stop my G. Rosea from climbing on the glass of her enclosure

[Guy Wood]

Agree with al the replies so far. My rosea's like a scientific instrument in her ability to detect water molecules. ANY moisture in her substrate and she won't go on it 'til it's gone .

 

[NickC4]

I agree with you Jakykong, it is rather cheap to maintain, just expensive to get situated.

I can not agree more.

 

[Stan Schultz]

This is my payday enclosure for Spidey. I hardly every use the light, just using it here to take the photo. I know the sub is still wet, working on a way to fix that. As you can see, I also got her crickets.

It appears that you have not tamped the substrate into a firm pad, but rather left it fluffy as it came out of the bag, or worse yet, as it went through a sifter. Fluffy is bad. A firm surface on which to move and rest is good. This could be an additional reason why it's taken refuge on top of its log instead of in it.

By analogy: Most of us don't mind a hardwood floor, and many of us prefer a little carpeting. But none of us would tolerate a 6" (15 cm) layer of nylon fluff or vermiculite all over the house. It would simply be far too hard to walk through the stuff.

Here's a real live photo of a real live Chilean rose in the Motherland in or near Algarrobo, Chile. And yes, he's really P-Oed at the camera!



(Many thanks for supplying this photo goes to Mark Thomas! Uploaded with ImageShack.us)

Note that the dirt is neither the same color as him, is not damp in the slightest, and is not "fluffy."

And, for those purists who think that sand is bad, note as well the composition of their native soil!


A LITTLE POINTLESS PHILOSOPHY:
Be kind to your little 8-legged wonder. We haven't proven ourselves yet. They have, several times over.

After the human race has gone, they'll be digging burrows on our graves.

 

[spinnerofwebs]

I'm doing my best to dry it out right now. Hoping that this works. it seems to be. not getting rid of all the moisture, but most of it is going away. thank you guys for the advice. And sand isn't bad for the spider? I thought it would be bad during molt though right? I will also make sure to pack it down and get some more brick when I go out next.

 

[grayzone]

uh... i know this is off topic but do you smoke by your spider? i see your marbs lol... spiders HATE menthol cigarettes. they LOVE regular flavor

 

[jakykong]

That's an awesome photo, stan! Very informative. I've got it bookmarked

 

[spinnerofwebs]

No, I have to smoke outside. It's actually against the law to smoke in an apartment building here in Manhattan KS. lol.

 

[Anonymity82]

No, I have to smoke outside. It's actually against the law to smoke in an apartment building here in Manhattan KS. lol.

Good! Smoking is bad for everyone! I quit 6 months ago after 18 years.

 

[spinnerofwebs]

Good! Smoking is bad for everyone! I quit 6 months ago after 18 years.

I'm working on quitting now. was just very hard due to my job. Either way, I'm about to put the final amount of sub in her enclosure and hopefully make it high enough. I was able to get more bricks today. I also planted a little garden in the old big tank from the beginning of the thread. Mostly seeds, anyway, will probably post pics later once everything starts to grow in the botanical s section. Still looking for succulents other than cacti to put in Spidey's enclosure though. Nothing is in season around here.

 

[Ben Oliver]

you should be able to find some enclosures at the dollar store. and to punch hole in a plastic shoe box use a small drill bit or something small that you can heat up on the stove.

 

[Tarac]

Why are you assuming what works for ants will work for tarantulas? For one thing, ants and tarantulas aren't exactly the same size, generally speaking. Something that constitutes a barrier to an ant might simply be stepped over by a tarantula. Using vaseline or paint to prevent your tarantulas from escaping seems sort of pointless when there are more trusted, established methods for keeping them contained...such as keeping them in appropriately sized, secure enclosures.

If you finish reading my fairly short post you will see that I end with "I'm putting my vote in for a new cheap enclosure like a plastic shoebox" so yes, best option is a LID. But if you know anything about teflon you would understand that an animal heavier than an ant, which can be detained with teflon by virtue of its microscopic surface (or lack thereof), will have EVEN MORE trouble escaping, assuming you can put 1+1 together and don't use an ant-sized set up for a tarantula lol. Why you would go to the lengths of buying teflon paint or smearing your enclosure with vaseline rather than buy a cheap plastic shoebox beats me, but the idea was in question as though using a lubricant to retain invertebrates was outlandish or unfeasible. I know for a fact it is not as it is SOP at the USDA for even tiny, light weight insects like ants that are harder to detain.

 

[Shrike]

If you finish reading my fairly short post you will see that I end with "I'm putting my vote in for a new cheap enclosure like a plastic shoebox" so yes, best option is a LID. But if you know anything about teflon you would understand that an animal heavier than an ant, which can be detained with teflon by virtue of its microscopic surface (or lack thereof), will have EVEN MORE trouble escaping, assuming you can put 1+1 together and don't use an ant-sized set up for a tarantula lol. Why you would go to the lengths of buying teflon paint or smearing your enclosure with vaseline rather than buy a cheap plastic shoebox beats me, but the idea was in question as though using a lubricant to retain invertebrates was outlandish or unfeasible. I know for a fact it is not as it is SOP at the USDA for even tiny, light weight insects like ants that are harder to detain.

Don't worry, I read your whole post. I'm not disagreeing with the idea that a tarantula might have trouble scaling a teflon coated wall, although I am having trouble visualizing what the set up you described would look like scaled to a size that is appropriate for tarantulas. Nobody said the notion was outlandish or infeasible for invertebrates. However, I'm certain it isn't practical for tarantulas, nor am I convinced that it's even feasible to house tarantulas in such a manner without getting some escapees.

 

[Chicken Farmer]

To dry the substrate, you could put the T in the kritter keeper with some substrate. then you could put the light directly over the dirt. just be careful you you could melt the plastic at the top. or dry it using another method.

 

[jakykong]

Just to clarify, I think Chicken Farmer is referring to putting the T in the KK, then using the light over the glass terrarium. Don't put the light directly over the tarantula

Also, the whole substrate doesn't need to be bone dry - just the top (as long as it's tamped down enough, the tarantula won't touch the rest unless/until it burrows).