# T. stirmi care



## Saark (Mar 19, 2012)

Hello,

  I've read what I can about caring for these guys and was wondering, how warm and humid do I really need to keep my stirmi? I'm trying to keep temps up at 82 during the day and down about 8-10 degrees at night and I am trying to keep the humidity at 70+%. This requires me to keep the substrate not wet exactly but quite damp. I am getting spots of mold popping up and that is troublesome. I've only had the stirmi and tank for about three weeks now so it's not like the tank is "dirty" or has an accumulation of organic matter to support/encourage mold growth. By the way, the T is a 3yr old CB female (with one previous owner. Not sure if he did the breeding or not. I got her from the LPS.) with a leg span of about 7-8in in a 36in x 18in x 16in tank. I do use a couple of heat lamps, one on a dimmer and a heat pad mounted on the side of the tank at one end for heat. The heat lamps will be used much less as we warm into Spring and Summer but they are necessary during the heating season because our thermostat is never set above 64 and goes down to 58 at night.

 The reason I'm asking is that all the videos/pictures I've seen of this tarantula and it's housing usually appear to be much drier than I am keeping mine. I do not want to risk molting issues but I also don't want to have to break my tank down as part of a mold management program. Oh, I also have some live plants in the tank that like it quite moist. They are quite small though and have not become established and spread through the tank yet.

Thanks for any tips/suggestions!

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## jayefbe (Mar 19, 2012)

Get rid of the heat lamp and heat pad. Try to warm the tank another way. Many people find that an oil filled radiator heating the room is much better than either a pad or lamp. I'd normally say just keep it at room temp, but your room temp is on the low side. The lamp will dry out the tank and the pad requires careful placement and monitoring to keep from cooking the animal. I'd use a good thermostat at the very least if I were to use a heat pad. 

Humidity is a balance between the amount of moisture in the enclosure and the amount of ventilation. What kind of tank are you using? Does it have a screen lid? If so, use a piece of plexiglas to cover most of the screen. Reducing ventilation will keep you from having to keep the substrate sopping wet to maintain humidity. 

On a side note, if you got your T. stirmi from a pet store, and it was an adult then it was very very likely wild caught.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Saark (Mar 19, 2012)

Unfortunately, I can't really afford to use a space heater in this room. (Although, I may consider it again when we start back into the cold season) It's supposed to also be my computer room so I'd like to be comfortable in it as well  That being said the ambient temp now is 74 degrees and it will be that warm or warmer until Fall. I have thermometers in the tank and I use a infrared thermometer to spot check temps around the burrow and in hot and cold spots throughout the tank. The temp of the glass itself  where the pad is is no more than 91 degrees and it's on a side wall, not the bottom of the tank. Add to that the substrate absorbing heat and I don't think there is much risk of her cooking. Her main burrow entrance is 3-4" away from this wall and angles out away from it. The tank is of the aquarium with sliding screen top variety. I have 12" x 36" of the 18" x 36" covered with glass which helps a lot with heat/humidity retention. 

Concerning the thermostat, I have one but haven't come up with a good way to get the sensor into the tank apart from cutting a hole in the screen top which I really want to avoid if possible. Had I thought about it, I would have drilled a few holes into the side and/or back walls of the tank(only the bottom is tempered glass). 

I am told that the tarantula was captive bred. It came to the pet store from a guy who had intended on getting into breeding T's but is more into breeding snakes so he brought the T's into the shop to sell. I have asked the shop owner to get more info on the stirmi the next time he stops in but for now all I can say is that I was told she was CB and that she is 3 years old. She is a very hefty, healthy looking spider and had a great appetite until about two days ago. She may be going into a premolt stage? The back end of her abdomen is starting to darken, much like my B. smithi's does prior to a molt so we shall see...

This is not the prettiest pic I've taken of her but it shows the darkening coloration of her rump. Could she be getting ready to molt?


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## Scoolman (Mar 19, 2012)

Your set-up sounds very much like mine (just smaller). I have my girl in a 55 gal herp tank, with a heating pad on the back. Temps run 80 day and 70 night, humidity runs 70-90 depending on when and how often I add water to the moss. I have the sliding screen covered, leaving only a 2" wide strip the width of the screen on either end. She has been in this set-up for about 1 year, and I have tried several times to get live plants established, with little success. I have never had any mold issues. I do keep live isopods in her tank, and earth worms. This combination of detritus feeders helps to maintain the sub quality. 
If you are getting mold, then there is some sort of bio matter in there, even a small piece of bolus can mold. Mold will not spring forth from inert material.
All but two of the plants have died, they could not handle the moisture level.

Precious having some lunch. She gets one large roach (hisser) each month and she is still a fatty.


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## Saark (Mar 19, 2012)

Scoolman, what kind(s) of isopods do you have and where did you get them? Also, does your T ever eat the earthworms? Also, how long have you had her and how have your molting experiences been? Does she go off her feed for a long time prior to/after the molt? 

I got my plants from Black Jungle, sadly a lot of what I wanted was out of stock but a found a few nice ground cover plants and a creeper that all like high humidity and moist soil. I got Selaginella uncinata x 3, Selaginella - Plana x 1, Chamaeranthemum venosum x 1 and Ficus sp. 'Lance Leaf' x 1. We shall see how they do. I really wanted a bunch of moss and some miniature ferns. I may try to at least get the moss in the future. They have a true tropical moss that is currently out of stock. I guess it is only available in very limited quantities. 

Oh, for some reason, your pics didn't come through. Is she named Precious because of Gollum/ LOTR? I named mine Shelob :biggrin:


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## web eviction (Mar 19, 2012)

I have had my stirmi in a large clear tote, I drilled 8 small holes in each side and 6 in the top... I keep it room temp all the time which is usually alway between 68 and 72 degrees she has been this way for 2 1/2 or 3 years she has molted 3 times in this setup and is well over 8 inches and never had any real troubles... Just my experience thought I'd share..


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## Saark (Mar 19, 2012)

Web, that's good to know that they can handle lower temps. Maybe I am just being way overly concerned? I tend to be that way in general lol


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## jayefbe (Mar 19, 2012)

I'd call 58-64F fairly low, but upper 60's is definitely fine. An ambient temp of 74F is great. How often is it actually dropping to 58?


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## Saark (Mar 19, 2012)

It drops to 58 in the house during the winter months in the over night hours and gets up to 65 during the day. I would definitely need supplemental heat from probably Sept thru March although the past few days have been pushing 80 degrees. Global warming, bad for the planet but great for my tarantulas!


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