Tarantula water dishes

[YagerManJennsen]

Hey all, I tried out a little expirement. A few weeks ago I made some water dishes out of clay. Don't worry, both the clay ang glaze are all natural and non toxic. Here is the finished product.
I'm just wondering the the forum members have to say about these and if the dishes are suitable for a T. If the dishes are o for a T then I plan to start selling them on eBay, along with homemade hides/caves out of the same clay and glazes.

 

[Poec54]

Problem with those is that it's very hard to thoroughly clean them and keep them bacteria-free. Many species are fond of defecating in their bowls, and tossing their boluses in them to rot. Some get putrid, which means a lot of scrubbing. I only use disposable plastic bowls (soufflé cups by the sleeve) because of that.

Your bowls are better suited for small reptiles.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

They would still grow bacteria even though they aren't pourous? The glaze seals the clay so nothing can get into it. Thanks for your comment, I'm just trying to clarify.

 

[ErinM31]

Problem with those is that it's very hard to thoroughly clean them and keep them bacteria-free.

Might the glaze help with that? I know if it is porous it would be difficult to really clean. As for the design, unless they are small indeed, they look rather steep/deep for tarantulas. My tarantulas like to stand over their water dish to drink so it would need to be shallow and/or the walls of the dish should slope inward (gentle curve rather than an acute angle). On that note, you want any feeder insects that jump in to be able to find their way out and shallow/sloping edges will also facilitate this.

On an aesthetic note, I'm sure different people have different preferences but I favor natural looks for my terrariums -- if something that is ceramic, resin or clay can appear to be rock, I am happy. A natural clay/terracotta look might be attractive too.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Might the glaze help with that? I know if it is porous it would be difficult to really clean. As for the design, unless they are small indeed, they look rather steep/deep for tarantulas. My tarantulas like to stand over their water dish to drink so it would need to be shallow and/or the walls of the dish should slope inward (gentle curve rather than an acute angle). On that note, you want any feeder insects that jump in to be able to find their way out and shallow/sloping edges will also facilitate this.

On an aesthetic note, I'm sure different people have different preferences but I favor natural looks for my terrariums -- if something that is ceramic, resin or clay can appear to be rock, I am happy. A natural clay/terracotta look might be attractive too.

When I was cutting and forming the ckay I tried to make it look rock-like but I wasn't the one who chose the colors. Could you burry the dish halfway into the substrate? They are about half an inch deep on all three. This was meant really as just a prototype so I'm not committed to them.

 

[ErinM31]

When I was cutting and forming the ckay I tried to make it look rock-like but I wasn't the one who chose the colors. Could you burry the dish halfway into the substrate? They are about half an inch deep on all three. This was meant really as just a prototype so I'm not committed to them.

I still think shallower would be better. I'm a T newbie and keep a dwarf tarantula species (Euathlus sp. red) so it may not be an issue for other tarantulas, but from what I've observed of them, they like not having to step down into water nor climb into a bowl -- more like they're walking along and happen to come across a puddle. Plus, burying the water dish at all makes changing the water a pain -- I tried that with my toads' waterdish and it just made everything more difficult and more disruptive to take out and put in so I now set it on top of the substrate. They're big toads and don't mind and it makes my life easier.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Thanks everyone

 

[Venom1080]

thoses look pretty cool IMO, i have a few ceramic natural looking water dishes i got from a pet store. theyre not that tough to keep clean, just wash them out every other week and scrub them down with a tissue every now and than to get sub out. although that could be annoying with a large collection. i personally think deeper would be better, the water wont evaporate as quickly and that means less maintenance. i have wide shallow ceramic water bowl that i hate because it evaporates in under a hour, deeper and less surface area is the way to go IMO.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Here's what I'll do, I'll put one in one of my T's enclosure and see what they think of it and how they react.

 

[ErinM31]

i personally think deeper would be better, the water wont evaporate as quickly and that means less maintenance. i have wide shallow ceramic water bowl that i hate because it evaporates in under a hour, deeper and less surface area is the way to go IMO.

Heh, so it seems it might be best to offer a variety for different people/tarantulas.

 

[lunarae]

I would say those would work as well as what ErinM31 was suggesting. Offering both will offer more to your market and expand to a wider variety of preferences. From there you can see what sells more as well. I think if you have the glaze it'll help seal it and make it easier to clean and avoid the issue Poec54 brought up. You could do little ones as well, smaller ones for sling sized T's for those who want to buy a water dish rather then use bottle caps and such. Or the smaller ones for smaller T's.

 

[darkness975]

Using a dish like that is probably not a problem as long as you clean it regularly. One of mine has a smooth "permanent" type dish and every week or so I run it under hot water and scrub it.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Tomorrow I'll post a picture of one of the dishes an an enclosure so everyone can get an idea of the actual size of them. I'll also post measurements/dimensions but for now, I gotta hit the hay.

 

[Sana]

I have to put in on the bottle cap thing. I love bottle caps, milk jug tops, and jar lids of all sizes. I have enough stocked up that I pull out the old one and put in a new one each time. Then stick the old ones in a basket in the dishwasher and have a whole clean sparkly set to do it again next time. So easy.

 

[Andrea82]

I have a ceramic dish n one of my enclosures, it is also glazed. The problem I see arise is that the water forms a calcium layer, in which bacteria can form. I scrub it regularly, but there still is some build up. If I scrub harder or more often, I'll damage the glaze, and it becomes porous again.

 

[lunarae]

Oh I've used bottle caps as well. Not knocking them by any means, was just stating there are always going to be those who want to buy something 'made specifically for said purpose' cause it looks 'nicer' and such was all.

 

[lunarae]

I have a ceramic dish n one of my enclosures, it is also glazed. The problem I see arise is that the water forms a calcium layer, in which bacteria can form. I scrub it regularly, but there still is some build up. If I scrub harder or more often, I'll damage the glaze, and it becomes porous again.

If you use distilled water or reverse osmosis water you can avoid that build up. Also use white vinegar when you clean anything with that kind of build up. It takes that build up right off without a lot of scrubbing. Sometimes you may have to let it soak for a bit in the vinegar to help break it down but it's the best natural means of doing so and it's safe. It's how one would get calcium and mineral build up off of fish tanks in order to reuse them and them still be safe for fish.

 

[Andrea82]

Won't vinegar damage the glaze?

 

[lunarae]

Don't think so. Here's a link on caring for pottery that explains how to get rid of mineral deposits where they suggest what I suggested, they go into further detail on it though.

http://www.justartpottery.com/pages/collectors-pottery/care-cleaning-art-pottery/

 

[viper69]

It's much more interesting, IMO, finding natural rocks, natural rock formations/cliffs/exposed rocks etc, and forming a mold to make casts. Then you get actual natural shapes made in nature for dishes and cage furniture. Just my two cents.