New keeper and his spiders

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
Hello guys!

This is my first post and thread here, on Arachnoboards. I have reading AB since August, and it is a daily program now. I can learn here something every day, I got the most information from you. A big thanks for this great forum. :bookworm:

First of all, sorry for my English. It is not my mother tongue, I still have much to learn.

I always wanted to have an exotic pet (besides fish, that I currently have). Last year, I saw an A. geniculata on a Hungarian website. After hours of searching, I have already felt in love with these wonderful creatures. I have been keeping T’s since October, and I already have 28 of them. Okay, I know it was bold (maybe foolish?) to raise a big collection like this in such little time, but I have money, space and time for them (still, I work in full time, and I am a student of a university). All of them are in good shape, they eats and molts well. :angelic:

Two of my bigger spiders moved to their adult enclosures on Friday (I think these will be good for them in the rest of their lives). I have questions about these two.

My Aphonopelma seemanni arrived last December, she molted once in my care, she is my avatar. She is one of the most beautiful spider ladies, that I have ever seen. :embarrassed: I am sure that she is blue form, and I got her for 11 USDs only. Dimensions of her new enclosure: 11”X10”X8.5”. The lower, moist layer of the substrate is a 75/25 mix of plantation soil and sphagnum peat moss. The upper, dry layer of the substrate is sphagnum peat moss. That is forest moss on the sub (bought in shop). The hide is a half cut plastic flower pot, with fake plants hot glued to it. She is mostly standing on the moss, sometimes she walks around.
Is it a proper enclosure for her? Is that a good hide for her, with enough darkness? Should I give her a bigger dish? Is the substrate too moist?

A. seemani_1.jpg A. seemani_2.jpg A. seemani_3.jpg

My Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens arrived last December too, he molted three times in my care. I think that he is a male. Dimensions of his new enclosure: 11”X10”X8.5”. The lower, moist layer of the substrate is a 75/25 mix of plantation soil and sphagnum peat moss. The upper, dry layer of the substrate is sphagnum peat moss. That is oak-tree leaves on the sub (bought in shop, free of parasites). The hide is a terracotta flower pot. The plastic sticks are used to keep the fake leaves together, I put them in for anchor points. I gave him a water dish only, the upper layer of the sub is bone dry. What do you guys think, is it a proper enclosure for him?

GBB_1.jpg GBB_2.jpg GBB_3.jpg GBB_4.jpg

Thanks for the replies, comments, critics and any bit of info in advance. Means a lot! :)

And sorry for my English again.

Greetings from Hungary! ;)
 

GreyPsyche

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 19, 2016
Messages
92
Your English is pretty good, my man. So I know nothing about A Seemani so I won't answer for that one but for the GBB...

And I must say that I am by NO means an expert so take my advice with a grain of salt until he experts arrive...but I'm pretty sure that GBB ain't full grown and will need another rehouse one day. I personally don't see a reason or need for the leaves, I would provide more solid climbable anchor points instead of the ones you provided I've seen my GBB and how he likes to climb a little onto things while he webs. But like I said, I'd wait for the experts to chime in before I changed anything.
 

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
Your English is pretty good, my man. So I know nothing about A Seemani so I won't answer for that one but for the GBB...

And I must say that I am by NO means an expert so take my advice with a grain of salt until he experts arrive...but I'm pretty sure that GBB ain't full grown and will need another rehouse one day. I personally don't see a reason or need for the leaves, I would provide more solid climbable anchor points instead of the ones you provided I've seen my GBB and how he likes to climb a little onto things while he webs. But like I said, I'd wait for the experts to chime in before I changed anything.
Thanks! The leaves are for decorations only, but the spider is collecting them into the flower pot. :) Maybe I gave him a bit too much. Yes, he is only ~3" juvie, but he grows fast. And his last house was too little for him. Waiting for others, to chime in... :angelic:
 

KezyGLA

Arachnoking
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
3,013
Your setups are fine! Nice specimens :)

However I would let the substrate completely dry out for your juvenile GBB. The humidity isnt great for them. Just provide water dish and all is good
 

Thistles

Arachnobroad
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
624
Great job! I love the enthusiasm and research! The Aphonopelma may just take a while to settle in. I've noticed that adult female tarantulas often don't take to new enclosures or burrows as readily as younger ones.

What Kezy said is right (as usual). The substrate will dry out and he'll be happy and everything else looks good!
 

Deb60

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jan 7, 2017
Messages
125
Hello guys!

This is my first post and thread here, on Arachnoboards. I have reading AB since August, and it is a daily program now. I can learn here something every day, I got the most information from you. A big thanks for this great forum. :bookworm:

First of all, sorry for my English. It is not my mother tongue, I still have much to learn.

I always wanted to have an exotic pet (besides fish, that I currently have). Last year, I saw an A. geniculata on a Hungarian website. After hours of searching, I have already felt in love with these wonderful creatures. I have been keeping T’s since October, and I already have 28 of them. Okay, I know it was bold (maybe foolish?) to raise a big collection like this in such little time, but I have money, space and time for them (still, I work in full time, and I am a student of a university). All of them are in good shape, they eats and molts well. :angelic:

Two of my bigger spiders moved to their adult enclosures on Friday (I think these will be good for them in the rest of their lives). I have questions about these two.

My Aphonopelma seemanni arrived last December, she molted once in my care, she is my avatar. She is one of the most beautiful spider ladies, that I have ever seen. :embarrassed: I am sure that she is blue form, and I got her for 11 USDs only. Dimensions of her new enclosure: 11”X10”X8.5”. The lower, moist layer of the substrate is a 75/25 mix of plantation soil and sphagnum peat moss. The upper, dry layer of the substrate is sphagnum peat moss. That is forest moss on the sub (bought in shop). The hide is a half cut plastic flower pot, with fake plants hot glued to it. She is mostly standing on the moss, sometimes she walks around.
Is it a proper enclosure for her? Is that a good hide for her, with enough darkness? Should I give her a bigger dish? Is the substrate too moist?

View attachment 240919 View attachment 240920 View attachment 240921

My Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens arrived last December too, he molted three times in my care. I think that he is a male. Dimensions of his new enclosure: 11”X10”X8.5”. The lower, moist layer of the substrate is a 75/25 mix of plantation soil and sphagnum peat moss. The upper, dry layer of the substrate is sphagnum peat moss. That is oak-tree leaves on the sub (bought in shop, free of parasites). The hide is a terracotta flower pot. The plastic sticks are used to keep the fake leaves together, I put them in for anchor points. I gave him a water dish only, the upper layer of the sub is bone dry. What do you guys think, is it a proper enclosure for him?

View attachment 240922 View attachment 240923 View attachment 240924 View attachment 240925

Thanks for the replies, comments, critics and any bit of info in advance. Means a lot! :)

And sorry for my English again.

Greetings from Hungary! ;)
Your English is very good , and it seems that you have done a lot of research and understand a lot about your spiders needs . I will let some of the more experienced members answer some of your questions , but as the last member said the GBB needs to be in a dry substrate, with a water bowl . I've had mine three months now , but only seen him / her come out twice , they hide away during the day , at least mine does .
 

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
Thank you everybody! Yes, I know that the GBB is an arid species, and the #1 rule is to only provide it a dish, no moisten needed. :bookworm: The lower layers of the substrate fixes the flower pot, maybe I should have gave more dry soil to the upper layer. Anyway, I only provide him a dish with a bit of water, and that's all.

@Deb60 Mine is on the other side, he is always out in the open. :) When I open his enclosure, he crawls closer to where he felt the vibrations, and waits for food. He is always ready for a nice meal. :)
 

Venom1080

Arachnoemperor
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Messages
4,611
yes, probably a bit foolish if youve gone off into OWs with only experience with NW slings.

those hides are poor. they are very large and the spiders will feel exposed in there. unless those hides are in total darkness i would change them out.
 

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
yes, probably a bit foolish if youve gone off into OWs with only experience with NW slings.

those hides are poor. they are very large and the spiders will feel exposed in there. unless those hides are in total darkness i would change them out.
No, my only OW is an Orphnaecus sp. "negros", and I got it as a freebie sling. He/she was unplanned to get. :) I've had it a month now, and didn't find too much information about this species. I think I should make another topic about it.

Alright, I give them 1 (maybe 2?) weeks, if they don't settle in, I will change the hides.
 
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The Grym Reaper

Arachnoreaper
Joined
Jul 19, 2016
Messages
4,835
Your English is better than that of some of my fellow Englishmen so there's no need to apologise.

For the GBB enclosure you could do away with most of the substrate (they don't tend to burrow and they will make use of the extra height), use a smaller hide and add more anchor points for webbing.

Below is the setup for mine, I wanted to try a desert-style setup, I used a 3 inch layer of coco fibre/peat/desert bedding (tamped down as much as possible and then allowed to dry out completely) for substrate, a fake cactus plant, a small hide (she's sat on it in the pic, she almost never uses it) and various twigs etc. for anchor points, she has since webbed up over everything except the water dish.

View media item 38795
I don't own an A. seemanni so I will defer to the wisdom of others.
 

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
Alright guys! I have made some changes for my lady A. seemanni. As @Venom1080 suggested, I changed her hide. It is a smaller plastic flower pot. I cut the back of it, so if she wants, she can burrow deeper in the sub. It's much darker than the last one. The enclosure is a bit moist now because of the forest moss, but it will change in time.

A. seemani_new1.jpg A. seemani_new2.jpg

@The Grym Reaper : Thanks, it's good to know that my English is not that bad as I thought. :) I want to take an English Language Exam next year, so I still want to learn. And AB is a good place for it. As you know: combine work and pleasure. ;)
I will definitely make changes for my GBB soon. Nice setup of yours! :astonished:
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
Arachnosupporter +
Joined
Aug 31, 2012
Messages
5,610
I was going to mention the hides and the substrate but you have already addressed both of those elements.

Welcome to our works !

nAbend aus Deutschland!
 

Tanner Dzula

Arachnoknight
Joined
Feb 29, 2016
Messages
190
Alright guys! I have made some changes for my lady A. seemanni. As @Venom1080 suggested, I changed her hide. It is a smaller plastic flower pot. I cut the back of it, so if she wants, she can burrow deeper in the sub. It's much darker than the last one. The enclosure is a bit moist now because of the forest moss, but it will change in time.

View attachment 241047 View attachment 241048

@The Grym Reaper : Thanks, it's good to know that my English is not that bad as I thought. :) I want to take an English Language Exam next year, so I still want to learn. And AB is a good place for it. As you know: combine work and pleasure. ;)
I will definitely make changes for my GBB soon. Nice setup of yours! :astonished:

I'm gunna leave the husbandry answers to those more experienced, BUT i would like to say that, if you had not mentioned that english is not your mother language, i would have never known. you do seem to speak it Fluently :)
 

Trenor

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
1,896
Alright guys! I have made some changes for my lady A. seemanni. As @Venom1080 suggested, I changed her hide. It is a smaller plastic flower pot. I cut the back of it, so if she wants, she can burrow deeper in the sub. It's much darker than the last one. The enclosure is a bit moist now because of the forest moss, but it will change in time.

View attachment 241047 View attachment 241048

@The Grym Reaper : Thanks, it's good to know that my English is not that bad as I thought. :) I want to take an English Language Exam next year, so I still want to learn. And AB is a good place for it. As you know: combine work and pleasure. ;)
I will definitely make changes for my GBB soon. Nice setup of yours! :astonished:
The hides were fine IMO. If the T had decided to use it they can fix it up like they want (esp the GBB as it will web the mouth of the hide pretty quickly). All my cork hides are open and most of my Ts that use them have worked web substrate or leaves or just web as they needed to.

It is a good idea to always leave the hides open at the bottom so the T can go as deep as it wants.

Here is a photo of my C.fimbriatus right after a rehouse. The hide is pretty open like I usually do for my setups.

Here it is a few days later after it's webbed some and moved substrate around.

I don't have the last photo on my flickr account so I can't link it but it's closed off all but a webbed tunnel into the mouth of the hide/burrow. My GBB did the same thing with webbing and my G.pulchripes affixed leaves to it's hide to make it more homey.

@EulersK T made a odd stick hammock in the hide to hide in.

Great setups over all. Good luck with your Ts.
 
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MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
The hides were fine IMO. If the T had decided to use it they can fix it up like they want (esp the GBB as it will web the mouth of the hide pretty quickly). All my cork hides are open and most of my Ts that use them have worked web substrate or leaves or just web as they needed to.

It is a good idea to always leave the hides open at the bottom so the T can go as deep as it wants.

Here is a photo of my C.fimbriatus right after a rehouse. The hide is pretty open like I usually do for my setups.

Here it is a few days later after it's webbed some and moved substrate around.

I don't have the last photo on my flickr account so I can't link it but it's closed off all but a webbed tunnel into the mouth of the hide/burrow. My GBB did the same thing with webbing and my G.pulchripes affixed leaves to it's hide to make it more homey.

@EulersK T made a odd stick hammock in the hide to hide in.

Great setups over all. Good luck with your Ts.
I agree with you, the opened hides are great especially for burrowers like the seemanni or your lil' OW. :) In the other hand, I still agree with @Venom1080 . The pics can't show it perfectly, but the hides in the old setups were too light for them. After the change, the spider lady has started to burrow on the same night. The GBB of mine hasn't done much webbing yet, and he is not that active as he was. He might not accepted his new home yet, but I am going to correct its setup on the weekend. Anyway, thank you for the positive feedback. ;)
 

mconnachan

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
1,240
Alright guys! I have made some changes for my lady A. seemanni. As @Venom1080 suggested, I changed her hide. It is a smaller plastic flower pot. I cut the back of it, so if she wants, she can burrow deeper in the sub. It's much darker than the last one. The enclosure is a bit moist now because of the forest moss, but it will change in time.

View attachment 241047 View attachment 241048

@The Grym Reaper : Thanks, it's good to know that my English is not that bad as I thought. :) I want to take an English Language Exam next year, so I still want to learn. And AB is a good place for it. As you know: combine work and pleasure. ;)
I will definitely make changes for my GBB soon. Nice setup of yours! :astonished:
I was concerned about the size of hides aswell but now you've taken care of it, it looks great, just the right size and as you said OP the T will excavate some substrate if need be, what are those green plastic things that are in with your GBB, I see them and think they're a danger to your spider, I would remove them as they're not doing anything worth while........EDIT - You've removed them already, good lad......
 

MGery92

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 21, 2017
Messages
64
I was concerned about the size of hides aswell but now you've taken care of it, it looks great, just the right size and as you said OP the T will excavate some substrate if need be, what are those green plastic things that are in with your GBB, I see them and think they're a danger to your spider, I would remove them as they're not doing anything worth while........
As I mentioned in my first post: "The plastic sticks are used to keep the fake leaves together, I put them in for anchor points." I cannot explain it better, sorry. :( Well, he didn't use them just yet.
 

mconnachan

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
1,240
As I mentioned in my first post: "The plastic sticks are used to keep the fake leaves together, I put them in for anchor points." I cannot explain it better, sorry. :( Well, he didn't use them just yet.
In that case I would remove them and the fake leaves, they look so sharp at certain points, by all means use fake plans but softer textured ones......
 

mconnachan

Arachnoprince
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
1,240
In that case I would remove them and the fake leaves, they look so sharp at certain points, by all means use fake plans but softer textured ones......
You explain things very well considering English isn't your mother tongue.......
 
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