mesh lid dilema...solution.

[Kirsten]

I upgraded Charlotte, my G. rosea to a 5.5 g tank from the kk she was in. I hated mesh lids due to the risk of hooking a foot and losing a leg,etc. I saw this soloution somewhere else and gave it a shot. It works out better than I thought!
On the underside of the mesh topper, fit a piece of paper (I used black construction paper) inside. trim any edges and then fan fold it lengthwise until it's about 1 1/2 inch wide. Next, get a hole punch and punch holes down the length of the paper. I did one row just a bit in from the edge then turned it around(not over) and did the same matching them up on the other side. Unfold and ...voila. You have a perfectly fitted piece of paper to place on the inside of your mesh lid with plenty of aeration holes. Just tape it to the edges of the inside of the lid and it works great to keep the feet from the wire if you have an explorer or one like mine that is roaming everywhere getting used to her new space.

 

[Abby]

Woohoo!
I love cheap, easy, effective, creative solutions

 

[Teal]

Very cool! I bet that works great for the dry species like G. rosea.. you should post pictures of her new set up!

 

[Kirsten]

I took a picture, but it's with my cellphone and small. The substrate has reflections on it in the lower left hand corner,right corner,etc. I used 100% very densely packed peat moss this time. You can glimpse the spidey in the upper left hand corner. I can get the picture larger, but it's TOO large for the rules. Hard to see, but there is fake vine running oalong the back wall and her hide is just to her right (she's kind of sitting on the back of it).

 

[Teal]

Looks great! You can also resize photos on Photobucket, if that's the hosting site you use

 

[Moltar]

Not bad! That should work for some T's but there are others that may tear that paper down. I had electric tape stuck to the inside of a kritterkeeper to block some of the ventilation of my P. cancerides enclosure. She pretty much shredded it, there was sticky debris all over the place. That's a pretty active species though so I bet it will work just fine with bump-on-a-logs like G. rosea.

 

[Faing]

laminating sheets work well like this too as long as the species isn't too active I guess. It's also GREAT for humidity. Just cut to size

 

[Kirsten]

I would have been concerned if this was a more active species. Being she's a G. rosea, I felt safe. I did worry about her pulling it down during her explore phase being in a new environment, though. She was digging quite a bit when I put her in, but decided to use even more substrate and she hasn't dug since I added it. I guess she thinks digging is a no-no. Darn, I wanted to see if she'd dig a burrow like I've heard some G. roseas will do if given enough stuff to work with. Maybe she will later
She has checked out every mm of space in there and has now settled into her hide munching on a cricket. I used a TON of substrate to be sure she wouldn't 'pop' if she fell If I get a more active species, I'll definitely go with the acrylic top instead.