Abaddon749
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 9
Hey everyone, I just found this forum last night while preparing to upgrade our Avic's enclosure. I'd like to start this off by saying that after reading numerous Avic threads since last night, I'm really surprised we have never killed our first spider. I got her (no idea on the actual sex, we just heard females last longer and are hoping for the best) as a tiny sling a little over three years ago for my now fiancé. Her leg span was less than a centimeter across and now she's a little more than 3" across.
What we've done over the last 3 years: Ever since she was about 1" or so across we've had her in a vertical 6"x6"x12" glass terrarium with screen on the sliding lid and the top 6" of the front panel. It had a corkwood backing with a small piece of driftwood glued near the top and 2-3" of ecoearth on the bottom. We've always kept the ecoearth pretty moist (no puddles, but definitely overkill from what I've been reading here) and had a small under-the-tank reptile heater. We used to give her 2-3 "small" crickets per week, now we give her 3 "medium" crickets per week. We used to handle her a couple times a week, but with needing to put up the cats every time now we only handle her every few weeks. She's never bit us, and only rarely does one of her crazy fast jumps while she walks around our arms and hands.
My apparent mistakes: Apparently her ecoearth shouldn't be moist. That would help explain the little bugs always hanging out down there. I never see them on the spider, so I don't know if they're mites, but they are tiny. I've seen a lot of negativity about the under tank heaters, but I don't know if that's just because many Ts burrow. Normally it is pretty warm here in southern California, but my cheap old apartment has horrible insulation, making our electric bill go well over $100 if we use it. Due to that we are big on opening windows at night, which means that in the spring/fall/"winter" it can sometimes get well below 60F in here while we sleep. Our Avic has never burrowed and occasionally likes to sit on the moist but warm ecoearth when it's cold in here. As for the screen sliding lid of her current tank, she's never been stuck on it, and usually doesn't sit on it since the act of us opening it at least once a week always messes up any webbing she attaches to it. On the rare occasion she is on it, we gently blow on her until she moves to the side of the tank so we can open it.
What we want to do now: She seems very stuffed in her current tank now, and can barely squeeze being her tiny driftwood when she wants to hide so we are planing on moving her into a spare 12"x12"x12" ecoterra tank we have from our late pac-man frog. I'd rather get her the 18" tall one, but the money isn't there right now. We have corkwood on the back again with much larger hides and cool decorations. She's going to have her first water container in this tank.
My questions: If she never burrows, is the same small heater we have okay? I'm guessing the answer is no, so is she going to be okay when it gets in the 50s at night? If not, what should we do for warmth? We need the windows open at night to help keep the AC bills down during the day. We don't have a spare room to stick her in with a space heater either... she lives in the living room. Should we definitely keep the ecoearth dry with just the shallow water dish? Is it okay for her water dish to be on the bottom of the tank? She only rarely sits on the bottom and I'm worried about her getting dehydrated if we aren't going to be keeping everything as dangerously moist as we always have before. Lastly, does 3 "medium" Petco crickets per week seem like a good amount of food?
I'm looking forward to your comments and hopefully not too harsh criticism on all the past mistakes. If you want, I can figure out how to upload pics of the current and future enclosure. Just let me know!
What we've done over the last 3 years: Ever since she was about 1" or so across we've had her in a vertical 6"x6"x12" glass terrarium with screen on the sliding lid and the top 6" of the front panel. It had a corkwood backing with a small piece of driftwood glued near the top and 2-3" of ecoearth on the bottom. We've always kept the ecoearth pretty moist (no puddles, but definitely overkill from what I've been reading here) and had a small under-the-tank reptile heater. We used to give her 2-3 "small" crickets per week, now we give her 3 "medium" crickets per week. We used to handle her a couple times a week, but with needing to put up the cats every time now we only handle her every few weeks. She's never bit us, and only rarely does one of her crazy fast jumps while she walks around our arms and hands.
My apparent mistakes: Apparently her ecoearth shouldn't be moist. That would help explain the little bugs always hanging out down there. I never see them on the spider, so I don't know if they're mites, but they are tiny. I've seen a lot of negativity about the under tank heaters, but I don't know if that's just because many Ts burrow. Normally it is pretty warm here in southern California, but my cheap old apartment has horrible insulation, making our electric bill go well over $100 if we use it. Due to that we are big on opening windows at night, which means that in the spring/fall/"winter" it can sometimes get well below 60F in here while we sleep. Our Avic has never burrowed and occasionally likes to sit on the moist but warm ecoearth when it's cold in here. As for the screen sliding lid of her current tank, she's never been stuck on it, and usually doesn't sit on it since the act of us opening it at least once a week always messes up any webbing she attaches to it. On the rare occasion she is on it, we gently blow on her until she moves to the side of the tank so we can open it.
What we want to do now: She seems very stuffed in her current tank now, and can barely squeeze being her tiny driftwood when she wants to hide so we are planing on moving her into a spare 12"x12"x12" ecoterra tank we have from our late pac-man frog. I'd rather get her the 18" tall one, but the money isn't there right now. We have corkwood on the back again with much larger hides and cool decorations. She's going to have her first water container in this tank.
My questions: If she never burrows, is the same small heater we have okay? I'm guessing the answer is no, so is she going to be okay when it gets in the 50s at night? If not, what should we do for warmth? We need the windows open at night to help keep the AC bills down during the day. We don't have a spare room to stick her in with a space heater either... she lives in the living room. Should we definitely keep the ecoearth dry with just the shallow water dish? Is it okay for her water dish to be on the bottom of the tank? She only rarely sits on the bottom and I'm worried about her getting dehydrated if we aren't going to be keeping everything as dangerously moist as we always have before. Lastly, does 3 "medium" Petco crickets per week seem like a good amount of food?
I'm looking forward to your comments and hopefully not too harsh criticism on all the past mistakes. If you want, I can figure out how to upload pics of the current and future enclosure. Just let me know!