"Earth tigers"

[ChiliHead36]

Sorry for the very vague title, but I wanted to ask here for people who have kept the species ornithoctoninae, Phormingochilus, omothymus and so on if a simple bioactive enclosure helps with maintenance with these more moisture dependant species? It's definitely a dream to have one of these species.

 

[jbooth]

They are perfect for it. I'd wait until adult enclosures for isopods though, if you want to see your spider. Springtails from the start.

 

[ChiliHead36]

Sweet, I have a couple of baboons and a P.Metallica, but my dream is to have something like a Sabah Blue or Phan Cay. I still have a while to go before I'm ready anyway.

 

[jbooth]

I have a C. lividus about 3" that will get an adult bioactive soon, P. pennellhewlettorum that will eventually, it's maybe 1.5". Psalmopoeus pulcher has one, irminia will get one. Maybe the hmac will get one eventually. I have mostly arboreals and fossorials, so most are decent candidates.

 

[l4nsky]

I have a little bit of experience with Ornithoctoninae spp lol. Honestly, from a maintenance perspective, keeping them in a planted bioactive enclosure is a wash for the most part. You won't really have to remove boli or spot clean patches of mold/mycelium as the cleanup crew will take care of that, but you'll have chores like plant pruning and adding leaf litter that take time you otherwise wouldn't have to invest. The plants themselves can help with CO2 buildup if you don't have lower level ventilation and act as a good indicator of when water is needed to be added, but it's easier to just drill a few holes at or below substrate level and ideally you should already be able to eyeball moisture levels in the soil before you dive into tropical bioactives and some of the costlier Ornithoctoninae spp.

Having said all that though, when most people think of bioactive setups, they think of the lush planted dart frog enclosures and most Ornithoctoninae spp are some of the few tarantulas in the hobby that will not only survive, but thrive in such a setup. So if you want a living work of tropical art with an inhabitant that's as equally stunning, IMHO you're on the right track. Just make sure you walk a bit before you run .

 

[viper69]

Chores- feeding and watering

Bioactive

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Chores- feeding and watering

Bioactive

I think it’s just impractical to have a bioactive enclosure for most tarantulas with some rare exceptions. My pampho never killed her pothos yet. But having one vine growing isn’t exactly bioactive.

 

[ChiliHead36]

I brought up the bioactive setup question because I've seen it mentioned a few times, granted I understand they can be kept just fine without one. But I'll look back on this post and other forums for more research. I just fell for those genus's because they're just stunning.