# H.gigas enclosure with swimming pool?



## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

For those of you that have H.gigas do you give yours a big enough water dish to submerge itself? We have all seen the videos of them going under water on YouTube. When I first got mine up I set it up with out one, first pic provided. Then I got to thinking why not what's there to lose? Nothing, so I am giving it a shot.

 So for those of you that do have you noticed yours hangs out near the water source more or even in it? Have you tried feeding live goldfish? What have you personally observed with this?   Thank you in advance for reply.


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## The Grym Reaper (Dec 15, 2018)

Nope, seems like a waste of time, mine rarely ventures beyond the entrance of her burrow anyway.


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

The Grym Reaper said:


> Nope, seems like a waste of time, mine rarely ventures beyond the entrance of her burrow anyway.


Waste of time? It took 3 minutes. If it doesn't work out I can pull it out and put substrate back in no problem.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Paul1126 (Dec 15, 2018)

It would irritate me knowing there is not much floor space.
Could do it with a bigger enclosure? I would also dig the "Pool" in so it is level with ground.


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

Paul1126 said:


> It would irritate me knowing there is not much floor space.
> Could do it with a bigger enclosure? I would also dig the "Pool" in so it is level with ground.


The pool is level to the ground, I dug it out and made flush you can see the turned coco fiber all around it. There is close to 13" of substrate in this enclosure also, one of the biggest sterilite boxes available at walmart. She still has plenty of space below to be a fossorial.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## antinous (Dec 15, 2018)

I haven't kept them like this in the past, but I did read something on one of the FB groups a while back. While they have been recorded swimming  before, some people who have kept them in a set up like that hadn't seen theirs swimming whatsoever. They only saw them swim when the tarantula was prodded or bothered.


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

Paul1126 said:


> It would irritate me knowing there is not much floor space.
> Could do it with a bigger enclosure? I would also dig the "Pool" in so it is level with ground.





antinous said:


> I haven't kept them like this in the past, but I did read something on one of the FB groups a while back. While they have been recorded swimming  before, some people who have kept them in a set up like that hadn't seen theirs swimming whatsoever. They only saw them swim when the tarantula was prodded or bothered.


Interesting, i dont plan on prodding it at all, lol. I also dont count on it to do laps either or spend a lot of time there, i am just curious to see if i will see it out more often and if i can catch a glimps of it in the water


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## EtienneN (Dec 15, 2018)

I know Rob C, tarantulaguy1976 on Youtube, had a pretty cool H. gigas setup and his would eat fish.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Chris LXXIX (Dec 15, 2018)

No, absolutely not. The water dish is just the same (normal sized) water dish I use for my other T's and my _Hysterocrates _spp. has the (same) obligate burrower set up I offer to my other obligate burrowers. Just with moist substrate, but means nothing in regards of this species 'per se', for that a lot of other obligate burrowers (say the Asians, or certain NW's) needs that same moist substrate as well


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## SteveIDDQD (Dec 15, 2018)

Got to be worth trying, would be awesome to see it catch a fish.

Reactions: Like 1


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## antinous (Dec 15, 2018)

0311usmc said:


> Interesting, i dont plan on prodding it at all, lol. I also dont count on it to do laps either or spend a lot of time there, i am just curious to see if i will see it out more often and if i can catch a glimps of it in the water


Give it a shot I'd say, worse comes to worse, it'll be a large water dish that needs less refilling!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

EtienneN said:


> I know Rob C, tarantulaguy1976 on Youtube, had a pretty cool H. gigas setup and his would eat fish.


I agree with you 100% he did make a really cool enclosure for his. The only part I didnt like is his the lack of fossorial setup with the water feature. My gigas still has over 12" of substrate to burrow in and has a water feature big enough to fully submerge.



Chris LXXIX said:


> No, absolutely not. The water dish is just the same (normal sized) water dish I use for my other T's and my _Hysterocrates _spp. has the (same) obligate burrower set up I offer to my other obligate burrowers. Just with moist substrate, but means nothing in regards of this species 'per se', for that a lot of other obligate burrowers (say the Asians, or certain NW's) needs that same moist substrate as well


I get where your coming from buddy. I wouldn't do this with any of my other fossorials and you should know me well enough by now that my favorite tarantula is an OW fossorial. I just figured why not when it's still being kept as a true fossorial.


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## Chris LXXIX (Dec 15, 2018)

0311usmc said:


> I get where your coming from buddy. I wouldn't do this with any of my other fossorials and you should know me well enough by now that my favorite tarantula is an OW fossorial. I just figured why not when it's still being kept as a true fossorial.


No... I absolutely understand your approach, my man.

You are one of the few here that *really *offers, to his obligate burrowers, inches of substrate. You are a 'purist' and I love this 

I've just answered your question, I don't bother with that but there's absolutely... nothing wrong in that

Reactions: Like 1


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

SteveIDDQD said:


> Got to be worth trying, would be awesome to see it catch a fish.


I also think it would be cool bro. However I can only imagine coming home after work and coming into a 75 degree room smelling of a fish bolus. I occasionally feed rat pups to my theraphosas so I am familiar with a smelly bolus but I bet fish bolus is on another level buddy.


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## antinous (Dec 15, 2018)

0311usmc said:


> I also think it would be cool bro. However I can only imagine coming home after work and coming into a 75 degree room smelling of a fish bolus. I occasionally feed rat pups to my theraphosas so I am familiar with a smelly bolus but I bet fish bolus is on another level buddy.


I know what snake feces smell like after eating fish...can only imagine how worse it be as a spider bolts...

Reactions: Like 1


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## SteveIDDQD (Dec 15, 2018)

0311usmc said:


> I also think it would be cool bro. However I can only imagine coming home after work and coming into a 75 degree room smelling of a fish bolus. I occasionally feed rat pups to my theraphosas so I am familiar with a smelly bolus but I bet fish bolus is on another level buddy.


Hmmm, that does sound bad! Any water based inverts that could be used?


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## antinous (Dec 15, 2018)

SteveIDDQD said:


> Hmmm, that does sound bad! Any water based inverts that could be used?


I’d be worried about this. The only ones that pop into my mind are water bugs (don’t know genus or species of them), but they do bite pretty hard and I’d be worried about the tarantula getting bitten by them. That and they could carry parasites. Not sure if there are any water insects that can be used as feeders that are captive bred.


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

SteveIDDQD said:


> Hmmm, that does sound bad! Any water based inverts that could be used?


In all honesty if I was going to do it I would just use a gold fish. If it's down right a terrible ordeal where I can't sleep in my room I will just stick with roaches, lol.


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## antinous (Dec 15, 2018)

0311usmc said:


> In all honesty if I was going to do it I would just use a gold fish. If it's down right a terrible ordeal where I can't sleep in my room I will just stick with roaches, lol.


Id try to find another fish speciess if possible because in the herp hobby we steer away from goldfish due to them being overridden with parasites

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## viper69 (Dec 15, 2018)

Haven't read any of the posts... but the OPs.

If you really want to encourage swimming w/this species, which to me is the WHOLE point of owning this species, otherwise find a new T haha, you need to make a paludarium. There's TONS and TONS of info on how to make them all over the net.

There is someone here a couple years ago made a basic one, not bad start, and their gigas would take a dip.

I won't bet against mother nature w/yours, but your setup is spartan regarding the water. You may need a more natural setup to see such behavior.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 1


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## 0311usmc (Dec 15, 2018)

Thank you, i will look that up and do some research.


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## korg (Dec 16, 2018)

viper69 said:


> If you really want to encourage swimming w/this species, which to me is the WHOLE point of owning this species, otherwise find a new T haha


Hahaha... come on! There's a lot more to appreciate about H. gigas than the swimming thing!


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## 0311usmc (Dec 16, 2018)

korg said:


> Hahaha... come on! There's a lot more to appreciate about H. gigas than the swimming thing!


I agree with you that there is a lot more to appreciate than the swimming aspect of the H.gigas. I absolutely love this specie and has become my 2nd favorite tarantula while the P.muticus remaims my #1. I also do agree with Viper, because why not give the only tarantula i can think of the option too who has been observed diving in water and catching fish. Still even with out the water feature the H.gigas is still an epic tarantula to own and i would highly recommend getting one if you dont already.


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## Bluelight (Dec 16, 2018)

Food for a swimming spider? What about Triops? 3 inches size on some species.


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## viper69 (Dec 16, 2018)

korg said:


> Hahaha... come on! There's a lot more to appreciate about H. gigas than the swimming thing!


Not to me hah.

What features does it have that set it apart?


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## Nightstalker47 (Dec 16, 2018)

viper69 said:


> Not to me hah.
> 
> What features does it have that set it apart?


Well for one, they are very active fossorials. Always building or rearranging their homes, mine can be seen at the mouth of their burrows every night, sometimes Ill catch them with a face full of sub. In terms of activity, P.muticus do next to nothing in comparison, at least IME.

They also get really big, and have those epic stout back legs. Pond or water features sound pretty complicated just to watch it eat fish. Why not just drop a minnow in a shallow water dish instead lol. Better chances of you witnessing the hunt that way as well.

Reactions: Like 1


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## viper69 (Dec 16, 2018)

Nightstalker47 said:


> Well for one, they are very active fossorials. Always building or rearranging their homes, mine can be seen at the mouth of their burrows every night, sometimes Ill catch them with a face full of sub. In terms of activity, P.muticus do next to nothing in comparison, at least IME.
> 
> They also get really big, and have those epic stout back legs. Pond or water features sound pretty complicated just to watch it eat fish. Why not just drop a minnow in a shallow water dish instead lol. Better chances of you witnessing the hunt that way as well.


Not enough reason to get one for me at least, but swimming...that's a great reason.

Watching it a fish, not so much interested. Watching it hunt a fish sounds interesting, also I'd be curious if they swim, or just walk around underwater.


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## Dennis Nedry (Dec 16, 2018)

viper69 said:


> also I'd be curious if they swim, or just walk around underwater.


Probably just walk around underwater, closest thing to “swimming” would probably be skittering across the surface like that video of the Avicularia in the flooded forest. To my knowledge even Dolomedes and Megadolomedes don’t actually swim. Still would be very interesting to watch though


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## Nightstalker47 (Dec 17, 2018)

viper69 said:


> Not enough reason to get one for me at least, but swimming...that's a great reason.
> 
> Watching it a fish, not so much interested. Watching it hunt a fish sounds interesting, also I'd be curious if they swim, or just walk around underwater.


They are still _fossorial_ tarantulas though, not aquatic...they dont like the water as much as you are assuming.


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## korg (Dec 17, 2018)

viper69 said:


> Not to me hah.
> 
> What features does it have that set it apart?


Uh, it's drab brown, it lives in a deep hole... what more do I need to say?

Haha... seriously, though. Mostly what Nightstalker said. The crazy digging, size, and body structure. We don't get many tarantulas in the US hobby from that part of the world. They're certainly not totally unique, but I think many people overlook them just because they're not blue or orange or whatever.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## David McCreary (Dec 18, 2018)

If it were me, and there are few like me, I would be worried if the gigas would forget his swim fins and not be able to make it to shore. Talk to a navy SEAL who ran out of steam when an instructor took his fins on an open water swim.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## viper69 (Dec 21, 2018)

David McCreary said:


> If it were me, and there are few like me, I would be worried if the gigas would forget his swim fins and not be able to make it to shore. Talk to a navy SEAL who ran out of steam when an instructor took his fins on an open water swim.


I wouldn't be surprised if a T could swim further than a human relative to its size. Like how ants are significantly stronger than humans


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## Nonnack (Dec 23, 2018)

But its not terrarium with 'swimming pool', it is terrarium with enormous water dish. You can't keep it like this for days, water need to be filtered.


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