New to tarantulas and needing some advice :)

[Dorifto]

This doesn't solve the issue of there being a massive drop at the front, it'd be better for the OP to just rehouse to a more suitable enclosure

If he fills the front there isn't so much gap in reallity, check the last photo of his actual enclosure, looking to the T, even with the low substrate level, the height is like 2x dls, filling the gap until the door level rises the substrate to the 1'5x dls mark easily. Looks taller than really is, rearranging it should work imho.

 

[VaporRyder]

Agreed.

 

[GrimMelvin]

This doesn't solve the issue of there being a massive drop at the front, it'd be better for the OP to just rehouse to a more suitable enclosure

I will be definitely looking into that, but I have to wait a bit for the funds to allow

For now, the game plan is to buy two more packs of the substrate and stack it up as high as it can possibly go at the door (I should be able to do about 2-3 more cm), and make a hill backwards, as well as making the hide a little taller so she can more easily get in. Right now, the space from the substrate to the top is 2x her body with her legs a bit spread out (DLS?). When she was standing on top of the hide and fully spread out, she reached all the way to the top with her back feet still on the floor. I'm thinking if I could reduce to 1,5x her body in the front and 1x at the back, it should be much safer.

Honestly, I was aware that terrestrials need lower enclosures, but the arboreal setups I've seen in many pictures sort of were very vertical, so I thought mine would be ok for a terrestrial, as it wasn't even half those heights.

I'll definitely do my best to fix it if possible and if I can't, get a new tank. I want Pretzel to be happy and safe.

Thank you to everyone for your help, it's much appreciated
I'll post an update as soon as I change things around.

 

[Dorifto]

Don't forget the top mesh! Much more inportant than the height. They get hanging pretty easily, or getting the fangs stuck...



Cover it with a drilled acrylic sheet and it'll be solved. Learn from other's mistakes!

 

[GrimMelvin]

Don't forget the top mesh! Much more inportant than the height. They get hanging pretty easily, or getting the fangs stuck...

View attachment 392104

Cover it with a drilled acrylic sheet and it'll be solved. Learn from other's mistakes!

Definitely! This looks scary, poor nugget.
I'll get my dad to bring a drill over asap and we will go get some acrylic to put on top. I'll look at a guide on how to do this properly, people have said there are many on google and on here!

 

[Dorifto]

Simply measure the the inerside of the top lid, and cut a piece of acrylic with the same dimensions, you can install it my pressing it if it's tight enough, but I'd suggest you to add some silicone to give it a better support.

That was my first big enclosure, and it was a total dissaster for my part. I didn't read enough...

If you want and if you or your dad are handymans, you can make your own enclosure for cheap. I made my own vivarium for 30€, and it's a big one.



You can make a smaller one cheaper. And I can guarantee you, that if you give to your T all their needs, they wont look outside their enclosures for them. The height issue comes from the Ts climbing their enclosures looking for something that is outside and tying to get out for it. Give them all their needs and they wont climb their enclosure again, unless it's an arboreal



As you can see, they are much bigger than yours, but I never had any single issue of the Ts climbing the front glass, and when I say never is never, because they have all their needs covered, moisture, light, shadows, cooler and warmer zones, diferent hides etc.

 

[GrimMelvin]

Simply measure the the inerside of the top lid, and cut a piece of acrylic with the same dimensions, you can install it my pressing it if it's tight enough, but I'd suggest you to add some silicone to give it a better support.

That was my first big enclosure, and it was a total dissaster for my part. I didn't read enough...

If you want and if you or your dad are handymans, you can make your own enclosure for cheap. I made my own vivarium for 30€, and it's a big one.

View attachment 392108

You can make a smaller one cheaper. And I can guarantee you, that if you give to your T all their needs, they wont look outside their enclosures for them. The height issue comes from the Ts climbing their enclosures looking for something that is outside and tying to get out for it. Give them all their needs and they wont climb their enclosure again, unless it's an arboreal

View attachment 392109

As you can see, they are much bigger than yours, but I never had any single issue of the Ts climbing the front glass, and when I say never is never, because they have all their needs covered, moisture, light, shadows, cooler and warmer zones, diferent hides etc.

Those are amazing! I absolutely love them. I love when people get creative and make such natural-looking enclosures <3
I could maybe try and put a plant or two more into mine, just to make it feel a bit more full. Maybe then my girl won't feel so shy about coming out as she will have more cover.

Oh, but I'm not much of a handy-girl myself. Maybe I can put together some Ikea furniture on a good day . But it should be no problem for my dad, he's really good with this sort of stuff. He didn't like the idea of a spider at first, but now he says the more he looks at her, the more he likes her, haha. I'll get him here as soon as he has free time, likely next weekend, and get the mesh sorted out. Tomorrow I'll head out and get more coco fiber.

For a better picture of how tall the enclosure is, this is how far she can reach while still standing on the ground. It's 2x her body.

 

[Dorifto]

Those are amazing! I absolutely love them. I love when people get creative and make such natural-looking enclosures <3
I could maybe try and put a plant or two more into mine, just to make it feel a bit more full. Maybe then my girl won't feel so shy about coming out as she will have more cover.

Oh, but I'm not much of a handy-girl myself. Maybe I can put together some Ikea furniture on a good day . But it should be no problem for my dad, he's really good with this sort of stuff. He didn't like the idea of a spider at first, but now he says the more he looks at her, the more he likes her, haha. I'll get him here as soon as he has free time, likely next weekend, and get the mesh sorted out. Tomorrow I'll head out and get more coco fiber.

For a better picture of how tall the enclosure is, this is how far she can reach while still standing on the ground. It's 2x her body. View attachment 392119

Thanks!!!

Before adding plants, I encourage you to learn all about your Ts habitat, climate, plants etc that way you can choose the right plants for your T, remember, it's an enclosure for your T, not for the plants, follow that simple rule and you won't have any problem. Also you should change the substrate to a propper one for plants, like topsoil. For me is the best all rounder substrate, cheap, good and looks fantastic, much more real.

If someday you feel ready to make it, I made a little tuto. You can borrow any idea or ask any question without hesitation!

Foam background enclosure tutorial

Hi guys, seeing that some people are asking about how I made my setup, I´m going to make a litlle tuto about it. It may look difficult, but It was more easy than I thought. The tools: - A propper enclosure, I choosed the European style glass enclosures, since they are cheap, they have a great...

arachnoboards.com

 

[GrimMelvin]

Thanks!!!

Before adding plants, I encourage you to learn all about your Ts habitat, climate, plants etc that way you can choose the right plants for your T, remember, it's an enclosure for your T, not for the plants, follow that simple rule and you won't have any problem. Also you should change the substrate to a propper one for plants, like topsoil. For me is the best all rounder substrate, cheap, good and looks fantastic, much more real.

If someday you feel ready to make it, I made a little tuto. You can borrow any idea or ask any question without hesitation!

Foam background enclosure tutorial

Hi guys, seeing that some people are asking about how I made my setup, I´m going to make a litlle tuto about it. It may look difficult, but It was more easy than I thought. The tools: - A propper enclosure, I choosed the European style glass enclosures, since they are cheap, they have a great...

arachnoboards.com

I will definitely check that out and see some of your ideas.

For now, I'm sticking to fake plants because those are much easier to manage. Those soft plastic ones that are safe to put into aquariums. I figured that if they are safe for fish in the water, they should be good for Ts as well.

Also, I actually had one more question. I tried to offer my T that one random dubia I found in her old enclosure and she ran away from it. I'm assuming she's not hungry now, and I know some Ts can go a long time without eating anything. But is it normal for them to run away from something that should be their prey?

 

[Arachnophobphile]

I've recently made my dream come true and became the proud owner of Pretzel, the Tliltocatl albopilosus. She's about 4 years old and a female, according to the previous owner.

I've done a lot of reading about this species and many guides claim that they like to reorganize their enclosures and are active at night-- but this doesn't seem to be the case with Pretzel and it's making me a little worried about her. She's my first tarantula and I want her to be safe and happy with me but right now, she seems to be lethargic. She isn't in pre-molt because the owner said she had molted recently and it should be months or even a year before she does again.

I will provide as many pics as I can.

I brought her home about a week ago with her old terrarium, provided by the previous owner and I have rehoused her into a new one a few days later.
I know this shouldn't be done unless necessary, but I felt that it was. The old terrarium was quite dirty-- there was a molt buried in there, dubia carcasses, I even found a live dubia buried in the substrate (surprise!), and the door didn't close properly so it was shut with velcro which was a pain to open. The dubia is now in a container with some paper towels and water, I didn't put it in with Pretzel.

This is her old terrarium:
View attachment 392013


The new terrarium has a mesh roof, which I was a little skeptical about, but it was the only one they had at the store and it said on the box that it was suitable for tarantulas. I have a temperature and humidity meter in there, and it seems to keep humidity pretty decently. It's always around 55-60%.
I put coco fiber, a hide, a shallow water dish, and some fake plants. I opt to mist the inside of the enclosure rather than overflow the water dish because I've read that overflowing can cause mold. I lightly mist the plant.

This is the new enclosure:
View attachment 392014


You can see Pretzel there in the corner behind the plant-- which is what I'm kinda worried about.

She doesn't go anywhere else in the enclosure and always sits in this corner with her legs tucked up around her. She moves because I see her changing positions, but she mostly alternates between the corner of the glass and on the ground by the back glass. She has done some light webbing on the floor there. She isn't using the hide, hasn't gone in it yet and she doesn't explore at all.

She mostly stays in this position:
View attachment 392016


My worry is that the enclosure is kinda close to the TV, about 2 meters (6.6 feet). We don't watch TV often, maybe a few times a week at most, and it doesn't have any sort of bass system or anything that could cause too many vibrations. The previous owner said this wouldn't be an issue for her.
It's also located in the living room/kitchen area, but the kitchen and couch where people move about the most is not close to her, so she shouldn't be disturbed by the movement.

This is the placement:
View attachment 392017


I'm just a bit worried that she's not happy there or that I messed something up, as she's not being active at all, as many guides said she should be.
Could someone please offer some advice about what I should do? Any advice is appreciated

This is a nicer picture of her:
View attachment 392018

Good lord.....the person you bought your albo from should be ashamed.

1. At 4 years old I hate to break it to you they are a pet rock. She also is more than likely never using her hide again. My 2 albos as soon as they hit 3.5 inches dls that was the end of the hide and burrow forever.

2. Unless the owner stated or you asked if it is a confirmed female consider the T's sex undetermined until you sex the molt yourself.

3. That enclosure is wrong in so many ways. There's tons of info right here on AB on the proper way to house your tarantula. Use the search feature at the top.

4. Read 'The Beginner's Guide' that a member kindly shared the link for you.

Other than that enjoy your new T. albo.

 

[GrimMelvin]

Good lord.....the person you bought your albo from should be ashamed.

1. At 4 years old I hate to break it to you they are a pet rock. She also is more than likely never using her hide again. My 2 albos as soon as they hit 3.5 inches dls that was the end of the hide and burrow forever.

2. Unless the owner stated or you asked if it is a confirmed female consider the T's sex undetermined until you sex the molt yourself.

3. That enclosure is wrong in so many ways. There's tons of info right here on AB on the proper way to house your tarantula. Use the search feature at the top.

4. Read 'The Beginner's Guide' that a member kindly shared the link for you.

Other than that enjoy your new T. albo.

Oh, I'm not really hell-bent on her hiding or being active. I'm fine with her being a rock, as long as she's a happy rock and has everything she needs. I would rather have a hide for her than not, even if she wouldn't really use it. Better to have one and not want it than to want it and not have it

I asked the owner and he said it is a confirmed female. The ad he posted also said it's a female, so I will go ahead and trust him on that. If there is another molt at some point in the future, I will have a better look.

I did kind of mess up with that enclosure, I admit. I was really in a hurry to replace the old one because it was pretty dirty and had all sorts of things in it. But hey, I found a free dubia and also found her old molt which I kept the fangs from and they are pretty neat! It was very dry and brittle though and fell apart in my hands, so I couldn't really have a good look at it.

I've gotten a lot of advice here on how to make the enclosure better. I'll be going on tomorrow and getting more coco fiber, and getting my dad to fix that mesh asap. If that still isn't good enough, I will be looking at different enclosures as soon as my budget allows it!

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Oh, I'm not really hell-bent on her hiding or being active. I'm fine with her being a rock, as long as she's a happy rock and has everything she needs. I would rather have a hide for her than not, even if she wouldn't really use it. Better to have one and not want it than to want it and not have it

I asked the owner and he said it is a confirmed female. The ad he posted also said it's a female, so I will go ahead and trust him on that. If there is another molt at some point in the future, I will have a better look.

I did kind of mess up with that enclosure, I admit. I was really in a hurry to replace the old one because it was pretty dirty and had all sorts of things in it. But hey, I found a free dubia and also found her old molt which I kept the fangs from and they are pretty neat! It was very dry and brittle though and fell apart in my hands, so I couldn't really have a good look at it.

I've gotten a lot of advice here on how to make the enclosure better. I'll be going on tomorrow and getting more coco fiber, and getting my dad to fix that mesh asap. If that still isn't good enough, I will be looking at different enclosures as soon as my budget allows it!

Very good sounds like you're on top of things.

Have you measured her yet? If she is 4 years old, (meaning that's how old the person you bought it from had it) I'm only guessing here she is probably 5 to 6 inches dls wise.

If that's the case there's cheap options for an enclosure. You can get a storage container or a a large Kritter Keeper. I think the extra large Kritter Keeper is too big. I have one sitting on the shelf never used. My biggest T is only 5.5 inches dls and it's too big for it.

Whatever you choose best wishes you'll not only love it but you WILL want more

 

[GrimMelvin]

Thanks!!!

Before adding plants, I encourage you to learn all about your Ts habitat, climate, plants etc that way you can choose the right plants for your T, remember, it's an enclosure for your T, not for the plants, follow that simple rule and you won't have any problem. Also you should change the substrate to a propper one for plants, like topsoil. For me is the best all rounder substrate, cheap, good and looks fantastic, much more real.

If someday you feel ready to make it, I made a little tuto. You can borrow any idea or ask any question without hesitation!

Foam background enclosure tutorial

Hi guys, seeing that some people are asking about how I made my setup, I´m going to make a litlle tuto about it. It may look difficult, but It was more easy than I thought. The tools: - A propper enclosure, I choosed the European style glass enclosures, since they are cheap, they have a great...

arachnoboards.com

I looked at that enclosure tutorial and it's so awesome. You're very skilled with enclosures and the result is beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous.

I caught my Tliltocatl albopilosus this evening, sitting right in the middle of the front glass. She went all around the glass of the enclosure and back to that part under the plant where she likes to chill.

You mentioned that if they have everything they need, they will not generally climb the glass. But when I looked at some enclosure requirements for this species, they all said:
1. a place to hide,
2. shallow water dish,
3. temperature between 22 - 28ish Celsius,
4.humidity around 65-70%.

Is there anything else I should know about here? I have all of these things met-- of course, I will be changing the layout, as I've said before.

I have gone out to buy the coco fiber, but I ended up adding too much water, so I'm waiting for it to dry before I add it to the enclosure. The package said to add 4 liters of water-- I added only 3 and it's still completely soggy.
I'll also go out again and buy one more piece of bark to try and create more places to hide for her.

Thanks a lot for all the help, apologies if I'm being too bothersome.

 

[Dorifto]

I looked at that enclosure tutorial and it's so awesome. You're very skilled with enclosures and the result is beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous.

I caught my Tliltocatl albopilosus this evening, sitting right in the middle of the front glass. She went all around the glass of the enclosure and back to that part under the plant where she likes to chill.

You mentioned that if they have everything they need, they will not generally climb the glass. But when I looked at some enclosure requirements for this species, they all said:
1. a place to hide,
2. shallow water dish,
3. temperature between 22 - 28ish Celsius,
4.humidity around 65-70%.

Is there anything else I should know about here? I have all of these things met-- of course, I will be changing the layout, as I've said before.

I have gone out to buy the coco fiber, but I ended up adding too much water, so I'm waiting for it to dry before I add it to the enclosure. The package said to add 4 liters of water-- I added only 3 and it's still completely soggy.
I'll also go out again and buy one more piece of bark to try and create more places to hide for her.

Thanks a lot for all the help, apologies if I'm being too bothersome.

Thanks!!!

I cleaned the inbox so you can start a conversation, it was blocked because it was full of messages

It could be that the T hasn't settled yet, or that she feels something that she needs in that spot, it could be a heat source like the sun, a cooler place etc

My pulchra did it a lot in my old enclosure. It was an exoterra with a top mesh, similar to yours but much taller...and when she felt any air current she used to climb to the top or front glass and used to "chew" the glass or the top mesh, I believe like trying to escape. After I made them the new enclosure with hides and diferent spots with diferent temp, moisture values... problem solved. At first she wandered a bit to recognize the enclosure, but after a week +- she stopped with that behaviour.

 

[GrimMelvin]

So I have changed her enclosure based on the suggestions I got here. Thank you for all the advice, I think this is much better than before. Hopefully, it will also be good in your eyes, but please let me know if something isn't right here

I put more soil at the door and I managed to fit about 2 more cm in there. Stuck a soft plastic plant to the part where it is the deepest from the top, so there's something there just in case.
Stacked the soil upwards in the back and stacked in on top of the cave. I also put a little cork overhang on the top layer-- I couldn't fit a larger piece there, but at least there is a bit of cover. She can fit into it if she tucks her legs in a little. Put a plant on the other side there, so she has a bit more cover when moving around. Water dish on the side.

As it is now, the front is about 1,5x her dls length tall (a tiny bit more at the deepest part but I put that plant there in the front) and the back is 1x, somewhere a bit less.

The top is still a mesh, but I will get that sorted out as soon as my dad has time off work to help me with it. Should be next weekend.


I also noticed, when I had a good look at her, that she has some sort of scar on her abdomen. It's a brown spot with no hairs. She had it when I got her, but I never realized how big it actually was. Is this something to worry about? It doesn't seem to bother her and it isn't letting out any liquid... it's just a sort of baldy patch.

Here are some pictures.




Booty scar:

 

[Neonblizzard]

So I have changed her enclosure based on the suggestions I got here. Thank you for all the advice, I think this is much better than before. Hopefully, it will also be good in your eyes, but please let me know if something isn't right here

I put more soil at the door and I managed to fit about 2 more cm in there. Stuck a soft plastic plant to the part where it is the deepest from the top, so there's something there just in case.
Stacked the soil upwards in the back and stacked in on top of the cave. I also put a little cork overhang on the top layer-- I couldn't fit a larger piece there, but at least there is a bit of cover. She can fit into it if she tucks her legs in a little. Put a plant on the other side there, so she has a bit more cover when moving around. Water dish on the side.

As it is now, the front is about 1,5x her dls length tall (a tiny bit more at the deepest part but I put that plant there in the front) and the back is 1x, somewhere a bit less.

The top is still a mesh, but I will get that sorted out as soon as my dad has time off work to help me with it. Should be next weekend.


I also noticed, when I had a good look at her, that she has some sort of scar on her abdomen. It's a brown spot with no hairs. She had it when I got her, but I never realized how big it actually was. Is this something to worry about? It doesn't seem to bother her and it isn't letting out any liquid... it's just a sort of baldy patch.

Here are some pictures.

View attachment 392685 View attachment 392686 View attachment 392687


Booty scar:
View attachment 392688

Your enclosure looks a lot better than it did! Good job.

The Bald patch is from them kicking hair off her abdomen, it will come back next molt

 

[GrimMelvin]

Your enclosure looks a lot better than it did! Good job.

The Bald patch is from them kicking hair off her abdomen, it will come back next molt

Oh my gosh, I just got it... She is brown but the hairs are black... So when she has a bald patch, she goes back to brown. I'm such a dingus, I thought she was black with those long hairs only! People say they can get baldy patches from kicking but I never have actually seen it, just read about it.
Hands-on experience I suppose