Enclosures for adult GGB Ts

Chad Peace

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Im getting a Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens and i need help on what enclosure to get for it, im eyeing up a lot of Acrylic vivariums but i dont feel like they are big enough. So can you help me on what enclosure to get please?
 

Vanessa

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I keep my two adult girls in acrylic shoebox enclosures. I put two cork bark hides and some fake plants for them to use for anchor points for webbing. I don't use that deep a box, and I maybe should have used something deeper for them, but they have room to move about and have webbed up nicely. I don't use a lot of substrate for them. They each have two smaller water dishes because they web them up completely.
They are very fast and can bolt. As long as they have floor space, lots of stuff to anchor webs to, and somewhere to hide so you feel comfortable doing maintenance, then you have a lot of options for them. My girls come toward me when I move their enclosures around because they are always hungry. They are very fast and I always feed them before trying to get photos. Neither of my girls have ever shown an ounce of defensive behaviour and have never kicked hair at me even during rehousing when they were stressed out and did laps around my bathtub. They are not defensive - just fast and skittish.
They like it dry, so you don't have to worry about using something that will cause the enclosure to dry out, like a Kritter Keeper.
Here is one of my two girlies in her enclosure. This was taken shortly after rehousing her, there is a lot more webbing now.
_DSC2620-2.jpg
 

EulersK

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"Semi-arboreal" is a term that can be used with this spider, although at the end of the day they're not arboreal at all. However, I certainly wouldn't call them terrestrial, either. Hence the term.

Typically, we advise that terrestrial T's have no more than 2x dls (diagonal leg span) of space between the floor and the lid. Personally, I throw this rule out when dealing with this species. I usually have at least 2x dls of height, although you don't need to go crazy and set up an arboreal enclosure. Just like any spider, they can fall and hurt themselves, but you don't need to be as paranoid as with other terrestrials. They are very heavy webbers, and if you don't have the appropriate height, they will web the enclosure shut. Not a big deal at the end of the day, but I just don't like having to deal with that. The height also allows you to set up taller anchor points, allowing them to do what they do best.
 

viper69

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Im getting a Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens and i need help on what enclosure to get for it, im eyeing up a lot of Acrylic vivariums but i dont feel like they are big enough. So can you help me on what enclosure to get please?
Big enough for what? If you mean big enough so the T has enough space to web up, but won't web the entire container thus giving you more room to work in, then you are correct. They aren't big enough.

I would go larger, ExoTerra's will offer more space and some are more square than fish tanks. Sterilite is super cheap and offers a lot of space as well.

I also think on some level it depends on how the tank is setup. If provided with a lot of space that is ideal for making T homes, they will use it all IMO. Though GBBs quite often seem to use everything you provide at times. However, when observed in the wild, they don't web up the surrounding area beyond the plant's base they live from what I could see. So I think, and I haven't tried it yet, if you give them a space with only limited selection for home, it might force them to web up only in a specific spot.

W/that said Ts are incredible engineers, and I haven't been able to stop my AF GBB from using all available space yet.
 

viper69

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"Semi-arboreal" is a term that can be used with this spider, although at the end of the day they're not arboreal at all. However, I certainly wouldn't call them terrestrial, either. Hence the term.
You realize the contradiction in your statement, right? ;)

They aren't arboreal look at their morphology. IMO semi-arboreal is not valid either, but I could be wrong.
 

EulersK

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You realize the contradiction in your statement, right? ;)

They aren't arboreal look at their morphology. IMO semi-arboreal is not valid either, but I could be wrong.
Yeah, yeah, yeah ;) I still wouldn't call them a strict terrestrial.
 

EulersK

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Why? Their morphology indicates they are compared to other OW and NW arboreals.
Primarily because of how they live in captivity. They're certainly not arboreal (which is why I'm not a fan of the term semi-arboreal), but they're much more content living in taller enclosures than, say, a Brachypelma. I'm open to a term other than semi-arboreal!
 

Vanessa

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For what it is worth, both my girls came in enclosures that had less floor space than height - one was an exoterra and the other a glass aquarium. They had barely any substrate in either enclosure - an inch or so at best. They had been living in those enclosures for around 3 years.
Neither enclosure had webbing more than about half way up, even though they had anchor points that went up higher. Seeing that, I concluded that they would do okay in a shallower enclosure with less height and more substrate. I also concluded that their enclosures posed a risk of injury from a fall with walls far too high and pointy sticks all over the place.
While I probably should have gone a bit deeper than I did with my enclosures - I didn't really see much evidence in their old enclosures that they were taking advantage of having the height they were provided with to build their webs.
 

cold blood

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Im getting a Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens and i need help on what enclosure to get for it, im eyeing up a lot of Acrylic vivariums but i dont feel like they are big enough. So can you help me on what enclosure to get please?
Before anyone can give a real world answer, its critical to know how big the spider you are getting is.

My GBB is housed terrestrially, I did not give her anything to climb on or any additional height...she's basically housed exactly like my B. smithi....there's just more webbing in the GBB enclosure.
 

Ellenantula

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My GBB is housed terrestrially, I did not give her anything to climb on or any additional height...she's basically housed exactly like my B. smithi....there's just more webbing in the GBB enclosure.
I also house mine terrestrially. But wow - the webbing! It's like a huge wall-to-wall hammock with an opening on each end leading to her underground tunnel. And the webbing looks thick enough to support human weight. She's got an OBT beat for webbing.
 

viper69

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Primarily because of how they live in captivity. They're certainly not arboreal (which is why I'm not a fan of the term semi-arboreal), but they're much more content living in taller enclosures than, say, a Brachypelma. I'm open to a term other than semi-arboreal!
But captivity is not that natural for most of us.

You think Brachy's are stressed out by tall containers???
 

Vanessa

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Everything I have read about my Thrixopelma ockerti refers to them as being semi-arboreal. I don't have a problem with that term to describe someone who is comfortable off the ground, but not as much off the ground as a full arboreal.
What would people describe Thrixopelma ockerti as being? Yes, I believe it is categorized as a terrestrial, but wouldn't you agree that ideally they should be given a bit more height option that your more typical terrestrial? Everything I have read suggests that not giving them a bit of height results in them exhibiting stressed out behaviour. But you wouldn't house them as a full arboreal either.
 

cold blood

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Everything I have read about my Thrixopelma ockerti refers to them as being semi-arboreal. I don't have a problem with that term to describe someone who is comfortable off the ground, but not as much off the ground as a full arboreal.
What would people describe Thrixopelma ockerti as being? Yes, I believe it is categorized as a terrestrial, but wouldn't you agree that ideally they should be given a bit more height option that your more typical terrestrial? Everything I have read suggests that not giving them a bit of height results in them exhibiting stressed out behaviour. But you wouldn't house them as a full arboreal either.
okerti is more arboreal than terrestrial, despite their appearance as a terrestrial.

You're right, but I think they'd do just fine in a full arboreal enclosure...I'd go fully arboreal before I'd ever consider a straight up terrestrial enclosure.
 

Vanessa

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okerti is more arboreal than terrestrial, despite their appearance as a terrestrial.

You're right, but I think they'd do just fine in a full arboreal enclosure...I'd go fully arboreal before I'd ever consider a straight up terrestrial enclosure.
I am planning on replacing the screen lid on an exoterra with acrylic and keeping them in there when they are older. The one I have is 12"x12"x12".
What do you think?
 

cold blood

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For an adult, I would even consider going a little bigger. I think room is important, because they're a very skittish species...the most skittish I've ever personally dealt with. I've heard they can be flicky, but I haven't seen it, I have one male about 3", one penultimate male and a 3.5" female, all raised from slings and I have yet to see any of them flick or even have a tiny bald spot. Generally they just bolt and hide (make sure they have lots of hiding places, especially important for skittish and fast ts). The rare time they don't, I get the raised rump waving at me (I love seeing this)....maybe one day one will get flicky, who can say...but I think added room and cover can really reduce this.

Superb feeding response, decent growth rates and man, I really like their look.

For as quick and skittish as they are, they're not difficult to work with IME.
 
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