For all those Poecilotheria housing questions

Vayu Son

Avatar of Anansi
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 19, 2002
Messages
808
This is a standard arboreal setup for Poecilotheria fasciata. There is roughly 3" of vermiculate/peat mixed for substrate, and held in with a piece of ripped cardboard. The tank is a 10 gallon terrarium turned verticle. The screen has clips and a revolving-door mechanism that you turn to open. In the corner is corkbark, in the middle are fake, wiry vines. There is a buried shallow wine glass for water and another small styrofoam cup-top for additional water.



-V
 

Attachments

LaRiz

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
672
I guess this is where we should post pics of Poke caging.

Here is an eclosure containing an adult female Poec. regalis. I'm not preferential to turning 10 gal. aquariums on end, but I've done it in the past. The lid is made of a sheet of Lexan with holes drilled thru, half the length of the lid. Usually I have the non drilled end over the corkbark hollow. The corkbark hollow consists of two semi-round slabs of cork. One is placed on top of the other to produce a nice little cubby where the poke will go in and feel secure enough to molt and make eggs. On the backside of the cork are pothos vines, just find the desired length and snip it off. Place it in the tank and they usually live, rooting into the substrate. Never had any problems with that. Don't know if they improve air quality, but they look nice.
john
 

Attachments

Tarantula Lover

Psalmopoeus Lover
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
1,373
hi

nice pic, that will be helpful when i get my regalis! have you raised spiderlings before? can you give me any info on how to take care of them?
Thanks,
James
 

AlbinoDragon829

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
383
I have a question... My P. Regalis will be in a ten gallon tank, not turned vertically... But my problem is that this is a fish tank... I do not have a screen cover or revolving door for it.. I have a plexiglass top that fits it perfectly, but for a pokey I suppose that will not work. Any suggestions?
 

atavuss

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
1,031
Originally posted by AlbinoDragon829
I have a question... My P. Regalis will be in a ten gallon tank, not turned vertically... But my problem is that this is a fish tank... I do not have a screen cover or revolving door for it.. I have a plexiglass top that fits it perfectly, but for a pokey I suppose that will not work. Any suggestions?
you should be able to find a screened top at your local pet store for a ten gallon for around ten bucks. I prefer the ones with plastic frames as they can be secured tightly to the enclosure with the supplied lid hold downs. these screened tops also have an access hole in the middle so you don't have to take the entire top off. you could then cover half of the screening (or however much you wish to cover) to keep the humidity up.
Ed
 

AlbinoDragon829

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
383
Originally posted by atavuss
you should be able to find a screened top at your local pet store for a ten gallon for around ten bucks. I prefer the ones with plastic frames as they can be secured tightly to the enclosure with the supplied lid hold downs. these screened tops also have an access hole in the middle so you don't have to take the entire top off. you could then cover half of the screening (or however much you wish to cover) to keep the humidity up.
Ed
Allright, that's cool. I hope they have one that fits mine, im not too totally sure of the dimensions...
 

LaRiz

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
672
Also remember that tarantulas have little hooks at the end of their little feeties. These hooks can get caught in the screening, especially the fine screening.
I've heard stories of people finding their spiders dead and hanging upside-down.
If you look at the pic of the P. regalis enclosure I posted, you might notice that I use a lexan (like plexi, but better, doesn't discolor, doesn't scratch as easy, but is expensive) lid for a 10 gal. aquarium. This is how I've been housing my large Poecs for years.
john
 

AlbinoDragon829

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
383
Originally posted by LaRiz
Also remember that tarantulas have little hooks at the end of their little feeties. These hooks can get caught in the screening, especially the fine screening.
I've heard stories of people finding their spiders dead and hanging upside-down.
If you look at the pic of the P. regalis enclosure I posted, you might notice that I use a lexan (like plexi, but better, doesn't discolor, doesn't scratch as easy, but is expensive) lid for a 10 gal. aquarium. This is how I've been housing my large Poecs for years.
john
Hmm.. I definitely wouldn't want to find my spider dead from hanging upside down.. My usumbara has a screen lid and it walks across it whenever it comes out at night... But I'll have to check into it. The downside of using my plexiglass top is that it will slide off with the slightest touch and it creates too much humidity. When I used a similar setup (as in using plexiglass) for my emperors, it skyrocketed the humidity to 100% in no time. And then it went back down quickly after I took it off. I dont' want my pokes riding the humidity roller coaster.
 

atavuss

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
1,031
Originally posted by AlbinoDragon829
Hmm.. I definitely wouldn't want to find my spider dead from hanging upside down.. My usumbara has a screen lid and it walks across it whenever it comes out at night... But I'll have to check into it. The downside of using my plexiglass top is that it will slide off with the slightest touch and it creates too much humidity. When I used a similar setup (as in using plexiglass) for my emperors, it skyrocketed the humidity to 100% in no time. And then it went back down quickly after I took it off. I dont' want my pokes riding the humidity roller coaster.
as for the feet getting stuck on the screening, I have numerous adult t's in screened top enclosures (including an adult female p. regalis) and the only t that gets stuck on the screening (and this happens only when the water bowl has dried up) is my adult female g. rosea. the only way you will be able to see if your t will wander on the screening is to buy one and try it, also there is another type of screen top (it has a METAL frame) that many pet stores sell, it seems to be a larger weave of screening, I don't know if t's will get stuck on this or not, but the hold down clips are extra and there is not a hole in the middle so you will have to take the entire top off each time you want to access the enclosure.
Ed
 

kosh

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 10, 2002
Messages
508
is it "cool" to put pothos vines in a terrestrial T's tank (G. rosea, B. albopilosum)???
i have a pothos plant with lots of vines and i know if you cut a leaf/eye off it will grow....those pothos plants are almost impossible to kill....just thought that would be a good way to naturalize/beautify the enclosure and probably wouldnt hurt the humidity either.....
 

Wade

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 16, 2002
Messages
2,929
Originally posted by kosh
is it "cool" to put pothos vines in a terrestrial T's tank (G. rosea, B. albopilosum)???
The only problem would be that the substrate would have to be fairly moist if you planted it directly in there, and the two you mentionded may not appreciate the moisture. I would suggest planting the vine in a small pot or bottle of water within the cage. Also, use cuttings and try not to transport any of the dirt from the existing plant into the t's cage to prevent pests from coming over as well.

Wade
 
Top