Socotra Island Blue Baboon substrate

[Guera1066]

I have a couple of questions about my new tarantula.
I'm attaching a photo of the enclosure that I have my Socotra Island Blue Baboon in (I bought it yesterday). When I bought it from my exotic pet store the employee (who also has one) said that the enclosure would be good. But now I'm having people say that it needs a lot more substrate. I have no problem with fixing the enclosure. But I wanted to make sure before I change it.
Also, and more importantly, if I need to add more substrate, do I need to remove my T before adding the substrate? Once I added my T in there I haven't seen it since, and I honestly would rather not disturb it if at all possible.
Also, any and all tips and advice is welcome!!! Thanks!!!

 

[cold blood]

theyre not crazy burrowers like most fossorials, but the enclosure is MASSIVE.

 

[dangerforceidle]

How large is the spider (I scanned quickly to find the T but I'm on mobile and maybe not as thorough as I could have been)? What are the dimensions of that enclosure?

Normally the rule of thumb is no more than 1.5x the spider's diagonal leg span in height from the top of the substrate to the lid (for terrestrial/fossorial species). A 2" spider would then have no more than 3" of climbing space. M. balfouri will definitely appreciate substrate to burrow in with lots of debris at surface level to anchor their webbing to.

The sponge in the dish is not required.

 

[cold blood]

The sponge in the dish is not required

oh geez, i missed that. Yeah, just water in the water dish....sheesh, will pet stores never learn.

 

[Guera1066]

Sorry the sponge is out of the dish. There used to be a Rabid Wolf Spider in there. I took the picture before when I had it set up for the wolf spider, hence the sponge. They told me at the pet store to take out the sponge-I took out the sponge before I put in my T. The enclosure is a 20 long. I'll attach a picture of the T. In the picture I had just misted the tank (it was super dry before putting it in there).

 

[cold blood]

Yeah, that enclosure is gigantic....i would use a smaller tank, at least half that size, but the general set up is good.

Kerp in mind, the enclosure should be dry....dont mist or dampen things up.

 

[Guera1066]

Should i not mist at all? Or once a week?
What about depth of the substrate?
Thank you so much for the help btw!

 

[cold blood]

Should i not mist at all? Or once a week?

not at all

What about depth of the substrate?

Depth will be determined not by the t, but by the height of the enclosure...you want to add enough to eliminate a fall risk.

Your sub depth is fine for the t, but not deep enough for the enclosure.

 

[Guera1066]

Should I remove the T before adding more substrate? Or would I be able to add more substrate and the T would be able to dig itself out if it's already burrowed. Sorry if that's a dumb question.

 

[Olan]

You can add more substrate with the T in there, but I would only attempt it if I knew where the T was.