Spyders
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2017
- Messages
- 27
Hi all,
I am new to tarantula care and am hoping you might help me redesign my spider's enclosure. I set it up two weeks ago when I bought her from an exotic pet store, using the kit that came in the enclosure, but have since realized that this did not make for a proper tarantula enclosure, so I'm redoing it today.
My Tarantula: female Mexican Red Knee. They said she is about 3 years old. Her body is about 2.25 inches long (I'm confused about how to measure leg span...) Shes super sweet and good natured <3
Previous Set up:
(As you can see, she began climbing, which I now know is very dangerous, so that's why I'm hurrying to rework her enclosure today.)
Previous Contents:
Screen top (8inch x 8 inch top), glass walls (maybe 12 inches?)
Substrate (moist cypress chips - not so good, right?)
plastic plant (unnecessary but okay for design, right?)
small water dish
wood hide cover
This is what I want to do... tell me if I should change anything:
Problem: Height and shallow substrate
Solution: Set enclosure on its side and cover the bottom half of the opening with plexiglas so the substrate will stay in when I open the screen. This solves the height problem, gives her some more space, and makes getting her in and out less scary because I can get her to crawl out horizontally rather than trying to carry her out by bringing her high up into the air. This will also give her about 4 inches of substrate depth to borrow into.
Problem: Bad substrate type
Solution: I'm switching out the cypress mulch for Eco Earth loose coconut fiber. It's the dry kind. I live in Florida so its super humid here, and our A/C doesn't get it all out of the air, so I think dry is better (yeah?).
Problem: Found couple inches of MOLD on underside of hide cover. Grey/blue mold and yellow mold. Maybe because the cypress chips were moist and that side of the hide cover was up against the wall, so not much ventilation or light (and she put her spitballs there). She stopped using it about 4 days ago, so I guess thats why.
Solution: ?? Panicked a little on this one. It was only in there for 2 weeks and already got that moldy? What do I do? Does mold hurt their lungs or skin? Can I clean it, or do I have to get a new one?
I dont want mold to be an ongoing problem because she seemed pretty stressed from leaving her home at the store and moving into the new one. I can't keep changing her environment.
I'm like the idea of the enclosure being on its side, but I'm concerned that covering up half of the screen will reduce ventilation too much for her, or make it more habitable for mold. Do you think the 4inch x 8inch screen area that will be left will allow enough airflow?
Also I read that Mexican Red Knees are burrowers. I read that coconut fiber is a great substrate, so I bought a bag of it. But now someone on another thread said that it could collapse on her inside her burrow. Now I'm scared to use it. She tried to burrow in the previous enclosure but there wasn't enough for her to get down far, so I know she'll want to burrow once she can. I don't have an exotic pet store near me, so is there anything I can get at a Pet Supermarket to mix it with? The staff there don't know anything about Tarantulas so they're no help.
Thank you very much for any assistance!!
I am new to tarantula care and am hoping you might help me redesign my spider's enclosure. I set it up two weeks ago when I bought her from an exotic pet store, using the kit that came in the enclosure, but have since realized that this did not make for a proper tarantula enclosure, so I'm redoing it today.
My Tarantula: female Mexican Red Knee. They said she is about 3 years old. Her body is about 2.25 inches long (I'm confused about how to measure leg span...) Shes super sweet and good natured <3
Previous Set up:
(As you can see, she began climbing, which I now know is very dangerous, so that's why I'm hurrying to rework her enclosure today.)
Previous Contents:
Screen top (8inch x 8 inch top), glass walls (maybe 12 inches?)
Substrate (moist cypress chips - not so good, right?)
plastic plant (unnecessary but okay for design, right?)
small water dish
wood hide cover
This is what I want to do... tell me if I should change anything:
Problem: Height and shallow substrate
Solution: Set enclosure on its side and cover the bottom half of the opening with plexiglas so the substrate will stay in when I open the screen. This solves the height problem, gives her some more space, and makes getting her in and out less scary because I can get her to crawl out horizontally rather than trying to carry her out by bringing her high up into the air. This will also give her about 4 inches of substrate depth to borrow into.
Problem: Bad substrate type
Solution: I'm switching out the cypress mulch for Eco Earth loose coconut fiber. It's the dry kind. I live in Florida so its super humid here, and our A/C doesn't get it all out of the air, so I think dry is better (yeah?).
Problem: Found couple inches of MOLD on underside of hide cover. Grey/blue mold and yellow mold. Maybe because the cypress chips were moist and that side of the hide cover was up against the wall, so not much ventilation or light (and she put her spitballs there). She stopped using it about 4 days ago, so I guess thats why.
Solution: ?? Panicked a little on this one. It was only in there for 2 weeks and already got that moldy? What do I do? Does mold hurt their lungs or skin? Can I clean it, or do I have to get a new one?
I dont want mold to be an ongoing problem because she seemed pretty stressed from leaving her home at the store and moving into the new one. I can't keep changing her environment.
I'm like the idea of the enclosure being on its side, but I'm concerned that covering up half of the screen will reduce ventilation too much for her, or make it more habitable for mold. Do you think the 4inch x 8inch screen area that will be left will allow enough airflow?
Also I read that Mexican Red Knees are burrowers. I read that coconut fiber is a great substrate, so I bought a bag of it. But now someone on another thread said that it could collapse on her inside her burrow. Now I'm scared to use it. She tried to burrow in the previous enclosure but there wasn't enough for her to get down far, so I know she'll want to burrow once she can. I don't have an exotic pet store near me, so is there anything I can get at a Pet Supermarket to mix it with? The staff there don't know anything about Tarantulas so they're no help.
Thank you very much for any assistance!!
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