Beginner Looking for the "Perfect" Tarantula

[Dorifto]

I want to thank everyone for all of your suggestions and help. It sounds like keeping a tarantula at this point might not be the way to go but I am happy I asked. I did not want to jeopardize the animals care to fit into a terrarium I wanted to build. As Gilligan suggested I am just going to build a closed terrarium with only springtails. I have however decided to do a blue death feigning beetle terrarium with succulents. I stopped by a reptile store over the weekend and they had some and they were very interesting. I also spent some time on here researching them and they seem to fit my needs perfectly. I will be doing a 5.5 gallon and I only plan on getting 2-3 to start. Everyone here has been very nice and accommodating especially since I am new to this hobby. I will post some pictures once the cage is set up.

If your plan or future goal it's to create a naturalistic enclosure, best advice I could give you it's to read and learn all about the inhabitant, from their climate to the type of soil etc this will give you a nice perspective about their real habitat's conditions.

This type of enclosures are easily doable, and in some cases more beneficial. I keep two vivariums that mostly don't have any maintenance at all, apart from a small trim once a year.

The most important thing it will be the enclosure, the bigger the better, as it will provide better gradients. A very good ventilation system it's mandatory, closed system are not suitable for Ts. I always suggest convection style enclosures, as those are pretty efficient keeping the enclosure well aerated, even in pasive mode.

You don't need expensive mysting systems neither gauges to keep them, but they help depending on your setup.

Feel free to ask any question

Mine

original_250afeb4-3cee-4ff4-b5ce-6fa193dbb5d0_IMG_20211118_141027.jpg

• Dorifto
• Jul 18, 2022
• 3

IMG_20211112_201806.jpg

• Dorifto
• Nov 12, 2021
• 9
• pulchra vivarium

IMG_20211005_163533.jpg

• Dorifto
• Oct 18, 2021
• 2

Acanthoscurria geniculata

 

[CutThroat Kid]

I am sorry, I should have been clearer. I am building a closed terrarium with tropical plants and to this I will add springtails. This will be separate from the beetle tank. From the research I have done for the beetle tank, I plan on doing a 2" false bottom with leca balls, a substrate barrier, 3-4" of succulent soil (the one I am leaning towards is 1/4 Hard Japanese Akadama - 1/4 USA Pumice - 1/4 New Zealand Pine Bark and 1/4 Haydite and it is used for succulents and bonsai) and then a topping of coarse grit sand. The sand will be just deep enough to cover the succulent soil and I have read that a coarse grind is needed as the finer grit sand will suffocate the succulents. I will also utilize large rocks for the hardscape and mopani wood for lots of hides and climbing surfaces. I also plan on adding a full spectrum grow light on a timer to cover the plants needs and to add some lighting for the beetles. Hopefully this will work and I am not replacing succulents every 6 months.

Nice. I currently have 6 desert beetles, 4 of which are BDFBs, in a very basic, small glass fishbowl with a simple mix of cheap play sand and dry coco fiber for substrate, and a few mini birch rounds to climb on and hide around at the moment. This setup is pretty bare but is more than good enough. Eventually, once I've collected a few more species of desert beetles for a greater biodiversity, I plan to do a bigger bioactive enclosure with these cool little succulents I have. If it all seems to work well, and there is enough space, I'll throw my dune scorpion in there too! As they apparently can cohabitate well with ironclad type beetles.

 

[ob1page]

If your plan or future goal it's to create a naturalistic enclosure, best advice I could give you it's to read and learn all about the inhabitant, from their climate to the type of soil etc this will give you a nice perspective about their real habitat's conditions.

This type of enclosures are easily doable, and in some cases more beneficial. I keep two vivariums that mostly don't have any maintenance at all, apart from a small trim once a year.

The most important thing it will be the enclosure, the bigger the better, as it will provide better gradients. A very good ventilation system it's mandatory, closed system are not suitable for Ts. I always suggest convection style enclosures, as those are pretty efficient keeping the enclosure well aerated, even in pasive mode.

You don't need expensive mysting systems neither gauges to keep them, but they help depending on your setup.

Feel free to ask any question

Mine

original_250afeb4-3cee-4ff4-b5ce-6fa193dbb5d0_IMG_20211118_141027.jpg

• Dorifto
• Jul 18, 2022
• 3

IMG_20211112_201806.jpg

• Dorifto
• Nov 12, 2021
• 9
• pulchra vivarium

IMG_20211005_163533.jpg

• Dorifto
• Oct 18, 2021
• 2

Acanthoscurria geniculata

Those are impressive looking displays and they were the idea I was wanting to replicate. What size are the enclosures? They look larger than what I can accommodate right now.

 

[CommanderBacon]

I would not suggest a tarantula for this type of set up. I think you're on the right track with something from the Lycosidae family.

I would second this tbh. Wolf spiders are great, fun to keep, and around the size you're looking for. And they actually hunt, so it wouldn't matter if they were in an enclosure that size. It would be fun to watch them after the lights go out.

If you are very new to keeping spiders, I suggest taking this path.

Small tarantulas typically hide well to protect themselves (a burrow or webbing etc) so you won't see them a lot. There are some small species that I keep that are out more often, but they are pricier and that sort of bioactive is also not right for them.

 

[Dorifto]

Those are impressive looking displays and they were the idea I was wanting to replicate. What size are the enclosures? They look larger than what I can accommodate right now.

Those are two 24x16x16 / 60x40x40 enclosures put together.

They are euro style enclosures, with convection style ventilation system, perfect for this type of setups.

They are pretty easy to build, even you can mod a fish tank to mimic the ventilation system.

This is the fish tank mod

IMG_20220630_223820.jpg

• Dorifto
• Jun 30, 2022
• 4

Fish tank mod

And mine blueprint.

IMG_20200523_002020.jpg

• Dorifto
• Oct 2, 2021

Being honest, I wouldn't go smaller than 16x16inches / 40x40cm for this type of enclosure. The extra size will allow you to have a broader conditions inside, so any incident will have less impact overall.