Katy, that's the way I keep my "humid" tarantulas. A good soaking mist followed by 3 or 4 days of drying, always with a water dish. I lost an Avic 9 years ago the same way you are. Too wet and not enough ventilation. Dryer and cooler is much safer than hot and wet.
Regarding temperature and humidity; Safetly heating your T's enclosures.
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I totally agree and that is how I usually keep them, as I said in my previous posts. I didn't think I was keeping her THAT WET but I didn't realize that it was staying so moist in there. I'm totally kicking myself for this situation because I KNOW BETTER. Blaah. I feel awful.Katy, that's the way I keep my "humid" tarantulas. A good soaking mist followed by 3 or 4 days of drying, always with a water dish. I lost an Avic 9 years ago the same way you are. Too wet and not enough ventilation. Dryer and cooler is much safer than hot and wet.
The bulk of what you are saying is correct - we cannot and probably should not duplicate nature in captivity. But we can approximate it within certain parameters. The trick is to recognize which parameters are important, and experimentation and observation will provide that knowledge. Some may be more obvious, others more subtle - but there's no reason not to pursue this knowledge if you are so inclined.I have to say, there are a lot of posts on this forum about simulating the "natural habitat". Really, that is impossible to do.
That's not always true. Although I don't intentionally try to cause seasonal differences in my reptile/arachnid room, they exist anyway. The room runs cooler in the winter than in the summer. Humidity levels change, temps change, and no doubt barometric pressure changes occur as well. Day length definitely changes. Might not be exactly the seasonal shift they would have in the wild - but there are seasonal changes, and some of my animals definitely respond to it. Sun, wind and rain? Well, maybe not wind. But they do get artificial light, misting/watering, etc. No natural bacteria in the soil? Unless you are autoclaving your tarantula and its cage and the crickets it eats, there will be bountiful bacteria in your cage. If you've got soil in your cage, it will be infested with bacteria - and all the bacteria will be natural. There are some aspects of "natural habitat" that we cannot avoid even if we want to - so learning about natural habitat can only benefit us. (Look at how many people panic at the site of detritus mites, springtails, etc. - all without reason.)We are keeping these animals in small glass and plastic boxes. There is no sun, wind, or rain. There are no seasons. There is no natural bacteria in the soil. ....
That said - most of the people I've seen posting here who say they are trying to create natural habitats have little or no concept of what really constitutes a tarantula's natural habitat, and are really only trying to create an esthetically pleasing image (from the human point of view) of what a jungle (or desert or whatever) looks like. Sometimes that's a harmless effort, but sometimes it can be truly detrimental to the tarantula.
Of course there's bacteria in there but my point is it's not the SAME as where ever the tarantula is native to!No natural bacteria in the soil? Unless you are autoclaving your tarantula and its cage and the crickets it eats, there will be bountiful bacteria in your cage.
All I'm saying is that you can't make a little box be the same as the real world. You can't. You can match temperature and humidity but you can't match the balance of organisms that live in nature. It will never be a self sustaining eco-system. An eco-system finds it's own balance which is dictated by the relationships of ALL the things within it. Which is why if you keep an enclosure too humid it will grow mold or fungus because there are no naturally competing organisms to inhibit it's growth. Even expert zoo's and aquariums require constant maintenance to maintain balance that just happens in nature. Which is why the best thing to do is to keep tarantulas at a temperature and humidity that the tarantula can live in but mold and fungus and mites cannot. Obviously there are some species that this is hard to do but most do fine a little on the dryer, cooler side of perfect.
I completely agree. And you probably wouldn't want it to be a self-sustaining system, because that would probably mean that your over-abundant captive tarantula population would be severely trimmed back.All I'm saying is that you can't make a little box be the same as the real world. You can't. You can match temperature and humidity but you can't match the balance of organisms that live in nature. It will never be a self sustaining eco-system.
Agreed - with the exception that the "balance of nature" is largely a myth. There is no static balance in nature. No point at which all is perfectly tuned and harmonious. Nature is a dynamic, constantly changing situation in which populations boom and crash, species compete for changing resources and sometimes replace each other, and conditions sometimes result in mass extinctions. What we see as "balance" is generally a snapshot of a [geologically] short time frame that we idealize.An eco-system finds it's own balance which is dictated by the relationships of ALL the things within it.
I agree! Actually it does balance but balance in nature means some organisms die and are replaced by others, which is NOT what we want when keeping animals.with the exception that the "balance of nature" is largely a myth.