A new 2” A. geniculata and 3/4” L. polycuspulatus

[MarkJ]

So environments are completed and time for spiders! I took the advice of @Dorifto and @Wolfram1 and picked the A. geniculata and L. polycuspulatus, they look like great choices to start out with!


Both arrived safely and looked well, the L.poly was pretty active moving around a lot the first day but has since found a small hide and is hunkered down in there. This one is in a small acrylic terrarium inside what will be the permanent home. I cut a mealworm in half and also used 1/2 a small cricket and placed them inside the tank, nothing taken yet, so I have to wonder what is a reasonable amount of time to wait for this little guy to start eating?

The Geniculata explored the whole tank the first day, went to the water dish and possibly drank some water. He/she has settled in under a piece of moss next to the wall in the environment, I put a small cricket in her enclosure but it's still running around after a day. It certainly looks well capable of eating that cricket.

Being new to this I am watching cautiously waiting for a sign that they are eating, is patience the name of the game here or is there something else I should be doing?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions anyone might have!

 

[Wolfram1]

It really depends. How large are the spiders?

Just a heads up, Lasiodorides is not the same Genus as Lasiodora, they won't get as big.

 

[MarkJ]

It really depends. How large are the spiders?

Just a heads up, Lasiodorides is not the same Genus as Lasiodora, they won't get as big.

Thanks for that heads up, I definitely misread that Genus and thought it was a Lasiodora. My bad there, still excited to have it though.

The Geniculata is about 2" and the Lasiodorides polycuspulatus is about 3/4"

 

[Wolfram1]

The names can be confusing, just make sure you read up on their care, still a great looking spider but apparently slow growing.

Other than that nice choices, not sure if i would put them into those enclosures though, they are a little small for them right now.

If you post pictures you will probably get a lot of tipps on how to care for them and what to expect but i will let others expand on that as i prefer to only advise on species i keep myself.

 

[MarkJ]

I did find some care sheets and watched a few videos, the .poly's are slow growing apparently I just had them confused with the Lasiodora. (By the way, there's a lot of care sheets out there and plenty of them contradict each other)

The 2" Geniculata we did put in the enclosure but the .poly is in a small terrarium inside the enclosure.

If that enclosure is too large for the Geniculata we can certainly move him into a smaller home inside that same environment. It would make it easier to see if he/she is eating. Would that be a good idea?

Here's a shot of the L.poly

 

[Neonblizzard]

I did find some care sheets and watched a few videos, the .poly's are slow growing apparently I just had them confused with the Lasiodora. (By the way, there's a lot of care sheets out there and plenty of them contradict each other)

The 2" Geniculata we did put in the enclosure but the .poly is in a small terrarium inside the enclosure.

If that enclosure is too large for the Geniculata we can certainly move him into a smaller home inside that same environment. It would make it easier to see if he/she is eating. Would that be a good idea?

Here's a shot of the L.poly

View attachment 402270

I would put that l. Poly in something much smaller, like a deli cup, a little lunchbox... They don't look as nice but with all that foliage in there you're going to struggle monitoring stuff like if they have eaten or not; right now it's very easy for a cricket to hide. I use something like this for slings


Just to clarify, how come you have them in an enclosure within an enclosure? The genic isn't in the outer enclosure the poly in the inner enclosure right?

 

[MarkJ]

@Neonblizzard

The main enclosure is quite long and separated into three sections, the two spiders are separated by two stone walls and a 36" center tank. You can see the final pictures of the build here.

I put them in the main enclosure because light, temperature and humidity are all perfectly controlled inside that main habitat and my house is too dry and cool to have them setting in small enclosures outside the main habitat.

Point taken for the Poly, I'll remove most of the vegetation in there and match your set up a little closer. Is a spider that small able to handle a live cricket?

 

[MarkJ]

Updated pictures, I did set these back inside the main enclosure but this should make it a lot easier to monitor.

 

[Jonathan6303]

Updated pictures, I did set these back inside the main enclosure but this should make it a lot easier to monitor.
View attachment 402282
View attachment 402283

I would say more substrate for digging(2-3 inches for smaller and 3-4 inches for bigger I personally always like to add as much sub as possible) and a hide. I been following your thread(extremely interesting) and please give us updates when there adults. The enclosure you made is beautiful and I am very curious to see how much the environment of the enclosure will effect the tarantula. Thanks so much for taking on this project

 

[viper69]

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Poly’s had extremely slow growth rates?

 

[MarkJ]

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Poly’s had extremely slow growth rates?

They are slow growers from what I've read, that one will likely be in the little enclosure for quite a few months.