# How often do you clean a Ts tank?



## kurisute_hasu (Dec 5, 2006)

I have a G. Rosea who seems very keen on the idea of excavating her burrow. She has a curved bark hide and has dug down to the bottom of the tank about 2.5-3 inches and has pushed all the dirt up and out of the burrow so she is sitting on the bottom glass. 

Next time I cleaned her cage I was going to put more substrate in. So how often do you clean your Ts tank? And what do you do about webbing? Try to preserve or not? And how do you clean it, and what do you use?

~Kurisute


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## Mushroom Spore (Dec 5, 2006)

Tarantulas hate all that business. Cleaning their tank should consist of picking out old cricket parts, and any substrate that's gone moldy. If you're going to add more substrate, just add it and don't bury the T (or put the T in a small box or something while you pile it in).


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## Cerbera (Dec 5, 2006)

*the tank change debate...*

I change my spider tanks only as they grow, and need more space, and if they are looking really quite grubby, and I haven't been able to get in and spot clean for ages because of webbing / burrow arrangements. Oh - and if one spider is consistently trying to leave its tank, and all the other things I have tried to make it happier have failed, then I'll do a tank change too.

Experience seems to dictate that I end up changing a tank every 8 months to a year, or so - any more often and spiders stress - they don't like change and upheaval, I find. And their standards are sometimes much lower than ours as to what is acceptable, and what isn't.

It's even harder with arboreals to know when their tanks need an overhaul. Sometimes, filthy-looking, web-filled tanks are perfectly happy and healthy spider homes and it would be a mistake to go in and wreck all that just because it didn't look too great to us.

But then again, you don't want a situation like I find myself in, where one of my arboreals won't eject its exuviae from its tube web, and now I have 3 moults backed up in there I'd really like to remove. But does the spider care ? Not one jot. Is it worth wrecking the webbing it has taken it weeks to put in place, and intruding that much into its space merely to remove the unattractive leftovers ? In my case, I think not, but its a dilemma faced, I guess, by all of us from time to time, so its good that this thread is here.

I know we've all been round it before, but I will be as interested as you are to  read all those opinions and debates again...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Brian S (Dec 5, 2006)

I have some that havent had a tank cleaned in 3 years or more


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## Joe Xavier (Dec 6, 2006)

im thinking that the worst case scenario to actually motivate cleaning the tank would be overinfestation of other parasites or insects like mites or ants. A couple of mites wont hurt but if every nook or cranny in the tank is filled with mites, you might want to consider cleaning it...

Other than taking out leftovers and post molt exuvium, i don't see the need of cleaning the tank...


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## elyanalyous (Dec 6, 2006)

i guess i'm bad here then. I clean my G.rosea every 6 months...if i leave it any longer she becomes a pig. she makes such a mess of her tank in the 7th and 8th month that i am forced to clean, due to smell. i think that she does this evey so often becasue of a want to be a mother but that is just me...the webbing she layes makes it impossible to spotclean...i swear she is a GBB some times.

my H. incei i just spot clean, but then again i've had them for only a few months


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## xanadu1015 (Dec 6, 2006)

Really, you should just clean out leftover meals, dead prey, mold, fungus or if you see mites. But I think it comes down to a person's preference.



Laura


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## cheetah13mo (Dec 6, 2006)

I tidy up all the time but the only time I clean a tank is if I'm moveing a T or there has been a cage infestation of some sort.


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## Socrates (Dec 6, 2006)

xanadu1015 said:


> Really, you should just clean out leftover meals, dead prey, mold, fungus or if you see mites. But I think it comes down to a person's preference.
> 
> 
> 
> Laura



I agree with you, Laura, and with Brian, too.

I've never had a "bad" smell from any of my enclosures (and I even feed the occasional pinky).  I do my best at removing food bolus, keep the water dishes clean, and dust  (with moist, clean rags) - that's it.  

I don't see any reason in tearing everything down, especially when the spider seems calm/content/happy.

When I first started keeping spiders, I flipped out at my first baby cricket outbreak and tore everything down.    Never again.  I've learned that those pesky babies drown themselves in no time at all. 

As for the glass, it gets routinely wiped clean with warm water.  Keeping up with spider feces is actually easier than the food bolus.  

---
Wendy
---


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## Joe Xavier (Dec 7, 2006)

You can also use artists paintbrush to sweep the dust off the sides of the glass...


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## K-TRAIN (Dec 17, 2006)

i just got my first tarantula. so i dont know much about cleaning its tank except for the fact that it should be cleaned every six months.


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## ZOKU (Dec 17, 2006)

Picking out the occasional food bolus is easy enough with a pair of tweezers but the majority of my T's seem to love shooting their feces all over the sides of their enclosure...


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## spid142 (Dec 17, 2006)

*to clean often or not*

My opinion is that once a T has set up things to their liking, webbing etc, they should be disturbed as little as possible, due to cleaning being stressful for the T, having to run into the hide until I'm done, etc.  I only actually clean when the T has gone thru a molt, move to a larger container is needed, or if the container needs replacement moss.  Then she gets all new substrate and new bark, etc.  I, of course, mist, and remove crix carcasses, but try to minimize my intrusion into her home.  I think the less disturbed they are, the 'happier' they are.


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## Hedorah99 (Dec 17, 2006)

I only do a full clean if there is a mold or fungus outbreak. Other than that they are left alone.


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## Python (Mar 22, 2007)

I know this is an old thread but I have a question that I couldn't find an answer to and this was as close as it came. I have some driftwood and things that I use in my T's cages and they are really cool looking. Once a T is gone for good (ie sld, died, moved to another container, etc.) how do you get the webbing off of some of the more textured cage furniture? I have some stuff that I want to reuse for other T's but it's covered in web from a previous occupant and I can't seem to get it all off. It's down in the nooks and crannies, and it's just a mess. Any ideas as to what I can do?


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## phil jones (Mar 22, 2007)

i set them up then allways keep water dish full take out any uneaten food and take out the old molt thats it they do not  like to much interfering from us in their tanks -- phil


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## mr_jacob7 (Mar 22, 2007)

i've never cleaned my rosea's cage (except for what phil does), and i've had her for 2 years. or was it months? wait, it was months. sorry. yep. not much help here, am i? srry. i'll leave...


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## Python (Mar 22, 2007)

I don't mess with the cages that have T's in them, I'm just having trouble with the decorations in the empty tanks. I Have some things I would like to set up in other tanks but they have webbing all over them. I was just wondering how to get webbing off of some of the wood without tearing off the bark. Any ideas?


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## Mina (Mar 23, 2007)

I tidy up every time I feed and water, remove cricket remains, pick up poo, wipe down dirty sides, but a full out change the substrate, move the T, scrub out the enclosure clean?  As infrequently as is possible.  It is only done if it must be done.


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## jr47 (Mar 23, 2007)

you mentioned getting rid of webbing. when you do, use a brush or something. many times web's will be full of hairs that are very itchy if they get in your skin.


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## Python (Mar 23, 2007)

jr47 said:


> you mentioned getting rid of webbing. when you do, use a brush or something. many times web's will be full of hairs that are very itchy if they get in your skin.


Thanks!. I generally keep the OW stuff and none of the ones I keep have the urticating hairs. I used to keep some with the urticating hairs but I tend to go more arboreal now and well, the old world stuff is just cooler to me. The hairs never bothered me much anyway. I don't guess it matters much if there is a little webbing left over as long as it's not too much. I'll give it a try. Thanks again.


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## Bothrops (Mar 23, 2007)

I never clean the whole tank of my T's.

I remove food remains, clean water dishes and nothing else.


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