Urgent help with enclosure, please help!!

[RoachCoach]

It always gets a bit more disheartening every day you see the machine churning out pets to tiktoks and the free agents with a scrap of morals has to spend time and resources to right the wrong. Diatribe over.

 

[Smotzer]

@HoustonTarantula Any updates on rehousing it into a smaller enclosure and fixing the substrate?

 

[HoustonTarantula]

The moss isnt going to hurt anything but its not essential. The low humidity isnt a problem but temps into the 40's are. Generally they can be kept at room temps that are comfortable for you around 68-80. You may need additional heat, but you dont want to put a heat mat under it or directly on it, this can be dangerous as they are drawn to it. You will need to heat a larger enclosure with a heat mat on the side or so (there are some threads on this) and then put the enclosure thhe Tarantula is in, inside the larger one. The enclosure it is in now doesnt really need to be as large as it is, they dont use/need a lot of space. So you could acheive this easier if you down size its current enclosure a bit, they dont really need 10 or 20gal whatever that size is now.

Yes you need way more substrate. I would say at least half way completely across, and then any other terrain after that is dealers choice as well as fake plant decorations. Take one of those half log hides and burry it partially into the substrate at an angle, they like small secure places, it may or may not burrow as an adult.

You really never need to change it ever. They are fairly clean creatures, and then you just need to do normal maintenance like removing boli and uneaten prey items. Even if you get fungi reproductive structures, its not going to harm your it.
You can use that, or any soil that is additive free: peat moss, plain top soil, coco fiber, or any combination of the three or four.

Yes it should be compact, they dont like walking on fluffy ground.

Then that is good, cause direct sunlight on an enclosure can cause a greenhohuse effect. Id personally recommend moving it away from direct light.

Humidity disregard that. Temps I said before are good ranges to be within.

Humidity isn't a big factor for tarantulas? I guess everything I read made me assume otherwise. I live in Texas so we generally have high humidity but it does drop super low during the winter.

 

[HoustonTarantula]

@HoustonTarantula Any updates on rehousing it into a smaller enclosure and fixing the substrate?

No luck moving her to a smaller enclosure, the only extra tanks we have are the same size or bigger or incredibly small (where a hide wouldn't even fit) so I think the best solution is to just add a crap ton more substrate so it's at the level it should be. We have eco earth for her substrate, not sure if that's ideal but it's what we have. It was the compressed version so I soaked it and it's outside in the sun drying. Taking a lot longer than I thought so I think by tomorrow, it should be dry and I can fix the level.

 

[HoustonTarantula]

You could put the T in a ExoTerra Breeder Box. Large. No fall injury there

The only extra tanks we have are the same size or bigger, no luck trying to get a smaller one. Do you think if I just add a ton more substrate that it'll at least make it safer?

 

[HoustonTarantula]

more people who really know what they're doing already answered but i just wanted to reply to say that i think its so nice that you're trying to help out this poor tarantula. especially in classrooms i feel like animals get bought and taken care of incorrectly sooo often and its so frustrating to see. but yeah, i would say only one of those hides is necessary, but i guess two couldn't hurt. i agree that the biggest thing is adding more substrate so the ground is way higher altogether -- i've added substrate to an enclosure without even moving my tarantula out by filling one half of the tank up a bit one day, and the next day when she had moved to the other end i filled out the other side. otherwise you'll want to use a soft paintbrush or plastic straw or something to nudge her into a cup to remove her while you do construction lol. good luck!!!

Thank you I love all and every animal. I'm a Ball Python owner so I know how much work it takes to care for an animal that isn't common like a dog or cat. It's definitely infuriating that we have a professor who is teaching about animals when hers are being mistreated. It's frustrating because the more research I do and advice I get, it seems tarantulas are pretty easy to care for (unlike my snake) so if it's THIS simple, it's upsetting that she's been living like this for years. All it took was me signing up for this page and getting the information I needed to make improvements. It took a day of research to resolve issues that have been in place for years.

 

[Matt Man]

No luck moving her to a smaller enclosure, the only extra tanks we have are the same size or bigger or incredibly small (where a hide wouldn't even fit) so I think the best solution is to just add a crap ton more substrate so it's at the level it should be. We have eco earth for her substrate, not sure if that's ideal but it's what we have. It was the compressed version so I soaked it and it's outside in the sun drying. Taking a lot longer than I thought so I think by tomorrow, it should be dry and I can fix the level.

She will be fine in that enclosure, just add considerable depth. If you angle and bury the hide you can male the enclosure split level so she will have a platform to climb onto on top of her crib. She will move the dirt where she wants to so at that point you just let it happen. Humidity is something folks in the hobby is more hype and less help, and in some species it was proving fatal. Just put a water dish in a corner and be SLOPPY when filling it so some water gets in the soil around the dish. Dishes need to be cleaned/swapped out because Ts will fill them with dirt, poop, dead crickets etc....For temp, if you are comfortable, so is the T.
Compared to reptiles Ts are a breeze and typically they are pretty hardy as long as we remove major hazards. You will have a blast with this animal for very little effort, in fact the default action in most cases is WAIT, doing less is typically best.
Pre warning, Ts go on fasts for long periods, it's NBD. So if your T stops eating, just make sure it has water and wait.

 

[HoustonTarantula]

She will be fine in that enclosure, just add considerable depth. If you angle and bury the hide you can male the enclosure split level so she will have a platform to climb onto on top of her crib. She will move the dirt where she wants to so at that point you just let it happen. Humidity is something folks in the hobby is more hype and less help, and in some species it was proving fatal. Just put a water dish in a corner and be SLOPPY when filling it so some water gets in the soil around the dish. Dishes need to be cleaned/swapped out because Ts will fill them with dirt, poop, dead crickets etc....For temp, if you are comfortable, so is the T.
Compared to reptiles Ts are a breeze and typically they are pretty hardy as long as we remove major hazards. You will have a blast with this animal for very little effort, in fact the default action in most cases is WAIT, doing less is typically best.
Pre warning, Ts go on fasts for long periods, it's NBD. So if your T stops eating, just make sure it has water and wait.

thank you!!!! that helped a TON

 

[Matt Man]

you are welcome. She will have room to move so if you want to add some decorative elements (for you mostly) you could add a couple. You will be dumbfounded when you realize how simple it is. And yes, most of the care instructions in books and online are outdated and this forum is the default go-to from people who have years in the hobby

 

[HoustonTarantula]

you are welcome. She will have room to move so if you want to add some decorative elements (for you mostly) you could add a couple. You will be dumbfounded when you realize how simple it is. And yes, most of the care instructions in books and online are outdated and this forum is the default go-to from people who have years in the hobby

yeah I learned that with my own pet so luckily I found this site for some actual advice from people who keep them. Thank you!

 

[viper69]

The only extra tanks we have are the same size or bigger, no luck trying to get a smaller one. Do you think if I just add a ton more substrate that it'll at least make it safer?

Of course - as others suggested- 1.5x DLS is rule of thumb