Bioactive plant help

[Gilligan]

Question if a sling is moved to a bigger enclosure to early is that really stressful for the spider, what causes more stress moving them between enclosures or if there in a slightly too big an enclosure?

Stress isn't a big issue. A rehouse will cause stress but the spider will adjust. For the too big enclosure the concern is with risks like if the sling can't find the provided food because the space is too large, if it burrows and doesn't resurface, or fall damage if there is too little substrate.
Since you said slightly larger, if you post pictures/information of the tarantulas current size and species, the new enclosures size, and how you've set it up - then information if the enclosure is actually too big or will suffice will more accurately able to be provided.

 

[bjjpokemon910]

Chill out guys


Yes bioactive it's a real term, but at the same time and unfortunately it's a buzzword used to represent a trend, a planted enclosure, a sales gimmick or even worse, one with a drainage layer... which by their own, won't make them bioactive.


Bioactive it's any enclosure that could cycle soil nutrients using microorganisms, as simple as that. It could have springtails, isopods or any macro animals or simply not.



@attercop please stay here



Answering to your questions, No they don't necessarily need neither of them, but they help depend on your setup.


UV it's used more with reptiles to synthesize vitamins, it's known that they cause issues in scorpions (prolonged exposure), so I wouldn't use them with Ts.


For plants a full spectrum led lamp it's more recommendable. Some also use red and blue light to mimic seasonal spectrum changes to promote bloom or growth, but being honest, I wouldn't go soo far. I use two cheap full spectrum ( plus few blue leds) fish tank lamps, they work wonderfully. Any bright enough led stripe should work, specially the ones designed for plant growing.


Sprintails and isopods, well this will depend on your setup. For tropical enclosures with plants or moisture dependent species, they are quite helpful, but you can keep them without using them without any problem. For arid setups, I personally wouldn't use them, one because the leftovers won't cause so much issues, but also because the species that thrive in arid habitats are more prone to eat whatever food source they have available, sometimes taking more risks to get them, as food it's not so abundant in their habitat. You don't want any species that could look into your T (very very unlikely to happen) like it's food source.


I personally keep springtails, isopods and earthworms, along with soil nematodes, mini centipedes, mites... etc that came with the soil and plants. Once all of them established, I never had any single issue related to any mite, springtail, mold outburst.


Maintenance wise, I literally never removed any leftover. This way I keep all the inhabitants well fed. I trim the enclosure once a year, twice at max, specially keeping attention leaving a clean path for the T. Any obstacle will trigger a "redecoration desire" from your T, as they don't like obstacles in front of their hides. The cleanest the path to their hides, the faster they can put themselves to safe.


Substrate wise, Topsoil, no questions here. Get a nice blend or make your one. This simple decision will save you tons of future problems, making the husbandry much simpler. I personally recommend ones made out of dirt, peat (sphagnum), dirt, clay and sand. You can add any of them to make it suit you better. Sphagnum for moisture retention, clay to make it more cohesive plus retain and release moisture more gradually, sand to drain better, and the organic matter to feed your plants. Don't be afraid if you find fertilizers, sometimes it's naturally present, and low amounts like 0'0X-0'X% are perfectly safe. Be afraid when you see the word "ADDED". Added fertilizers come very concentrated forms and this can potentially intoxicate your T.


Drainage layer.... IGNORE THEM. Hope that someday this stupid trend ends. Those are not intended for Ts, period. Those are for other type of inhabitants and setups. If for any case your soil needs to be drained, then your husbandry or the plants on it are not the correct ones. Period. You can keep awesome planted setups without using them, like I personally do. A much better approach it's to add a base layer with more sand on it, it will drain any excess of moisture if needed but won't go against Ts basic requirements like burrowing, as it will maintain the burrow's shape, instead of collapsing...


Plants, choose them based on your Ts requirements, never the other way around. It's the simplest and safest method to keep your T healthy and safe.




Being said, which kind of setup are you planning to build

I like what you said about the drainage layer, while it does help with retaining moisture and helps slow bad Anaerobic Bacteria growth. But my terrestrial inverts especially My heavy digging Scorpions always end up digging all the way down to it and it ends up getting full of substrate which defeats the purpose of it.

 

[Dry Desert]

I like what you said about the drainage layer, while it does help with retaining moisture and helps slow bad Anaerobic Bacteria growth. But my terrestrial inverts especially My heavy digging Scorpions always end up digging all the way down to it and it ends up getting full of substrate which defeats the purpose of it.

I've always used semi rigid fine green plastic mesh between the drainage layer and substrate layer, keeps the two separate and nothing tends to dig into it.

 

[bjjpokemon910]

I've always used semi rigid fine green plastic mesh between the drainage layer and substrate layer, keeps the two separate and nothing tends to dig into it.

Yeah they don’t dig into the mesh I used it’s just that a lot of the substrate ends up going down into the drainage layer sometimes maybe I just need to use finer mesh.

 

[attercop]

Idk if you can see the little guy on the bark there but since moving it into this size its molted once but still seems rather large for its size im not sure

 

[Dorifto]

I've always used semi rigid fine green plastic mesh between the drainage layer and substrate layer, keeps the two separate and nothing tends to dig into it.

Until the T chews the mesh and removes the balls.

I really hope that your mesh gauge it's thick enough and has enough space in between to prevent them from getting the fangs stuck on it. I had read a case were the T died that way and other were it was found stuck and dehydrated, not mentioning that personally I had bad experiences with my pulchra getting the fangs stuck on it. Twice. It can happen up on the lid or down low on the mesh.

IMG_20180804_014507.jpg

• Dorifto
• Feb 18, 2022
• 3
• fangs

Fang stuck example

For other type of inhabitants that don't burrow I don't see any issues at all.

But like it's name suggest, it's a drainage layer, and they are intended to drain moisture, not to provide it. To provide moisture there are better alternatives, and one of the best ones, it's to use a good substrate. Also a T sitting on top of a wet layer, it's not one of the best idea around, it goes against their instinct, same as placing a heat mat under the tank*

Yeah they don’t dig into the mesh I used it’s just that a lot do substrate ends up going down into the drainage layer sometimes maybe I just need to use finer mesh.

Unfortunatelly they reach and tear the mesh very often. I'm fed up about posts regarding this issue on fb, and most of them in setups that really don't need any kind of drainage... just because of jumping into the trend...

With a finer mesh there is a great chance to have the fangs stuck on it, as it could apply more clamping force around the fangs.

 

[attercop]

Until the T chews the mesh and removes the balls.

I really hope that your mesh gauge it's thick enough and has enough space in between to prevent them from getting the fangs stuck on it. I had read a case were the T died that way and other were it was found stuck and dehydrated, not mentioning that personally I had bad experiences with my pulchra getting the fangs stuck on it. Twice. It can happen up on the lid or down low on the mesh.

IMG_20180804_014507.jpg

• Dorifto
• Feb 18, 2022
• 3
• fangs

Fang stuck example

For other type of inhabitants that don't burrow I don't see any issues at all.

But like it's name suggest, it's a drainage layer, and they are intended to drain moisture, not to provide it. To provide moisture there are better alternatives, and one of the best ones, it's to use a good substrate. Also a T sitting on top of a wet layer, it's not one of the best idea around, it goes against their instinct, same as placing a heat mat under the tank*




Unfortunatelly they reach and tear the mesh very often. I'm fed up about posts regarding this issue on fb, and most of them in setups that really don't need any kind of drainage... just because of jumping into the trend...

With a finer mesh there is a great chance to have the fangs stuck on it, as it could apply more clamping force around the fangs.

Should i rehouse this little one to a smaller container then its in or is it alright to stay in? I think it might be a tad big

 

[Dorifto]

Should i rehouse this little one to a smaller container then its in or is it alright to stay in? I think it might be a tad big

It's on the bigger side, but adding some leaves on top or a tall plant (fake or real) would make it more apropiate.

Simply keep in mind that with bigger enclosures and with ample of ventilation you need to keep an eye on the substrate moisture level. This will provide the needed humidity. Do not keep it neither too dry nor too moist. Simply add moisture and let it dry. The time it takes to dry will tell you about the conditions inside, so you can adjust your husbandry in accordande.

 

[attercop]

It's on the bigger side, but adding some leaves on top or a tall plant (fake or real) would make it more apropiate.

Simply keep in mind that with bigger enclosures and with ample of ventilation you need to keep an eye on the substrate moisture level. This will provide the needed humidity. Do not keep it neither too dry nor too moist. Simply add moisture and let it dry. The time it takes to dry will tell you about the conditions inside, so you can adjust your husbandry in accordande.

Yeah because its winter coming and the air is gunna dry out iv started giving them a little moisture top up twice a week keeping the water bowls topped up as well

 

[Dry Desert]

Until the T chews the mesh and removes the balls.

I really hope that your mesh gauge it's thick enough and has enough space in between to prevent them from getting the fangs stuck on it. I had read a case were the T died that way and other were it was found stuck and dehydrated, not mentioning that personally I had bad experiences with my pulchra getting the fangs stuck on it. Twice. It can happen up on the lid or down low on the mesh.

IMG_20180804_014507.jpg

• Dorifto
• Feb 18, 2022
• 3
• fangs

Fang stuck example

For other type of inhabitants that don't burrow I don't see any issues at all.

But like it's name suggest, it's a drainage layer, and they are intended to drain moisture, not to provide it. To provide moisture there are better alternatives, and one of the best ones, it's to use a good substrate. Also a T sitting on top of a wet layer, it's not one of the best idea around, it goes against their instinct, same as placing a heat mat under the tank*




Unfortunatelly they reach and tear the mesh very often. I'm fed up about posts regarding this issue on fb, and most of them in setups that really don't need any kind of drainage... just because of jumping into the trend...

With a finer mesh there is a great chance to have the fangs stuck on it, as it could apply more clamping force around the fangs.

A few of us are talking about drainage layers, proper false bottoms to the enclosure for the likes of scorpions arid, and tropical, and various other inverts that require these conditions. Even the infamous dart frogs.

There is much more going on than just winging about poxey terrestrial tarantulas.

And if anyone doesn't want any other inverts discussed on the wonderful Aracnoboards ( the terrestrial tarantula forum) then have the administration remove them.
I for one wouldn't mind.

 

[moricollins]

And if anyone doesn't want any other inverts discussed on the wonderful Aracnoboards ( the terrestrial tarantula forum) then have the administration remove them.

Where in this thread did ANYONE say that only terrestrial tarantulas should be discussed on AB?

 

[Dorifto]

A few of us are talking about drainage layers, proper false bottoms to the enclosure for the likes of scorpions arid, and tropical, and various other inverts that require these conditions. Even the infamous dart frogs.

There is much more going on than just winging about poxey terrestrial tarantulas.

And if anyone doesn't want any other inverts discussed on the wonderful Aracnoboards ( the terrestrial tarantula forum) then have the administration remove them.
I for one wouldn't mind.

That's why I stated that for other type of inhabitants I don't see any issues at all.

But if we are talking about Ts in a thread about Ts, then other people, new keepers specially could read those answers and believe that they are suitable for them, when in reality they go against their basic need, to burrow freely.

A drainage layer/false bottom it's a very useful tool, but if it's used correctly and more importantly with the right inhabitants.

For Ts, even tropical ones do not need such complications, specially when somebody wants to keep the substrate moist. Those systems are intended to drain any excess of moisture, so they go against the purpose of keeping the soil moist, so you end up adding moisture more frequently, they are not intended to provide humidity, even if they can, it's not the right way to achieve that. In case there is a sudden moisture spike for any reasons and the top layer could not hold it properly, then you can use a different substrate mix as a base layer that could drain that excess, but at the same time provide good structural properties and more importantly the hability to bring that excess moisture back once the top layer starts to dry.

With the right husbandry and soils, you can keep all the substrate moist without soaking the bottom. It's as simple as adding less moisture but more frequently, so the soil has enough time to absorb and spread that moisture (a small amount), than adding a huge quantity at once, so the soil can't hold that moisture fast enough so it ends up at the bottom.

 

[bjjpokemon910]

Until the T chews the mesh and removes the balls.

I really hope that your mesh gauge it's thick enough and has enough space in between to prevent them from getting the fangs stuck on it. I had read a case were the T died that way and other were it was found stuck and dehydrated, not mentioning that personally I had bad experiences with my pulchra getting the fangs stuck on it. Twice. It can happen up on the lid or down low on the mesh.

IMG_20180804_014507.jpg

• Dorifto
• Feb 18, 2022
• 3
• fangs

Fang stuck example

For other type of inhabitants that don't burrow I don't see any issues at all.

But like it's name suggest, it's a drainage layer, and they are intended to drain moisture, not to provide it. To provide moisture there are better alternatives, and one of the best ones, it's to use a good substrate. Also a T sitting on top of a wet layer, it's not one of the best idea around, it goes against their instinct, same as placing a heat mat under the tank*




Unfortunatelly they reach and tear the mesh very often. I'm fed up about posts regarding this issue on fb, and most of them in setups that really don't need any kind of drainage... just because of jumping into the trend...

With a finer mesh there is a great chance to have the fangs stuck on it, as it could apply more clamping force around the fangs.

yeah I'm going to move away from drainage layers myslef