Help! Can I have a bio enclosure for my velvet spider?

[castatsea]

Hi everyone!

I have 2 Eresus walckenaeri spiderlings. They are being housed in terrestrial sling enclosures. I was wondering if there was a way to maintain a bio active enclosure for them? Their enclosures are bone dry and they do not get watered.
Was not sure if I could incorporate some springtails or any isopod seeing that the velvets don’t get watered.

thank you for any insight!

 

[NMTs]

Hi everyone!

I have 2 Eresus walckenaeri spiderlings. They are being housed in terrestrial sling enclosures. I was wondering if there was a way to maintain a bio active enclosure for them? Their enclosures are bone dry and they do not get watered.
Was not sure if I could incorporate some springtails or any isopod seeing that the velvets don’t get watered.

thank you for any insight! View attachment 434087

Hey, welcome...

It doesn't seem like their care requirements are a good fit with that at all. Use the search feature at the top right of the page or search Google and include arachnoboards.com in your search term and you can find more results, but here's a thread I found doing a quick search that recommends bone dry conditions pretty unequivocally:

Eresus walckanaeri care

hello, i recently saw a few pics of this species and i think they look awesome! im a pretty experienced T keeper but dont have much experience with true spiders. i would like to know how to care for one. i plan on buying a 1/4" sling in the coming months and want to know how to care for it from...

arachnoboards.com

 

[Dorifto]

They like drier conditions so bioactive setups pretty much go in the opposite direction, as they are intended for moisture dependant species. You can create an arid bioactive setup, but it will be pretty useless, or even counterproductive, since the isopods and springtail species that thrive in such conditions can be a serious menace to your T.

I'd suggest you to get some topsoil, some branches and dry grass, with that three simple things you can create an awesome and useful setup.

Be carefull with bone dry coco fiber, as it acts like desicant, and depending on your climate it could be detrimental. Topsoil in the other hand will help you keeping it more stable.

 

[Isopods others]

When they are bigger and if they use a water bowl you can create a micro-climate enough for some hardier isopods to survive Giant orange Spanish isopod for instance

 

[Dorifto]

When they are bigger and if they use a water bowl you can create a micro-climate enough for some hardier isopods to survive Giant orange Spanish isopod for instance

Scabers tend to seek for alternative food sources much easier than other species, from my experience. I have seen them dragging a prekilled roach while still it was alive, the conditions were quite dry, so their natural food source was limited, forcing them to act more "agressively".

With normal conditions, they stay away from any webbed area, as Ts hunt them actively (I have some in my vivs).

 

[Isopods others]

Scabers tend to seek for alternative food sources much easier than other species, from my experience. I have seen them dragging a prekilled roach while still it was alive, the conditions were quite dry, so their natural food source was limited, forcing them to act more "agressively".

With normal conditions, they stay away from any webbed area, as Ts hunt them actively (I have some in my vivs).

Good points to consider.

 

[moricollins]

Porcellio scaber do not belong in an enclosure with any other invertebrate unless the scabers are intended to predate upon the other invertebrate.

 

[Isopods others]

Perhaps best just to stick with springtails

 

[bjjpokemon910]

Scabers tend to seek for alternative food sources much easier than other species, from my experience. I have seen them dragging a prekilled roach while still it was alive, the conditions were quite dry, so their natural food source was limited, forcing them to act more "agressively".

With normal conditions, they stay away from any webbed area, as Ts hunt them actively (I have some in my vivs).

Yeah I agree. Isopods in general aren’t really good for Arid set ups.