C.Faciatum care questions

[neubii18]

I couldn't find any care info on them.I need to n ow how moist of substrate to keep them on,as well as ho big of enclosure for a 3" female.also,should I give it a toilet paper roll as a hide,or do they not require a hide.thanks for reading and for any help!

 

[gumby]

Cyclosternum fasciatum are great little Ts. Mine love to burrow so I give them a little bit of coco fiber like 2" deep and then fill in about 4" of moss for that size. Half a 10 G tank should be just fine or more if you wish. I never use a toilet paper roll with any of my Ts. I figure if they want a hide they will burrow. I would give her a water bowl and mist twice a week.

 

[NikiP]

I wouldn't use a toilet paper roll, would worry about it getting moist & molding. When I had one it had a little half log hide. Never used it, the T just webbed the entire floor of it's cage & over the hide.

 

[Midknight xrs]

I wouldn't worry about putting a hide in it's cage. Mine has rebuilt and redesigned it's hides that it makes out of the substrate. quite interesting to see it get messed up by playing with it and then it gets rebuilt.

 

[MichiganReptiles]

I actually have my sling in a 50 dram vial and accidentally put a stick in there when I was prepping all the vials for my new arrivals at the time. I left the stick in there and it created a nice little tee pee with webbing/substrate around the stick and a burrow underneath. Guess it didn't hurt anything having that stick in there.

At 3" .. I would say a 2.5 gallon, maybe a 5 gallon. They don't get very large though. In fact, I believe 4" is about average size for an adult.

 

[DeathsPyro12]

I keep my 4" female in a 5 gallon tank with about 6" of moist sub, 2 slabs of cork bak and a water dish. She burrows some, but mostly she webs her own hide under the cork.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Despite being listed as a terrestrial, this species is semi-arboreal and kept more like an OBT. Mine always hated humid conditions, so I would only wet about 1/4 of the substrate that was the furthest from his hide. For extra humidity during molting, I would lightly wet the substrate just off to one side of his hide (not directly IN the hide, and well away from the entrance). He matured at 3.75" - 4" and was kept on 4" of fairly dry, and landscaped sub with a tall hide, and fairly thick climbing branch in a standard horizontally-oriented 5-gallon.

Hope this helps

 

[Tugbay Yagci]

I have 3 slings since 4th molt, now they are 8 or 9th molt. 2 of them live like fossorial Ts but not so deep like them. Maybe 2-3cms. They just bury themselves in the middle of the substrate and gets the food like the hiding animals on the ocean floor

3rd one is a normal terrestrial T, webbed the entire enclosure surface and seems very happy with it.

All of the substrates are bone dry except %20 of the area -around the water dish- is humid with a 2-3cm depth.

hope this helps.

 

[gumby]

Despite being listed as a terrestrial, this species is semi-arboreal and kept more like an OBT. Mine always hated humid conditions, so I would only wet about 1/4 of the substrate that was the furthest from his hide. For extra humidity during molting, I would lightly wet the substrate just off to one side of his hide (not directly IN the hide, and well away from the entrance). He matured at 3.75" - 4" and was kept on 4" of fairly dry, and landscaped sub with a tall hide, and fairly thick climbing branch in a standard horizontally-oriented 5-gallon.

Hope this helps

Ive never seen anyone keep them arboreal what kind of set up do you have your OBTs in? Details on how long you have had the T and what you use in your set ups would be nice. all mine burrow now but I had one or two that didnt when I used less dirt.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Ive never seen anyone keep them arboreal what kind of set up do you have your OBTs in? Details on how long you have had the T and what you use in your set ups would be nice. all mine burrow now but I had one or two that didnt when I used less dirt.

Semi-arboreal is considerably different, IMHO. I just cover all my bases in one tank. Deep hide, climbing, and floor room....not much to it.

Sadly, my OBT died some time ago. However, I had my C. fasciatum for about a year. He was 3/4" when I got him, and matured at about 3.5" or so.

 

[gumby]

Trust me I understand the diff between arboreal and semi arboreal but I still do not understand how your tank was set up as the word climbing gives no spacifics. From what I've seen in this species they don't climb at all. Mine just head strait to the bottom of the tank.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Pics for clarification, and re-defining a "climbing" terrestrial, LOL!!!

Trust me I understand the diff between arboreal and semi arboreal but I still do not understand how your tank was set up as the word climbing gives no spacifics. From what I've seen in this species they don't climb at all. Mine just head strait to the bottom of the tank.

Remember, behavior and temperament are up to the individual spider. Mine started as a burrower, then became a "climber." I wouldn't call it "climbing" in the arboreal sense......it was more like "Perching." The branch I used was about 2.5" - 3" in diameter (utilized more as a platform), and placed in such a way that the tank had a "Multi-Level" effect for him to "Play" on.

Come to think of it, I wish I had a pic of his tank before he matured. It was really quite a sight, LOL!!! However, I did dig out a few pics from the vaults:

Tank as initially set up:

After a while I removed the plants, as there was no point in keeping them in a mostly-dry tank. But, you get the idea......

Climbing around:

Chillin' in his hide:

One for the road:

What a fun spider!!!! I really miss having him around....

 

[Stan Schultz]

I couldn't find any care info on them. ...

This is not intended to answer your question, but rather to recant our first experience with this species.

It was Easter 1984 (or possibly 1983, my memory is failing) and we had arranged for a spring tarantula hunt for the members of the first American Tarantula Society (started by, I believe, Dale Lund). We called it "Easter in Laredo."

Our primary rendezvous point was to be a campground in Phaar, Texas. Among the attendees was Ralph Henning of Joliet, Illinois. Ralph and we had spoken several times by phone, but had never actually met. He was going to bring a couple of examples of a new tarantula to the hobby called Cyclosternum fasciatum.

He arrived the first evening by car (a Subaru Forester station wagon as I remember) and one of the first things we spoke about was this pretty little tarantula he wanted to show us. He handed me a cottage cheese carton and warned me that these were extremely fast little spiders, and I should be very careful not to let it loose.

I bravely but carefully opened the lid and didn't even get a chance to see the tarantula! It was out of the carton before I could focus my eyes, and all I saw was a little contrail of dust heading for the next camp spot! Followed by about 6 human "behinds" in hot pursuit!

Well, we managed to catch the spider before the campground emptied, and yes it was a beautiful little spider. I've had a soft spot and that fond memory for fasciatum ever since!

Enjoy your little, 8-legged, speed demon!

 

[gumby]

Thank you for the pics and the extra info. I might try something like that in the future. They are fast and skitish in many cases.

 

[metallica]

more info and "in the wild" pics:
http://www.atshq.org/articles/stop_who_goes_there.pdf