Sling Enclosure... plan ahead?

[MightyVlork]

Hi there folks. I've recently gotten back into Ts and I am acquiring a few slings this week. I have owned T's in the past, but I really never bought any so small, so excuse my ignorance and I apologize if this is asked a thousand times. I've only dealt with juveniles and greater. My new additions will be around .25 to .5 inches. I see a great portion of people raising their slings in small deli cups and other crafty ways. This is fine for now, but I plan on getting a few acrylic boxes to house them on a small display shelf and I think these looks a bit better. So, is it completely necessary to house small slings in tiny containers before upgrading them to the larger boxes? Is it Ok to house a sling so small in a larger acrylic box? Something like a 4x4x4, that it can be in for a good portion of time before it needs rehousing? What are the down sides of housing a small spider in larger housing? I'm mainly trying to avoid having to buy a hundred diff sized containers for a half dozen spiders. Look forward to hearing some opinions. Thanks!

Sean Mac

 

[korg]

In my mind the main reasons to use smaller enclosures for smaller slings are 1) easier to make sure they ate 2) easier to actually physically locate the sling 3) Easier to maintain/clean 4) Less risk of escape through ventilation holes, etc.

They are definitely more convenient, but not really "required" I guess. For 1/4" slings you could easily put them in little condiment cups (you can find free at some grocery stores, restaurants, etc). Just poke some pin holes in the lid and fill it half full with substrate.

 

[JonnyTorch]

@MightyVlork what Korg said above.

Downside to smaller spider in larger housing is it might be too young to actually hunt the prey, or catch it. Smaller enclosures help trap their prey too, so they can eat it.
I would like to get one of those acrylic housings too, from Herpcult, they look wonderful and have magnets. But, T's grow slow, so it's best to wait until your T is for sure too big for his cage. A Tarantula too big for his cage is better than a Tarantula too small for his cage, I believe. I mean, they do live in little holes their whole lives.

 

[Kitara]

So, is it completely necessary to house small slings in tiny containers before upgrading them to the larger boxes? Is it Ok to house a sling so small in a larger acrylic box? Something like a 4x4x4, that it can be in for a good portion of time before it needs rehousing? What are the down sides of housing a small spider in larger housing?

So this is talked about a lot here and there are people with a ton more experience than I have so this is just what happened with me. I knew the first enclosure was probably too big, but whatever. He likes to dig right? It's cute right?. He ate a couple times, then he did exactly what others said he would do. He dug himself a nice little burrow, closed it up, and then ignored me for about 4 months. He was about 1/2" maybe.


After he finally molted, I rehoused him in a condiment cup. While not as "pretty" he was always out in the open, ate regularly, and never closed himself off. He molted pretty quickly. I learned my lesson right?


Of course I did not! He's about 1" now so I thought he just looked too big for the condiment cup and I thought a pretty box would be nicer. I went ahead an moved him in an Amec box. Well, what did he do?!?



Yep, he burrowed down, covered his entrance and gave me the middle leg. So now he's going to live down there for the next few months while I stomp my feet and pout that it's taking forEVER for him to molt.

So, the down sides? I have an already slow growing species (B. smithi) and I went ahead and gave him the perfect tools to just grow as sloooooow as his little heart desires. THANKfully he was at least kind enough to make me a little window so he can judge me from in his little burrow for not listening to people much more experienced than I.

 

[JonnyTorch]

@Kitara haha is that an upside down monopoly house for a water dish!?

 

[Kitara]

@Kitara haha is that an upside down monopoly house for a water dish!?

Yes but it was useless. A tiny bit of dirt and the water wicked out in a snap.

 

[MightyVlork]

Ahhh I see. So it's not just a matter of convenience. Growing a sling in a small container is best for feeding, cleaning, monitoring and growth all together. I have these snap cap dram bottles that are around 200ml and approx 4 inches tall and 2 inches wide. I guess these will work far better until they grow some more. Thank you for the information!

 

[viper69]

So, is it completely necessary to house small slings in tiny containers before upgrading them to the larger boxes?

They do live in the wild which is larger than any box we put them in.

However, there are very specific reasons we use smaller containers. One main reason is regardless of T size, be it 1/8" or 10", container size dictates prey-predator interaction probability. So I'll let you draw your own conclusions. Enjoy!

 

[viper69]

@Kitara haha is that an upside down monopoly house for a water dish!?

A lot of people use the houses or hotels. And other people use ink containers for tattoo artists- those will give you the best small dishes I believe.

 

[Smotzer]

So this is talked about a lot here and there are people with a ton more experience than I have so this is just what happened with me. I knew the first enclosure was probably too big, but whatever. He likes to dig right? It's cute right?. He ate a couple times, then he did exactly what others said he would do. He dug himself a nice little burrow, closed it up, and then ignored me for about 4 months. He was about 1/2" maybe.
View attachment 344085

After he finally molted, I rehoused him in a condiment cup. While not as "pretty" he was always out in the open, ate regularly, and never closed himself off. He molted pretty quickly. I learned my lesson right?
View attachment 344086

Of course I did not! He's about 1" now so I thought he just looked too big for the condiment cup and I thought a pretty box would be nicer. I went ahead an moved him in an Amec box. Well, what did he do?!?

View attachment 344084

Yep, he burrowed down, covered his entrance and gave me the middle leg. So now he's going to live down there for the next few months while I stomp my feet and pout that it's taking forEVER for him to molt.

So, the down sides? I have an already slow growing species (B. smithi) and I went ahead and gave him the perfect tools to just grow as sloooooow as his little heart desires. THANKfully he was at least kind enough to make me a little window so he can judge me from in his little burrow for not listening to people much more experienced than I.

Hey!! This is really interesting, that it exhibited the same behavior each time it got into a bigger enclosure! At least nothing bad happened to it!