H. maculata sling housing

[astraldisaster]

So, I have a 1" sling arriving tomorrow, and I just wanted to make sure my setup is alright. I'm planning to use this lovely arboreal enclosure from Jamie's Tarantula Store (2 1/4" square x 4 1/4" tall):

My only concern is the way it opens; if the T decides to hang out near the bottom a lot, it's obviously going to be a disaster every time I need to feed or do maintenance.

For those who have had H. mac slings, have yours tended to be climbers or burrowers? I'm currently keeping Avics in these setups no problem, but I'm sure their habits are quite different. And obviously, an Avic running onto my hand every once in a while is not nearly as worrisome as an H. mac doing the same.

If this won't work, I can run out tomorrow and pick up something else.

 

[CpT]

I think a little but nice work

 

[BrynWilliams]

firstly, yes H macs are fast, but a small sling can't run that far, even with quick legs

secondly, all my H mac slings have tended to want to make dirt funnels/curtains near the floor as, in my experience, extremely photophobic. They'll web up loads and are classically the 'messy' spider (my hmac hangs strings of substrate off the ceiling of her enclosure for some reason )

 

[NikiP]

firstly, yes H macs are fast, but a small sling can't run that far, even with quick legs

secondly, all my H mac slings have tended to want to make dirt funnels/curtains near the floor as, in my experience, extremely photophobic. They'll web up loads and are classically the 'messy' spider (my hmac hangs strings of substrate off the ceiling of her enclosure for some reason )

Agreed. From your picture, that container will work better if you flip it

 

[Hatr3d]

Yep, flip the container and it will be alright, slings, juvies and even some adults of this species tend to burrow, move a lot of substrate and use it for their webs like others already said, they're really reclusive and photosensible. I would also suggest you don't put too much decorations in there, just a tubular or cave cork bark would be ideal. , the spider will do the rest.

 

[astraldisaster]

Thanks, guys -- I flipped the container. Didn't have a cork tube small enough, but I glued a slab about an inch from the back wall so it can we between them. I also added a bit of moss, since my P. ornata and P. murinus slings seemed to love incorporating the stuff into their webs.

The little sucker escaped his shipping vial and ran up my leg, but I got him in his new home without further complications. He's a cutie!

 

[webbedone]

you can get tiny cork rounds off of amazon if you really want to but what you got already is more than enough.

 

[GoDsiZeSnakEyes]

Flipping that container is a good sugestion. My mac is almost 2" now and is primarily a burrower with subsrate/web curtians all over near the bottom attached to the bark.

 

[astraldisaster]

Thanks, webbedone...that's good to know, for future reference.

GoDsiZeSnakEyes, every response I've gotten says that H. macs love to burrow; it seems they're only semi-arboreal, even as adults. No worries, I shall house it accordingly. Mine hasn't done much so far, though it's in a different spot every few hours when I check on it. Scared the heck out of me earlier, as I couldn't find seem to find it before realizing it was extremely well camouflaged on its cork bark.