# Plants/leaves or sphagnum moss in Tarantula Enclosure?



## Tatarita

I wanted to know of any real leaves or plant material that is safe to keep in my Tarantula's enclosure- something she would like.  I've seen these tiny potted plants (don't remember the name right now) at Home Depot that I was thinking of putting in her enclosure.

I also got sphagnum moss, which I will wet and put in a corner of her enclosure.  She is an adult G. Concepcion- Does anyone know if they like this?

Also, is it ok to put some damp sphagnum moss in my slings' enclosures- they are Euathlus sp. Red and very tiny right now (around .25 in).


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## CrazyT

Tarantuli said:


> I wanted to know of any real leaves or plant material that is safe to keep in my Tarantula's enclosure- something she would like.  I've seen these tiny potted plants (don't remember the name right now) at Home Depot that I was thinking of putting in her enclosure.
> 
> I also got sphagnum moss, which I will wet and put in a corner of her enclosure.  She is an adult G. Concepcion- Does anyone know if they like this?
> 
> Also, is it ok to put some damp sphagnum moss in my slings' enclosures- they are Euathlus sp. Red and very tiny right now (around .25 in).


Sphagnum moss in with your slings is fine. Normally I use silk plants for the larger Ts, otherwise the enclosure becomes a little more difficult to maintain i.e watering the plants and making substrate far too wet, removing dead leaves etc.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Tatarita

CrazyT said:


> Sphagnum moss in with your slings is fine. Normally I use silk plants for the larger Ts, otherwise the enclosure becomes a little more difficult to maintain i.e watering the plants and making substrate far too wet, removing dead leaves etc.


Will my adult like sphagnum moss?

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## CrazyT

Tarantuli said:


> Will my adult like sphagnum moss?


Yep, not a problem, just don't go overboard lol

Reactions: Like 2 | Disagree 1


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## BobBarley

Tarantuli said:


> Will my adult like sphagnum moss?


I wouldn't make it too wet with your G. sp. "Concepcion" because they don't really like too much moisture.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## Tatarita

Would it be better to put dry sphagnum?


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## BobBarley

Tarantuli said:


> Would it be better to put dry sphagnum?


Yup, though the slings will do great with a little moist sphagnum.


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## ErinM31

I don't know whether it's "best" or not (still a newb!) but I put sphagnum moss on one side of my slings' enclosures and keep that moist so they can go to the other side if or when the prefer to be drier.

I have some sphagnum moss around the water dishes of my adult _Euathlus sp. reds_ and I don't know whether they like it or not; I don't think they care really.


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## lunarae

Just be aware that plants from home depot are usually treated with pesticides. Specifically I believe it is nano-pesticides which is absorbed by the plants. Any bugs that eat the plant will die. They are supposed to be bad for the bad bugs but safe for beneficial ones. Spiders that feed off of the insects that die due to nanopesticides do not seem to have any detrimental effects so it's considered safe however be aware that if you have insects you feed your T that feed off of the plant matter they could be ingesting that as well. But you also want to wash them well in case they use any other types of pesticides.

You also want to bare root any plants and treat them before putting them in the enclosure just to be safe. Here's a step by step guide for processing plants to introduce into enclosures. This is a site that focuses on the dart frogs and such but I feel the same principles are important if your going to do the same for T's. http://www.neherpetoculture.com/plantprocessingprocedures

Reactions: Like 1


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## ErinM31

lunarae said:


> Just be aware that plants from home depot are usually treated with pesticides. Specifically I believe it is nano-pesticides which is absorbed by the plants. Any bugs that eat the plant will die. They are supposed to be bad for the bad bugs but safe for beneficial ones. Spiders that feed off of the insects that die due to nanopesticides do not seem to have any detrimental effects so it's considered safe however be aware that if you have insects you feed your T that feed off of the plant matter they could be ingesting that as well. But you also want to wash them well in case they use any other types of pesticides.
> 
> You also want to bare root any plants and treat them before putting them in the enclosure just to be safe. Here's a step by step guide for processing plants to introduce into enclosures. This is a site that focuses on the dart frogs and such but I feel the same principles are important if your going to do the same for T's. http://www.neherpetoculture.com/plantprocessingprocedures


All good points! The plants I use in my dart frog vivarium all came from either a local organic greenhouse or from Josh's Frogs. Personally, I think these are even better options that waiting and/or treating plants and hoping that pesticides and excess fertilizer have been rendered harmless, but that's just my feeling on the matter. Plus, I found Josh's Frogs helpful in that, since they grow most of their plants for use in vivaria, they post a lot of information as to what tank size they would be good in, where to plant them, lighting and soil tolerances, etc.


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## lunarae

ErinM31 said:


> All good points! The plants I use in my dart frog vivarium all came from either a local organic greenhouse or from Josh's Frogs. Personally, I think these are even better options that waiting and/or treating plants and hoping that pesticides and excess fertilizer have been rendered harmless, but that's just my feeling on the matter. Plus, I found Josh's Frogs helpful in that, since they grow most of their plants for use in vivaria, they post a lot of information as to what tank size they would be good in, where to plant them, lighting and soil tolerances, etc.


Yeah I have a 5.5 gallon vivarium I put together that I got the plants from Neherps. But the plants I have in the 2.5 gallon with my A. versicolor I got from Home depot. I followed the plant processing proceedure with them but that does nothing for nanocides. But I don't leave food in there so they can try and munch on the plants and she does fine, but I figure that's something that should be made aware of. I'm aware of the 'risk' even though it's stated to be 'safe' for real spiders and made that choice, but I'd hate for someone else to be unaware of the risks and think it's 100% safe to use just anything without trying to at least take proper safe guards and stuff.


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