Species specific humidity & temp q's...

[KingBowser]

Hey all, new to the forum and I'm glad to be here. I've been doing herps for a long time and just recently got into tarantulas. I have a few questions. First off, my initial draw into arachnids was an impressive T. blondi at the local pet store. This was the owner's pet, but she ordered me a young female and set me up. She told me that blondi is tricky in that it requires carefully monitored humidity levels. I set the blondi up in a 10 gallon with a mixture of clean soil and a bit of cypress mulch as well as a hiding cave. I also have a small heating pad. I placed a screen top on the 10 gallon and then covered about 90% of it with a rectangular piece of glass to retain moisture. I've been spraying the tank once a week. The problem I have is I noticed mold is starting to form on the cave as well as a small patch of white fuzz on the substrate. How do I prevent this while maintaining an ample humidity level for the goliath?

Next question is at what point is it too cold for tarantulas? The room that I plan on keeping my spider collection is a little cool for my standards. The temp is there yesterday was between 72-74 F.

Anyway, thanks for the advice..

Matt

 

[mikeymo]

http://www.arachnopets.com/tarantulas/tcaresheets/tblondic.htm


straight from the caresheet section of this site. But since i've never owned a blondi, i'll leave the rest up to the more expereinced guys and gals on here

 

[Selenops]

I use heat pads for my tarantulas, using Zoo-Med brand successfully atm.

 

[KingBowser]

Ah, a caresheet...very useful. Now how about the mold problem and humidity retention trick? Any ideas?

 

[ironmonkey78]

I keep my blondi the same temp as most of my t's. the room they are all in is kept at about 77 to 80daytime and drops to maybe 75 to 76 at night. as far as humidity ive heard that most T's can slowly be phased into a less humid environment. havent tried but I keep my blondi in a very large sterilite with a hide and only mist it once or twice a week.

 

[Selenops]

Hmm, are you cleaning out food leftovers and what brand of soil for substrate are you using?

 

[Pyst]

I keep my T.blondi around 70-78F with a false bottom setup. The spider is about 7" and I keep it in a 10 gal tank. I've got 2" of aquarium gravel which resembles pea gravel in the bottom with coco coir on top of that which is about 6" thick. The tank has pvc tubing running from just below the screen down to the gravel. I add water anytime the substrate needs moisture. For a hide I use half of a terra cotta pot and started a hole for burrowing in it but my spider ended up filling in the hole and just using the hide. It appears he's happier than a pig in you know what. This is the way I keep mine.

If you're getting mold it's most likely due to lack of ventilation. Try increasing the amount of airflow in the enclosure. Try to remove any leftover food items when possible.

Also welcome to the hobby! It's a whole lot of fun. If you ever have any questions don't be afraid to ask. We all were beginners at one point.

-Mike