How can an enclosure be to big?

cold blood

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We would like to mimic their natural habitat, though, for them to be thrive. Eg. temperature/humidity/terrain
Not really. We mimic ideal conditions...ideal conditions are pretty infrequent in the wild. You wanna mimic wild, don't forget those downpours, the flooding, the predators, the wild temp fluctuations, the high winds, etc. Everything in nature makes life for a sling hard...which is why so few survive to adulthood compared to the numbers born.

We offer an ideal habitat for them to thrive...ideal is not how nature works. Our survival rates are so good because we don't offer wild conditions.
 

Jeff23

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If you keep a sling in an enclosure that is too large, it'll die. You won't be able to control the humidity as effectively as in a small enclosure, and it likely won't be able to find the food. And yeah, you can say they manage to do this and that in nature, but the reality is that, in captivity, the spider will likely die if it's 1/4 of an inch long and stuck in a 5 gallon aquarium. I'm not ashamed to say it happened to me when I first started keeping these animals, and it happened to someone else I know (that one pissed me off, because it was an animal I sold them and warned them to just keep it in the deli cup).
That is definitely not true. I have been keeping slings in over-sized enclosures since July 2016 - ZERO DEATHS (so far).

EDIT* And all that I have seen have fat abdomens. I have approximately 90 slings. More than half of them are in over-sized enclosures.
 
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Nyke

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Not really. We mimic ideal conditions...ideal conditions are pretty infrequent in the wild. You wanna mimic wild, don't forget those downpours, the flooding, the predators, the wild temp fluctuations, the high winds, etc. Everything in nature makes life for a sling hard...which is why so few survive to adulthood compared to the numbers born.

We offer an ideal habitat for them to thrive...ideal is not how nature works. Our survival rates are so good because we don't offer wild conditions.
Yes I agree. I meant IDEAL habitat.
 

Ungoliant

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So an oversized enclosure isn't that big of a deal is what I am surmising.
Excessive horizontal space is not really a hazard if you provide proper furnishings, and the tarantula is not having trouble finding food. The main downside, IMO, with extra horizontal space is that as your collection grows, you may regret housing a tarantula in a space that could have comfortably accommodated two or three.

Excessive vertical space is, however, dangerous to terrestrial tarantulas. Vertical space should not exceed 1.5x their legspan.

Condiment and deli cups work great for slings. When they outgrow those, I upgrade them to juvenile enclosures like the small Exo Terra Breeding Box (8" x 8" x 5.5"). Then I won't have to rehouse for a long time.
 

Andrea82

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That is definitely not true. I have been keeping slings in over-sized enclosures since July 2016 - ZERO DEATHS (so far).

EDIT* And all that I have seen have fat abdomens. I have approximately 90 slings. More than half of them are in over-sized enclosures.
How oversized are we talking? Five times their DLS wide? Ten times? Twenty?
I keep them oversized as well, but not like a five cm dls sling in a fifty cm wide enclosure ;)
 

Jeff23

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How oversized are we talking? Five times their DLS wide? Ten times? Twenty?
I keep them oversized as well, but not like a five cm dls sling in a fifty cm wide enclosure ;)
I have been raising 1/8" slings (0.125") in 5.5 oz containers. These containers are 2.5" diameter at the top and 2" diameter at the base. The ratio of size for mine is at least 16X. The ratio for what you provided (five cm dls sling in a fifty cm wide enclosure) as an example is 10X. But mine is round instead of rectangular so I would not be surprised if the ratio of sling versus substrate is not somewhat close for them.

But at the same time I am definitely not disagreeing with what @cold blood has said. He said this:

Slings however are a differrent story. A sling in an over size enclosure is inclined to hide a ton more, which leads to much less agressive feeding response....if the sling is hiding all the time it wont be eating as much and wont be able to be monitored....often this leads to spectacularly slow growth....something most sling owners dont want.

This statement above is 100% correct because I have dealt with everything he has stated here. It takes away a lot of the enjoyment of having a tarantula if you never see it. If I didn't travel on my job or own a huge number of tarantulas there is no way I would keep mine in over-sized containers. The fact that I own a large number of them allows me to tolerate this behavior with less frustration because there is always some tarantulas giving me activity to feed my enjoyment needs. I have overcome the eating problem by inserting over-sized pre-kill cricket pieces to insure the sling will find food.

Just this week I dug up a couple Cyriocosmus leetzi because I haven't seen them since I bought them as 1/8" size at the start of Oct 2016 (approximately 6 months). One of them is close to 1/2" size. And one is slightly smaller. I didn't dig up the others. If someone kept these in a vial it would be a much more enjoyable experience in watching the tarantula grow. I see my Aphonopelma occasionally so they aren't this extreme in hiding.

The quoted post also said "You won't be able to control the humidity as effectively as in a small enclosure". This is also untrue. Keeping moisture levels right in a vial is MUCH HARDER than keeping it right in my over-sized containers. My leetzi would possibly be dead if I left them unattended in an appropriate sized vial for 3-5 days in Winter months.
 
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Thaneem

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The quoted post also said "You won't be able to control the humidity as effectively as in a small enclosure". This is also untrue. Keeping moisture levels right in a vial is MUCH HARDER than keeping it right in my over-sized containers. My leetzi would possibly be dead if I left them unattended in an appropriate sized vial for 3-5 days in Winter months.
Of course 'large' and 'small' are relative terms. It is easier to control temperature and humidity levels in a 5 gallon tank than in a 40 gallon. I mean, that's objectively true. When you're talking about a small vs large deli cup, obviously there's not much difference.
Maybe I should have said, 'if you keep a sling an enclosure that is too oversized, it'll die'? Idk.

EDIT: rereading this thread...I am NOT saying a sling will die if it's put in a small deli cup rather than in a vial, or that it's easier to control humidity in a vial. I'm talking about putting it into something like a 5 gallon tank. The OP didn't mention what they meant by 'oversized'. My mind immediately went to the guy I sold a baby S. alternans to, who stuck it in a tank that size.
 
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PanzoN88

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I prefer smaller enclosures for the reasons stated by many others, but I will use slightly oversized enclosures depending on the species.
 

Jeff23

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Of course 'large' and 'small' are relative terms. It is easier to control temperature and humidity levels in a 5 gallon tank than in a 40 gallon. I mean, that's objectively true. When you're talking about a small vs large deli cup, obviously there's not much difference.
Maybe I should have said, 'if you keep a sling an enclosure that is too oversized, it'll die'? Idk.

EDIT: rereading this thread...I am NOT saying a sling will die if it's put in a small deli cup rather than in a vial, or that it's easier to control humidity in a vial. I'm talking about putting it into something like a 5 gallon tank. The OP didn't mention what they meant by 'oversized'. My mind immediately went to the guy I sold a baby S. alternans to, who stuck it in a tank that size.
That is okay. :D I won't insult your wording or intentions. My posts usually have a half-life where the edit button is constantly being cycled for a time period after I prematurely pulled the trigger. People have probably decided to quote my posts and by the time they click the +Quote button my post has a brand new meaning.

I believe the big problem with this whole subject is that everyone talks in terms of over-sized, but never can easily explain in detail what they mean. And by that I mean that you really need to talk species specific as well because some species do live better in one scenario or another.

I never worry about humidity on any of my tarantulas. For my tropical arboreal slings and female adults I do spray a little moisture on one enclosure wall with a syringe each week during winter months, but I do this just as comfort thing. I could care less about humidity levels and don't own a gauge. Humidity levels are having no impact on the livelihood of my slings. As far as substrate moisture is concerned for a burrowing sling, I can provide more consistent moist conditions in an over-sized enclosure than anyone using a precise sized enclosure. While others in drier climates will be scrambling to apply new moisture during winter months for their precise sized enclosure, I simply focus on feeding my tarantula because I know the moisture in my over-sized enclosures is going to be good way beyond the period between feedings. The over-sized enclosure will also allow for the sling to regulate its own transition from moist substrate to dry substrate as it gets larger.

No sling that is kept within the acceptable temperature range is going to have any life threatening situations in any size enclosure based on temperature. My entire home is the same temperature so all of mine have a solid 74F temperature. There is no difference based on enclosure size.
 

MrTwister

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So an oversized enclosure isn't that big of a deal is what I am surmising.
I'm no expert, but in my opinion no it isn't. As long as you make sure escape is not an option, and are willing to put a little extra care to make sure food is getting to the T, I see no downside.
 

Venom1080

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I'm no expert, but in my opinion no it isn't. As long as you make sure escape is not an option, and are willing to put a little extra care to make sure food is getting to the T, I see no downside.
what about space? :angelic:
 

Jeff23

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what about space? :angelic:
For really small slings it makes less difference. For larger slings and especially juveniles and adults, it makes a huge difference if you own a high quantity of tarantulas.

I might need one less shelf unit in proper size enclosures.
 
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