Anoplogaster
Arachnodemon
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2017
- Messages
- 675
Ok, so I’ve seen this topic come up often enough to where I would like to share my thoughts on this.
The common story is someone is seeking help with their stressed/dying tarantula. As always, we request photos of the T and their setup, only to find a G. porteri in a 20 gallon vertical Exo Terra, or something equally ridiculous. The excuse is often the same: They had the enclosure sitting in a corner, and decided to put a T into it. This, of course, is an exception to the more common scenario of an uneducated pet shop employee selling inappropriate setups to newbie keepers, which is a whole separate topic that I won’t get into here.
For anyone seeking advice on repurposing an enclosure, please do some research BEFORE you buy a T. Sure, enclosures CAN be repurposed. Most of us do this, in fact. But one must realize that there are limitations to this. At some point, you need to accept that a particular enclosure is simply not appropriate for a tarantula. It’s so common to see a new keeper trying their hardest to adapt to the incompatibility between the species they ended up with, and the enclosure they can’t financially afford to replace.
So how should you go about repurposing enclosures? If you’re a new keeper, do some homework first. Decide which species you’re getting and what life stage of that species you plan to get (sling, juvenile, mature? It matters a LOT). Then do as much species-specific research as you can. In doing this research, please rely on the keepers here who actually have the experience. Rely on the consensus of the many people on the forum, rather than the opinions of single authors who put out those useless caresheets you find online. THEN, when you have the knowledge of your species, you can look at that dusty old enclosure you have in the corner and ask yourself if it can be made appropriate. Once you’ve made that decision, you can set it up, snap a few photos, and post them on AB to ask for advice BEFORE you acquire your animal. When the knowledgeable folks on here make suggestions about your setup, don’t resist making those changes. Being critical is an important step toward improvement. And sometimes, people might suggest that you not use that enclosure at all. At that point, it would be in your best interest to stop the efforts there, and pursue a whole new setup if you’re still interested in getting a tarantula. Don’t fight with the old enclosure to force it to work. Because in the end, if your T dies because it was housed improperly, you’ll be back to square one..... with no spider, a little less money in your pocket, and a deflated ego.
The common story is someone is seeking help with their stressed/dying tarantula. As always, we request photos of the T and their setup, only to find a G. porteri in a 20 gallon vertical Exo Terra, or something equally ridiculous. The excuse is often the same: They had the enclosure sitting in a corner, and decided to put a T into it. This, of course, is an exception to the more common scenario of an uneducated pet shop employee selling inappropriate setups to newbie keepers, which is a whole separate topic that I won’t get into here.
For anyone seeking advice on repurposing an enclosure, please do some research BEFORE you buy a T. Sure, enclosures CAN be repurposed. Most of us do this, in fact. But one must realize that there are limitations to this. At some point, you need to accept that a particular enclosure is simply not appropriate for a tarantula. It’s so common to see a new keeper trying their hardest to adapt to the incompatibility between the species they ended up with, and the enclosure they can’t financially afford to replace.
So how should you go about repurposing enclosures? If you’re a new keeper, do some homework first. Decide which species you’re getting and what life stage of that species you plan to get (sling, juvenile, mature? It matters a LOT). Then do as much species-specific research as you can. In doing this research, please rely on the keepers here who actually have the experience. Rely on the consensus of the many people on the forum, rather than the opinions of single authors who put out those useless caresheets you find online. THEN, when you have the knowledge of your species, you can look at that dusty old enclosure you have in the corner and ask yourself if it can be made appropriate. Once you’ve made that decision, you can set it up, snap a few photos, and post them on AB to ask for advice BEFORE you acquire your animal. When the knowledgeable folks on here make suggestions about your setup, don’t resist making those changes. Being critical is an important step toward improvement. And sometimes, people might suggest that you not use that enclosure at all. At that point, it would be in your best interest to stop the efforts there, and pursue a whole new setup if you’re still interested in getting a tarantula. Don’t fight with the old enclosure to force it to work. Because in the end, if your T dies because it was housed improperly, you’ll be back to square one..... with no spider, a little less money in your pocket, and a deflated ego.
