Getting my first aborial - question.

[LadySharon]

Hmm... I know I spelled that wrong but FF's spell checker won't pick it up.

anyway.... I ordered a Avicularia purpurea from Botar about a month ago and asked him to hold it for the Denver show. (Which I hope he can make - I wrote him a few days ago reminding him of the hold and he told me he had me covered - ... but I know he's had problems due to his van being stolen... crosses fingers and praying that nothing else happens)

Anywho... I hate the idea of it webbing itself to the top of the container.. I've seen this before and I'm afraid Id loose the spider if that happened.

The spider would only be .75" So I am putting it in one of my little 3.5" tall about 3" diameter sugar shakers... but instead of filling most of the container with dirt like I was doing with the terrestrials I put about 1-1.5" of dirt in...

then I used Popsicle sticks (from hobby lobby - I have a ton.) to create a kinda lean too... I did something similar for a house spider btw without a problem.

Anyway... I wanted to know what people thought first so I took some pics... now that I know I can upload directly instead of linking.

Thanks.

- Sharon

Lets see if I can do this:

 

[sick4x4]

its a salt shacker right??? it looks good, should do the job....

 

[WARPIG]

Avi slings don't need alot of room in the begining, and the shaker should do fine.

 

[LadySharon]

Sugar shaker from a restaurant supply store. (they know me as the snake and spider lady - 90% of the stuff I buy there is for my animals... though I did buy glasses for my mom once... )

- Sharon

 

[bushbuster]

Sugar shaker from a restaurant supply store. (they know me as the snake and spider lady - 90% of the stuff I buy there is for my animals... though I did buy glasses for my mom once... )

- Sharon

lol i can relate...i get some bizarre looks from blue haired elderly women at hobby lobby during mid afternoon forrays browsing thru the doll house sections for ideas, somehow i just don't fit in there....lol

 

[IguanaMama]

That's great! Good luck with your purpurea. That was my first arboreal (note spelling hahahaha) too! The only thing is that with little ones, the simpler the better and you might want to use only one stick or better yet a small piece of cork bark that doesn't reach up so high. If it goes to the top, you have more of a chance of it webbing to the top and when you open the top to feed, you break the web. I'd keep all furnishings low down, only reaching to the middle. That doesn't guarantee anything, however, as the spider can choose to web up the top, and not use furnishings at all to build a web, que sera sera.....

 

[Aragorn]

I keep my small juvenile Avicularia avicularia in a small critter keeper. However, yours is even smaller than mine so I guess that will sugar shaker will do. It's a good idea to use the popsicle stick to give them something to anchor the web. That's what I do with my female. I put a couple of tree small tree branch crisscrossing each other in the a small, octagonal, fish cotainer and my spider web up the entire cage by anchoring the web on the sticks, which makes feeding rather easy.

Anyway, good luck with yours!

 

[Mina]

Actually, I do have a suggestion that I have been using with all of my little avics that works better (in my opinon) than sticks or pieces or cork. Get a plastic plant with broad leaves, I usually use pothos, and stick a leaf in the substrate, really stick it in good so it doesn't shift. It won't move with the container, which the sticks can and do, and it gives them somewhere flat to sit that is still high. It tends to reduce the webbing the top of the container problem.

 

[Snowball]

I keep my avic's in those smaller exoterra's they work wonderfully if you can work the leaves/wood/whatever you may use near the back, then the front doors open without destroying a web ^^

 

[IguanaMama]

Sounds like a great idea, Mina!

 

[julesaussies]

Get a plastic plant with broad leaves, I usually use pothos, and stick a leaf in the substrate, really stick it in good so it doesn't shift. It won't move with the container, which the sticks can and do, and it gives them somewhere flat to sit that is still high. It tends to reduce the webbing the top of the container problem.

It also won't mold which is important because you will be keeping that little sling very humid. It looks like your ventilation will be good. Cork bark doesn't usually mold either but the plant does hold its place better.

My little A. versicolors get out all the time when i'm feeding/misting/etc. It's kind of fun but they're fast little boogers and jump too! Then the trick is to get them back in their vial without the cricket leaving. For some reason the A. avics don't try to leave and they are all webbed at the very top of their vials. Avics are fun!!

 

[Corranthe]

I am going to be getting my first arboreal sling soon as well, and this thread has just provided me with some great housing advice, as I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with something cheap, easy, and comfortable for the T. Thanks!

 

[LadySharon]

Thanks for the replys. To be honest I really really don't like silk plants... now... real plants when the spider is larger is something I would be curious about.

It also won't mold which is important because you will be keeping that little sling very humid. It looks like your ventilation will be good. Cork bark doesn't usually mold either but the plant does hold its place better.

My little A. versicolors get out all the time when i'm feeding/misting/etc. It's kind of fun but they're fast little boogers and jump too! Then the trick is to get them back in their vial without the cricket leaving. For some reason the A. avics don't try to leave and they are all webbed at the very top of their vials. Avics are fun!!

GNAH! I forgot about humidity! I started with rose hairs and keep their area really dry. (they are large enough now for a dish though.) I had to adjust with the brachys I got- they apperently need it a bit more humid...

But I didn't think about that with this guy. I'm in colorado - so I need to know then... how humid? would wetting down the substrate once a week work? (as opposed to lightly spraying) Or should I spritz the sides a few times a week?

Also I HOPE this guy won't be a zippy escapeie.. because I WILL lose it. I just want it to make a web and stay there. Though I may do the bucket feeding thing then... just in case.

currently my 2nd bohemi has not burrowed... (little .5-.75") and so just in case I put the container (same type of container ... just filled way more with dirt....) in a bucket so if it decides to run away from a crix I'm dropping in ... or from the spray when I wet one side (away from the spider of course but they still kinda know what's going on.) ... then it just will go in the bucket and be easier to catch.

I admit I stun my crickets first by sticking them in the fridge for a bit... got tired of trying to catch the crickets. so I hope to just sick the frozen
cricket in the webbing like I do with the house spider I currently have.


Also - how fast do these guys grow? I'm a little concerned because someone I know who has spiders and works at the exotic pet shop I go to told me that he had one grow up ... molt out ultimate male - and die in less then a year.

I think he feeds them more then I do though. I go by the three cricket rule I picked up from they sticky thread above when I got my first spider - a rose hair.

I want it to take a few years to reach an adult size.

I admit I'm only getting it because it's supposed to be purple... Not that I expect to see color this young.

- Sharon

 

[Mina]

Well, that is good, because you won't see any purple until they are large juvies. When purpureas are babies, they have pink and black striped abdomens, very cute, but not purple. Avicularia purpureas are black basically, with a purple shine to them in the correct light. Males (at least mine) have more purple and it seems darker than my female, but the female is bigger.
You could use live plants, but the problem with that is the plants need light and the T's hate it. Plus you will have to groom the plant to keep it healthy and that may not be the easiest thing to do when trying to keep your T in the enclosure. That is why I use plastic, I can take the plant out and scrub it clean and return it.
The only other suggestion I can give you is watch where the sling is, open from the opposite side, and learn to pop a cricket in there really fast.
I use an eye dropper to water my slings. I just let the water slide down the side of the vial. For all of my avics, I keep the soil moist, not soaking wet. Usually drops twice a week work.
You will have to use some caution, purp slings are quick. We lost our male during his first rehouse, he ran from my husbands hand to under his foot in a flash.
How fast they grow depends somewhat on how much and how often you feed and what temps you keep them at, if it is a small sling and you feed once a week, it should take about 2 years, possibly longer depending on sex, to mature.

 

[Mina]

Sounds like a great idea, Mina!

Thank you!! It really is. Since I have been doing that I have had less avic losses, except for the one last week. I lost another little avic avic. I still have one avic avic, one A. bicegoi, one A. purpurea and one versi that are little slings.

 

[robbie]

That's great! Good luck with your purpurea. That was my first arboreal (note spelling hahahaha) too! The only thing is that with little ones, the simpler the better and you might want to use only one stick or better yet a small piece of cork bark that doesn't reach up so high. If it goes to the top, you have more of a chance of it webbing to the top and when you open the top to feed, you break the web. I'd keep all furnishings low down, only reaching to the middle. That doesn't guarantee anything, however, as the spider can choose to web up the top, and not use furnishings at all to build a web, que sera sera.....

IguanaMama has a point, when i first got my A. minatrix i had a hard time keeping her(?) from webing at the top of the contanier. eventualy i realized that if i put somting in there half way up she would web at that point. good luck with your sling. they sure are fun to watch grow.