Help Needed Choosing Spider

[Henry Kane]

Hey Mark. I think the Chaco is an excellent choice. Have you considered perhaps a G. pulchra? Another beautiful and docile (by reputation) species. Both have pretty long lifespans too. (females at least) Good luck in choosing and let us know what you decide.

Atrax

 

[MrDeranged]

Huh, when did I say any of my slings have water dishes? When I said my GBB has a bottle cap, I'm talking about an adult, not a sling. My slings are all in vials or beanie baby containers and I have no problems whatsoever maintaining humidity. The day I feel unconfident taking care of my t's is the day that they bury me.

Personally, I think that air humidity isn't quite that important either to be honest with you. I think T's need internal hydration more than anything else to succesfully molt. This would mean that having a source of water for the T to drink whenever it would need to is more important than air humidity. The only problem that a dry environment can really cause, and this is just my thought, may be the new exuvia hardens quicker than if the air humidity was higher thereby causing a higher possibility of the T getting trapped in its old skin. With my first T, I didn't take such great care of her. She was in a big pet pal, the humidity in my apt at the time probably hovered around 10%, the substrate was gravel, not too good for keeping in moisture. The one thing that I checked up on the most was that it had water. This is not to say that there weren't periods that she didn't have water. As I said, at that time, I was bad. She probaby went months a time or two without water. You know what, she never had a problem molting. I still have her to this day.

 

[Botar]

Scott,

What kind of T is she? (Your first) I had a similar experience with a B. smithi when I was in high school. I kept her on gravel with a water dish and she did great. I only lost her when I had to go away to college and left her with a friend. She later died, probably from neglect, but I don't know for sure.

Botar

 

[MrDeranged]

The Mighty G. Rosea of course You can see pics of her in the Gallery.

Scott

 

[Kenny]

Air humidity

Hi

Yup,,all the way.

Air humidity is just numbers,digits and %.

I think my overall humidity has been more under, way under 60 - 50% than above 60% in my T room for all my species.
Then sometimes I just boost an hour or soo if it starts to hit the too low under 60% for the room.
I don't have one hygrometer in any cage,,just my weather center for the whole room, with more or less %.

Running like that for 4 months and I just mist a little and let the rest be and everybody is happy. I even have a fan running all the time and that really dries the cages out fast, but the vent. is good for the Avics.

So my humidifier is really just a kinda compensation for the fan blowing all the time for the Avics.
My A.Avic doesn't have any substrate at all now since a week back and she molted perfectly the day before yesterday.

Kenny

 

[Henry Kane]

Hi Kenny. Just curious, why no substrate?

Atrax

 

[Paul Day]

Avics are rather easy to please spiders. If anything, a lack of ventilation is the primary killer of pinktoes. Pinktoes can easily survive with either misting, or just a water dish, and an open enclosure (and sometimes neather). This does not mean (in Kenny's limited experience) that enviormental humidity isn't important. Avic. happen to live high in the trees, where wind is constantly blowing, and humidity levels are variable. People think they are high humidity, because they are from rainforests, but that really isn't always the case... Unlike T. blondi, which lives in practically swampy areas in deep burrows (used to high humidity levels). So let's consider this before we discount the value of enviormental humidity.

As for no substrate, that's been done before. I know there is a better reason against it, but I primarly think it would get kind of gross down there after a while. Substrate masks and helps with the decomposition of little cricket parts and spider poop which otherwise would fester unattractively on the bottom of the tank... but I do not think that not using substrate on the bottom of your tank Kenny is a big deal. Let us know how it goes!

Pauly

 

[Kenny]

I'm just testing...

Hi all.

On pages 133 and 134 in Schultz book "The Tarantula Keepers Guide" under the section "Arboreal Species" is an interresting part
that I took to me as very good logical thing about the species like avic's about approach to substrate and vent, humidity and the "way","path", that I've taken with my Avic's is that vent is so very much more important than the humidity.

Then this that they nearly never,ever, touch the substrate.

I have looked at my different sized Avics for about 4 months now , every night, filmed with nightvision on and off, hunting, eating, molting in the webtube.

Oh, yes they do walk around:up and down their webtube/or wood peice and on the walls of the cage,sometimes.
Never the "floor".
I have the smoother jungle-mix with less bark pieces that you find more in the bigger bags.
My 1,5' versi "struggled" for about 10 minutes to get her pretty big cricket around to the top of the tube, when she could just gone down and straight up to the lair.

So without messing to much with my other ones I choose my A.Avic ( a beauty freebie that I got from Kelly and that have molted twice very succesfully and s/he has the most cool web tube spun from the woodpeice all the way to the ceiling ) to do a test without substrate, and s/he is just doing fine.
One thing I can tell you: It's soooo easy to find food remains that ev. fall down.
Also the chance to get a start of mold or other infestations must be minimized.

I have my "drier" 2 T's, the GBB and my 7 - 8' Chaco in the same room and they thrive without problem in there, because I don't think vent can hurt them either, because it must blow winds where they live as well in nature..
I don't have the fan on highest setting, no "storms" just a "breeze".

Kenny

 

[ArachnoJoost]

"Avic. happen to live high in the trees"
Paul,
Not always, on an excursion to Surinam I found an A. avicularia very close to the ground in a plant (see pic). Have also seen several tube-webs on eye-height (not with spiders in them). No doubt there are more webs higher, but they do not always live high in the trees.
greetz,
Joost

 

[belewfripp]

Just a small note: I have read a couple different times some sage words from Bob Breene, something to the effect that we really can't be sure that how we are keeping our spiders is optimal for them or is the right way to keep them, but rather that what we've learned is a way or ways to keep them that don't result in a dead spider.


If there is one thing I've learned in my short time in the hobby it is that there is no one right way to do things. We can work with generalisations, like G. rosea needs less humidity than H. lividum, but many different people have kept the same species of T in very different ways with success. Some people swear that T. blondi needs a swamp, others say they have adapted theirs to desert conditions, and me I stay somewhere in the middle, especially as they get larger. I've had great success (knock on wood) with two blondis I've started as little itty bitty guys and have had no problems so far. As my 3 incher gets bigger he will be given conditions similar to my 7-incher, soak the substrate in places every so often, but let it dry out quite a bit at times, too.


Adrian

 

[Paul Day]

"Paul,
Not always, on an excursion to Surinam I found an A. avicularia very close to the ground in a plant (see pic). Have also seen several tube-webs on eye-height (not with spiders in them). No doubt there are more webs higher, but they do not always live high in the trees.
greetz,
Joost"

I didn't say always. Avicularia avicularia is a particular species of Pinktoe which has benefited from human habitations, on low foliage and on buildings. But that doesn't mean they aren't high in the trees either. But if you compare them to T. blondi's habitat, you can't possibly call them High Humidity .

Pauly

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Paul,
The habitat of the T. blondi that you spoke of is about a foot lower than the avic in the picture, although I haven't seen them they should be there also (the avics are a little easier to spot, and I wasn't addicted to t's at that time so I didn't search for them). That said, it is true ofcourse that the blondi lives in burrows where the humidity is a lot higher than the tree-homes of the avics no matter how low they are situated.
greetz,
Joost

 

[Kenny]

Common sense...

Hi all..

I agree 1000% with you belewfripp..

For example..( a little OT here )

I had Discus for about 7 years that became breeding after 3 years in small scale and that fish has the most "infamouse" reputation around: "Hard to keep, don't try it without experience".

I mean if I had followed all the "advice" from pet shops I would have had a small chemical factory going just to keep the fish, testing of water "left and right".
This is really how it was,:
1: A big tank as possible to keep "worries" down, 120 gallons+, to achieve natural biologic process going easy and care "down" ( this apply for other fish as well in tank), in my case a 130 gallon tank with Fluval 404 pump biological cleaning.
2. Not to hard water.
3. The temp a little closer to 86 F, ( here is the only spot where a Discus can differ a little, want somewhat higher temp).
4. Get the fish and start.
5. Feed


The same I've seen with the T keeping, listening to the guys and helpful people like in here that know more and it's really the same.
Get the basics and then use common sense, that's the best.

I mean I thought my s'lings for example would be a struggle because I was way out of my territory here, "fish in aquariums", but heck,,it's the same as with Discus

Kenny