spider enclosures

[Glen Southern]

Well, all thanks to Buthus I had to try and copy his awesome enclosures and thanks to splintercell I may actually get something in them.

I decided to have a go at emulating the design shown in this thread and I'm pleased with it so far from a functional point of view. I used Florists Green Oasis to make the brickwork and covered it with a non toxic acrylic paint for both color and as a sealant. THe brickwork has a hole in each enclose, not too deep but enough to attract them into it.

I went for a raised base with a light built in that you switch on and off from the back. I know the spiders will hate it but it's cool to light them up and have a look every now and then. It's a bank of three battery powered 'cool' spot lights that shine up through the green wire mesh at the base. THe base has holes at the back for air flow. I toyed with putting a tiny fan in but it was all getting silly at that point...lol

The black background was just an idea I had but I don't like it now so its coming off in a minute.

I was a bit worried about the seal around the top/inside of the tank so I got hold of some strips of black foam sheeting from a craft shop. I carefully cut these out into the correct sizes and laid them into the lid so that they meet the glass. The foam sits nicely onto the top of the glass and effectively seals the rims. I wish I had re-read Buthus's comments about glueing the Screw Top lids on. I used silicone and made a right mess. I won't do that on prototype TWO which is on the way.

Once again, thanks for creating this thread and inspiring me.

Glen

 

[Tegenaria]

Superb enclosures, quite professional looking!

 

[buthus]

Well...alright! Looks great.
What flavor latros are you getting?

I have been too busy with other aspects of life to build more enclosures. I need to build one for a colony of spitters and a few for some reluses. More widow enclosures will be needed also ...especially in the future when all my eggsacs and slings hit adulthood.
Tore out a big window from my computer/spider room. Room is more of a back house or "pool room". Window just wasnt needed and took up valuable wall space...ie..spider shelves! Need to clean up the dirty glass and see if is usable ...if so, I plan on recycling the wood and glass to make some enclosures. I love working with recycled materials.

 

[buthus]

I went for a raised base with a light built in that you switch on and off from the back. I know the spiders will hate it but it's cool to light them up and have a look every now and then. It's a bank of three battery powered 'cool' spot lights that shine up through the green wire mesh at the base. THe base has holes at the back for air flow. I toyed with putting a tiny fan in but it was all getting silly at that point...lol

I have made some quickies with LEDs pulled from old computer cases and other junk. I have a steatoda enclosure planned that will be lit from behind ...might look fairly hip...who knows.
I have been pondering electronic possibilities like thermalstats/heating/fan cooling, lights, motion detection, automatic misting, automatic motorized feeding inlets, web cams, etc... most of this could be controlled via computer. All doable...some of it cheap and easy, some a bit more challenging.

 

[buthus]

New one...
Needed a small enclosure for 15 or so spitter slings. This one is only 7" x 6" x 2" (give r' take). Tore into an old (and half-arsed made) 2.5 gallon scorpion enclosure for some glass and some really thin clear plastic.
The vent holes are from a pair of nylons my girlfriend gave up for me. :} The plastic "washers" holding the nylon are those plastic spacers that come with CDrom spindles. I always keep that kind of sh!t ...seems to come in handy eventually ...sometimes. Cut the holes with a hole saw and then stretched the nylon tight over the entire piece of clear plastic...using a small spring clamp to hold it tight. Roughed up the glue side of the plastic washers for some grab. P-tex type plastics are a bitch to glue. There are some new glues available for plastics that are supposed to be very good... but I needed to use what I had ...at 4:00AM, even in LA, its not easy finding that sort of thing. :? Tried my acrylic cement, but it didnt stick to either the washer nor the clear plastic. Ended up using trusty shoe-goo... good stuff, but messy with little work time. Anyway... glued the washers down centerd over the vent holes...pushing down hard to seal the nylon, washer and clear plastic together. When dry enough, I simple trimmed the nylon using an x-acto blade. Worked ok..looks somewhat good and will do the job. Next time I am going to the local head-shop and pick up a bunch of pipe screens. I believe I have seen 3/4" (and possibly 1") very fine mesh screens available.

Feeder hole...this time I used a cap/thread from a 2 liter coke bottle. Cut it down to half height ...looks ok and works great, but way to much work cleaning it up because the cut goes thru the threads. #2 plastic is another gluing nightmare. Ended up using 5 min epoxy. As long as I dont torque on it, it should remain a solid glue job.

Ok ...time to add the spitters. They are tiny. The enclosure top, vents, etc are pretty darn tight...so hopefully I won't end up releasing some spitters into the local spider niche. I think I had a few mactan slings get away a couple nights ago while splitting up to brood for shipment ...I p!ss myself off sometimes.

 

[Glen Southern]

I found these plastic tubs today with really cool Valve tops. They are a bit like the plastic cereal tubs you can buy, but the top has this really cool system that allows you to seal it with a turn of the blue cap. I'm planning on adapting one of my new three-bay-enclosures (based on the Buthus ones ) and putting three of these lids into the setup. If holes are drilled in them to keep the air flow they will make an attractive alternative to the bottle caps I hope.

 

[lilhildy]

Hey Glen,
Do you happen to have rough plans/scketch of how you built your undertank lighting enclosure? I am definelty liking your design and want to use it as a starting point for mine... I hope to build a white LED battery powered lighting system though for ease of placing it anywhere. Maybe alternate switch to switch to red lighting for nighttime observation. Construction weekend here I come!!

~Josh

 

[diadematus]

adhesive for glass?

What do you all recommend for gluing the corners of two pieces of glass? Silicone, black or clear?

Thanks in advance,

-Kevin

 

[buthus]

What do you all recommend for gluing the corners of two pieces of glass? Silicone, black or clear?

Thanks in advance,

-Kevin

For glass you should use clear silicone. Lately I have been using DAP aquarium sealant which is available in most hardware stores and some fish/pet shops.

 

[Galapoheros]

That is hardcore ! Great displays! If I where reincarnated as a spider, I'd want to live with you!

 

[RodG]

Awesome Enclosures!!!

A job well done sounds kind of weak in regards to these housing gems:worship: But it's all I got If you ever decide to build these for fellow
hobbyists put me down for some:clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[buthus]

Moonlit night shots of Laos in natural habitat!

er...just kidding...
This is Stubs, the Laos that had the molt issue when a sling ...showed her in a different thread. She was paired up and I am hopefull that all went well. After the deed was done (she killed her mate!) I put her in a jar with a dead bonsai tree. Thought it looked fairly good ...and natural especially with a single source of light. ...all things considered, a jar is a jar, but new enclosures are on the way. I have been designing and building... hopefully I'll have some new ones to show soon.

 

[KUJordan]

I've got four words for you Steven..."Bad Ass!!"

 

[Tegenaria]

Hey thats a great use for a dead bonsai, i got one in the shed, never got round to throwing it out!

 

[buthus]

I think I'll play with some jar enclosures. ...love em hate em kind of thing though.

 

[buthus]

 

[Tegenaria]

What species is this one, with the red markings like a widow?

 

[buthus]

In the hobby it is being labeled sp.Laos or ex.Laos ...supposably originally hailing from that part of the world. From what I can gather as far as look n'feel goes, it is probably Latrodectus elegans which is the common/native flavor over in the far east.

Well, today i looked and I noticed that there is suddenly mold growing on the buds of the tree. This is a problem with these babes...they thrive in hot humid conditions. This setup has been kept at 80-90% and she loves me for it.
Ill have to microwave the tree and see if I can kill off whatever spores are there ...should have done so in the first place, but I tend to do things in the spur of the moment.

 

[Rizzolo]

buthus, is that an egg sac in the first picture of your laos? what an interesting shape!

 

[buthus]

I wish it was, but nope...its a nice big lobster roach.

Ive mated 4 of my laos so far and have been asking them nicely (several times a day) to produce sacs. ..so far they just hang around feeding.