Is there a benefit to keeping Ts in such small enclosures?

[Abyss]

Yeah I know. I was just asking the question.

To directly answer..... NO, a T is not worse nor better off in a small vs large enclosure.
Whatever enclosure one chooses is just fine so long as it meets space requirements and needs and has a proper setup. Beyond that its all asthetics.
Im getting ready to start setting up my tall exoterra for my adult female P. Metalica. It will be WAY larger then she needs but will a few of my handmade hides for her to choose from and 2 large water dishes. There will be tons of foliage and vines etc and i cant wait to setup this jungle home an see where she likes to chill.

 

[Jeff23]

I think it depends on the T. Here is how I am doing my T's in general.

Bigger Enclosure (larger than 2x Tarantula length rule)
T's that are more defensive or skittish (need more hiding places to help T have a nice comfort zone)
Euthalus Sp. Red, etc. (continuously wandering)
T's that are acting like bulldozers
Arboreal Adult T's (hides in the air need more options)
Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens and Neoholothele incei (need large container to let them let loose with their artwork).

Standard Size Enclosure
Arboreal Slings
Docile Terrestrial Tarantulas - Most of these don't move much anyway. They need a nice hide that gives them full privacy but T doesn't need lots of extra space since it won't use it anyway. I like to give mine an over and under where the hide angles downward where the T can also sit on top of the hide.

 

[cold blood]

Larger enclosures are not necessarily bad, just more difficult to maintain as there are more places for things to get lost also making it harder for prey and predator to come in contact.

With slings however, a larger enclosure will have a dramatic effect as the T will feel the need to hide a lot more often and come out hunting a lot less. Typically this means dramatically slower growth rates. I've done side-by-side experiments in the results we're always that the one's housed in larger enclosures grew significantly slower.

Most people prefer to see them a little more and also prefer faster growth, especially with slings.

I've also noticed this difference is much less significant with arboreal species as they tend to be faster and have less trouble covering the extra ground so to speak. I always house arboreal in larger enclosures than I would a terrestrial. My terrestrials stay in condiment cups till three quarters of an inch to 1 inch. Only then do i put them in 16oz deli cups. Arboreals I start off in 16 or 32 ounce Deli cups.

 

[LD67]

It's a new setup. The light on top was on basically so the camera would get a better pic. It's for heat, if needed. I'm going to be adding a few more things in the following days. She just happens to be a roamer. I usually see her all over the place in the old tank.

 

[Abyss]

Larger enclosures are not necessarily bad, just more difficult to maintain as there are more places for things to get lost also making it harder for prey and predator to come in contact.

With slings however, a larger enclosure will have a dramatic effect as the T will feel the need to hide a lot more often and come out hunting a lot less. Typically this means dramatically slower growth rates. I've done side-by-side experiments in the results we're always that the one's housed in larger enclosures grew significantly slower.

Most people prefer to see them a little more and also prefer faster growth, especially with slings.

I've also noticed this difference is much less significant with arboreal species as they tend to be faster and have less trouble covering the extra ground so to speak. I always house arboreal in larger enclosures than I would a terrestrial. My terrestrials stay in condiment cups till three quarters of an inch to 1 inch. Only then do i put them in 16oz deli cups. Arboreals I start off in 16 or 32 ounce Deli cups.

Excellent point, i wasnt considering slings when saying lg enclosures are just as good if properly setup.

 

[viper69]

I asked this very question of a world famous herpetoculturist, it applies to Ts, he's kept them too.

In short, smaller containers benefit in 2 main ways

1. Smaller containers increase prey/predator interactions
2. Smaller containers allow owner to monitor health of animal.

You can keep a leopard gecko in a 100 sq meter enclosure, or a 10 gallon tank. I hope it can find food in the former!

 

[Venom1080]

. It's for heat, if needed. .

a heat lamp?
a space heaters for heat.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

To keep slings and little T's (little sized juvenile/s, not adults I mean) in supposed "little" enclosures? Well, I see no problems if the (right) set up and parameters are respected. That's how I always kept mines in the last 24 years, no issues.

On the other hand are IMO absurd giant enclosures that the use of those I don't like not for anything in particular -- assuming a Pro is in charge, uh, so the set up is top notch -- but because is a total waste of space, aside for the height needed by arboreals or, for another reason, for add inches of substrate for OB Theraphosidae.

But that P.cancerides in a 10, or even more, gallon enclosure, for instance? No thanks :-s

 

[Jeff23]

I use pre-kill for my slings. I have a 1" GBB in a 9" x 8" x 4" Snapware container. And I haven't pulled a leftover cricket out of the container yet. And this little spider is using the whole container with webbing all over the place. I love it. It is easy to locate where arboreal slings (like Tapi's and Psalms Pulchers) place their nest and then position the pre-kill near the web. But I am glad my Psalm Cams and Psalms Irminia are in deli cups since they are burrowing as slings. I don't like over-sized for burrowing T's unless I am trying to give more depth of substrate. I feed all of my adult T's live prey. All of my juvenile or adult arboreal T's are currently in the large enclosures from Jamie's and they are actually oversized if we are using the 2X length rule. But these T's never have problems finding crickets.

I think it comes down to personality or style of the T. I have a few Avic's that are in AMAC's that are not over-sized and they are not growing well because they fail to search for prey (pre-kill or live) and I can't place it in a good location to tempt them. I will be changing them to different containers soon.

 

[EulersK]

I do keep tarantulas in small enclosures... with two exceptions. Burrowers and ones that will be a pain to rehouse when they get too large. Burrowers usually take forever and a day to make an elaborate tunnel system, so I legitimately feel bad forcing them to start from scratch. So, within reason, I house them in as large of a container as I can. I currently have a 2.5" P. muticus that is in an enclosure large enough for a 6".

The other exception would be spiders that I really don't feel like rehousing - the extremely defensive, venomous, and fast ones. C. fimbriatus, P. murinus, and P. sp. "Black" to name a few. They get "forever homes" fairly early in life!

 

[Envoirment]

Slings in smaller enclosures are a lot easier to feed and check up on. Once they start getting larger I tend to give more room than needed. That way the tarantula will need less rehousing and it makes it easier to do things such a maintenance/changing the water. Especially for those that are more on the defensive/skittish side.

 

[Andrea82]

It's a new setup. The light on top was on basically so the camera would get a better pic. It's for heat, if needed. I'm going to be adding a few more things in the following days. She just happens to be a roamer. I usually see her all over the place in the old tank.

An Avicularia sp. that is wandering a lot is not relaxed, from what i've seen. How long has he been that enclosure? It is normal to walk a little while adjusting, but she should settle down and make a nice tube to sprawl in. I had my A.metallica in another enlosure, but she couldn't settle. Turns out there wasn't something solid (bark) high up enough, and the fake plant wasn't sturdy enough. So she kept going, then here,then there. I fixed it, and she made a big webtube, in or on which she hangs out. With the emphasis on hanging, lol.

 

[Robyn8]

This is my avics enclosure (old picture), 30cm high, 20cm in length and width. she has made a web tunnel on top of the bark, with the tunnel extending down the back where she moves if she feels unsafe.

She is either 99% of the time sitting on the bark in her web, or hanging out like this to hunt for food.

 

[darkness975]

Tarantulas don't get stressed out from a larger sized enclosure. Not sure why that is such a common thought. If that was the case none would survive in nature.

What WILL stress them out is having no place to hide and make into their own safe place. Some people have them in smaller enclosures due to space or collection size restrictions. As long as it is big enough to accommodate them safely and comfortably then leave it at that.

 

[LD67]

Anyone have recommendations for practical top decorations? I don't trust those suction cup vines too much. And I'd like more than just a piece of wood leaning up against the wall.

 

[Cavedweller]

Anyone have recommendations for practical top decorations? I don't trust those suction cup vines too much. And I'd like more than just a piece of wood leaning up against the wall.

Hot glue is much more reliable than suction cups.

 

[Andrea82]

Anyone have recommendations for practical top decorations? I don't trust those suction cup vines too much. And I'd like more than just a piece of wood leaning up against the wall.

Like @Cavedweller said, you can hot glue some plastic leaves and branches from the middle to top of a nice piece of bark. Make sure to let it dry completely and you're done Avicularia like it cluttered, so glue away, the more leaves the better.
@Trenor has some nice Avicularia enclosures

 

[gypsy cola]

To answer your questions.

It is honestly up to the keepers preference. I keep arboreal T's in larger enclosures so I can more workspace more workspace when doing maintenance. I keep lights on arboreal enclosures because I like the look of it. The moment I leave my T room, those lights are off. Lights do not have ANY benefits for the T's. If you need heat? Space heaters are better and can be found cheaper than heat mats. Mine cost me 12$, heat pads usually cost 20$ a pop.

For practical top decorations, I do not have recommendations. You will have to do some research. Hot glue is your best friend. For glass I believe it is silicone, you have to research what adhesives are best and not toxic to your T's.

Every keeper is different. ALL of my T's are display T's. I have a room dedicated to my T's and only have collection that never gets above 30 at time. For those who are heavily into breeding and have collections that are large enough to open a large chain pet store, I would switch to shoe boxes as well.

 

[mistertim]

Pretty much agree with most here. To me it is just personal preference; as long as the enclosure is set up correctly the spider won't get stressed. The most likely thing to happen with a small spider in a large enclosure is that it will find a small area of the enclosure that it feels comfortable in and set up shop there and mostly stay there (as they do in the wild). The only issue I've had with small spiders in larger enclosures than they necessarily "need" is finding prey. If the enclosure is large and they've set up shop in one small area there's a possibility that the spider and the prey may not ever even cross paths. So you have to be a bit more in "drop the prey near the tarantula and monitor" mode than "drop in prey wherever and forget about it". Also...water dish. In a large enclosure for a small spider I'd wait till it sets up its area and then put the water dish close by just to be safe.

One thing I'd note is that I tend to put some of my OWs and other fasties in larger enclosures but that is mainly so I don't have to rehouse often as you have to worry about more potent venom as well as the pure speed and sometimes defensiveness when doing so with those guys.

 

[viper69]

Anyone have recommendations for practical top decorations? I don't trust those suction cup vines too much. And I'd like more than just a piece of wood leaning up against the wall.

I saw some people recommended hot glue. I don't recommend it. It doesn't always hold things. Plus, once you glue something down how will you clean it once it poops all over that item? If you can reach the objects 100% then use hot glue, but if you cannot, then you are leaving yourself with a poop collecting piece of cage furniture.