I decided to give terracotta pots a try

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
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64
This T. would most definitely flip a plastic pot.
Wait... what? Can they really do that? o_O I mean, if you cut half the pot, and dig it deep into the substrate, like I did for my Phormictopus sp. "green" (and it is going to be as strong and big as the Genic), can they really move the pot without digging it out? And I have never seen them being a bulldoser...
 

johnny quango

Arachnoknight
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May 17, 2013
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I stopped using any kind of pot about 18 months ago and instead I use plastic drainage pipe that can be cut to any length and then can be placed into the sub with just the tip showing, The best thing is it's open at either end so the tarantula can burrow further and it stops the entrance from collapsing it seems to work perfectly
 

Rob1985

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Feb 14, 2005
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I stopped using any kind of pot about 18 months ago and instead I use plastic drainage pipe that can be cut to any length and then can be placed into the sub with just the tip showing, The best thing is it's open at either end so the tarantula can burrow further and it stops the entrance from collapsing it seems to work perfectly
Yep, I use this for fossorial species. Works great!
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
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I stopped using any kind of pot about 18 months ago and instead I use plastic drainage pipe that can be cut to any length and then can be placed into the sub with just the tip showing, The best thing is it's open at either end so the tarantula can burrow further and it stops the entrance from collapsing it seems to work perfectly
I find PVC the best DIY material out there for T hides.
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 9, 2016
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1,091
I gave the terracotta pot a go for the first time this week, but I had indeed difficulties finding one deep enough (I actually failed to find the right one). Although not perfect, I must say I am quite happy with the result.

instead I use plastic drainage pipe that can be cut to any length and then can be placed into the sub with just the tip showing
The pipe thing got me thinking. I have seen terracotta pipes on the market. This would be ideal for anyone who complains about short pots and light plastic drainage pipes.
Pipes.JPG
 

Ghost56

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 28, 2016
Messages
443
I gave the terracotta pot a go for the first time this week, but I had indeed difficulties finding one deep enough (I actually failed to find the right one). Although not perfect, I must say I am quite happy with the result.



The pipe thing got me thinking. I have seen terracotta pipes on the market. This would be ideal for anyone who complains about short pots and light plastic drainage pipes.
View attachment 241251
What did you use to cut them, or did the one furthest right just come like that?
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
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Oct 9, 2016
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What did you use to cut them, or did the one furthest right just come like that?
My post was not very clear. Sorry, my mistake. :embarrassed: I haven't tried the pipes yet. I used a terracotta pot, but the garden centre near my apartment only had these shallow, wide mouthed pots that are not really what I was looking for. @johnny quango mentioned he uses plastic drainage pipes and that gave me the idea of terracotta pipes. I believe they are used for sewers, but there may be other ones as well. This is definitely something I want to explore, especially since my Pampho and LP are growing up fast! The picture I included was just to give an idea what I had in mind.

EDIT: I think the one on the right could be a roof panel, perhaps the one that goes on the top of the roof.
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
I gave the terracotta pot a go for the first time this week, but I had indeed difficulties finding one deep enough (I actually failed to find the right one). Although not perfect, I must say I am quite happy with the result.
The pipe thing got me thinking. I have seen terracotta pipes on the market. This would be ideal for anyone who complains about short pots and light plastic drainage pipes.
View attachment 241251
Those are chimney liners. We used a few of them in block chimney's when I worked for a brick mason. They are very thick (usually 1-1.5 inches thick), heavy and costly compared to flower pots. It's likely you would rarely need something as wide as them with Ts. We used to use a wet cutting saw to cut them and trying to crack one with a brick hammer would likely next you a lot of pieces the way they layer make them. Neat idea though.

I've had mixed results with the breaking of the pots where they were usable as a hide. I was 3 for 6 when I tried and ended up gluing some of them with hot glue to make them usable. I did not try knocking the bottoms out first though so maybe that was where I messed up. :) I've since swapped them out for corkbark.
 

Vezon

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 26, 2015
Messages
48
What I do is start a burrow then put a half terracotta pot over the top of it. I just let them dig their own hole under the pot instead of using the pot as a complete hide.
 
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