I'm back in the game.

[snakebytes]

So after being without any T's for the last couple years, I ordered some a couple days ago from patrick86 for a great price.
2 A. versicolor slings
1 P. cambridgei - 1.25"

As a kid I had a wc G. rossea that was fine for years and then all the sudden stopped eating for 3 years. During those 3 years it probably only ate 3 crickets before passing away.

A couple years ago I bought a cb T. blondi that was doing great. It had a couple molts and was growing fast. Unfortunately, my roommate at the time turned off the heat when he left for a weekend even after I told him to leave it on and I would pay the extra cost.:wall:

I'm comfortable with terrestrial setups, but these will be my first arboreals.

The T's will get here on Wednesday and I'm having a hard time waiting. I've been working on enclosures for them and would like some opinions on whether or not I have enough ventilation. I live in the desert where the humidity is usually in the teens and I want to find the right balance between humidity retention and ventilation.

pics of the enclosure:

Depending on the size of the versicolor and the containers they come in, I may hold off on these enclosures for another molt.

thanks,
john

 

[Snuggles]

Oh, yay! Great choices!

 

[T_DORKUS]

You're enclosures are fine. You've got way more holes than mine and mine are doing fine. Yours will dry out quicker though because there's more ventilation. So remember to mist it when the substrate starts to look dry and your slings should do well. Welcome back!

 

[snakebytes]

Update:

The slings came today! They arrived fine due to some good packing. There was even a freebie P. cambridgei so now I have two of both the Avics and the Psalmopoeous. I would highly recommend ordering from patrick86.

Due to the small size of the versicolors, I'll keep them in the vials they came in until their next molt. The cambridgei were moved into the larger enclosures from the pics above and got a chance to show me just how fast they are in the proccess. 3 out of the 4 have already eaten!

Unfortunately, yesterday was the first rain we got in the desert all summer. Now ants are swarming everywhere, including the room with the slings:evil: .
I have built a moat to protect them. Its hard to tell in the pic but the container the enclosures are in has 1/4 inch of water. I really hope that keeps them out. All day long I have been seeing these ants overtaking things many times their size since they are everywhere.

edit: I meant to take pics of the slings when I opened them up, but forgot due to all the excitement. I'll be sure to get some soon.

 

[snakebytes]

Here is the first pic I have taken. Its of one of the P. cambridgei slings.


These guys do not seem like they would make good first pets just because they are so skittish and fast. This guy jumped out of the enclosure onto the lid and then up my arm in a split second. It probably would have freaked me out if I had never worked with Ts before.

I think I am going to like arboreals much more than terrestrials.

So far no ants have been found on or in the enclosures since I put them in the "moat."

 

[T_DORKUS]

I had an ant problem too- they were making a bee line to my cobalts cage. I did the moat thing too then got those ant traps and placed them under the T- shelves. Ants were gone in 2-3 days and no more ants for a few months now. Grats on the arrival of your new T's! My Psalmopoeus slings were just under an inch when I got them- and they've grown quite a bit in the six months or so. Here's one of them- bout 4-5 inches now. My A.versicolor sling that I got around the same time is less than half their size.

 

[snakebytes]

Wow, I knew they grew fast, but not that fast. That's like microwave dinner fast:}

 

[T_DORKUS]

Wow, I knew they grew fast, but not that fast. That's like microwave dinner fast:}

Ok- I exaggerated a bit. Just checked my records and the one in the pic I received 11/04/2008 and was 0.75". So it was about almost 8 months.

ETA: Well it molted around mid May so it was a little more than six months.

 

[sean-820]

my first sling was a versi. Ive had no trouble with it. It also eats like a pig if given the chance. My enclosue as a sling was just a pill vial with holes in the top then i went onto a small containor with lots of randomly drilled holes. Now, she is in a 1 gal about rubermaid with about 1/2 cm sized holes in the top and two loops around the sides. I have never had any decor in with her as she will just web herself a nice area where she wants. I tries cork bark breifly, but the humidity caused mold so i didnt try anything else. In her second tank (when still blue) she webbed the entire thing and currently she has a nice tube like web thats like a partial circle near the top of the containor.

I got her back in mid june last year as about a 1/2" sling and she just recently molted to about 4" possibly a bit more. I havnt had her out yet for a good measurement since she molted only a week or two ago and she hasnt made an opening in her web yet.