 2016)

cold blood said:


> OBTs actually do well with more room, it allows them to have an area within the enclosure to call home, otherwise they web the bejezzus out of the entire thing, making the entire enclosure essentially its burrow...thereby making for a significantly more defensive t to work around.


I completely agree with you when you say that an 'OBT' living in a "web only" enclosure means IMO "bad news" (try to take out the water dish for clean, or refill something covered by web, or remove prey remains from that load of web when there's inside a very high strung one, ah ah) but my experience differ.

I actually work with my female in a "little", probably for others, enclosure. Not a "Jack In The Box", but not even an "XL" one.

Actually she is housed in a medium "Dragon" fauna box, her final enclosure. I offered her lot of inches of substrate (almost eight inches) a piece of cork bark (she started her burrow under, of course) and some fake leaves.

Result: a water dish with few, if not any, web around; easy to remove, easy to refill. Web only near/inside the burrow. A safe haven for the _Theraphosidae_. I think that substrate inches helps, always, for that to burrow, if given the opportunity, remains IMO those T's first choice.

Check this Jon3800 video i love to put as an example. His 'OBT' is more or less like mine in size, same "P.terror" temperament, but i don't receive those type of "welcome" for that mines have a "home" to run in like a "GTA" safe refuge when the cops chasing you are too much  

Jon3800's inches of substrate he offered to his 'OBT' is IMO *inadequate*, therefore a blaze of "web only".

Reactions: Like 3 | Agree 1 | Informative 1


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