Bioactive Tarantula Exo Terra Terrariums Questions!

[larouchearachnids]

Hi all! This post is made to share my experience through setting up my first bioactive enclosures for Tarantulas!!

Terrarium Setup:
-x2 Exo Terra 12x12x12" Mini Terrariums
-15W Natural Light Ion (no UVB and little heat)
-Drilled drainage holes at the bottom front of the tanks (still waiting on drain plugs to arrive)
-Used ZooMed Hydroballs as my drainage layer (about an 1.25")
-Screen mesh to seperate my top soil and drainage layers
-Mixed Top soil of sphagnum moss, forest floor bedding & Exo Terra plantation soil
-Leaf litter and moss was layered over the soil
-Used tree bark and a coconut hide to create hides for the Tarantulas
-The front of the tank has about 3" of soil and the back has over 5" of soil for burrowing
-Plants are english ivy & forget the names of the other ones sorry
-Humidity has been staying around 68-78% in both tanks

My Plans:
-I'm planning on ordering an Aphonopelma chalcodes (Mexican variant) 1.5" Male & a Bumba Cabocla 1.5" Male <edit>.
-Going to put about 14 Trichorhina tomentosa (dwarf white) isopods in each terrarium to promote healthy soil and plants.

Questions:
-Does anyone know if the Dwarf White isopods are able to climb the background piece to escape? or go through the front air vents of the terrarium?
-What Tarantula do you think I should put in which enclosure? (Desert Blonde or Bumba Cabocla) Just curious to see other peoples opinions!!

 

[moricollins]

Hi all! This post is made to share my experience through setting up my first bioactive enclosures for Tarantulas!!

Terrarium Setup:
-x2 Exo Terra 12x12x12" Mini Terrariums
-15W Natural Light Ion (no UVB and little heat)
-Drilled drainage holes at the bottom front of the tanks (still waiting on drain plugs to arrive)
-Used ZooMed Hydroballs as my drainage layer (about an 1.25")
-Screen mesh to seperate my top soil and drainage layers
-Mixed Top soil of sphagnum moss, forest floor bedding & Exo Terra plantation soil
-Leaf litter and moss was layered over the soil
-Used tree bark and a coconut hide to create hides for the Tarantulas
-The front of the tank has about 3" of soil and the back has over 5" of soil for burrowing
-Plants are english ivy & forget the names of the other ones sorry
-Humidity has been staying around 68-78% in both tanks

My Plans:
-I'm planning on ordering an Aphonopelma chalcodes (Mexican variant) 1.5" Male & a Bumba Cabocla 1.5" Male <edit>.
-Going to put about 14 Trichorhina tomentosa (dwarf white) isopods in each terrarium to promote healthy soil and plants.

Questions:
-Does anyone know if the Dwarf White isopods are able to climb the background piece to escape? or go through the front air vents of the terrarium?
-What Tarantula do you think I should put in which enclosure? (Desert Blonde or Bumba Cabocla) Just curious to see other peoples opinions!!

Silly question: is there a reason you buying males? Do you have females for them?

 

[larouchearachnids]

Silly question: is there a reason you buying males? Do you have females for them?

I'm buying males since these will be my first Tarantulas, so I don't want to get females just yet as they live much longer. And I want to experience what caring for them is like first!

 

[Pyroxian]

Sillier question. A. chalcodes is a desert tarantula and a burrower. Seems like a questionable choice for bio active. Am I missing something?

 

[moricollins]

I'm buying males since these will be my first Tarantulas, so I don't want to get females just yet as they live much longer. And I want to experience what caring for them is like first!

My advice: instead of buying males, buy either unsexed tarantulas or females.

As @Pyroxian references, the aphonopelma is not a good choice for a bioactive tank.

My suggestion (and I know this isn't what you'll want to hear), don't start with fancy bioactive setups. Learn about tarantulas, learn their habits, needs, etc. , and then if you still want to do bioactive, go for it. Start with modest, low-tech, tried and true containers and setups.

 

[cold blood]

Your set ups don't even close to match the needs of the species you are buying.

Humidity isn't relevant for ts....no t enclosure should have drainage layers or a mesh divider (they burrow), height is a bit much for a terrestrial and with these ts needing to be kept predominantly dry, isopods just wont survive as they breathe through a gill system and require constant dampness

 

[larouchearachnids]

My advice: instead of buying males, buy either unsexed tarantulas or females.

As @Pyroxian references, the aphonopelma is not a good choice for a bioactive tank.

My suggestion (and I know this isn't what you'll want to hear), don't start with fancy bioactive setups. Learn about tarantulas, learn their habits, needs, etc. , and then if you still want to do bioactive, go for it. Start with modest, low-tech, tried and true containers and setups.

I haven't ordered anything yet for this reason! Do you guys have any suggestions for Tarantulas that do thrive in bioactive setups? Thanks for your feedback guys appreciate it Yeah I know but I already have these setups made for tropical Tarantulas and will learn along the way. I'm assuming the Bumba Cabocla would be fine in a setup like this then?

 

[cold blood]

When it comes to tarantulas, bioactive isn't for them, its for you (ts don't benefit), and it will complicate the very simple task of keeping ts. Beginners especially should be looking to do things as simply as possible...it doesn't really help to over complicate things before you even begin to learn keeping them.

For a bioactive, you should really look for species that require damp or at least partially damp substrate.

 

[moricollins]

I haven't ordered anything yet for this reason! Do you guys have any suggestions for Tarantulas that do thrive in bioactive setups? Thanks for your feedback guys appreciate it Yeah I know but I already have these setups made for tropical Tarantulas and will learn along the way. I'm assuming the Bumba Cabocla would be fine in a setup like this then?

Sigh. My advice is not to use a bioactive setup for tarantulas for your first tarantulas. As @cold blood said, humidity is largely irrelevant for tarantulas.

"Learning along the way" usually ends up with dead tarantulas.

EDIT: I love bioactive tanks/vivaria for other animals but they aren't very useful for tarantulas. I build these tanks for my frogs.

People like to say that once a bioactive tank is setup, it does all the work for you, that's not the case. There's still plants to trim, water, feces to clean (Isopods will eat SOME of the feces but they're not overly efficient in my experience). (I have 7 frog tanks going right now)

 

[larouchearachnids]

Sigh. My advice is not to use a bioactive setup for tarantulas for your first tarantulas. As @cold blood said, humidity is largely irrelevant for tarantulas.

"Learning along the way" usually ends up with dead tarantulas.

EDIT: I love bioactive tanks/vivaria for other animals but they aren't very useful for tarantulas. I build these tanks for my frogs.

People like to say that once a bioactive tank is setup, it does all the work for you, that's not the case. There's still plants to trim, water, feces to clean (Isopods will eat SOME of the feces but they're not overly efficient in my experience). (I have 7 frog tanks going right now)

I'll setup a proper tarantula terrarium for burrowing as mentioned by @cold blood , using a container and dryer substrate. And I'll use these terrariums for frogs or other species instead then. I'll have to change the layout a bit depending on what I get but these will do hopefully! If you have frog suggestions send them my way ahah!

Sometimes the internet can be misleading as to what you can do and should do with Bioactive, I'm glad I posted this and got crucial information. I've had a bearded dragon only thus far, so I want to make sure I do everything right before I introduce the animal I'll get to assure it has the best possible enclosure!

 

[Tentacle Toast]

Do you absolutely have your heart set on tarantulas, bud? Because the first thing I thought when I saw your set-up was Deroplatys lobata (Dead Leaf Mantis):


They'd thrive in those, & have several colour variants...

 

[testdasi]

I haven't ordered anything yet for this reason! Do you guys have any suggestions for Tarantulas that do thrive in bioactive setups? Thanks for your feedback guys appreciate it Yeah I know but I already have these setups made for tropical Tarantulas and will learn along the way. I'm assuming the Bumba Cabocla would be fine in a setup like this then?

Let's start with the problems with your plan. (Bear with me, I'll suggest some potential solutions for you instead of just saying no like some)

• Your chance of success with anything burrowing is extremely low. The T will burrow and destroy the plant roots and most likely turn your drainage layer upside down.
• Moreover, bio-active doesn't quite work with small T's (e.g. sling, young juvie) because the tank needs to be of a certain size for bio-active and that would be too big for these small T's. I would say anything smaller than 4" would be incredibly hard to raise in a bio-active setup (if it even survives at all).
• You set the tanks up for terrestrial species, not wrong on its own but that eliminates a large number of bioactive-able species - the arboreals. Terrestrial T's tend to like it dry so you need a sufficiently large dry area. Those that like it damp have the tendency of uprooting and/or crush whatever plants in its path.

So assuming you are happy with having a 4"+ T then the potential solutions are:

1. Change the tank. if you want terrestrial specie
The Exo-Terra, being a cube, is not suitable for a terrestrial bioactive setup. You need a dry end and a damp end, which I guess is possible but very hard in that tank.
You want something long and flat. Have the water dish and the plants on the damp end and the hide on the dry end. The T will still crush some plants on its way to drink, that's inevitable.
In terms of T specie, it's hard to suggest one sure thing since even within the same terrestrial specie, there are different burrowing tendency among different samples. You have a better chance of success if you get an adult T.
And of course avoid the desert species - those don't just want it dry, they want it bone dry so almost impossible to combine with real plants.
I would consider the chance of success here being low regardless.

2. Change the T type i.e. go for arboreal.
You do need to rejig your setup as well. Need a lower drainage layer and less substrate to increase climbing space for an arboreal T.
Some beginner-friendly species can be found in the Avicularia / Carabiner genera. Note that these NEED good ventilation so don't over-plant. Would be a good idea to have a well-ventilated corner where the hide is.
If it weren't your first T, I would suggest Pokies with no hesitation so keep that in mind once you have the experience and no longer fear the OW like the plague.
This has a medium chance of success.

3. Change the animal all together.
As Tentacle Toast suggested, mantis!
This has the best chance of success but obviously way out of the box.

Forgot to mention, you should also avoid heavy webbers e.g. the GBB. Plants don't survive well being webbed over.

 

[viper69]

Gorgeous setups, inappropriate as many described. I will say such a setup is a lot of work for most species that are fine on substrate alone in a box.

 

[Dorifto]

Nice setup but wrong inhabitants.

First, get all the information possible about the T you want, and then, make an appropiate enclosure for them. Don't do the things in reverse since they can go pretty bad. Learn about their habitat, type of soil, climate, plants etc and then, and only then make an enclosure. You will need to choose the correct plants, substrate, bioactive critters... etc.

I made this mistake before, and in a exo terra terrarium too. I learned from that mistake and made an awesome vivariums after reading a lot.

The heat provided by the canopy will attract your T, and it doesn't mind how low the heat is, they will be attracted and will try to climb to that source of heat. And someday the T will fall and could die... If you are planing to use the canopy use led lights instead.

Those enclosure looks more suitable to a tropical specie, like a Lasidora or a Geniculata. If you want a chalcoded or a cabocla you will need to chanche the setup completely.

My actual setups.

People like to say that once a bioactive tank is setup, it does all the work for you, that's not the case. There's still plants to trim, water, feces to clean (Isopods will eat SOME of the feces but they're not overly efficient in my experience). (I have 7 frog tanks going right now)

Ask to them hahhahaha, a Dubia huge bolus, they debourished in less than a day.

View attachment VID_20200528_161219_s.mp4

 

[larouchearachnids]

Nice setup but wrong inhabitants.

First, get all the information possible about the T you want, and then, make an appropiate enclosure for them. Don't do the things in reverse since they can go pretty bad. Learn about their habitat, type of soil, climate, plants etc and then, and only then make an enclosure. You will need to choose the correct plants, substrate, bioactive critters... etc.

I made this mistake before, and in a exo terra terrarium too. I learned from that mistake and made an awesome vivariums after reading a lot.

The heat provided by the canopy will attract your T, and it doesn't mind how low the heat is, they will be attracted and will try to climb to that source of heat. And someday the T will fall and could die... If you are planing to use the canopy use led lights instead.

Those enclosure looks more suitable to a tropical specie, like a Lasidora or a Geniculata. If you want a chalcoded or a cabocla you will need to chanche the setup completely.

My actual setups.

View attachment 346562



Ask to them hahhahaha, a Dubia huge bolus, they debourished in less than a day.

View attachment 346565

Let's start with the problems with your plan. (Bear with me, I'll suggest some potential solutions for you instead of just saying no like some)

• Your chance of success with anything burrowing is extremely low. The T will burrow and destroy the plant roots and most likely turn your drainage layer upside down.
• Moreover, bio-active doesn't quite work with small T's (e.g. sling, young juvie) because the tank needs to be of a certain size for bio-active and that would be too big for these small T's. I would say anything smaller than 4" would be incredibly hard to raise in a bio-active setup (if it even survives at all).
• You set the tanks up for terrestrial species, not wrong on its own but that eliminates a large number of bioactive-able species - the arboreals. Terrestrial T's tend to like it dry so you need a sufficiently large dry area. Those that like it damp have the tendency of uprooting and/or crush whatever plants in its path.

So assuming you are happy with having a 4"+ T then the potential solutions are:

1. Change the tank. if you want terrestrial specie
The Exo-Terra, being a cube, is not suitable for a terrestrial bioactive setup. You need a dry end and a damp end, which I guess is possible but very hard in that tank.
You want something long and flat. Have the water dish and the plants on the damp end and the hide on the dry end. The T will still crush some plants on its way to drink, that's inevitable.
In terms of T specie, it's hard to suggest one sure thing since even within the same terrestrial specie, there are different burrowing tendency among different samples. You have a better chance of success if you get an adult T.
And of course avoid the desert species - those don't just want it dry, they want it bone dry so almost impossible to combine with real plants.
I would consider the chance of success here being low regardless.

2. Change the T type i.e. go for arboreal.
You do need to rejig your setup as well. Need a lower drainage layer and less substrate to increase climbing space for an arboreal T.
Some beginner-friendly species can be found in the Avicularia / Carabiner genera. Note that these NEED good ventilation so don't over-plant. Would be a good idea to have a well-ventilated corner where the hide is.
If it weren't your first T, I would suggest Pokies with no hesitation so keep that in mind once you have the experience and no longer fear the OW like the plague.
This has a medium chance of success.

3. Change the animal all together.
As Tentacle Toast suggested, mantis!
This has the best chance of success but obviously way out of the box.

Forgot to mention, you should also avoid heavy webbers e.g. the GBB. Plants don't survive well being webbed over.

Thanks @testdasi I'll do research on arboreal tropical species and see if I could change my setup to suit it. Yes I do find those interesting so it could be a possibility (the mantis), I've also been thinking about a frog possibly.

Nice Setup @Dorifto !! Thanks I'll check those species out "Lasidora or a Geniculata". As for the canopy, I'm not worried as I already have LEDs installed on my shelf and I found that this bulb emits the same heat as the LEDs which is nothing. I got this bulb because it provides the necessary lumens the plants need to grow since my LEDs have less lumens.

 

[moricollins]

Thanks @testdasi I'll do research on arboreal tropical species and see if I could change my setup to suit it. Yes I do find those interesting so it could be a possibility (the mantis), I've also been thinking about a frog possibly.

Nice Setup @Dorifto !! Thanks I'll check those species out "Lasidora or a Geniculata". As for the canopy, I'm not worried as I already have LEDs installed on my shelf and I found that this bulb emits the same heat as the LEDs which is nothing. I got this bulb because it provides the necessary lumens the plants need to grow since my LEDs have less lumens.

My experience always was bright light equals hiding tarantulas... More lumens is good for plants but tarantulas aren't quite as in love with light.

 

[larouchearachnids]

My experience always was bright light equals hiding tarantulas... More lumens is good for plants but tarantulas aren't quite as in love with light.

Okay thanks for your feedback, I could use my LEDs only instead if that's better? and only have plants that don't need much light to survive inside the enclosure. I have another empty 12x12x12 that I could setup properly all at once when I feel ready.

Here's a pic of my nano tank with LEDs. I have the strip for the top shelf just need to install it!. I could do it in three parts also if that's better so it only illuminates the terrarium that needs the led light?

I just changed the cricket food ahaha!

I saw that Avicularia cf. avicularia are considered beginner arboreal Tarantulas. Would this be a good contender for a future 12x12x12" setup if I get a 1/2" one and keep it in a small tall container until it's big enough to move into the bioactive humid one. I read that they need to be kept at high temperatures (25-29 at day and 20-25 at night). So what heating factor would I need if necessary for it's enclosure?

 

[Thekla]

I just changed the cricket food ahaha!

I saw that Avicularia cf. avicularia are considered beginner arboreal Tarantulas. Would this be a good contender for a future 12x12x12" setup if I get a 1/2" one and keep it in a small tall container until it's big enough to move into the bioactive humid one. I read that they need to be kept at high temperatures (25-29 at day and 20-25 at night). So what heating factor would I need if necessary for it's enclosure?

The 12" cube could work as an adult Avic enclosure, but don't make it a "bioactive humid one". Although the Exo Terras have good ventilation, with too much moisture inside it could get stuffy nonetheless, which will kill your Avic.

 

[Vanisher]

View attachment 346432 View attachment 346433 View attachment 346434

Hi all! This post is made to share my experience through setting up my first bioactive enclosures for Tarantulas!!

Terrarium Setup:
-x2 Exo Terra 12x12x12" Mini Terrariums
-15W Natural Light Ion (no UVB and little heat)
-Drilled drainage holes at the bottom front of the tanks (still waiting on drain plugs to arrive)
-Used ZooMed Hydroballs as my drainage layer (about an 1.25")
-Screen mesh to seperate my top soil and drainage layers
-Mixed Top soil of sphagnum moss, forest floor bedding & Exo Terra plantation soil
-Leaf litter and moss was layered over the soil
-Used tree bark and a coconut hide to create hides for the Tarantulas
-The front of the tank has about 3" of soil and the back has over 5" of soil for burrowing
-Plants are english ivy & forget the names of the other ones sorry
-Humidity has been staying around 68-78% in both tanks

My Plans:
-I'm planning on ordering an Aphonopelma chalcodes (Mexican variant) 1.5" Male & a Bumba Cabocla 1.5" Male <edit>.
-Going to put about 14 Trichorhina tomentosa (dwarf white) isopods in each terrarium to promote healthy soil and plants.

Questions:
-Does anyone know if the Dwarf White isopods are able to climb the background piece to escape? or go through the front air vents of the terrarium?
-What Tarantula do you think I should put in which enclosure? (Desert Blonde or Bumba Cabocla) Just curious to see other peoples opinions!!

Nice looking tanks. But dranage layers is pointless for tarantulas, due to the fact that 1. No speicies are that moisturedependent that dranage layers is nesessary. And 2. If the tarantula digs, they cant make a good, deep burrow cos the mesh and pebbles is in the way.

If i where you, i def would skip the dranage layers and just use deep substrate. I have made many planted terrarium in the past and never used any dranage layer. The key is to choose the right plants, the right substrate and moisten the substrate at a good balanced rate
Goid luck!

 

[moricollins]

I just changed the cricket food ahaha!

I saw that Avicularia cf. avicularia are considered beginner arboreal Tarantulas. Would this be a good contender for a future 12x12x12" setup if I get a 1/2" one and keep it in a small tall container until it's big enough to move into the bioactive humid one. I read that they need to be kept at high temperatures (25-29 at day and 20-25 at night). So what heating factor would I need if necessary for it's enclosure?

Normal room temperatures (20-25C) area sufficient