Changing a setup..

[curiousme]

Well, I got my paws on some small plants today that I planted in with my GBB and my G.rosea.. I love the look of them, and the rosea seems very curious about it.. I only had some dry substrate left, and I decided to put it with the rosie, as the GBB usually sits on top of her rock anyways... I had my rosea in a bigger tank, and she seemed very jumpy and unsure in the big enclosure.. Moved her to a smaller one, and she instantly seemed alot more.. Well, confident is a rubbish word, but the only thing I can think of at the moment.. She's strolling around, exploring.. In her previous enclosure she sulked in her hide all the time, flicking hairs at anything. So I'm thinking she's more comfortable in a smaller enclosure.. I built a hide thing with substrate and some sticks.. Looks really neat, I'm proud of meself today!

Awesome! However, is your G(reen)B(ottle)B(lue) (a.k.a. C. cyaneopubescens) a big time webber? That can cause problems with the plant getting enough light. We put a snake plant in our P. murinus enclosure in anticipation of that being a problem.


aqua ~ if you want the cooler enclosures, but are on a limited budget, you have to get things to complete the projects an item or two at a time.(we are always on a tight budget) Spend $5 on a plant one week, then a week or 2 later get some cork bark, get a hot glue gun the next and so on. You can also go hunting for wood.....then it's free! I recommend a forestry, or something like it to do so though. They shouldn't be using pesticides there, but don't use wood from coniferous trees.

All of our enclosures have been done on a budget, so it is possible if you want it bad enough.

 

[aquaArachnid]

Maybe no Pesticides, but what about mites?

 

[curiousme]

Maybe no Pesticides, but what about mites?

This is a personal opinion and preference..... I feel like people are a little too paranoid when it comes to things like mites and sterilizing. If you have planted enclosure(or heck even if you don't), you are most likely going to see some little white things in the dirt, it is natural and fine. Sterilize your substrate and it doesn't stay sterile, because there isn't a way to permanently sterilize wood or substrate. Who knows what will take over that sterile niche, now that you have conveniently taken all other competitors out of the ring.

4 out of 5 of our adult enclosures have 'found' wood in them and we do not bake our wood, or boil it. In fact, most of it sat on our back porch in the sun for months on end, before it was used in an enclosure. We are lucky enough to own over 70 acres of undeveloped forest that we can pilfer for cool wood when we wish and we can be certain of it being pesticide free, but beyond that, nothing more than sun and air to dry out the wood was done.(longer than baking to dry it out though!) The enclosures have been together and in use for varied amounts of time over the past two years without any problems. Now that is only 2 years of experience to base that opinion on, but I would think if we were going to have a problem it would have surfaced before now.

 

[Poxicator]

I'm in total agreement with curiousme, its something I repeat often on the UK forums.
I question what pest might feed on wood and switch to a tarantula when the opportunity arises.
I find the idea of sterlising an enclosure, the substrate and the wood rather odd. Tarantula do not come from sterile habitats, far from it. Some people deem it necessary to use bleach to kill off anything in their wood, bleach! surely there's a danger of that bleached wood having an affect on the tarantula!
The wood and even the substrate we collect outside is a little ecosystem, fairly balanced. Kill everything in it and you've got a sterile substrate full of dead things - its no surprise the baddies soon make themselves apparent.

 

[AbraCadaver]

Awesome! However, is your G(reen)B(ottle)B(lue) (a.k.a. C. cyaneopubescens) a big time webber? That can cause problems with the plant getting enough light. We put a snake plant in our P. murinus enclosure in anticipation of that being a problem.

She actually limits her webbing to one corner.. She's an odd one =p