New C. cyaneopubescens sling (my first T) -- Anything more I should know?

[Orion42]

Hello All,

Ever since picking up my Damon medius last year, I've been wanting another arachnid and a few weeks ago I walked into my local pet store and spotted a few C. cyaneopubescens slings for sale. I've always thought that if I ever got a T I'd want to get a GBB as my first since I've heard they are pretty hardy and incredibly beautiful. I bought mine sort of on impulse but so far it has been doing great and eating like a champ (opposite of my D. medius). It's around 3/4 inch (leg span) right now.

Since it is my first spider, I want to make sure I'm doing things right since I know misinformation can be rampant (and I'm trying to KISS and not be too obsessive over conditions as I might tend to be).

I'm feeding around a small cricket around 3 times per week and every time it's gone as soon as it hits the ground (once it grabbed it in midair I swear), so feeding is going great. I picked this sling since it was the biggest one there and pretty fat, since then it's only gotten fatter (I've heard there's no such thing as a too fat sling and I'm hoping it'll molt soon since it looks pretty darn fat to me).

I've just transferred it into a terrestrial sling enclosure from Jamie's Tarantulas, I made sure to dry out the substrate since the humidity in my house is around 50-55% and I'm providing a water dish, I've heard GBB's like it dry even as fairly small slings and will drink when needed.

Here are some pics of the sling and enclosure, feel free to give suggestions if you think there's anything I could improve on. I tried to provide areas to web on a cork for climbing since I heard they like a bit of climbing space.

First pic is the day I brought it home:



And after 1.5 weeks


This one is from today after I moved it to the new enclosure


Here you can see how fat it is


And lastly here is the full setup with the water dish I made


I'm already loving the enthusiasm it eats with and I'm hoping it'll turn out female since I'm already attached and 2-4 years seems too short of a lifespan.

Thanks!

 

[Thekla]

Basically, that setup has everything your GBB needs (a cork slab leaning to the side, some anchor points for webbing, dry substrate and a water dish), but it's too small and the wrong kind of enclosure. They are terrestrials, even when they can do with a little bit more height than your average terrestrial T.

I'd rehouse it into a bigger, more cube-like container. They do well with a bit more space as they grow fast and use that extra space for webbing.

This was my GBB's first enclosure (Ferrero Roche box):


And that's what she got (6" cube) when she grew bigger (~ 2,5"):

 

[boina]

Hello All,

Ever since picking up my Damon medius last year, I've been wanting another arachnid and a few weeks ago I walked into my local pet store and spotted a few C. cyaneopubescens slings for sale. I've always thought that if I ever got a T I'd want to get a GBB as my first since I've heard they are pretty hardy and incredibly beautiful. I bought mine sort of on impulse but so far it has been doing great and eating like a champ (opposite of my D. medius). It's around 3/4 inch (leg span) right now.

Since it is my first spider, I want to make sure I'm doing things right since I know misinformation can be rampant (and I'm trying to KISS and not be too obsessive over conditions as I might tend to be).

I'm feeding around a small cricket around 3 times per week and every time it's gone as soon as it hits the ground (once it grabbed it in midair I swear), so feeding is going great. I picked this sling since it was the biggest one there and pretty fat, since then it's only gotten fatter (I've heard there's no such thing as a too fat sling and I'm hoping it'll molt soon since it looks pretty darn fat to me).

I've just transferred it into a terrestrial sling enclosure from Jamie's Tarantulas, I made sure to dry out the substrate since the humidity in my house is around 50-55% and I'm providing a water dish, I've heard GBB's like it dry even as fairly small slings and will drink when needed.

Here are some pics of the sling and enclosure, feel free to give suggestions if you think there's anything I could improve on. I tried to provide areas to web on a cork for climbing since I heard they like a bit of climbing space.

First pic is the day I brought it home:

View attachment 333727

And after 1.5 weeks
View attachment 333730

This one is from today after I moved it to the new enclosure
View attachment 333733

Here you can see how fat it is
View attachment 333734

And lastly here is the full setup with the water dish I made
View attachment 333735

I'm already loving the enthusiasm it eats with and I'm hoping it'll turn out female since I'm already attached and 2-4 years seems too short of a lifespan.

Thanks!

The size of your enclosures borders on abusive, although it's a philosophical question if you can abuse a spider. It's too small. The first one was horrendous, the second one is just bad. The absolute minimum for a spider should be 2x the spiders leg span in every direction. Your's is at the very best 1.5 times - directly after a rehouse ?? Furthermore, this is a very active species that actually needs more space than other species and imo should have at least 3x the leg span in every direction. And, as @Thekla already said: it's a mainly terrestrial species. What is it doing in an incredibly small arboreal setup?

It also has absolutely no space to molt in there. If it does molt it will end up with crooked legs since it can't properly stretch. Yes, this is abusive.

 

[Chroma Trigger]

I agree, that enclosure is definitely too small and a better fit for a tiny arboreal. For juveniles, I can recommend faunariums. They are relatively cheap and come in all sizes.

It's great that your T is eating well, but even as slings they should web a lot (see Theklas 2nd pic). Even though every T is unique, make sure to provide enough anchor points and I'm certain you'll see similar results

 

[viper69]

Hello All,

Ever since picking up my Damon medius last year, I've been wanting another arachnid and a few weeks ago I walked into my local pet store and spotted a few C. cyaneopubescens slings for sale. I've always thought that if I ever got a T I'd want to get a GBB as my first since I've heard they are pretty hardy and incredibly beautiful. I bought mine sort of on impulse but so far it has been doing great and eating like a champ (opposite of my D. medius). It's around 3/4 inch (leg span) right now.

Since it is my first spider, I want to make sure I'm doing things right since I know misinformation can be rampant (and I'm trying to KISS and not be too obsessive over conditions as I might tend to be).

I'm feeding around a small cricket around 3 times per week and every time it's gone as soon as it hits the ground (once it grabbed it in midair I swear), so feeding is going great. I picked this sling since it was the biggest one there and pretty fat, since then it's only gotten fatter (I've heard there's no such thing as a too fat sling and I'm hoping it'll molt soon since it looks pretty darn fat to me).

I've just transferred it into a terrestrial sling enclosure from Jamie's Tarantulas, I made sure to dry out the substrate since the humidity in my house is around 50-55% and I'm providing a water dish, I've heard GBB's like it dry even as fairly small slings and will drink when needed.

Here are some pics of the sling and enclosure, feel free to give suggestions if you think there's anything I could improve on. I tried to provide areas to web on a cork for climbing since I heard they like a bit of climbing space.

First pic is the day I brought it home:

View attachment 333727

And after 1.5 weeks
View attachment 333730

This one is from today after I moved it to the new enclosure
View attachment 333733

Here you can see how fat it is
View attachment 333734

And lastly here is the full setup with the water dish I made
View attachment 333735

I'm already loving the enthusiasm it eats with and I'm hoping it'll turn out female since I'm already attached and 2-4 years seems too short of a lifespan.

Thanks!

Too small setup- larger would be better.

 

[Thekla]

It's great that your T is eating well, but even as slings they should web a lot (see Theklas 2nd pic). Even though every T is unique, make sure to provide enough anchor points and I'm certain you'll see similar results

Just to make that clear... the first pic was when she just had moved in. She had webbed up the place in no time.

 

[Colorado Ts]

I use 4x4x4 AMAC enclosures, until they get to about 2.5” to 3”. Great size enclosure, nicely versitile

 

[Orion42]

Thanks for all your replies!

I do have a lot to learn, of course! I'll get a larger container right away. I agree the first container was terribly small, it's what the pet store housed it in and I ordered the second enclosure that night and rehoused as soon as it arrived. I had measured it to be around 3/4 inch, and the new container is 2.5 square (since I had heard about the 2x the leg span in all directions). Now that the sling is in there, I see that it has an inch leg span at least and the container seems smaller than I had hoped in comparison. As for it being an arboreal setup, I'm a bit confused since I this is the terrestrial enclosure from Jamie's Tarantulas and I used all the substrate that came with it, though the substrate did get shallower once dried. Is it the height to width ratio that makes it more arboreal?

I'm going to try to get a new container today after work so I can rehouse, would around 4x4" be of sufficient size?

As for the webbing, I woke up this morning to a lot of webbing on most of the surfaces of the enclosure, the previous lack of web was only because I had rehoused minutes before taking the picture.

Heres the sling this morning:


And here's the webbing from last night:



I'll update as soon as I get a larger enclosure set up.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Chroma Trigger]

I do have a lot to learn, of course! I'll get a larger container right away. I agree the first container was terribly small, it's what the pet store housed it in and I ordered the second enclosure that night and rehoused as soon as it arrived. I had measured it to be around 3/4 inch, and the new container is 2.5 square (since I had heard about the 2x the leg span in all directions). Now that the sling is in there, I see that it has an inch leg span at least and the container seems smaller than I had hoped in comparison. As for it being an arboreal setup, I'm a bit confused since I this is the terrestrial enclosure from Jamie's Tarantulas and I used all the substrate that came with it, though the substrate did get shallower once dried. Is it the height to width ratio that makes it more arboreal?

I'm going to try to get a new container today after work so I can rehouse, would around 4x4" be of sufficient size?

As for the webbing, I woke up this morning to a lot of webbing on most of the surfaces of the enclosure, the previous lack of web was only because I had rehoused minutes before taking the picture.

Mmmmh, now that's some nice GBB webbing. The forbidden cotton candy

Nobody has ever finished learning. I got into the hobby last November, after informing myself for years. This forum right here is one of the best places to get honest and direct advice. There are sooooo many species out there and with the conflicting information about them, this forum and its expertise is a lifesaver for newcomers like us. I am still a bit confused about the container being "terrestrial" though... maybe if you lay it on the side ^^. The height to width ratio is definitely arboreal and would be great with a vertical piece of cork or a strong twig-like structure.

Personally, I prefer my enclosures a bit on the bigger side. 4 inches is certainly possible, but It would not get lost in a 6-inch enclosure and with enough anchor points (like the ones you already provided) it will make a nice big webbing system. Plus less rehousing! A bit of extra space is also great for molting, when the sling usually retreats into the webbing. Below you can see part of my enclosure, with the intricate tunnel system (the webbing in the back is so thick that I couldn't get a usable photo) and the most recent molt in the back. Not the best quality, but it's just an example. Also, I think someone might be hungry

 

[Orion42]

I've got the new enclosure finally set up, it's 4x4" which will hopefully be big enough for a while.

Here's the enclosure setup:

Here's the sling in the old enclosure right before I moved it:

And here's the sling in the new enclosure right after the rehousing:


Now hopefully it can settle in after those few moves and get right to webbing up the new digs

 

[aarachnid]

What did you use as a water dish in your original setup? Glad you found your way into the forums, I think you'll love your GBB. I got a juvie as my first T, and I'm now raising 4 slings just for the joy of watching them change color/grow into adults.

 

[Orion42]

What did you use as a water dish in your original setup? Glad you found your way into the forums, I think you'll love your GBB. I got a juvie as my first T, and I'm now raising 4 slings just for the joy of watching them change color/grow into adults.

I'm already enjoying my sling quite a bit and hoping it'll molt soon since it's pretty fat already

For the water dish, I took a plastic pipette (I had a few extra around, I use them for feeding fish) and just cut the top off, it was the only thing I had that was small enough to fit in the enclosure.



(picture for reference, not mine)

 

[aarachnid]

I'm already enjoying my sling quite a bit and hoping it'll molt soon since it's pretty fat already

For the water dish, I took a plastic pipette (I had a few extra around, I use them for feeding fish) and just cut the top off, it was the only thing I had that was small enough to fit in the enclosure.

The first molt is so neat, even if you don't witness it! I love how see through small slings are before they harden up!

And thanks for the answer! I already have pipettes so I know what I'll be using the next time I order some teeny slings...

 

[Colorado Ts]

I'm already enjoying my sling quite a bit and hoping it'll molt soon since it's pretty fat already

For the water dish, I took a plastic pipette (I had a few extra around, I use them for feeding fish) and just cut the top off, it was the only thing I had that was small enough to fit in the enclosure.

View attachment 334165

(picture for reference, not mine)

Pretty ingenious use of a pipet.

 

[Orion42]

Update: The sling molted last week after refusing food for about four days. I was almost surprised by how much larger it got. I waited a good week to feed it afterwards and it was pretty ravenous today. Thought you guys might appreciate some pics of the happy sling (who is nearly a juvenile at this point). I'm also really loving the blue that's starting to come in on the legs.