# Setup advice...for new member



## ChrisNCT (Apr 10, 2004)

Hello.
I have just signed up after visiting these forums for some time now. First off, I'd like to say all of you make this place pretty cool to visit.

Next....
I have had a ball python in the past and have gotten into new stuff.

The pictures that are posted with this are the newly aquired spider, and 2 emperor scorpions. I would like to get more in the near future. I love the spiders and scorps! They are very addicting!

I used his old 30 gal. cage for this setup and took some pics of the setup and critters in it. The tank is made from glass (I think). The lockable lid is of very small screen material. I am using a 75 watt day glo light, and a 75 watt red night bulb for each side to maintain the heat. Under the tank are small heating pads. They warm the substrate slightly. Thec mats dont heat the cage area very well though. The day glo bulbs are never on, I turn them on to see the critters. The red night bulbs stay on all day and night. With the red night bulbs and the small mats on the bottom, the area stays about 78 degrees consistantly day or night. The bulbs are put into small T-Rex light bells that sit on the top. The humidity varies between 65-80 percent. I spray the area inside with water mist to increase the humidity. Other than that, It keeps well maintained very easy. 

The divider in the middle that seperates the two sides goes all the way up and all the way to the bottom. It was caulked into place with a bathroom tile adhesive that is mold proof and water proof. There is no way either species can get into the others area. 

There are temp and humidity gages in each side for accuracy of measuring. The substarte used is a base of water washed aquarium gravel for aeration of the water to the soil mixture. The soil mixture is the T-Rex Forest Bed stuff. It's those brown bricks that you soak into water to expand them. It seems clean and easy to use.

I feed both animals with store bought crickets. There is a water bowl in each side for the critters. These stay filled with room temp water. The decor in the scorps side is a log type hideout from Petco and some of their small moss kits that they sell. The spiders side has the same moss stuff and some small tigs and one large branch to help fasten the funnel or web too. The plants in each side are silk type that you find at Petco.

I have had the two emperors for months now and love them. I dont know how to sex them though.

The spider, I dont know wich kind or sex, I just bought from a friend that his girlfriend has hand raised it from the start. It's a very nice spider, but its very fast. Too fast for my liking.

Well,  you have my setup info and animals in it. Now, let me know what you think. Any advice?


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## Socrates (Apr 10, 2004)

*Welcome*

WELCOME to this AWESOME place, Chris.  Unfortunately I know NOTHING about Scorpions, and I'm just in the beginning phases of the world of Tarantulas, but I do know you've come to the PERFECT place for help and advice.

Even though I can't even tell you WHAT TYPE of Tarantula (juvenile) you got, I can tell you that you must have some "ba...s" to take it onto your hand without knowing what it could possibly do....  

Great looking T, BTW....and BEST OF LUCK...and again....WELCOME

-----
Wendy
-----


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## BBlack (Apr 10, 2004)

hey there buddy,

Welcome to these fine boards.

you have yourself a pinktoe T, it will need an aboreal setup ie height rather than floor space. They're reported to be pretty laid back but can be skittish. Usually its recommended that aquarium sealant be used as alot of the others contain anti fungal stuff that can hurt your inverts.

As far as sexing a scorp, I'm sorry not a clue. I've not developed a taste for them. Try a search on the Scorp forum here If it's anything like the T forum they've covered it.

The divided the tank, make sure there is no chance that one can get to the other. There have been a few poor souls who have found munched pets through T's squeezing through seemingly impossible spaces.

My advice is search for the questions you would like answers for. they've been done before in most cases.


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## T-Virus (Apr 10, 2004)

Nice Avic. you got there.  Hand raised or not spiders are not birds or hamsters.  If they feel thretened they will defend themselves.  This species can be very skittish.  If you handle Ts at all these would be my first or second choice.  
 They need the hight not the floor space as they are tree spiders. They also have been known to sling poop in defense and are good shots with their aim for eyes.
 The substrate question is a large debate on these forums and you will have to decide for yourself.  I use potting soil with vermiculite and would not use that brick stuff.  The temps seem good and the humidity. Just becareful not to overdo it as mold could be the result.
 As for the lights, I would just point out it is good that the heat lights are not used because they can dry out your T very quickly and eventually cause death.
 Alot of this info can be found in serches and alot is opinion so just read and decide yourself. I was just sharing my opinion on your questions.

Good Luck.


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## Nich (Apr 10, 2004)

Good T to start wwith and nice setup looks perfect except for one big prob....yuo'll need to put loks of vertical sticks and stuff for it to climb on, Avicularia (the family of T's yours belongs to) are arboreal meaning they live off of the grounds....so vertical climbing space is more important than horizontal...just lean some broad puices of bark against the  side and shell be good to go in that roomy setup.....


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## metzgerzoo (Apr 10, 2004)

Well, that pretty much covered everything...nice avic BTW, yes, give it something STRUDY to climb on and if that half log belongs to it...take it out.  I don't know what kind of scorps you've got, but if they don't like as much RH as avics do....you can have a problem with that devided tank thing and 65 to 85% RH is a rather big stretch to keep bouncing back and forth with.  The scorp forum here could help you a lot more with general scorp care etc.
Just make sure that avic has something good and solid to climb on.  Don't be afraid to ask...while some people say "search" some of us are willing to take the time to answer questions...Good luck and welcome to the boards.


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## oogieboogie (Apr 10, 2004)

So whow knows what species it is?


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## siucfi (Apr 11, 2004)

*water*

from what I understand you are putting water in the tank as in tap water?  If this is the case that is not a really good idea.  A tarantula can actually drown in water one should really use the gel water.  This will be cleaner and the T cannot harm itself.


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## oogieboogie (Apr 11, 2004)

I use wate rin my cages. Just make sure its very very shallow. A T wont drown in it if it can get up and walk out of it. Why pay for water when its free? o)


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## metzgerzoo (Apr 11, 2004)

siucfi said:
			
		

> from what I understand you are putting water in the tank as in tap water?  If this is the case that is not a really good idea.  A tarantula can actually drown in water one should really use the gel water.  This will be cleaner and the T cannot harm itself.


Uhhh, not necessairly.  There is such a thing called a water dish.  These nifty contraptions come in all shapes, sizes and colors....and, provided are used with a tiny bit of common sense, no T will drown.  Now of course I'm sure the pet store loves that you purchse their merchendice but let's think for a moment, shall we???  The vast majority of T keepers DO NOT use feeder gels for their Ts and....low and behold, rarely will you EVER hear of a T drowning in it's water dish.  As for cleanlyness...how can it be cleaner to have a bunch of gel goop all over a tank that dries up, gets pooped on by the T and cricks and attracts bacteria, as opposed to a water dish that is filled with fresh water on a regular basis? 
Now, if you have a 1 inch sling....first of all, it doesn't need additional liquid other than what it gets from it's food as most Ts do.  Also, suprise, suprise, Ts do know how to support themselves and, just in case they do happen to go for a dip in the dish, that is why it is recomended to put a piece of slate or other rock type thing in the dish so.....the T can climb out.....as welll as any crickets who may happen to go for a swim as well.....imagine that!!!

For oogieboogie:  It's an Avicularia, avicularia, Pink toe


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## oogieboogie (Apr 11, 2004)

metzgerzoo said:
			
		

> For oogieboogie:  It's an Avicularia, avicularia, Pink toe


We figured at real first quick glance a versicolor because of the blue color, but then ruled that out because of its obviously pink toes and that its size it would have different colors if it were a versicolor. Then we went with Av. Av! Were getting better at this! My Gf and I. O)


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## metzgerzoo (Apr 11, 2004)

Well, the versi's have pink toes too, most Avic species do, but yeah, at that size it would at least be showing a hint of versi colors....pretty fella...or gal...whichever the case may be!


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## LPacker79 (Apr 11, 2004)

siucfi said:
			
		

> from what I understand you are putting water in the tank as in tap water?  If this is the case that is not a really good idea.  A tarantula can actually drown in water one should really use the gel water.  This will be cleaner and the T cannot harm itself.


T's drink differently from crickets. T's have a sucking stomach that will actually suck water up, they don't eat the gel like crickets do. In addition, a T's setae will trap air around it's body, it's very unlikely that it will drown. And since it's booklungs are nowhere near it's mouth, that shouldn't be a concern anyway. There are some T's that have been known to swim.


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## Critterfarm (Apr 11, 2004)

LPacker79 said:
			
		

> T's drink differently from crickets. T's have a sucking stomach that will actually suck water up, they don't eat the gel like crickets do. In addition, a T's setae will trap air around it's body, it's very unlikely that it will drown. And since it's booklungs are nowhere near it's body that shouldn't be a concern anyway. There are some T's that have been known to swim.


I've tried to flood a H. longipedium out of it's burrow.  I gave up after a half hour of the spider being underwater, as I didn't know if ti would stay down till it drowned or eventually come up for air.  Months later, spider doing as well as ever.  And I might add still in the damn pretzel jar burrowed to the bottom.

M-zoo spoke about the humidity issue.  In most cases she's correct.  In this case however, the scorpions will need more humidity than the tarantula.  Emp's like to live in constantly moist earth of some sort.  Easy to fix, cover part of the screen top with plastic wrap until the humidity gets higher.


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## mrs scabtree (Apr 11, 2004)

im about 98% sure that the spider is an Avicularia Metalica, white toe, she looks just like mine, mines about 3 years old and im guessin that yours aint that close behind at about 2 years old, and she aint going to get much bigger than that im affraid   .

also ive sent you a pm about you scorpies just because i know some ppl on here dont keep them and ill keep this place just for t's. 

nice set up but like everyone has said on here, use water/no sponge, t's(and scorpies) dont like lights and a heat mat should do fine, i keep on peat and vermiculite not that block stuff, and needs more hight than floor room, this girl will climb, i use a nice big piece of cork bark so that she can attatch her web to that and the side walls   

one last thing(sorry scorpie thing) get a black light and watch your scorpies glow


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## oogieboogie (Apr 11, 2004)

mrs scabtree said:
			
		

> one last thing(sorry scorpie thing) get a black light and watch your scorpies glow


Just feel i should mention that a blacklight can be extremely damaging to a scorpion. Black lights give of UV and a scorpions eyes are very very sensative to UV. If you leave it on for extended periods of time you can blind your scorp, and very possibly stress him otu to the point of death. o(

So be very careful with that.


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## mrs scabtree (Apr 11, 2004)

thanks oogieboogie, ive never heard this before  :? , i only turn the light on when one of them has buried and i cant find them to see if they are ok and that is for a short lenth of time and the light is a good few feet away from the little guys,
thanks again and ill keep that in mind


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## oogieboogie (Apr 11, 2004)

No problemo! I made the same mistake when I first got my scorps. Its more so leaving the light on for long periods of time, like say over night constantly. At least thats hwo I took it. Poping the light on just to watch hwo cool they glow is all good. o)


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## MichaelH (Apr 11, 2004)

siucfi said:
			
		

> from what I understand you are putting water in the tank as in tap water?  If this is the case that is not a really good idea.  A tarantula can actually drown in water one should really use the gel water.  This will be cleaner and the T cannot harm itself.


 I dont know where you got this info from but it's very wrong. The only way a tarantula could possibly drown is if it were a small spiderling or juvenile and the water container was way too deep or wide for it. 

 As others have said before....tarantulas have a "sucking" stomach and cannot chew. Therefore...water based Gels or similar cricket drinks are useless to a tarantula. Nor do they drink using their fangs as straws as some think so a water loaded sponge is no more than a breeding ground for bacteria.


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## ChrisNCT (Apr 11, 2004)

*Thanks again everyone. I have been reading replies.*

To clarify some things.

The water dish that is in each side for both scorpions and spider is very small and shallow. The bowls have gravel in the bottom. This will keep them from drowning.

The spiders enclosure has a branch that is anchored at the bottom and top. It sits about a 45 degree angle to the right corner. It goes almost to the top of the cage. I believe that this will help her or him get a web of some sort going up there. The spider however seems to like the clear walls better than the corner with the branch.

It pretty cool to watch them web when they attack and catch prey. 

The fake log with the fake mushrooms on it is in the scorpions side. This is their hide. This helps keep the heat up for them as well as give them shelter.

The spider only has the big limb, floor substrate, moss and water bowl. The half log (real wood) is not in there anymore.


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## spyderguy1983 (Apr 11, 2004)

If you are new to keeping T's I suggest reading "the tarantula keepers guide", written by Stan and Marguerite Schultz.


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