How big for a kritter keeper?

[theroober]

I should be getting an OBT sling in a few days and I'm debating on how to house it. It's probably too small for a kritter keeper right? This is a tiny kritter keeper though its about 6 inches long. I know I will be tempted to move him into the bigger cage so I wanted to make sure. I'm also getting a GBB but it's 2 inches and I thought that should be fine.

 

[Kris-wIth-a-K]

yea that will be fine. I like to get the bigger KK so I don't have to hastle with the move especially with OBT's. 2" of substrate will be fine with hide. If one doesn't fit inside then get a few fake leaves and thrown them in there. The obt will manipulate them as it wants..

 

[Mushroom Spore]

You didn't say how big the OBT sling is. That's REALLY important, if they can squeeze between the ventilation slits there's no telling if you'll ever see it again. I think I put my spiderlings in those tiny keepers starting around...an inch? Inch and a half?

I got my GBB at 2.5 inches, and went ahead and put her in the biggest kritter keeper I could find with some peatmoss and driftwood. She's still in there a couple years later, and I'm only considering rehousing her because she's around 5-6 inches in legspan now and aggressive as heck. I need a five or ten gallon tank just so I can open the lid to feed her and not have her so darn close to my fingers!

 

[theroober]

Okay good I didn't want to have to move him too soon. Can they both drink out of bottlecaps? The smallest T I've bought was a few inches so I just want to make sure I'm prepared for the slings. Thanks

 

[theroober]

Oh sorry I thought I mentioned that. It is supposed to be 1 inch.

 

[mouse]

kk is to big for a 1" obt in my opinion. i housed mine in a jar. all the itty-bitties went into salt and pepper shaker type homes, the bigger ones into small jars, and 2" went to a kk. and all the shakers and jars were placed inside one of those long flat kk minus the top so they wouldn't fall over. but that was when i had a bunch unlike now .

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Can they both drink out of bottlecaps?

As long as they aren't too deep, even the 1" should be fine with a bottlecap.

However, I've never owned an OBT but I can tell you this right now: the lifespan of any bottlecap you put into that GBB enclosure is limited. Once that spider starts webbing (which may take as long as several months), any bottlecaps placed into the enclosure will be webbed up in a matter of hours or days - and even a little webbing will drain all the water out of a bottlecap.

Go ahead and give yours a bottlecap now, especially since it may need access to larger amounts of water after shipping. But once the webbing starts, you may as well give up and just pour/spray water onto part of the webbing once a week or so. Giving the crickets a chance to drink water before/during their time in the tarantula tank will hydrate your spider too.

Trying to constantly rescue, clean, and replace bottlecaps in a GBB enclosure drove me bonkers. She's got two or three in there to this day...somewhere.

 

[theroober]

One of the reasons I got a GBB was the crazy webbing. I didn't think about it covering the waterdish that's pretty interesting. So is 1 inch kind of on the line of being too small? Hopefully I can tell if it is big enough when it arrives.

 

[clam1991]

i keep my ts in lil delis until they are big enough to not fit through holes and as long as you dont over feed em and have coco fiber or peat moss then it should have a problem with a big tank

just make sure it wont slip away on you
i play with my obts all the time and they are about an inch and still growing

 

[Shagrath666]

ik this is rather specific, but if you keep fish and you feed New Life Spectrum, the empty jars are amazing, perfect size for a sling from 1/4"-1.5". they are perfect cylindrical jars that are 3" tall, and about 3.5" in diameter, perfect for extra sub to burrow in and enough room for an arboreal, if thats your fancy.

you can always buy fish and feed em new life so you can get T jars;P

means to an end, man, means to an end, always gotta justify new animals

 

[blooms]

actually, i often feed my crickets and roaches fish food

 

[gambite]

This is what happens when you have slings in KK type enclosures:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=161619

I am keeping my slings (the ones in that thread) in little plastic ketchup cups that I got from the local McDonalds. They are the perfect size for a ~1/4" sling, will probably keep them in those for 1-2 molts before I find some other cheap plastic containers for them.

 

[blooms]

I understand you don't want to keep microslings in kritter keepers, but what about slings that are an inch in leg span or more?