T Stirmi Enclosure

[Demonslayer446]

I recently got a sub adult Theraphosa stirmi from a local pet shop. The people there had no idea how to properly keep a spider like this, substrate was bone dry and there was at least 8-9 inches of space for the poor thing to climb and potentially fall. I basically had to get it, broke my heart seeing it like that, but anyways... I set up a new enclosure for it with about a 50/50 mix of josh's frogs bioactive substrate and jungle mix with sphagnum moss scattered around the enclosure. I also bought a hide with plenty of space for it considering it's already about 7-7.5 inches. I try to mist the enclosure about once or twice a day or when needed and poor 2 cups of water down the corners of the enclosure once a week. living in New York during the winter with the heaters on constantly makes it VERY dry in the house so any water I spray in there is gone within 24 hours. I attached some photos below and I was wondering if anybody could give me some suggestions and tell me how I'm doing. This is my first real moisture dependent spider and I wanna do it right, I've raised 5 slings of different species with no issue but I can't help being a little worried about this big guy


It's in a 20 gallon aquarium that's about 16 inches long and 10 inches tall. A good 6.5 inches of substrate to prevent falls

 

[Tarantuland]

With all that moisture, you're going to want cross ventilation. Also for the lid-the screens are dangerous. Their feet can get stuck and then legs rip out as they clumsily fall. Misting isn't really beneficial-you want to just dampen the substrate. Being too wet is a bad thing too, so be careful not to over-do it. This looks more wet than it needs to be but hopefully it'll dry out. You basically want the bottom layers moist so it can dig down if it wants.

 

[Demonslayer446]

I was planning on replacing the lid very soon, it already had one leg stuck the other day. It's a bit dryer now as well... I believe I took those pictures seconds after spraying the new substrate I put in. Thank you for the help

 

[0311usmc]

One thing I would change up is your real wood half log hide, It will just mold on you with the moisture from substrate and give you problems. I would swap it with a piece of cork bark or something similar as they don't mold. Looks good otherwise!!!

 

[Demonslayer446]

Ahh, Good point. I'll swap that out asap. Thank you

 

[0311usmc]

Ahh, Good point. I'll swap that out asap. Thank you

Your welcome bud!!!

 

[liquidfluidity]

Somewhat similar to my Apophysis set up. 5.5 gallon, lots of substrate and springtails. It looks a bit different now as he/she has burrowed down a good 4 inches or more, plus I put some plants in today. I do not mist anything but the moss.

Aside from being an Apophysis, I think they are similar in husbandry, damp substrate with lots of ventilation.