# update on the liphistius communal setup



## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

its been a while now and it sure has grown alot. its lookin good. one problem is there are tiny woodlice in there that are eating my moss. little butts!! if the moss actually gets to a descent size before they get to it, the moss will be ok, but they sure make it hard for the moss to get to a descent size.





































here is what it used to look like

Reactions: Like 2 | Thanks 1


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## Brianhogs (May 19, 2008)

And what are you housing? moss?


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## Brent H. (May 19, 2008)

Look closely... you'll see the burrows of _Liphistius_.  The pics do not do these set-ups any justice - I have seen them firsthand and they are pretty spectacular.


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## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

Brianhogs said:


> And what are you housing? moss?


if you opened your eyeballs and read the title when you clicked on it to view the thread, you would know that there are liphistius in there. obviously something in the title caught your attention, otherwise you wouldnt be here in the first place, but it obviously wasnt LIPHISTIUS in the title!

maybe this will help. theyre giant spiders... see

Reactions: Like 1


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## Brianhogs (May 19, 2008)

LOL! I was kidding.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

lol, its cool man, i just wanted to sound like a palphead in return. i was actually laughing while typing that.


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## syndicate (May 19, 2008)

the tank has sure grown in nicely!very natural looking.
what kind of setup do you use for lighting and also how do you keep the tank from drying out?


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## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

syndicate said:


> the tank has sure grown in nicely!very natural looking.
> what kind of setup do you use for lighting and also how do you keep the tank from drying out?


there is a glass lid with a thin vent i build for ventilation. i hardly have to spray it. it stays pretty humid and moist on its own. the lights are from current. check em out here

http://www.current-usa.com/sunpaqretro.html

these lights are really nice! the actual bulb is separated from the ballast by an 8ft cord. this way the ballast doesnt overheat your viv. i highly reccomend these lights


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## Goliath (May 19, 2008)

Looking really nice Josh!

mike


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## MaartenSFS (May 19, 2008)

That's 98756o85uylkjrng, amazing, mate. How many are in there? Is there no cannibalism? Can other species be housed like this? :drool: :worship:  :clap:


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## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

i have like 8 in there. no cannibalizm yet as far as i know. im sure you can keep many species like this. ive kept bothriocyrtum californicum like this. ya just gotta try.


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## proper_tea (May 19, 2008)

These are gorgeous pictures.  How did you introduce them, one at a time, or all at once?  I feel like trapdoors take a while to settle in, and I picture them bumping into eachother a lot before they got situated, and kinda freaking out a lot.

The tank itself is amazing.  All my Ts and my huntsmen are in natural setups like this, but it hadn't occured to me to do the same with trapdoors as well.  I tried it at first, but then rethought the idea because it felt like I was wasting a tank.  Now you are making me reconsider again.  Where did you get eight trapdoors... it seems like that must have been pricey.


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## josh_r (May 19, 2008)

i have alot more than 8. there is 8 in that tank. i have another tank with 7 of them. i introduced them all at once and they showed NO aggression toward eachother at all. i actually found 2 females sharing a burrow. 

post some of your setups like this! i would love to see them!


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## Brianhogs (May 20, 2008)

I don't see any reason why they would be cannibalistic. I mean, don't they just stay in there burrow waiting for prey to come around, or do they come out and adventure at night?


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## lychas (May 20, 2008)

Josh, i pmed you with this q but will ask here aswell incase anyone else can help. Just wondering how you would make something like this? Is that a natural or artificial log? What substrate, what lighting to keep the plants growing and how do you introduce the spiders?


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## josh_r (May 20, 2008)

i PM'd you but i forgot to answer a couple questions in the PM so ill do it here

that is a natural log. as for introducing the spiders, i made starter burrows that were about 6 to 12 inches deep at an angle. i then introduced ALL the spiders at once. when i said they dont have any aggression toward eachother... i meant it. i have found them sharing burrows and when they walk into eachother, they just run the other way or crawl over eachother. i wouldnt recommend introducing other species all at once however. i would introduce other species one at a time, let them get settled in and then introduce another one and so forth. i would also probably isolate the spider from the rest of the tank with a jar or something so it cant go wandering into anotehr spiders home and start a fight. good luck eh


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## hamfoto (May 20, 2008)

Josh,

That is one of the BEST looking set-ups I've seen...just wonderful!

Chris


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## Scott C. (May 20, 2008)

Amazing set up Josh.... Are those local plants? Species list maybe?


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## josh_r (May 20, 2008)

not all of them are local plants, but most are. these are plants that grew from spores out of the mosses and peat. i will have to do a bit of research to get the species of the different ferns and the liverwort. some of the ferns (non natives) are lycopodium. that is all i can tell you right now.


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## Scott C. (May 20, 2008)

Sweet. Thanks for that dude.... You gonna put up pics of the other one?


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## josh_r (May 20, 2008)

im not going to post pics of the other one yet. it looks like crap cause i experimented with a native club moss and it didnt do to well. i need to replant it before i post pics


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## HaploFool (May 20, 2008)

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL SETUP! :clap: 

You are an inspiration to me! I have four of these, two juvies and an adult female and a sub-adult male. This is something I need to try so I don't have to worry about the male molting mature and so on and so forth... I'll just let them go about their biz-naz! I am so excited to do something like this now, Thank you so much for posting this.


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## lychas (May 20, 2008)

tanks for all your help josh, i'm looking forward to starting mine


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## josh_r (May 21, 2008)

anyone who is wanting to make a naturalistic viv and has any questions for me, feel free to ask. ill try to help the best i can.







-josh


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## lychas (May 21, 2008)

josh_r said:


> anyone who is wanting to make a naturalistic viv and has any questions for me, feel free to ask. ill try to help the best i can.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what lives in there?


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## HKronos (May 21, 2008)

josh_r, you're a genius, those rank amongst the very best housing terrariums I've ever seen. I want everyone of my tropical cages to look like those.


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## Skullptor (May 21, 2008)

Hi Josh. Very natural setup! I was wondering if you could introduce a predator for the woodlouse?

Dysdera crocata is probably out of the question. What about snails or slugs?


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## smof (May 21, 2008)

josh_r said:


> lol, its cool man, i just wanted to sound like a palphead in return. i was actually laughing while typing that.


A palphead??  Hahaha, thanks for the nerdiest laugh I've had in ages.

And to stay on topic, that is an amazing setup! Good work


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## HKronos (May 21, 2008)

Questions:

Specific soil?

Specific lighting?

Plant resources?


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## josh_r (May 21, 2008)

forensics said:


> Hi Josh. Very natural setup! I was wondering if you could introduce a predator for the woodlouse?
> 
> Dysdera crocata is probably out of the question. What about snails or slugs?



i would love to introduce something to keep the woodlice in check. dont know what though. as for snails, i dont have any, but slugs.... man, they are driving me crazy! they are eating my plants. i go in there and pick them out all the time. 

i have 2 standard lamasi dart frogs in that big setup. lighting for the big one are 4' t8 6500k lights from home depot. the soil is peat. a false bottom is a MUST in a setup like this because of the moisture required to keep everything green. the false bottom basically keeps the soil out of the water that builds up on the bottom. once the water gets too high, i can sphon it out through a tube in the back of the tank.


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## Scott C. (May 21, 2008)

josh_r said:


> ....a false bottom is a MUST in a setup like this because of the moisture required to keep everything green. the false bottom basically keeps the soil out of the water that builds up on the bottom. once the water gets too high, i can sphon it out through a tube in the back of the tank.


Sweet. Answered before asking.... I was wondering how you were keeping such saturation with the apparent low depth of soil.

Looks great man... Thanks for sharing.

Cheers.


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## josh_r (May 27, 2008)

what would you pay for a setup like this??? i may be willing to sell it for a good offer.


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## proper_tea (May 27, 2008)

Personally I'd say with the spiders you could probably ask around $250, and sit on it until someone bit, or maybe come down to $200.  It's a very cool set up... unique.  How much of an investment do you have in it?  If you bred the trapdoors yourself, and collected all the plants and such yourself, I would think that $200-250 would be a perfectly reasonable price for your labor and artistic vision.  If you have a significant investment in it, you should probably try to get more.  

It would also be a good piece for any breeder that does a lot of shows to have.  What better way of selling trapdoors then out of a communal natural vivarium?


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## josh_r (May 28, 2008)

well, i have 7 spiders in there at $25 a piece and the aquarium alone cost $150. it has a stand that was an extra $100. then theres all the time i put into making this thing. thats about it.


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## Scourge (May 28, 2008)

That setup is amazing Josh!! I hope you'll share more pics with us soon!


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## proper_tea (May 28, 2008)

I guess the real question is what is it worth to you.  I know if I made that, I certainly wouldn't let it go at a loss...  It would be the kind of thing that I would want to hold on to  show off, but with a good enough offer I'd let go.  If you've got $425 cash into it, then it would probably be reasonable to ask $600... I don't know if anyone will bite at that price though.  It's sort of a specialized thing.  But hey... shop it around and see.  

You could do it for much cheeper.  If you watch Craigslist, there's always large aquariums going for cheep... and there are other spiders that can be kept communally that you could probably breed fairly easily.  What's impressive about your tank isn't so much the spiders, but the beauty of the set up.  Getting moss to do well in a terrarium is impressive in itself (how long has it had to establish itself?).

Anyway, good luck.


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## AzJohn (May 28, 2008)

Very cool Josh. What species are you housing. I've got a couple and you've given me some great ideas.

John


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## josh_r (May 28, 2008)

there are liphistius in there. i dont mind a low ball price. that is not even all the money i put into it. the lighting alone was over $100 and then i built the hood.... the lumber and stuff cost money as well. i could see letting it go for $400


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## venwu225 (Jan 25, 2009)

can I ask what lighting you actually use? Power compacts? Halides?

thanks


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## bhoeschcod (Jan 25, 2009)

Whoa thats sweet!


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## P. Novak (Jan 27, 2009)

Where did you get all the plants and moss? Local stuff or store/online bought?


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## Malhavoc's (Jan 27, 2009)

josh_r said:


> i would love to introduce something to keep the woodlice in check.



there is several various predators of the wood louse. However. the most prominant that comes to mind (and unfortunetly not the species name) is the bright orange lice eating spiders that are local to california. (will edit this post later for the name) about 2cm body lengh.. however. I am unsure how it would interact with the Trappies. weather they would pick it off. if it would avoid their tunnels. or what- it would be intresting to find out however.



edit: as promised. Dysdera crocata
the woodlice eating spider.

I use it in many of my T terriums that have the more naturual appeal and they generaly are no more of a nuisance then the woodlice cleaners themselve. but makes a nice little. circle. One female per tank usualy does the job. though I have had the problem of the spider over eating the Woodlice- and in such situations its usualy only hunting season type deal. one month in two months out.


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## bhoeschcod (Jan 29, 2009)

Its a vivaruim isn't it?


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## patotxiki (Jan 30, 2009)

Very cool :clap: 

 What size has the enclosure?








 Cheers;
 Imanol


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## darkart82 (Aug 1, 2010)

i hate your setup!!!!!! it sucks!! 
wait a minute ,im just jealous , i wish i could have my pokie cages setup like that is just about the bestup for any critter i have ever seen period , it makes all of mine look like crap. i can tell you put alot of time in setting this up. very spioled spiders


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